noon
As he stood there , an outline , a shadow , appeared under the church porch : a something , a being , indescribable , appeared , disappeared , running with spirit-like swiftness , vanishing . Henri de Loubersac had a clear conviction that during his conversation with her who might have been his fiancée in days to come , they had been shadowed , spied upon ! There were strange happenings elsewhere on the day Henri de Loubersac and Wilhelmine de Naarboveck had parted in grief and anger . It was on the stroke of noon when Corporal Vinson heard a key turn in the lock of his cell . Two military jailors confronted him . `` Butler ? '' The traitor answered to that name .