ng's silversmith. I have obtained a letter of
recommendation to him which will make him receive me. His house is next
to yours. Once under the roof of that old thief, I can soon find my way
to your apartment by the help of a silken ladder."

"Oh!" she said, petrified with horror, "if you love me don't go to
Maitre Cornelius."

"Ah!" he cried, pressing her to his heart with all the force of his
youth, "you do indeed love me!"

"Yes," she said; "are you not my hope? You are a gentleman, and I
confide to you my honor. Besides," she added, looking at him with
dignity, "I am so unhappy that you would never betray my trust. But what
is the good of all this? Go, let me die, sooner than that you should
enter that house of Maitre Cornelius. Do you not know that all his
apprentices--"

"Have been hanged," said the young man, laughing.

"Oh, don't go; you will be made the victim of some sorcery."

"I cannot pay too dearly for the joy of serving you," he said, with a
look that made her drop her eyes.

"But my husband?" she said.

"Here is something to put him to sleep," replied her lover, drawing from
his belt a little vial.

"Not for always?" said the countess, trembling.

For all answer the young seigneur made a gesture of horror.

"I would long ago have defied him to mortal combat if he were not so
old," he said. "God preserve me from ridding you of him in any other
way."

"Forgive me," said the countess, blushing. "I am cruelly punished for my
sins. In a moment of despair I thought of killing him, and I feared you
might have the same desire. My sorrow is great that I have never
yet been able to confess that wicked thought; but I fear it would
be repeated to him and he would avenge it. I have shamed you," she
continued, distressed by his silence, "I deserve your blame."

And she broke the vial by flinging it on the floor violently.

"Do not come," she said, "my husband sleeps lightly; my duty is to wait
for the help of Heaven--that will I do!"

She tried to leave the chapel.

"Ah!" cried the young man, "order me to do so and I will kill him. You
will see me to-night."

"I was wise to destroy that drug," she said in a voice that was faint
with the pleasure of finding herself so loved. "The fear of awakening my
husband will save us from ourselves."

"I pledge you my life," said the young man, pressing her hand.

"If the king is willing, the pope can annul my marriage. We will then be
united," she said, giv