The night was dark, and the grass deadened the sound of my steps.

They had stopped under the vacillating light of a gas jet and appeared to be both bending over a paper held by Mademoiselle Stangerson, reading something which deeply interested them.

I stopped in the darkness and silence.
"Neither of them saw me, and I distinctly heard Mademoiselle Stangerson repeat, as she was refolding the paper: 'The presbytery has lost nothing of its charm, nor the garden its brightness!'-- It was said in a tone at once mocking and despairing, and was followed by a burst of such nervous laughter that I think her words will never cease to sound in my ears.
But another phrase was uttered by Monsieur Robert Darzac: 'Must I commit a crime, then, to win you ?' He was in an extraordinarily agitated state.
He took the hand of Mademoiselle Stangerson and held it for a long time to his lips, and I thought, from the movement of his shoulders, that he was crying.

Then they went away.
"When I returned to the great gallery," continued Rouletabille, "I saw no more of Monsieur Robert Darzac, and I was not to see him again until after the tragedy at the Glandier.

Mademoiselle was near Mr.Rance, who was talking with much animation, his eyes, during the conversation, glowing with a singular brightness.