he waited for the carriages to pass.

They came slowly forward, now halting to "breathe" the weary horses, now
struggling for a brief space against the hill, and at last, turning a
sharp angle of the way, the first carriage drew short up, directly in
front of where he stood. The panels bore the flaunting and pretentious
arms of Prince Midchekoff, with many an armorial emblem, which, however
tolerated in the rest of Europe, the Czar would not suffer within his
own dominions. As George glanced at these, he started, for a well-known
voice caught his ear, and, forgetting his desire of concealment, he
leaned forward to listen. It was Kate was speaking; he could not hear
the words, but the accents were her own. "Oh for one look at her,
for the last time!" thought he; and dashed headlong through the copse
towards where, by another bend, the road made a rapid turn upwards.

Already the horses had regained their wind, and were away at a brisk
trot, as George tore onward through the closely interwoven branches and
thick underwood of the grove. There was no path, nor, once out of sight
or sound of the road, anything to guide him; but he dashed on, in the
direction he supposed the carriage must take. At every step the way grew
more intricate and difficult; the pits the peasants dig for chestnut
leaves, the little heaps collected for firewood, intercepted him at
each moment. With torn clothes and bleeding hands he still rushed madly,
resolutely bent upon his object; and, with many a bruise and many a
scar, at last gained the open country just in time to see the second
carriage crowning the peak of the mountain above his head, while he
could hear the sharp, clanking sound of the drag as they fastened it to
the leading carriage. Any attempt to overtake them on the hill must
now be hopeless. He well knew the pace at which a continental postilion
descends a mountain, and how the steepest galleries of Alps and
Apennines are often galloped down at speed. For miles below him he could
see the winding zigzags of the road, and at each turning he fancied
how he might catch sight of her. The mountain itself was terraced with
vineyards from base to summit; but, from the steepness of its side,
these terraces were but narrow strips of ground, barely sufficient for
the vine-dresser to pass when tending his plants, or gathering in their
produce. To look down on this giant stair, for such it seemed, was a
giddy sensation, and few could have surveyed