She turned her eyes out of the window for a little.

Then again she asked,-- "How long till morning ?" "But one more hour." She came back into the room and seated herself at the table.
"You gave me some hint at Innspruck of an adventurous ride from Ohlau," and she drew her breath sharply at the word, as though the name with all its associations struck her a blow, "into Strasbourg.

Tell me its history.

So will this hour pass." He told her as he walked about the room, though his heart was not in the telling, nor hers in the hearing, until he came to relate the story of his escape from the inn a mile or so beyond Stuttgart.

He described how he hid in the garden, how he crossed the rich level of lawn to the lighted window, how to his surprise he was admitted without a question by an old bookish gentleman--and thereupon he ceased so suddenly that Clementina turned her head aside and listened.
"Did you hear a step ?" she asked in a low voice.
"No." And they both listened.