Emboldened by the vague alarm which oppressed them, they gave each other, in the shades of night, in the silence, that first kiss in which the senses and the soul unite, and cause a revealing joy.

Etienne comprehended love in its dual expression, and Gabrielle fled lest she should be drawn by that love--whither she knew not.
At the moment when the Duc de Nivron reascended the staircase to the castle, after closing the door of the tower, a cry of horror, uttered by Gabrielle, echoed in his ears with the sharpness of a flash of lightning which burns the eyes.

Etienne ran through the apartments of the chateau, down the grand staircase, and along the beach towards Gabrielle's house, where he saw lights.
When Gabrielle, quitting her lover, had entered the little garden, she saw, by the gleam of a torch which lighted her nurse's spinning-wheel, the figure of a man sitting in the chair of that excellent woman.

At the sound of her steps the man arose and came toward her; this had frightened her, and she gave the cry.

The presence and aspect of the Baron d'Artagnon amply justified the fear thus inspired in the young girl's breast.
"Are you the daughter of Beauvouloir, monseigneur's physician ?" asked the baron when Gabrielle's first alarm had subsided.
"Yes, monsieur." "I have matters of the utmost importance to confide to you.