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
the nail-studded door, and crying out desperately,--
'A MOI! A MOI!'
Then, or a moment later, I heard a remote door opened; footsteps
as of more than one person drew near.
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