Meanwhile within the room the Princess-mother clung to Clementina.

The terror which her sharp cry had expressed was visible in her strained and startled face.

Her eyes, bright with terror, stared at the drawn curtain; she could not avert them; she still must gaze, fascinated by her fears; and her dry, whispering lips were tremulous.
"Heaven have mercy!" she whispered; "shut the window! Shut it fast!" and as Clementina moved in surprise, she clung the closer to her daughter.
"No, do not leave me! Come away! Jesu! here are we alone,--two women!" "Mother," said Clementina, soothing her and gently stroking her hair, as though she in truth was the mother and the mother her daughter, "there's no cause for fear." "No cause for fear! I saw him--the sentry--he is climbing up.

Ah!" and again her voice rose to a cry as Wogan's foot grated on the window-ledge.
"Hush, mother! A cry will ruin us.

It's not the sentinel," said Clementina.
Clementina was laughing, and by her laughter the Princess-mother was in some measure reassured.
"Who is it, then ?" she asked.
"Can you not guess ?" said Clementina, incredulously.