Then I woke wholly to myself, in terror, to find that he was not there, and now came to me some of that ease which had been born of the strange, sweet voice, and the strange words, "Mes Freres de Paradis." "My brethren of Paradise"; who could she be that rode so late in company of armed men, and yet spoke of such great kinsfolk?
That it might be the holy Colette, then, as now, so famous in France for her miracles, and good deeds, and her austerities, was a thought that arose in me.

But the holy Sister, as I had heard, never mounted a horse in her many wanderings, she being a villein's daughter, but was carried in a litter, or fared in a chariot; nor did she go in company with armed men, for who would dare to lay hands on her?
Moreover, the voice that I had heard was that of a very young girl, and the holy Sister Colette was now entered into the vale of years.

So my questioning found no answer.
And now I heard light feet, as of some beast stirring and scratching in the trees overhead, and there with a light jingling noise.

Was it a squirrel?
Whatever it was, it raced about the tree, coming nearer and going further away, till it fell with a weight on my breast, and, shivering with cold, all strained like a harp-string as I was, I could have screamed, but for the gag in my mouth.

The thing crawled up my body, and I saw two red eyes fixed on mine, and deemed it had been a wild cat, such as lives in our corries of the north--a fell beast if brought to bay, but otherwise not hurtful to man.
There the red eyes looked on me, and I on them, till I grew giddy with gazing, and half turned my head with a stifled sob.