THE OLD MAN.
Was it long after you found her when I came?
THE STRANGER.
A few minutes, barely. I was going toward the village; it was already late, and the bank was getting dark. I was walking with my eyes fixed on the river because it was lighter than the road, when I saw something strange a step or two from a clump of reeds…. I drew near and made out her hair, which had risen almost in a circle above her head, and whirled round, so, in the current.
[In the room, the two young girls turn their heads toward the window.]