On the stairs he met his cousin, with Madame de Lescure and the nurse and child.
"Haste, Henri, for God's sake, haste," said she; "I heard the tramp of their horses through my open window." De Lescure had opened the summer door leading into the garden as he came up stairs, to have it ready for his exit, and he, and those under his care, escaped through it into the garden.
"Shut the garden door," roared Henri to him from the top of the staircase.

"Shut the door, whatever you do." De Lescure could not understand his object, but he trusted his cousin, and closed the door as he passed through it.

Henri had perceived that it would be impossible for him to regain the hall, and had resolved to jump from the window of the staircase into the garden, with his precious burden in his arms.

He foresaw that if the door were left open, pursuit through it would be both inevitable and fatal.
Marie's room was close to the top of the stairs, and her lover did not use much ceremony in opening the door.

In going to and from his wife's chamber, de Lescure had not passed it, and therefore the innocent girl slept soundly till Henri's sudden entrance roused her from her dreams.
"Who's that--who's that," said she, raising her head upon her pillow.
The window curtains of the room were hardly closed, and she recognised immediately Henri's tall figure, and singular costume.