Suddenly I heard her steps, her walk, and then a terribly base idea entered my head that, like the wife of Uri, she wished to conceal a fault already committed, and that it was for this reason that she came to see me at this unseasonable hour.

'Is it possible,' thought I, 'that she is coming to see me ?' On hearing her step as it approached: 'If it is to see me that she is coming, then I am right.' "An inexpressible hatred invaded my soul.

The steps drew nearer, and nearer, and nearer yet.

Would she pass by and go on to the other room?
No, the hinges creaked, and at the door her tall, graceful, languid figure appeared.

In her face, in her eyes, a timidity, an insinuating expression, which she tried to hide, but which I saw, and of which I understood the meaning.