. They had hardly closed the gate before I sprang from
the window and ran to the well. Then, just as my governor had leaned
over, so leaned I. Something white and luminous glistened in the green
and quivering silence of the water. The brilliant disk fascinated and
allured me; my eyes became fixed, and I could hardly breathe. The well
seemed to draw me downwards with its slimy mouth and icy breath; and I
thought I read, at the bottom of the water, characters of fire traced
upon the letter the queen had touched. Then, scarcely knowing what I was
about, and urged on by one of those instinctive impulses which drive
men to destruction, I lowered the cord from the windlass of the well to
within about three feet of the water, leaving the bucket dangling, at
the same time taking infinite pains not to disturb that coveted
letter, which was beginning to change its white tint for the hue of
chrysoprase,--proof enough that it was sinking,--and then, with the
rope weltering in my hands, slid down into the abyss. When I saw myself
hanging over the dark pool, when I saw the sky lessening above my head,
a cold shudder came over me, a chill fear got the better of me, I was
seized with giddiness, and the hair rose on my head; but my strong will
still reigned supreme over all the terror and disquietude. I gained
the water, and at once plunged into it, holding on by one hand, while I
immersed the other and seized the dear letter, which, alas! came in two
in my grasp. I concealed the two fragments in my body-coat, and, helping
myself with my feet against the sides of the pit, and clinging on with
my hands, agile and vigorous as I was, and, above all, pressed for time,
I regained the brink, drenching it as I touched it with the water that
streamed off me. I was no sooner out of the well with my prize, than I
rushed into the sunlight, and took refuge in a kind of shrubbery at
the bottom of the garden. As I entered my hiding-place, the bell which
resounded when the great gate was opened, rang. It was my preceptor come
back again. I had but just time. I calculated that it would take ten
minutes before he would gain my place of concealment, even if, guessing
where I was, he came straight to it; and twenty if he were obliged to
look for me. But this was time enough to allow me to read the cherished
letter, whose fragments I hastened to unite again. The writing was
already fading, but I managed to decipher it all.

"And will you tell me what you re