Thus I should be comfortable and able to sleep, and forget all the shadowy people--they seemed but shadows half-real--that I had been troubling my brain about: the duke, and Marie, whose face danced for a moment before my eyes, and that dead fellow who hugged the box so ludicrously.

So I tried to call to Jean, but the trouble was too great, and, as he would be sure to come out soon, I waited; and I blinked at the smoldering wood-ashes in the fire till my eyes closed and the sleep was all but come, despite the smart of my arm and the ache in my unsupported back.
But just before I had forgotten everything the door of the inner room creaked and opened.

My side was toward it and I did not look round.

I opened my eyes and feebly waved my left hand.

Then a voice came, clear and fresh: "Jean, is it you?
Well, is the duke at the house ?" I must be dreaming; that was my immediate conviction, for the voice that I heard was a voice I knew well, but one not likely to be heard here, in Jean's cottage, at four o'clock in the morning.