er.

"His mother!" he repeated.

"Yes, his mother."

"But does he know this secret, then?"

"I mistook him for a monk and revealed it to him in confession."

"Unhappy man!" cried Grimaud, whose face was covered with sweat at the
bare idea of the evil results such a revelation might cause; "unhappy
man, you named no one, I hope?"

"I pronounced no name, for I knew none, except his mother's, as a young
girl, and it was by this name that he recognized her, but he knows that
his uncle was among her judges."

Thus speaking, he fell back exhausted. Grimaud, wishing to relieve him,
advanced his hand toward the hilt of the dagger.

"Touch me not!" said the executioner; "if this dagger is withdrawn I
shall die."

Grimaud remained with his hand extended; then, striking his forehead, he
exclaimed:

"Oh! if this man should ever discover the names of the others, my master
is lost."

"Haste! haste to him and warn him," cried the wounded man, "if he still
lives; warn his friends, too. My death, believe me, will not be the end
of this atrocious misadventure."

"Where was the monk going?" asked Grimaud.

"Toward Paris."

"Who stopped him?"

"Two young gentlemen, who were on their way to join the army and the
name of one of whom I heard his companion mention--the Viscount de
Bragelonne."

"And it was this young man who brought the monk to you? Then it was the
will of God that it should be so and this it is which makes it all so
awful," continued Grimaud. "And yet that woman deserved her fate; do you
not think so?"

"On one's death-bed the crimes of others appear very small in comparison
with one's own," said the executioner; and falling back exhausted he
closed his eyes.

Grimaud was reluctant to leave the man alone and yet he perceived the
necessity of starting at once to bear these tidings to the Comte de la
Fere. Whilst he thus hesitated the host re-entered the room, followed
not only by a surgeon, but by many other persons, whom curiosity had
attracted to the spot. The surgeon approached the dying man, who seemed
to have fainted.

"We must first extract the steel from the side," said he, shaking his
head in a significant manner.

The prophecy which the wounded man had just uttered recurred to Grimaud,
who turned away his head. The weapon, as we have already stated, was
plunged into the body to the hilt, and as the surgeon, taking it by the
end, drew it forth, the wounded man opened his eyes and fixed them