mason took
advantage of his master's back being turned to break one of the two
panes in the top of the door with a blow of his pick. By this Madame de
Merret understood that Rosalie had spoken to Gorenflot. They all three
then saw the face of a dark, gloomy-looking man, with black hair and
flaming eyes.

"Before her husband turned round again the poor woman had nodded to the
stranger, to whom the signal was meant to convey, 'Hope.'

"At four o'clock, as the day was dawning, for it was the month of
September, the work was done. The mason was placed in charge of Jean,
and Monsieur de Merret slept in his wife's room.

"Next morning when he got up he said with apparent carelessness, 'Oh,
by the way, I must go to the Maire for the passport.' He put on his hat,
took two or three steps towards the door, paused, and took the crucifix.
His wife was trembling with joy.

"'He will go to Duvivier's,' thought she.

"As soon as he had left, Madame de Merret rang for Rosalie, and then in
a terrible voice she cried: 'The pick! Bring the pick! and set to work.
I saw how Gorenflot did it yesterday; we shall have time to make a gap
and build it up again.'

"In an instant Rosalie had brought her mistress a sort of cleaver; she,
with a vehemence of which no words can give an idea, set to work to
demolish the wall. She had already got out a few bricks, when, turning
to deal a stronger blow than before, she saw behind her Monsieur de
Merret. She fainted away.

"'Lay madame on her bed,' said he coldly.

"Foreseeing what would certainly happen in his absence, he had laid
this trap for his wife; he had merely written to the Maire and sent for
Duvivier. The jeweler arrived just as the disorder in the room had been
repaired.

"'Duvivier,' asked Monsieur de Merret, 'did not you buy some crucifixes
of the Spaniards who passed through the town?'

"'No, monsieur.'

"'Very good; thank you,' said he, flashing a tiger's glare at his wife.
'Jean,' he added, turning to his confidential valet, 'you can serve my
meals here in Madame de Merret's room. She is ill, and I shall not leave
her till she recovers.'

"The cruel man remained in his wife's room for twenty days. During
the earlier time, when there was some little noise in the closet,
and Josephine wanted to intercede for the dying man, he said, without
allowing her to utter a word, 'You swore on the Cross that there was no
one there.'"

After this story all the ladies rose from table