I heard him unlock the door.

I could hear no noise of its closing behind him.

He vanished from my sight.
Abandoning my ladder--I saw I did not need it now--I swam to the side of the bridge and climbed half way up the steps.

There I hung with my sword in my hand, listening eagerly.

The duke's room was shuttered and dark.
There was a light in the window on the opposite side of the bridge.
Not a sound broke the silence, till half-past one chimed from the great clock in the tower of the chateau.
There were other plots than mine afoot in the Castle that night..