I rushed to my window; I leaned outside to pierce the darkness, and I discovered lying upon the drenched soil a vague form, something like a white bundle.

At the same time, a more distinct moan rose up to me.

A gleam of the terrible truth flashed through my brain like a keen blade.

I groped through the darkness as far as the door of the mill; near the threshold, stood a horse bearing a side-saddle.

I ran madly around to the other side of the ruins, and within the inclosure situated beneath the window of my cell, and which still retains some traces of the former cemetery of the monks, I found the unhappy creature.