Now the footsteps have turned the corner!  Dim forms already shape themselves in the night mist.  The other dogs, barking savagely, are behind—­they are coming—­they are at hand!  Ah!  Nobili, what can you do now?—­Nobili understands his danger.  Quick as thought Nobili has dealt Argo a tremendous blow under the left ear.  He seizes him by his milk-white hair so long and beautiful, he flings him against the low wall almost insensible.  Argo falls a shapeless mass.  He is stunned and motionless.  Before the shadow of Adamo is upon him—­before the dogs noses touch him—­Nobili is on his feet.  With one bound he has leaped through the window—­the same from which the voices had come (it has been opened in the scuffle)—­in an instant he closes the sash!  He is safe!

Coming suddenly out of the darkness, after the great force he had put forth, Nobili feels giddy and bewildered.  At first he sees nothing but that there is a light in the centre of the room.  As his eyes fix themselves upon it the light almost blinds him.  He puts his hand to his forehead, where the veins had swollen out like cords upon his fair skin.  He puts up his hands to shade his dazzled eyes before which clouds of stars dance desperately.  He steadies himself and looks round.

Before him stands Enrica!

By Pipa’s care the bridegroom’s chamber had been chosen next the bride’s when she prepared Count Nobili’s room.  Pipa was straightforward and simple in her notions of matrimony, but, like a wise woman, she had held her tongue.

Nobili and Enrica are alone.  A furtive glance passes between them.  Neither of them moves.  Neither of them speaks.  The first movement comes from Enrica.  She sinks backward upon a chair.  The tangle of her yellow hair closes round her face upon which a deep blush had risen at sight of Nobili.  When that blush had died out she looked resigned, almost passionless.  She knew that the moment had come which must decide her fate.  Before they two parted she would hear from the lips of the man she loved if they were ever to meet again!  Her eyes fell to the ground.  She dared not raise them.  If she looked at Nobili, she must fling herself into his arms.

Nobili, standing on the same spot beyond the circle of the light, gazes at Enrica in silence.  He is overwhelmed by the most conflicting emotions.  But the spell of her beauty is upon him.  His pulses beat madly.  For an instant he forgets where he is.  He forgets all but that Enrica is before him.  For a moment!  Then his brain clears.  He remembers every thing—­remembers—­oh, how bitterly!—­that, after all that has passed, his very presence in that room is an insult to her!  He feels he ought to go—­yet an irresistible longing chains him to the spot.  He moves toward the door.  To reach it he must pass close to Enrica.  When he is near the door he stops.  The light shows that his clothes are torn—­that there is blood upon his face and hands.  In scarcely articulate words Nobili addresses her.