se in power now will
one day be overthrown."

"But when the child, who is only twelve years old now, becomes in three
or four years a blooming maiden--what then? Already she is fond of you;
then she will love you. You cannot hinder it; and yet, you will not even
dare to dream of returning her love. Have you thought of this also?"

"I shall look upon myself as the inhabitant of a different planet,"
answered the young man.

"Your hand, my friend! You have undertaken a noble task--one that is
greater than that of the captive knight who cut off his own foot, that
his sovereign, who was chained to him, might escape--"

"Pray say no more about me," interposed his companion. "Is the child
asleep?"

"This one is; the one in the other room is awake."

"Then let us go to her and tell her what we have decided." He lifted the
two-branched candlestick from the table; his companion carefully closed
the iron doors of the fireplace; then the two went into the adjoining
chamber, leaving the room they had quitted in darkness.

The elder gentleman had made a mistake: "this" child was _not_ asleep.
She had listened attentively, half sitting up in bed, to as much of the
conversation as she could hear.

A ray of light penetrated through the keyhole. The little girl sprang
nimbly from the bed, ran to the door, and peered through the tiny
aperture. Suddenly footsteps came toward the door. When it opened,
however, the little eavesdropper was back underneath the covers of the
bed. The old gentleman entered the room. He had no candle. He left the
door open, walked noiselessly to the bed, and drew aside the curtains to
see if "this" child was still asleep. The long-drawn, regular breathing
convinced him. Then he took something from the chair beside the bed, and
went back into the other room. The object he had taken from the chair
was the faded red shawl in which the stray child had been wrapped. He
did not close the door of the adjoining chamber, for the candles had
been extinguished and both rooms were now dark.

To the listening child in the bed, however, it seemed as if voices were
whispering near her--as if she heard a stifled sob. Then cautious
footsteps crossed the floor, and after an interval of silence the street
door opened and closed.

Very soon afterward a light was struck in the adjoining room, and the
elder man came through the doorway--alone.

He flung back the doors of the fireplace, and stirred the embers; then
he pro