In fact, silence succeeded; the
snoring was resumed.
Dominique exacted that Francoise should ascend to her chamber before he
departed. He clasped her in his arms and bade her a mute adieu. Then
he aided her to seize the ladder and clung to it in his turn. But he
refused to descend a single round until convinced that she was in her
apartment. When Francoise had entered her window she let fall in a voice
as light as a breath:
"Au revoir, my love!"
She leaned her elbows on the sill and strove to follow Dominique with
her eyes. The night was yet very dark. She searched for the sentinel but
could not see him; the willow alone made a pale stain in the midst of
the gloom. For an instant she heard the sound produced by Dominique's
body in passing along the ivy. Then the wheel cracked, and there was
a slight agitation in the water which told her that the young man
had found the boat. A moment afterward she distinguished the somber
silhouette of the bateau on the gray surface of the Morelle. Terrible
anguish seized upon her. Each instant she thought she heard the
sentinel's cry of alarm; the smallest sounds scattered through the gloom
seemed to her the hurried tread of soldiers, the clatter of weapons,
the charging of guns.
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