Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 5.djvu/280

258 THE QUEEN OF SPADES In the quiet restaurant where he usually took his meals, he drank a great deal in the hope of steadying his nerves, but the wine only increased his perturbation, giving free rein to his troubled thoughts. He returned home early and, without undressing, threw himself on his bed and fell into a heavy sleep.

When he woke it was night and the rays of the moon lit up his room. He looked at the time; it was a quarter of three. He could not go to sleep again, so he sat on his bed thinking of the old Countess.

Just then some one passed in the street and drawing near the window looked in, but Hermann paid no attention. A minute later, the door of the anteroom opened. He thought it was, no doubt, his servant, drunk as usual, when suddenly he realised that those were not his foot- steps and that someone was coming. He heard the sound of slippered feet on the floor. The door opened and a woman in white came into the room. Hermann looked up, expecting to see his old nurse and wondering at the same time what could have brought her at this hour of the night, when the white figure crossing the room rapidly reached the foot of his bed, and he recognised the Countess.

"I come to you against my will," said she