I will enter quite softly, and, hiding myself behind the hanging which separates the bed-chamber from the boudoir, I shall be able to see him, and hear everything that he says!" She laughed out loud and merrily, like a child, and sprang for the key, which lay on her writing-table.

Like a trophy of victory she swung it high above her on her hand and cried, "I will see him!" Then light, joyful, and with beaming eye, she left the room.
She had conjectured rightly.

Catharine received the earl in her boudoir.
She sat on the divan standing opposite the door which led into the reception-room.

That door was open, and so Catharine had a perfect view of the whole of that large space.

She could see the earl as he traversed it.