My spirits rose a little after breakfast the next morning, though I only
smiled sadly as I thought of my many disappointments; but we had had a
long talk with Patty, and she had faithfully promised never, upon any
consideration, to divulge one of our secrets. Of course I did not like
making another confidante; but, under the circumstances, what could one
do?
"Ah!" said Patty; "but it was a great shame that you did not tell me
before."
"Why, we should have told you," said Clara--a wicked storyteller--"only
you do sleep so soundly, dear."
Though, after all, perhaps that was nearly the truth; for, if she had
not slept so soundly, we should have been obliged to let her into our
secrets sooner.
This satisfied her, but it did not satisfy me; for the stupid creature
must go about looking so knowing, and cunning, and deep, and laugh and
leer at Clara, and nod and wink at me, all day long, till it was
dreadfully aggravating, and enough to make anybody suspicious; and I
almost wonder that one of the watchful dragons did not have something to
say about it.
"Why, we shall be obliged to have her in the room all the time," I said
to Clara, as I was thinking of my next interview with Achille; that is,
if I ever was to have another.
"Never mind, dear," replied Clara; "it cannot matter much. She is very
stupid, and I daresay that I can keep her in order."
I contrived to let Achille know all when he came the next day, and gave
him to understand that he might try again upon any night he liked; for
the last was only a false alarm, and all would have gone well had I but
only held tightly by the cord. I gave him the information, written in
French, at the top of my exercise, while Miss Furness was in the room,
when if he had not the audacity to call me up to his elbow--for he had
seen it all in an instant--and if he did not point out and mark two or
three mistakes in the note I had scribbled so hastily at the top about
the last meeting. However, I suppose he wished me to speak his own
language correctly; and none but the brave deserve the fair.
There was one thing, though, in our correspondence which I did not
like--poor Achille never could take any interest in our English poets;
so that, if one quoted a bit of Byron or Moore to him, it was good for
nothing, while he, the tiresome man, was always filling up his notes
with scraps of Moliere, and I am sure I always praised them, and said
that they were very beautiful.
And now once more came the night for meeting, with all its
heart-throbbing flurry and excitement; but this time, apparently,
without any of the terrible contretemps that had previously troubled us.
Patty was in high glee, and sat on the edge of her bedstead, munching
an Abernethy biscuit, and grinning; while her great eyes, instead of
half closing, like anybody else's would when they were laughing, became
more round and wide open than ever. It seemed to be capital fun to her,
and over and over again, when I glanced at her, she was giggling and
laughing; and I do believe that, if I had not been there, she would have
got up and danced about the room.
But it was time to start at last, and upon this occasion I had no noisy
drawer to open, for I had a ball of new, stout string in my pocket. So,
one at a time, we glided along the passage, Clara going first, Patty
second, and I followed behind, to close our door as quietly as was
possible.
"Pat, pat, pat," and, with a gentle rustle, we passed along the passage,
and stood at last in the little end room, while I am sure that no one
could have heard our footsteps.
Clara made one effort to get rid of Patty before we started, but it was
of no avail.
"Arn't you afraid of catching a worse cold?" she said; "hadn't you
better stay in the bedroom, dear?"
For really she had a most miserable cold, and her eyes and nose looked
as red as red.
"I sha'n't catch any more cold than you will," she cried, just as she
had once before upon a similar occasion--"I want to see all the fun."
Fancy calling it fun!
So we were obliged to suffer her presence; but I am afraid that I was
uncharitable enough to wish that she might catch a bad sore throat for
her pains, or else something that would keep her from coming again.
However, there we all were; and as soon as ever we were all in the
little room, I secured the door with a fork that I had brought for the
purpose, and then, pulling out my string, I unfastened the window, when,
fortunately, it glided up beautifully.
Clara was the first to look out, and it not being a dark night, she
popped in again directly, saying in a whisper--
"There he is. I can see him."
"Let me look," cried Patty Smith, quite out loud; and then, when her
head was out of the window, if she did not give quite a loud cough, in
not only a most indiscreet way, but, really, one that was most
reprehensible.
I pulled her back as quickly as I could, and, in a whisper, gave her a
good scolding. Then I tied my scissors to the end of the string, to
make it go down quickly, and swinging them over the great ledge, I
looked down; but I could not see poor Achille, for he had come close up
to the house, and was, of course, out of sight beneath the cornice.
"But I shall see him soon," I said to myself; and went on letting down
the scissors till the string felt slack, and I knew that they touched
the ground, when, just as before, I felt the string seized and jerked
about, as if being attached to something; and well I knew what, though a
half-fear took hold upon me now lest it should break the string, which
was not so strong as I could have wished.
But now there was the signal; and I began to pull up the heavy rope
ladder, cutting my poor little fingers with the string. At first it
came up pretty quickly, but soon slower, for again it began to grow
heavier; and at last, when I made sure that it must be nearly up, if it
must not turn contrary against us, and catch against the cornice, and
remain immovable.
What was I to do? It was of no use to pull and jerk; for, if we had
pulled any harder, I'm sure that the string must have broken. If it had
not been for Clara, I should have climbed out of the window, and stood
upon the cornice, to set it at liberty, for she could easily have held
my hand, so that I should really have been quite safe.
But she would not hear of this, and I don't know what I should have done
if I had not thought of lowering the ladder down a little way, and then
trying again, when, to my great delight, up it came, and Clara soon had
hold of a pair of great iron hooks, just the sort of hooks I expected to
see; and on fixing them upon the sill, my side, we found that they
fitted beautifully; so I threw myself upon them to hold them in their
places, lest they should slip.
Just after that there was a sharp rustle of the rope, and then it was
pulled tight; while now, making Clara hold one hook and Patty the other,
I strained out as far as I could reach, so that I could see Achille
mounting, slowly ascending, the dangerous thing; and, although we all
held on as tightly as we could, when he was about a dozen feet from the
ground the tiresome rope began to twist and spin round and round, so
that the poor fellow was twisting just as if he was being roasted, and
I'm sure he must have been as giddy as giddy.
Fortunately for him, he did not always go the same way round, but
twisted back again, or else he must have dropped off. It was not as if
he had been close up to the house, for then he could have touched the
wall and stopped himself; but the cornice, which was a good width, kept
him away, so that he swung clear. And perhaps, after all, it was quite
as well, for he might else have gone right through one of the windows.
It was very shuddery and dreadful; but we poor girls could do nothing
but grasp the rope and hold our breath, and, as Clara said, hold our
tongues; though Patty would keep letting go, and staring out of the
window when she was not wanted to.
"Won't I tease him about this," she said. "Only see, the first time he
finds fault with my exercises."
"Hush! you foolish child," I exclaimed. "Good gracious me! you must
never say a word to him about it, under any consideration."
"Mustn't I?" said Patty, as innocently as could be.
"No, of course not," cried Clara; "that would ruin everything."
For I was now reaching as far as could be out of the window, to see what
poor Achille was about; for the rope seemed to be doing nothing, and did
not jerk as if he was getting higher and higher. And then, oh, dear! if
I could not just see one of his feet where his head was last time I
looked; for he was sitting upon the sill of the first floor window--the
best bedroom, which was, of course, empty--and, I suppose, resting
himself.