that had escaped from its confinement
and wandered down upon her shoulder in the agitation of the moment
showed her how little there was in common between the child and her.

"I bore him; he is mine!" she screamed in fury. "He's French, and
will grow up to be a Frenchman, knowing no word of your dirty German
language; and some day he shall go and help to kill the whole pack of
you, to avenge those whom you have murdered!"

Charlot, tightening his clasp about her neck, began to cry, shrieking:

"Mammy, mammy, I'm 'fraid! take me away!"

Then Goliah, doubtless because he did not wish to create a scandal,
stepped back, and in a harsh, stern voice, unlike anything she had ever
heard from his lips before, made this declaration:

"Bear in mind what I am about to tell you, Silvine. I know all that
happens at this farm. You harbor the francs-tireurs from the wood of
Dieulet, among them that Sambuc who is brother to your hired man; you
supply the bandits with provisions. And I know that that hired man,
Prosper, is a chasseur d'Afrique and a deserter, and belongs to us
by rights. Further, I know that you are concealing on your premises
a wounded man, another soldier, whom a word from me would suffice
to consign to a German fortress. What do you think: am I not well
informed?"

She was listening to him now, tongue-tied and terror-stricken, while
little Charlot kept piping in her ear with lisping voice:

"Oh! mammy, mammy, take me away, I'm 'fraid!"

"Come," resumed Goliah, "I'm not a bad fellow, and I don't like quarrels
and bickering, as you are well aware, but I swear by all that's holy I
will have them all arrested, Father Fouchard and the rest, unless you
consent to admit me to your chamber on Monday next. I will take the
child, too, and send him away to Germany to my mother, who will be very
glad to have him; for you have no further right to him, you know, if you
are going to leave me. You understand me, don't you? The folks will all
be gone, and all I shall have to do will be to come and carry him away.
I am the master; I can do what pleases me--come, what have you to say?"

But she made no answer, straining the little one more closely to her
breast as if fearing he might be torn from her then and there, and in
her great eyes was a look of mingled terror and execration.

"It is well; I give you three days to think the matter over. See to it
that your bedroom window that opens on the orchard is left open. If I
do