Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 5.djvu/265

Rh driver whipping up his poor horse, while peering through the storm in the hope of finding a belated passenger. Clad in a thin overcoat, Hermann felt neither the wind nor the cold. At last the Countess's carriage appeared and he saw two robust footmen lift the old lady by the arms and place her in the cushioned carriage, where she sat wrapped in a fur cape. A minute later, in a thin cloak and with natural flowers entwined in her hair, Lisabeta hurried in after her. The door shut to and the carriage rolled away noiselessly over the soft snow. The footman closed the door of the house, the lights went out and everything was quiet once more, Hermann meanwhile walking up and down in the street. After a while, he looked at his watch and found it was twenty minutes of eleven. Leaning against a lamp post his eyes glued on the hands of his timepiece, he waited with impatience for the hour to come. Exactly at eleven o'clock, Hermann walked up the steps and, opening the door of the house, found to his joy that the hall was well lighted and that no one was in sight. With firm and quick steps, he entered the anteroom and found a footman fast asleep in a deep armchair. Hermann went by him softly and, passing through the dining-room and the drawing-room, which were not lighted,