The stillness of the night, so deep in
mountain regions, enabled her to hear the fall of every leaf even at a
distance, and these slight sounds vibrated on the air as though to
give a measure of the silence or the solitude. The wind was blowing
across the heights and sweeping away the clouds with violence,
producing an alternation of shadows and light, the effect of which
increased her fears, and gave fantastic and terrifying semblances to
the most harmless objects. She turned her eyes to the houses of
Fougeres, where the domestic lights were burning like so many earthly
stars, and she presently saw distinctly the tower of Papegaut. She was
but a very short distance from her own house, but within that space
was the ravine. She remembered the declivities by which she had come,
and wondered if there were not more risk in attempting to return to
Fougeres than in following out the purpose which had brought her. She
reflected that the marquis's glove would surely protect her from the
Chouans, and that Madame du Gua was the only enemy to be really
feared. With this idea in her mind, Marie clasped her dagger, and
tried to find the way to a country house the roofs of which she had
noticed as she climbed Saint-Sulpice; but she walked slowly, for she
suddenly became aware of the majestic solemnity which oppresses a
solitary being in the night time in the midst of wild scenery, where
lofty mountains nod their heads like assembled giants.
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