He heard the piano first, and then a woman's voice singing. Soon a
man's voice joined the woman's, and he knew it was Black Roger,
singing with Carmin Fanchet.
Suddenly the mad impulse in his heart went out, and he leaned his
head nearer to the crack of the door, and strained his ears to
hear. He could make out no word of the song, yet the singing came
to him with a thrill that set his lips apart and brought a staring
wonder into his eyes. In the room below him, fifteen hundred miles
from civilization, Black Roger and Carmin Fanchet were singing
"Home, Sweet Home!"
An hour later David looked through one of the barred windows upon
a world lighted by a splendid moon. He could see the dark edge of
the distant forest that rimmed in the chateau, and about him
seemed to be a level meadow, with here and there the shadow of a
building in which the lights were out. Stars were thick in the
sky, and a strange quietness hovered over the world he looked
upon. From below him floated up now and then a perfume of tobacco
smoke. The guard under his window was awake, but he made no sound.
A little later he undressed, put out the two lights in his room,
and stretched himself between the cool, white sheets on the couch.
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