ng the leather belt of
her tunic.

'It is impossible to open the door!' said Aurelia in despair to her
slave; 'the key is not within the lock where it is usually left.'

'Dear mistress, come,' said Genevieve, 'let us try again. Come, quick.'

And the two, after crossing the court, arrived at the street door. The
efforts of Genevieve were as vain as those of her mistress had been to
open it. She had surmounted one of the half arches, but without a ladder
it was impossible to reach the opening. Suddenly Genevieve remarked to
Aurelia:

'I have read in the family narratives left by Fergan, that one of his
ancestresses, named Meroe, the wife of a sailor, had, by the help of her
husband, been enabled to mount a high tree.'

'By what means?'

'Just lean your back against this door, dear mistress; now, enlace your
two hands in such a way that I can place my foot in their hollow; I will
next place the other on your shoulder, and perhaps thus I shall be
enabled to reach the arch, and from thence I will endeavor to descend
into the street.'

Suddenly the slave heard at a distance the voice of Seigneur Gremion
from the upper story, call out in an angry tone:

'Aurelia! Aurelia!'

'My husband,' exclaimed the young wife trembling.

'Oh! Genevieve, you are lost!'

'Your hands! your hands! dear mistress; if I can only reach to this
opening, I am saved.'

Aurelia obeyed almost mechanically, for the menacing voice of the
Seigneur Gremion drew nearer and nearer.

The slave, after having placed one of her feet in the hollow of the two
hands of her mistress, rested her other foot lightly on her shoulder,
thus reached the opening, contrived to place herself on the thickness of
the wall, and rested for a few moments kneeling under the half arch.

'But in jumping into the street,' suddenly exclaimed Aurelia in fear,
'you will hurt yourself, poor Genevieve.'

At this moment arrived the Seigneur Gremion, pale, enraged, and holding
a lamp in his hand.

'What are you doing there?' he cried, addressing his wife; 'reply!
reply!'

Then perceiving the slave kneeling above the door, he added:

'Ah! wretch! you would escape, and 'tis my wife who favors your flight?'

'Yes,' replied Aurelia courageously, 'yes; and should you kill me on the
spot, she shall escape your ill treatment.'

Genevieve, after looking down into the street from the elevation where
she had crept, saw that she would have to jump twice her own length; she
he