y own
existence to preserve that of others, and have saved human lives in
exchange for the one I had unwarrantably taken. I frequented the
churches, sought out the poor to console and relieve them; those who
once avoided became accustomed to see me, and some have even loved me.
But God has not pardoned me; for, do what I will, the memory of my
crime pursues me, and each night in my dreams the spectre of that
woman stands menacing before me."

"A woman! Was it a woman, then, whom you assassinated?" cried the
monk.

"And you, too," exclaimed the headsman--"you, too, use that word,
assassinated. It _was_ an assassination, then, not an execution, and I
am a murderer!"

He shut his eyes and uttered a hollow moan. The monk feared probably
that he would die without completing his confession, for he hastened
to console him.

"Go on," said he. "I cannot yet know how far you are guilty. When I
have heard all, I will decide. Tell me, then, how you came to commit
this deed."

"It was night," resumed the headsman, in faltering accents: "a man
came to my house to seek me, and showed me an order. I followed him.
Four other gentlemen were waiting for him; they put a mask upon my
face, and led me with them. I was resolved to resist, if what they
required me to do appeared unjust. We rode on for five or six leagues
almost without uttering a word; at last we halted--and they showed me,
through the window of a cottage, a woman seated at a table. 'That,'
said they, 'is she whom you are to decapitate.'"

"Horrible!" exclaimed the monk. "And you obeyed?"

"Father, that woman was a monster; she had poisoned her husband, had
tried to assassinate her brother-in-law, who was one of the men that
now accompanied me; she had murdered a young girl whom she thought her
rival; and, before leaving England, had instigated the assassination
of the king's favourite."

"Buckingham?" exclaimed the monk.

"Yes, Buckingham--that was the name."

"She was an Englishwoman, then?"

"No--a Frenchwoman, but she had been married to an English nobleman."

The monk grew pale, passed his hand across his forehead, and, rising
from the bed, approached the door and bolted it. The headsman thought
that he was leaving him, and implored him to return.

"I am here," said the monk, resuming his seat. "Who were the five men
who accompanied you?"

"One was an Englishman; the other four were French, and wore the
uniform of the mousquetaires."

"Their names?"