The rumour so quickly spread--by what hints, what innuendoes, what cunning inquiries, what references to the old, invisible, bedridden woman, he could but guess--that rumour bore witness to a malice and a thirst for revenge which were not likely to stop at words.

And Louis' flight?
And Grio's?
And Basterga's ?--for he did not return.

To believe that all these, taken together, these and the outrage of the morning, portended anything but danger, anything but the worst, demanded a hopefulness that even his youth and his love could not compass.
Yet when she descended he met her with brave looks..