I begged him not to
do so, fearing an accident. The wall is very high, as you know; the top
is covered with pieces of broken glass, and the acacia branches stretch
out above like a hedge. But he laughed at my fears, and said that,
unless I absolutely forbade him to do so, he was going to attempt
to scale the wall. I dared not say no; and he risked it. I was very
frightened, and trembled like a leaf. Fortunately, he is very active,
and got over without hurting himself. He had come, sir, to tell me of
the misfortune which had befallen him. We first of all sat down upon the
little seat you know of, in front of the grove; then, as the rain was
falling, we took shelter in the summer house. It was past midnight when
Albert left me, quieted and almost gay. He went back in the same manner,
only with less danger, because I made him use the gardener's ladder,
which I laid down alongside the wall when he had reached the other
side."
This account, given in the simplest and most natural manner, puzzled M.
Daburon. What was he to think?
"Mademoiselle," he asked, "had the rain commenced to fall when M. Albert
climbed over the wall?"
"No, sir, the first drops fell when we were on the seat.
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