Not wishing to appear curious, or to annoy the
unknown in any way, de Sigognac hastened to enter his own room--not
however without having observed that the door of the tapestry-hung
chamber stood ajar. When he had closed his, he heard stealthy footsteps
approaching, and presently a bolt shot home softly, then profound
silence.
About an hour later, Leander opened his door as quietly as possible,
looked carefully to see if the corridor was empty, and then, stepping
as lightly and cautiously as a gipsy performing the famous egg-dance,
traversed its whole length, reached the staircase, which he descended as
noiselessly as the phantoms in a haunted castle, and passed out into the
moonlight; he crept along in the shadow of the wall and of some thick
shrubbery, went down the steps into the park, and made his way to a sort
of bower, where stood a charming statue of the mischievous little god of
love, with his finger on his lip--an appropriate presiding genius of
a secret rendezvous, as this evidently must be. Here he stopped and
waited, anxiously watching the path by which he had come, and listening
intently to catch the first sound of approaching footsteps.
We have already related how Leander, encouraged by the smile with which
Mme.
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