In his excitement to see what would come next, he did not check the
stepping of his horse, but only kept it to a gentle pace. Thus he came
where the road turned round with the rounding cliff, and here for a bit
he saw no picture upon the rock; but still he looked intently, hoping
that the panorama was not ended, and only just noticed that there was
another horse beside his own within the lonely scene. In some places
here the snow was drifted high near the track; in others, both the road
and the adjoining tracts of ice were swept by the wind almost bare of
snow. He soon became aware that the horse he had espied was not upon the
road. Then, aroused to curiosity, he turned out of his path and rode
through shallow snow till he came close to it.
The horse was standing quite still, and its rider was standing beside
it, one arm embracing its neck, and with head leaning back against the
creature's glossy shoulder. The person thus standing was Madame Le
Maitre, and she was looking up steadfastly at the cliffs, of which this
point in the road displayed a new expanse.
So silently had the horse of Caius moved in the muffling snow that,
coming up on the other side, he was able to look at the lady for one
full moment before she saw him, and in that moment and the next he saw
that the sight of him robbed her face of the peace which had been
written there.
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