Had Madame St.Lo withdrawn to safer quarters and closed the house?
Or, good Catholic as she was, had she given way to panic, and determined to open to no one?
Or was she ill?
Or had she perished in the general disorder?
Or-- And then, even as the men began to slink towards him, his heart leapt.

He heard a footstep heavy and slow move through the house.

It came nearer and nearer.

A moment, and an iron-grated Judas-hole in the door slid open, and a servant, an elderly man, sleek and respectable, looked out at him.
Tignonville could scarcely speak for excitement.

"Madame St.Lo ?" he muttered tremulously.