The dark figure was about five paces from him.

It was not Alice, and a sword flashed dimly but unmistakably in a ray of the moon.

The motion visible was that of an expert swordsman placing himself firmly on his legs, with his weapon at guard.
Alice saw the man in her path just in time to avoid running against him.

Lightly as a flying bird, when it whisks itself in a short semicircle past a tree or a bough, she sprang aside and swung around to the rear of him, where she could continue her course toward the town.
But in passing she recognized him.

It was Father Beret, and how grim he looked! The discovery was made in the twinkling of an eye, and its effect was instantaneous, not only checking the force of her flight, but stopping her and turning her about to gaze before she had gone five paces farther.
Hamilton's nerve held, startled as he was, when he realized that an armed man stood before him.