VALSERINE
on the rough road which ran from the high road up to the house and turned away from the little path. She leaned as far out of the window as she could so as to listen better. When she was quite sure that the sound was coming nearer, she went to the door and bolted it, ran back to the window and closed it softly. Then she waited behind the window curtain, trembling as she waited.
A few moments afterwards she saw the horse. He climbed up the rough little road with drooping head. The reins were hanging down on one side of his neck, and she saw that the man walking by the horse's side was a gendarme. He came up the hill with his two fists on his hips, and his step, which was measured, was firm and regular. The child flattened herself close up against the wall so that he should not see her. She heard the horse stop in front of the door, and she guessed that the gendarme was rapping with the back2
