e back again into the room. And
there was I standing in the midst of it! It had the effect upon them of
a thunderbolt. The old woman let fall the dish and the young one rushed
at me like a maniac:

"'You deaf hog, you! what have you done with the child?'

"'Don't bawl so loudly, my good woman,' I said. 'I can hear you just as
well if you speak softly.'

"'What have you done with the child?'

"'Don't be uneasy about it, it is in a safe place.'

"'You old fool, you; you will bring the whole lot of us to ruin. Do you
know what you are doing?'

"'I know this much, that however you may have got hold of the child it
shall not fall into _your_ hands again. I will take it and care for it
myself, and whoever dares to come into my room after it shall have good
cause to remember that I am the public executioner!'

"And with that I went into my room and locked it behind me. The women
cursed aloud and hammered at my door, and the old witch threatened to
undo me in all sorts of ways; but I quietly and comfortably got out my
milk-warming machine and heated a mash of breadcrumbs and milk over my
spirit lamp. When it was ready I took the little child upon my lap and
fed it nicely myself. Then I made a cradle for it out of my coverlet,
which I slung upon a beam, and rocked it to sleep, and when I looked at
it in the morning it was still slumbering."

After saying these words the headsman took out of a little cabinet a
small bundle, carefully wrapped up in paper, and, unwinding it gradually
from its manifold wrappings, set out its contents before the stranger.

In the parcel was a dainty little child's smock, a pair of socks, and a
baby's cap trimmed with pearls. Everyone of these items was marked with
a red "E."

"I keep these things as souvenirs," he continued. "This crisp little
smock, this baby's bonnet embroidered with rosebuds and forget-me-nots,
are more precious to me than all the treasures of life, for to them I
owe the soothing moments which poured balm into my soul. It was by the
side of this child, sir, that I learnt to pray. Something whispered to
me that this child was sent to me from Heaven. And so it must have
been. Nobody under heaven loves me save she, and I love nobody, nothing
else in the world. I have never tried to find out who the child might
be, nay, rather I have trembled lest she might one day be discovered and
demanded back from me. But all these years nobody has inquired after
her. I fancy she must