That was all she heard or learned at that time of the mystery.
But on the morrow, at the same hour, by a like obscurity, the noise increased and approached a little nearer.

It was certainly the sound of steps, of real steps, which walked upon the earth.

They would stop for a moment, then recommence here and there, moving up and down, without her being able to say precisely where they were.

Perhaps they came from the garden of the Voincourts, where some night pedestrian was lingering under the trees.

Or it might be, rather, that they were in the tufted masses of the great lilac-bushes of the park of the Bishop, whose strong perfume made her almost ill.