At that moment a thousand confused ideas passed before my imagination. The robbers who infested the wood, Marguerite’s exclamation respecting her children, the arms and appearance of the two young men, and the various anecdotes which I had heard related, respecting the secret correspondence which frequently exists between banditti and postillions, all these circumstances flashed upon my mind, and inspired me with doubt and apprehension. I ruminated on the most probable means of ascertaining the truth of my conjectures. Suddenly I was aware of someone below pacing hastily backwards and forwards. Everything now appeared to me an object of suspicion. With precaution I drew near the window, which, as the room had been long shut up, was left open in spite of the cold. I ventured to look out. The beams of the moon permitted me to distinguish a man, whom I had no difficulty to recognize for my host. I watched his movements.