At a distance, and he judged, round the corner of the street he heard the sound of a quickening footstep advancing in his direction.

He waited, under the obligation of exerting all his powers of self-control; for his limbs trembled to movement, his heart beat to the march, and every separate vein, every separate hair of his body, seemed crying out piercingly to begone.

The footstep approached.

Doctor Levillier heard it turning the corner.
"Now," thought he, "this person will see me waiting here.

Will he come on?
Will he pass me?
And if he does, shall I be able to await, to endure the incident ?" And he listened, as a scout might listen in the night for sounds of the hidden enemy.