the south--the coldest quarter. I began to feel chilled and
dispirited. If my scheme failed, I had forfeited roof and bed to
no purpose, and placed future progress out of the question. It
was a critical moment.

But at last that happened for which I had been looking. The door
swung open a few inches, and a man came noiselessly out; it was
quickly barred behind him. He stood a moment, waiting on the
threshold and peering into the gloom; and seemed to expect to be
attacked. Finding himself unmolested, however, and all quiet, he
went off steadily down the street--towards the Chateau.

I let a couple of minutes go by, and then I followed. I had no
difficulty in hitting on the track at the end of the street, but
when I had once plunged into the wood, I found myself in darkness
so intense that I soon strayed from the path, and fell over
roots, and tore my clothes with thorns, and lost my temper twenty
times before I found the path again. However, I gained the
bridge at last, and thence caught sight of a light twinkling
before me. To make for it across the meadow and terrace was an
easy task; yet, when I had reached the door and had hammered upon
it, I was so worn out, and in so sorry a plight that I sank down,
and had little need to play a part, or pretend to be worse than I
was.

For a long time no one answered. The dark house towering above
me remained silent. I could hear, mingled with the throbbings of
my heart, the steady croaking of the frogs in a pond near the
stables; but no other sound. In a frenzy of impatience and
disgust, I stood up again and hammered, kicking with my heels on