"My father has gone," thought Eugenie, who heard all that took place

from the head of the stairs. Silence was restored in the house, and

the distant rumbling of the carriage, ceasing by degrees, no longer

echoed through the sleeping town. At this moment Eugenie heard in her

heart, before the sound caught her ears, a cry which pierced the

partitions and came from her cousin's chamber. A line of light, thin

as the blade of a sabre, shone through a chink in the door and fell

horizontally on the balusters of the rotten staircase.