"Is the child asleep ?" "This one is; the one in the other room is awake." "Then let us go to her and tell her what we have decided." He lifted the two-branched candlestick from the table; his companion carefully closed the iron doors of the fireplace; then the two went into the adjoining chamber, leaving the room they had quitted in darkness.
The elder gentleman had made a mistake: "this" child was _not_ asleep.
She had listened attentively, half sitting up in bed, to as much of the conversation as she could hear.
A ray of light penetrated through the keyhole.

The little girl sprang nimbly from the bed, ran to the door, and peered through the tiny aperture.

Suddenly footsteps came toward the door.

When it opened, however, the little eavesdropper was back underneath the covers of the bed.

The old gentleman entered the room.