The flat ground of the Jas-Meiffren spread out under the moon like an immense sheet of unbleached linen; a hundred yards away the farmhouse and its outbuildings formed a still whiter patch.

The young man was still gazing anxiously in that direction when, suddenly, one of the town clocks slowly and solemnly struck seven.
He counted the strokes, and then jumped down, apparently surprised and relieved.
He seated himself on the tombstone, like one who is prepared to wait some considerable time.

And for about half an hour he remained motionless and deep in thought, apparently quite unconscious of the cold, while his eyes gazed fixedly at a mass of shadow.

He had placed himself in a dark corner, but the beams of the rising moon had gradually reached him, and at last his head was in the full light.
He was a strong, sturdy-looking lad, with a fine mouth, and soft delicate skin that bespoke youthfulness.

He looked about seventeen years of age, and was handsome in a characteristic way.
His thin, long face looked like the work of some master sculptor; his high forehead, overhanging brows, aquiline nose, broad flat chin, and protruding cheek bones, gave singularly bold relief to his countenance.
Such a face would, with advancing age, become too bony, as fleshless as that of a knight errant.