There she lay in her beauty.
He could not tell why, but, as he stood and looked at her, he felt
that he _must_ save her at all risks. The air he had let in might not
be enough; he would take the charcoal from the stove and throw it out
of the window; but what if she awoke with the noise and screamed? He
hesitated a moment; but he remembered that this would be a safer plan
than leaving the window open, as that might be observed in the morning
from below, and he would thus be betrayed. So, as quietly as possible,
he emptied the stove, and then, having sufficiently aired the room, he
hung on the window again, and retired.
During the whole of these operations Adelaide had remained quite
still, and appeared to be sound asleep. But was she? No. The opening
of the window had awakened her: surprise and terror had at first kept
her silent--a surprise and terror that were by no means diminished
by discovering who the intruder was. Although she had always spoken
kindly to Karl, and even endeavoured, by the amenity of her manner, to
soften his rude nature, she had from the first moment disliked him
exceedingly, and felt his countenance most repulsive; so that, when
she saw him entering her room through the window, she did not doubt
that he was come for some very bad purpose, probably to rob her,
although the booty he was likely to get was small, since her trunks,
with all her valuable property, were nightly placed under Mazzuolo's
care for safety.
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