.

THE GHOST.
The next evening, at about the same hour, the young officer, after convincing himself that every one in the Chateau des Noires-Fontaines had gone to bed, opened his door softly, went downstairs holding his breath, reached the vestibule, slid back the bolts of the outer door noiselessly, and turned round to make sure that all was quiet.

Reassured by the darkened windows, he boldly opened the iron gate.

The hinges had probably been oiled that day, for they turned without grating, and closed as noiselessly as they had opened behind Roland, who walked rapidly in the direction of Pont d'Ain at Bourg.
He had hardly gone a hundred yards before the clock at Saint-Just struck once; that of Montagnac answered like a bronze echo.

It was half-past ten o'clock.