t we begged
to be allowed to stay under shelter of some kind; and, at last, a
bright idea came over her, and she bade us mount by a ladder to a kind
of loft, which went half over the lofty mill-kitchen in which we were
sitting. We obeyed her--what else could we do?--and found ourselves in
a spacious floor, without any safeguard or wall, boarding, or railing,
to keep us from falling over into the kitchen in case we went too near
the edge. It was, in fact, the store-room or garret for the household.
There was bedding piled up, boxes and chests, mill sacks, the winter
store of apples and nuts, bundles of old clothes, broken furniture, and
many other things. No sooner were we up there, than the old woman
dragged the ladder, by which we had ascended, away with a chuckle, as
if she was now secure that we could do no mischief, and sat herself
down again once more, to doze and await her master's return. We pulled
out some bedding, and gladly laid ourselves down in our dried clothes
and in some warmth, hoping to have the sleep we so much needed to
refresh us and prepare us for the next day. But I could not sleep, and
I was aware, from her breathing, that Amante was equally wakeful. We
could both see through the crevices between the boards that formed the
flooring into the kitchen below, very partially lighted by the common
lamp that hung against the wall near the stove on the opposite side to
that on which we were.

Portion 3

Far on in the night there were voices outside reached us in our
hiding-place; an angry knocking at the door, and we saw through the
chinks the old woman rouse herself up to go and open it for her master,
who came in, evidently half drunk. To my sick horror, he was followed
by Lefebvre, apparently as sober and wily as ever. They were talking
together as they came in, disputing about something; but the miller
stopped the conversation to swear at the old woman for having fallen
asleep, and, with tipsy anger, and even with blows, drove the poor old
creature out of the kitchen to bed. Then he and Lefebvre went on
talking--about the Sieur de Poissy's disappearance. It seemed that
Lefebvre had been out all day, along with other of my husband's men,
ostensibly assisting in the search; in all probability trying to blind
the Sieur de Poissy's followers by putting them on a wrong scent, and
also, I fancied, from one or two of Lefebvre's sly questions, combining
the hidden purpose of discovering us.

Altho