Clara, and I soon crushed it down; for I was not going toharbour any such cruel, faithless thoughts as that I had told Achilleagain and again that I loved him very dearly; and of course I did, andthere was an end of it. But still, though I bit my lips very hard, andtried not to think of such things, it did seem tiresome, I must own, tohave to sit up waiting so long; and, like Clara, I did begin to long fora change. If we could have met pleasantly by day, or had a quietevening walk, and all on like that, it would have been different; but,after the first flush of the excitement and romance, it began to grow alittle tame.
"Heigh--ho!--ha!--hum!" said Clara, interrupting my reverie by aterrible yawn, so that had it been daylight I'm sure any one might haveseen down her throat, for she never attempted to put her hand before hermouth.
But I could not tell her of it; since I had only the minute before beenyawning so terribly myself that I was quite ashamed. For really thereseemed to be so little romance about it.
"Let's go to bed in real earnest," said Clara. "I'm sure I will, ifyou'll agree."
"For shame!" I exclaimed. "What would they say?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Clara; "they've disappointed us before now."
"But then they could not help it," I replied.
"No, nor I can't help it now," said Clara; "for I'm so sleepy."
"But it would look so," I said, repressing another yawn; for I, too, wasdreadfully tired.
"I don't care," said Clara. "I don't want to hear about the revolutionto-night, and what Garibaldi once did. I don't care. Red shirts arebecoming, but one gets tired of hearing about them. It is such dullwork, all four of us being together, and watching every movement. Itisn't as if we were alone."
"I do declare I'm quite ashamed of you," I said. "Why, it would not beprudent for us to go alone."
"Oh, no, of course not," said Clara, mockingly. "Nobody you know everwent down to the elms all alone by herself."
"But you knew of it," I said.
"No thanks to you, miss, if I did; so come, now," replied Clara.
I saw that it was of no use to dispute with her, so I let the matterdrop; and then, opening the window, I leaned out, when I heard voiceswhispering in what seemed to be the shrubbery, just beyond theconservatory cistern; and, withdrawing my head, I hastily told Clara.
"Why, they are soon to-night," she whispered, as, carefully closing thewindow, I then opened the door, and we stood at the top of the greatstaircase, after going on tiptoe past the Fraulein's room.
We listened patiently for some time, as we stood hand in hand; whileneither of us now seemed disposed to yawn. Then we quickly and quietlydescended; but before we reached the bottom I recollected that I hadleft our door open, and it would be a great chance if some one did nothear Patty snoring.
"Go back and shut it, there's a dear," I said, in a whisper.
"No, you go, dear," said Clara. "I'll wait for you."
But I did not like going alone; neither did she. So we went togetherand shut it; and at last we stood listening at the foot of the stairs,for I half fancied I heard the click of a door-handle. But it was notrepeated; and feeling sure that it was only fancy, we quietly unlockedthe drawing-room door, glided in, closed it after us, and thenunfastened the shutters of the French window, when we stood in theconservatory, at the end of which was the sash, giving, as Achillecalled it, upon the rain water tank--whose very broad edge was coveredwith ivy, upon which they used to climb from the low terrace wall thatran down to the little fountain of which I have spoken before, and thenstand in the empty cistern.
"I always put on my old sings when I come, _chere_ Laure," poor Achilleused to say to me, which of course was not very complimentary; but,then, all his estates had been confiscated, and my Lady Blunt was toofond of money to part with much for her teachers.
When we peeped out of our window there was no one there; so we pulled upthe sash very gently, and stood waiting till, in each of our cases,Romeo came.
It had turned out a lovely night, rather dark, for the moon had sunkinto a bank of vapour in the far west, while the varied scents of natureseemed sweeter than ever; but one could not help thinking how wet thegentlemen would get amongst the ivy, and I quite shivered as I thoughtabout the great cistern being quite full with the heavy rain. For ifthey did not recollect this, as they had generally stood upon the leadbottom, how shocking would be the result!
Once again I fancied that I heard a slight noise; but this time it wasfrom the leads by the back staircase window; and upon whispering toClara, she called me a stupid, nervous thing, and I heard it no more;but directly after, the rustling we heard told who were coming.
Five minutes passed and there was more rustling amongst the leaves--anejaculation in French--an expression in Italian--and a loud splash, asif a leg had fallen into the water; while directly after we could seethem quite plainly, crawling along like two great tom-cats upon the edgeof the lead cistern, till they were close under the window, indreadfully awkward positions; for the big cistern had never had water inbefore all through the summer, on account of a little leak, and now--though, doubtless, the great place would be quite empty next day, it wasbrimful in consequence of the storm.
Yes, I remember perfectly fancying that they looked like cats, and Ifelt ashamed of myself for thinking so disrespectfully of them, anddetermined to be extra kind to Achille so as to mentally apologise--poorfellow! Of course they could not stand up to their waistcoats in softwater, so they had to stay on the edge, and, as we found out afterwards,they did come off so black--oh, so terribly black!--upon us, just as ifwe had had visits from the sweeps.
It was poor Achille who put his leg in the tank; and every time he movedI could hear the water make such a funny noise in his boot, just as ifit was half full; and, oh, poor fellow, he was obliged to move everyminute, and hold on by the window-sill as he knelt there, or else hewould have had to stand up, and, being so much higher than where wewhere, I should have had to talk to his knees. It was just as bad forthe poor Signor and Clara; and I certainly should have been imprudentenough to have asked them in, if I had not known how Achille would havedripped on the stones, and so betrayed us.
I could not help thinking about what Clara had said that evening, and itreally did seem so tiresome; for there we all four were, if anythingmore close together than ever, and it grew thoroughly puzzling sometimesto know who was meant when Pazzoletto whispered "_Cava mia_," or"_Bellissima_," or "_Fanciullina_," or "_Carissima_;" or Achillemurmured "_Mon amie_," "_Ma petite_," or "_Beaux yeux_;" and I oftenstarted, and so did Clara, at such times.
But there, who could expect to enjoy the roses of love without thethorns? And yet, I don't know how it was, there seemed to be somethingwrong altogether that night; for I heard Clara gape twice, and I had tocover my mouth to stay more than one yawn, while I'm sure the gentlemenboth wanted to go; though, of course, I could make plenty of excuses forpoor Achille--he must have been so wet and uncomfortable--though I didoffer to lend him my handkerchief to wipe away some of the water.
I should think that we had been carrying on a whispered conversation forabout a quarter of an hour, when all at once I exclaimed in a deepwhisper--
"Hush!--what was that?" We all started; for as I spoke, startled by theclick as of a window fastening, there was the sound of an opening sash.A light flashed out above our heads, and shone upon the skylight, theleads, and the back staircase window, when if there, quite plain, wasnot a policeman standing by a figure at the latter. Then there was ahurrying scramble, and the shutting of a sash; and we could hear voices,while we all stood in the shade, silent as mice, and trembling so thatthe gentlemen had to hold us tightly.
"Von sbirro veseet de maiden," said the Signor, in a whisper.
"Oh! what shall we do?" gasped Clara.
"_Taisez_!" hissed Achille, who seemed to come out nobly in the greattrouble--"_taisez_, and all shall be well; my faith, yes--it is so."
"They will us not see," whispered the Signor.
"_Mais non_!" eja
culated Achille. "But that police? What of him? Wemust wait."
"Oh, yes," I said, "pray do not move. It is one of the servants who hasbeen discovered. I am sure that we shall be safe if we keep quitestill."
But the words were no sooner out of my mouth than there was a burst oflight through the half-closed shutters behind us, a buzz of voices, andLady Blunt, the four teachers, and several of the pupils, hurried intothe drawing-room; and then, seeing the partly closed shutters, stood fora moment as if afraid to come any further.
I darted from _pauvre_ Achille, giving him a sharp jerk at the samemoment; and, as my elbow crashed through a pane of glass, and I