concerns her ladyship; what use do you intend to make of this
knowledge?'

"The Frenchman very coolly intimated that it was none of my business,
and continued his employment. His back was towards me; I approached
nearer to him, and said, in a low tone--

"'You infernal, backbiting, sneaking scoundrel, you have often
betrayed me to my master, and would now betray her ladyship. You shall
not live to do it--die like a dog, as you are!'

"While thus addressing him, I had drawn forth my knife; and as I
uttered the last words, I plunged it with all my force into his left
side, up to the very handle. The blade passed directly through his
heart, and without a groan he fell dead at my feet.

"No remorse--no sorrow for the bloody deed I had committed, found
entrance to my soul; on the contrary, I gazed at the corpse with
savage exultation. 'That babbling tongue is now forever hushed,'
thought I; and then, as a sudden strange thought struck me, I
added--'and that tongue shall be my passport to a bliss more exquisite
than the joys of Paradise.' With an untrembling hand I cut off the
dead man's tongue, secured it about me, and having hid the body behind
a row of wine casks, left the cellar, securely locked the door, and
then went about my usual avocations, resolving to dispose of the
corpse that night in some manner that should avert suspicion from me,
for I had every confidence in my own ingenuity.

"Towards evening, I sought and obtained an interview with her
ladyship, in private. She advanced to meet me with a hurried step and
sparkling eyes.

"'Simpson, _is it done_?' she asked, in a tone of extreme agitation,
and laying her delicate hand on my arm.

"'It is, your ladyship,' was my reply, producing and holding before
her the bloody evidence of the deed--'and here is the tongue of
Lagrange,--the tongue that would have proclaimed your shame and
effected your ruin, had its owner lived; but he now lies a cold
corpse, and this once mischievous member is now as powerless as a
piece of carrion beneath a butcher's shamble.'

"'And the body--how will you dispose of that?' she asked, shuddering,
and turning from the sickening spectacle with disgust.

"'To-night it shall be sunk deep in the waters of the Thames,' I
replied; and then, in a more familiar manner than I had as yet
ventured to assume, I reminded her ladyship of the _reward_ she had
promise