e the
box. As he turned to resume his place in the carriage beside his mother
the horses started; Desire did not step back against the parapet in
time; the step of the carriage cut through both legs and he fell, the
hind wheel passing over his body. The messenger who goes to Paris for
the best surgeon will bring you this letter, which my son in the midst
of his sufferings desires me to write so as to let you know our entire
submission to your decisions in the matter about which he was coming to
speak to me.

I shall be grateful to you to my dying day for the manner in which you
have acted, and I will deserve your goodness.

Francois Minoret.

This cruel event convulsed the whole town of Nemours. The crowds
standing about the gate of the Minoret house were the first to tell
Savinien that his vengeance had been taken by a hand more powerful than
his own. He went at once to Ursula's house, where he found both the abbe
and the young girl more distressed than surprised.

The next day, after the wounds were dressed, and the doctors and
surgeons from Paris had given their opinion that both legs must be
amputated, Minoret went, pale, humbled, and broken down, accompanied by
the abbe, to Ursula's house, where he found also Monsieur Bongrand and
Savinien.

"Mademoiselle," he said; "I am very guilty towards you; but if all the
wrongs I have done you are not wholly reparable, there are some that
I can expiate. My wife and I have made a vow to make over to you in
absolute possession our estate at Rouvre in case our son recovers, and
also in case we have the dreadful sorrow of losing him."

He burst into tears as he said the last words.

"I can assure you, my dear Ursula," said the abbe, "that you can and
that you ought to accept a part of this gift."

"Will you forgive me?" said Minoret, humbly kneeling before the
astonished girl. "The operation is about to be performed by the first
surgeon of the Hotel-Dieu; but I do not trust to human science, I rely
only on the power of God. If you will forgive us, if you ask God to
restore our son to us, he will have strength to bear the agony and we
shall have the joy of saving him."

"Let us go to the church!" cried Ursula, rising.

But as she gained her feet, a piercing cry came from her lips, and
she fell backward fainting. When her senses returned, she saw her
friends--but not Minoret who had rushed for a doctor--looking at her
with anxious eyes, seeking an explanation. As sh