But the hours of the night sounded successively, until the first gleam of dawn cast its pallid light upon the walls of the cloister.
“Well,” muttered Roland, “it’s over for to-night. Perhaps I shall be more fortunate the next time.”
Twenty minutes later he re-entered the Château des Noires-Fontaines.
CHAPTER XVII. INVESTIGATIONS
Two persons were waiting for Roland’s return; one in anguish, the other with impatience. These two persons were Amélie and Sir John. Neither of them had slept for an instant. Amélie displayed her anguish only by the sound of her door, which was furtively closed as Roland came up the staircase. Roland heard the sound. He had not the courage to pass before her door without reassuring her.
“Be easy, Amélie, I am here,” he said. It did not occur to him that his sister might be anxious for any one but him.
Amélie darted from her room in her night-dress. It was easy to see from her pallor and the dark circles which spread nearly to the middle of her cheeks that she had not closed her eyes all night.
“Has nothing happened to you, Roland?” she cried, clasping her brother in her arms and feeling him over anxiously.
“Nothing.”