The girl did as she was told; she no longer resisted; she was
overwhelmed, worn out. Once more they encountered the diluvian rain,
as they ran side by side as hard as they could across the yard. It was
a baronial courtyard, huge, and surrounded with stone arcades,
indistinct amidst the gloom. However, they came to a narrow passage
without a door, and he let go her hand. She could hear him trying to
strike some matches, and swearing. They were all damp. It was
necessary for them to grope their way upstairs.

'Take hold of the banisters, and be careful,' said Claude; 'the steps
are very high.'

The staircase, a very narrow one, a former servants' staircase, was
divided into three lofty flights, which she climbed, stumbling, with
unskilful, weary limbs. Then he warned her that they had to turn down
a long passage. She kept behind him, touching the walls on both sides
with her outstretched hands, as she advanced along that endless
passage which bent and came back to the front of the building on the
quay. Then there were still other stairs right under the roof
--creaking, shaky wooden stairs, which had no banister, and suggested
the unplaned rungs of a miller's ladder. The landing at the top was so
small that the girl knocked against the young man, as he fumbled in
his pocket for his key. At last, however, he opened the door.

'Don't come in, but wait, else you'll hurt yourself again.'

She did not stir. She was panting for breath, her heart was beating
fast, there was a buzzing in her ears, and she felt indeed exhausted
by that ascent in the dense gloom. It seemed to her as if she had been