y, 'we'll make short shrift with the old men, women and
children.'

"'Yes; long live the holy Roman Church! Hurrah for the holy faith! Down
with the barbetti!' cried a chorus of voices. 'We'll have a second St.
Bartholomew in these valleys and rid them of the hated presence of the
cursed heretics.'

"'That we will,' responded Giuseppe. 'But what's the order of
proceedings?'

"'All the faithful to meet at Luserna at sunset; the vesper bell of the
convent gives the signal shortly after, and we immediately spread
ourselves over the valley on a heretic hunt that from San Giovanni to
Bobbi shall leave not a soul alive to tell the tale.'

"While Magdalen and Lucia conversed in the cottage of the former, M.
Brianza, cure of Luserna, seated in the confessional, listened with
horror and indignation to a tale of intended wholesale rapine, murder,
and arson, which his penitent was unfolding.

"'I will have neither part nor lot in this thing,' said the priest to
himself, as he left the church a moment later; 'nay more, I shall warn
the intended victims of their danger.'

"Hurrying to his house, he instantly dispatched messengers in all haste
to San Giovanni and La Tour.

"About the same time, in the more remote town of Cavour, the fiendish
plot was revealed to Captain Odetti, an officer of the Piedmontese
militia, then enrolled to act against the French, with a request that he
would take part in its execution. Being a rigid Romanist it was
confidently expected that he would willingly do so.

"But as noble and humane a man as Luserna's good cure, he listened with
like horror and detestation, and mounting his horse, instantly set off
for La Tour to warn the helpless folk of the threatened calamity, and
assist in averting it, if that might yet be possible.

"He travelled post haste, for time pressed; the appointed hour for the
attack already drew so near that it was doubtful if even the most prompt
action could still avail.

"Pale and breathless with haste and terror, Lucia and Henri gained the
shelter of their home, and in reply to the anxious questioning of mother
and grandparents, told of the hot pursuit of the evil men who had chased
them into the town.

"Their story was heard with much concern, not only by the family, but
also by a young man who had entered nearly at the same moment with
themselves.

"His right arm was in a sling; his face, thin and wan with suffering,
wore an expression of anxiety and alarm which