Then he thought himself absurd, got into bed again and blew out the candle.

The eyes reappeared.
He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed.
Then he cried: "Is that you, Erik?
Man, genius, or ghost, is it you ?" He reflected: "If it's he, he's on the balcony!" Then he ran to the chest of drawers and groped for his revolver.

He opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and closed the window again.

He went back to bed, shivering, for the night was cold, and put the revolver on the table within his reach.
The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed.

Were they between the bed and the window-pane or behind the pane, that is to say, on the balcony?
That was what Raoul wanted to know.