It was about half-past eleven when he distinctly heard some one moving, with a light, stealthy step, in the room next to his.

Then Christine had not gone to bed! Without troubling for a reason, Raoul dressed, taking care not to make a sound, and waited.

Waited for what?
How could he tell?
But his heart thumped in his chest when he heard Christine's door turn slowly on its hinges.

Where could she be going, at this hour, when every one was fast asleep at Perros?
Softly opening the door, he saw Christine's white form, in the moonlight, slipping along the passage.

She went down the stairs and he leaned over the baluster above her.