Had Madame de Bruhl not picked it up it would have continued to lie in this by-path, through which neither I nor Simon Fleix would have been likely to pass.

Again, had madame not dropped it in her turn, we should have sought in vain for any, even the slightest, clue to Mademoiselle de la Vire's fate or position.
Cheered afresh by this thought, I determined to walk to the end of the lane; and forthwith did so, looking sharply about me as I went, but meeting no one.

The bare upper branches of a tree rose here and there above the walls, which were pierced at intervals by low, strong doors.
These doors I carefully examined, but without making any discovery; all were securely fastened, and many seemed to have been rarely opened.
Emerging at last and without result on the inner side of the city ramparts, I turned, and moodily retraced my steps through the lane, proceeding more slowly as I drew near to the Rue de Valois.

This time, being a little farther from the street, I made a discovery.
The corner house, which had its front on the Rue Valois, presented, as I have said, a dead, windowless wall to the lane; but from my present standpoint I could see the upper part of the back of this house--that part of the back, I mean, which rose above the lower garden-wall that abutted on it--and in this there were several windows.

The whole of two and a part of a third were within the range of my eyes; and suddenly in one of these I discovered something which made my heart beat high with hope and expectation.