"I heard something," said Edouard.
"Yes, I thought that I did, too."
"Can it be that we are not alone here?"
They looked carefully all about them, but could see no one. At that moment, the moon, coming out from behind the clouds, enabled them to distinguish objects very plainly, and Edouard shuddered as he heard the door open.
"Here they are!" he said.
Isaure came out first; she was followed by a man of tall stature, wrapped in an ample coat, and with a round hat pulled low over his eyes. They stood in the shadow cast by the house, and in a moment the girl said in a sad tone:
"Adieu, my friend; adieu, I will go home. You will not scold me any more, will you? He will not come again; I have told him that I could not receive him any more."
The man who was with Isaure answered too low for them to hear, as he escorted her toward her house. Edouard followed them, keeping out of sight in the shadow, while Alfred remained under the trees, in front of the house, to cut off the stranger’s retreat.
Soon Isaure and her companion stopped; he took the young girl in his arms and kissed her affectionately. At that sight, Edouard, in a frenzy, started to rush toward them; but Isaure was already tripping lightly toward the cottage, while the other person strode rapidly toward the White House, along the edge of the clump of trees which concealed Alfred from his sight. At that moment, the moon, shining full in the face of the person walking toward him, enabled Alfred to examine him at his ease; and instead of stopping him and preventing him from returning to the White House, Alfred remained absolutely motionless on the spot where he stood. Meanwhile, Edouard hastened after the man with whom he was burning to fight; but he only saw him reënter the house, the door of which closed upon him.
"What!" he said to Alfred, "he passed in front of you and you did not stop him? You did not prevent him from escaping from my wrath? I can no longer doubt Isaure’s perfidy, that man took her in his arms! Ah! he must pay for his good fortune with his life! Yes, if he refuse to open the door, though I have to scale the walls or break the windows, he shall not escape me!"