ould have brought down
the house.

"Is that what those words say, you?" asked the father, pointing over her
shoulder to the paper she held.

"I will translate for you word by word what it says," replied she,
nerving herself for the crisis till her face was like marble, though
I could see she could not prevent the gleam of secret rapture that had
visited her, from flashing fitfully across it. "Calmez vous, mon amie.
Do not be afraid, my friend. Il vous aime et il vous cherche. He loves
you and is hunting for you. Dans quatre heures vous serez heureuse. In
four hours you will be happy. Allons du courage, et surtout soyez
maitre de vous meme. Then take courage and above all preserve your
self-possession. It is the French way of expressing one's self,"
observed she. "I am glad your friend is disposed to help you," she
continued, giving me back the letter with a smile. "I am afraid you
needed it."

In a sort of maze I folded up the letter, bowed my very humble thanks to
her and shuffled slowly back. The fact is I had no words; I was utterly
dumbfounded. Half way through that letter, with whose contents you
must remember I was unacquainted, I would have given my whole chance of
expected reward to have stopped her. Read out such words as those before
these men! Was she crazy? But how naturally at the conclusion did she
with a word make its language seem consistent with the meaning I had
given it. With a fresh sense of my obligation to her, I hurried to my
room, there to count out the minutes of another long hour in anxious
expectation of her making that endeavor to communicate with me, which
her new hopes and fears must force her to feel almost necessary to her
existence. At length, my confidence in her was rewarded. Coming out into
the hall, she hurried past my door, her finger on her lip. I immediately
rose and stood on the threshold with another paper in my hand, which I
had prepared against this opportunity. As she glided back, I put it in
her hand, and warning her with a look not to speak, resumed my usual
occupation. The words I had written were as follows:

At or as near the time as possible of your brother's going out,
you are to come to this room wrapped in an extra skirt and with
your shawl over your head. Leave the skirt and shawl behind you,
and withdraw at once to the room at the head of the stairs. You
are not to speak, and you are not to vary from the plan thus laid
down. Your brothe