the riding-coat was deeply stained, with blood. He looked at
her, and she took a step forward--another--then, with a desperate
effort, she dashed open the railing and flung herself on her knees
before him, with her arms stretched out as if to clasp him. But he was
no longer there; the moonbeams fell clear and cold upon the polished
floor, and lost themselves where Berthe lay, at the foot of the screen,
her head upon the ground, and every sign of life gone from her.

* * * * *

"Where is the citizen Glaire?" asked Prosper Alix of the _citoyenne_
Pichon, entering the house of the master-mason abruptly, and with a
stern and threatening countenance. "I have a message for him; I must see
him."

"I know nothing about him," replied the _citoyenne_, without turning in
his direction, or relaxing her culinary labors. "He went away from here
the next morning, and I did not trouble myself to ask where; that is his
affair."

"He went away? Without letting me know! Be careful, _citoyenne_; this is
a serious matter."

"So they tell me," said the woman with a grin, which was not altogether
free from pain and fear; "for you! A serious thing to have a _suspect_
in your house, and palm him off on honest people. However, he went away
peaceably enough when he knew we had found him out, and that we had no
desire to go to prison, or worse, on his account, or yours."

She was strangely insolent, this woman, and the listener felt his
helplessness; he had brought the young man there with such secrecy, he
had so carefully provided for the success of concealment.

"Who carried his valise?" Prosper Alix asked her suddenly.

"How should I know?" she replied; but her hands lost their steadiness,
and she upset a stew-pan; "he carried it here, didn't he? and I suppose
he carried it away again."

Prosper Alix looked at her steadily--she shunned his gaze, but she
showed no other sign of confusion; then horror and disgust of the woman
came over him.

"I must see Pichon," he said; "where is he?"

"Where should he be but at the wall? he and the boys are working there,
as always. The citizen can see them; but he will remember not to detain
them; in a little quarter of an hour the soup will be ready."

The citizen did see the master-mason and his sons, and after an
interview of some duration he left the place in a state of violent
agitation and complete discomfiture. The master-mason had addressed to
him these wor