though she had done him no wrong,
save the wrong of mercy and pity. But his spirit was too mean for the
great passions; he felt only the sordid ones, which to a woman are the
most hateful. And instead of quailing, she looked at him with flashing
eyes. "I shall warn him," she said.

"It will not help him," he answered, sitting still, and feeling the
edge of the hatchet with his fingers.

"It will help him," she retorted. "He shall go. He shall escape before
they come."

"I have locked the doors!"

"Give me the key!" she panted. "Give me the key, I say!" She had risen
and was standing before him, her figure drawn to its full height. He
rose hastily and retreated behind the table, still retaining the
hatchet in his grasp.

"Stand back!" he said, sullenly. "You may awaken him, if you please,
my girl. It will not avail him. Do you not understand, fool, that he
is worth five crowns? And listen! It is too late now. They are here!"

A blow fell on the door as he spoke, and he stepped towards it. But at
that despair moved her, and she threw herself upon him, and for a
moment wrestled with him. At last, with an effort he flung her off,
and, brandishing his weapon in her face, kept her at bay. "You vixen!"
he cried, savagely, retreating to the door, with a pale cheek and his
eyes still on her, for he was an arrant coward. "You deserve to go to
prison with him, you jade! I will have you in the stocks for this!"

She leaned against the wall where she had fallen, her white,
despairing face seeming almost to shine in the darkness of the
wretched room. Meanwhile the continuous murmur of men's voices outside
could now be heard, mingled with the ring of weapons; and the summons
for admission was again and again repeated, as if those without had no
mind to be kept waiting.

"Patience! patience! I am opening!" he cried. Still keeping his face
to her, he unlocked the door and called on the men to enter. "He is in
the straw, M. le Mayor!" he cried in a tone of triumph, his eyes still
on his wife. "He will give you no trouble, I will answer for it! But
first give me my five crowns, mayor. My five crowns!"

He still felt so much fear of his wife that he did not turn to see the
men enter, and was taken by surprise when a voice at his elbow--a
strange voice--said, "Five crowns, my friend? For what, may I ask?"

In his eagerness and excitement he suspected nothing, but thought only
that the mayor had sent a deputy. "For what? For the