Sometimes, however, a faint ray of hope
comes to lighten the depth of my darkness, a moment of calm succeeds to
my torments,--yes, for sometimes I am able to drive away the spectres
which beset me by opposing to them the recollections of an honest and
peaceable past, by ascending in thought to my youthful days, to my hours
of infancy. Happily, the greatest wretches have, at least, some years of
peace and innocence to oppose to their criminal and blood-stained years.
None are born wicked; the most infamous have had the lovely candour of
infancy,--have tasted the sweet joys of that delightful age. And thus, I
again say, I sometimes find a bitter consolation in saying to myself, 'I
am, at this hour, doomed to universal execration, but there was a time
when I was beloved, protected, because I was inoffensive and good. Alas!
I must, indeed, take refuge in the past, when I can, for it is there
only that I can find calm.'"

As he uttered these last words, the tones of the Schoolmaster lost their
harshness; this man of iron appeared deeply moved, and he added:

"But now the salutary influence of these thoughts is such that my fury
is appeased; courage, power will fail me to punish you. No, it is not I
who will shed your blood."

"Well said, old buck! So, you see, Chouette, it was only a lark," cried
Tortillard, applauding.

"No, it is not I who will shed your blood," continued the Schoolmaster;
"it would be a murder, excusable perhaps, but still a murder; and I have
enough with three spectres; and then--who knows?--perhaps one day you
will repent also?"

And, as he spake thus, the Schoolmaster had mechanically given the
Chouette some liberty of movement. She took advantage of it to seize the
stiletto which she had thrust into her stays after Sarah's murder, and
aimed a violent blow with this weapon at the ruffian, in order to
disengage herself from him. He uttered a cry of extreme pain.

The ferocity of his hatred, his vengeance, his rage, his bloody
instincts, suddenly aroused and exasperated by this attack, now all
burst forth suddenly, terribly, and carried with it his reason, already
so strongly shaken by so many shocks.

"Ah, viper, I feel your teeth!" he exclaimed in a voice that shook with
passion, and seizing, with all his might, the Chouette, who had thought
thus to escape him. "You are in this dungeon, then?" he added, with an
air of madness. "But I will crush the viper or screech-owl. No doubt you
were waiti