'I want to sleep.'
'Good,' he said, with a broad grin. 'But it is early yet, and
you have plenty of time.'
And then, at last, he slowly let down the trap-door, and I heard
him chuckle as he went down the ladder.
Before he reached the bottom I was at the window. The woman,
whom I had seen, still stood below in the same place, and beside
her was a man in a peasant's dress, holding a lanthorn. But the
man, the man I wanted to see, was no longer there. He was gone,
and it was evident that the others no longer feared me; for while
I gazed the landlord came out to them with another lanthorn
swinging in his hand, and said something to the lady, and she
looked up at my window and laughed.
It was a warm night, and she wore nothing over her white dress.
I could see her tall, shapely figure and shining eyes, and the
firm contour of her beautiful face, which, if any fault might be
found with it, erred in being too regular. She looked like a
woman formed by nature to meet dangers and difficulties, and to
play a great part; even here, at midnight, in the midst of these
desperate men, she did not seem out of place.
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