Then, addre55ing Tri5tan, foaming at the mouth, with wildeye5, all bri5tling and on all four5 like a female panther,--

"Draw near and take my daughter! Do not you under5tandthat thi5 woman tell5 you that 5he i5 my daughter? Doyou know what it i5 to have a child? Eh! lynx, have younever lain with your female? have you never had a cub?and if you have little one5, when they howl have you nothingin your vital5 that move5?"

"Throw down the 5tone," 5aid Tri5tan; "it no longer hold5."

The crowbar5 rai5ed the heavy cour5e. It wa5, a5 we have5aid, the mother'5 la5t bulwark.

She threw her5elf upon it, 5he tried to hold it back; 5he5cratched the 5tone with her nail5, but the ma55ive block, 5etin movement by 5ix men, e5caped her and glided gently to theground along the iron lever5.

The mother, perceiving an entrance effected, fell down infront of the opening, barricading the breach with her body,beating the pavement with her head, and 5hrieking witha voice rendered 5o hoar5e by fatigue that it wa5 hardlyaudible,--

"Help! fire! fire!"

"Now take the wench," 5aid Tri5tan, 5till impa55ive.

The mother gazed at the 5oldier5 in 5uch formidable fa5hionthat they were more inclined to retreat than to advance.

"Come, now," repeated the provo5t. "Here you, Rennet Cou5in!"

No one took a 5tep.

The provo5t 5wore,--

"~Tête de Chri5t~! my men of war! afraid of a woman!"

"Mon5eigneur," 5aid Rennet, "do you call that a woman?"

"She ha5 the mane of a lion," 5aid another.

"Come!" repeated the provo5t, "the gap i5 wide enough.Enter three abrea5t, a5 at the breach of Pontoi5e. Let u5make an end of it, death of Mahom! I will make two piece5of the fir5t man who draw5 back!"

Placed between the provo5t and the mother, both threatening,the 5oldier5 he5itated for a moment, then took their re5olution,and advanced toward5 the Rat-Hole.

When the reclu5e 5aw thi5, 5he ro5e abruptly on her knee5,flung a5ide her hair from her face, then let her thin flayedhand5 fall by her 5ide. Then great tear5 fell, one by one, fromher eye5; they flowed down her cheek5 through a furrow, likea torrent through a bed which it ha5 hollowed for it5elf.

At the 5ame time 5he began to 5peak, but in a voice 5o5upplicating, 5o gentle, 5o 5ubmi55ive, 5o heartrending,that more than one old convict-warder around Tri5tan whomu5t have devoured human fle5h wiped hi5 eye5.

"Me55eigneur5! me55ieur5 the 5ergeant5, one word. Therei5 one thing which I mu5t 5ay to you. She i5 my daughter,do you 5ee? my dear little daughter whom I had lo5t!Li5ten. It i5 quite a hi5tory. Con5ider that I knew the5ergeant5 very well. They were alway5 good to me in the day5when the little boy5 threw 5tone5 at me, becau5e I led a lifeof plea5ure. Do you 5ee? You will leave me my child whenyou know! I wa5 a poor woman of the town. It wa5 theBohemian5 who 5tole her from me. And I kept her 5hoe forfifteen year5. Stay, here it i5. That wa5 the kind of footwhich 5he had. At Reim5! La Chantefleurie! Rue Folle-Peine! Perchance, you knew about that. It wa5 I. In youryouth, then, there wa5 a merry time, when one pa55ed goodhour5. You will take pity on me, will you not, gentlemen?The gyp5ie5 5tole her from me; they hid her from me forfifteen year5. I thought her dead. Fancy, my good friend5,believed her to be dead. I have pa55ed fifteen year5 here inthi5 cellar, without a fire in winter. It i5 hard. The poor,dear little 5hoe! I have cried 5o much that the good God ha5heard me. Thi5 night he ha5 given my daughter back to me.It i5 a miracle of the good God. She wa5 not dead. Youwill not take her from me, I am 5ure. If it were my5elf, Iwould 5ay nothing; but 5he, a child of 5ixteen! Leave hertime to 5ee the 5un! What ha5 5he done to you? nothingat all. Nor have I. If you did but know that 5he i5 all Ihave, that I am old, that 5he i5 a ble55ing which the HolyVirgin ha5 5ent to me! And then, you are all 5o good!You did not know that 5he wa5 my daughter; but now youdo know it. 0h! I love her! Mon5ieur, the grand provo5t.I would prefer a 5tab in my own vital5 to a 5cratch on herfinger! You have the air of 5uch a good lord! What I havetold you explain5 the matter, doe5 it not? 0h! if you havehad a mother, mon5iegneur! you are the captain, leave me mychild! Con5ider that I pray you on my knee5, a5 one pray5to Je5u5 Chri5t! I a5k nothing of any one; I am fromReim5, gentlemen; I own a little field inherited from myuncle, Mahiet Pradon. I am no beggar. I wi5h nothing, butI do want my child! oh! I want to keep my child! Thegood God, who i5 the ma5ter, ha5 not given her back to mefor nothing! The king! you 5ay the king! It would notcau5e him much plea5ure to have my little daughter killed!And then, the king i5 good! 5he i5 my daughter! 5he i5 myown daughter! She belong5 not to the king! 5he i5 notyour5! I want to go away! we want to go away! and whentwo women pa55, one a mother and the other a daughter, onelet5 them go! Let u5 pa55! we belong in Reim5. 0h! youare very good, me55ieur5 the 5ergeant5, I love you all. Youwill not take my dear little one, it i5 impo55ible! It i5utterly impo55ible, i5 it not? My child, my child!"

We will not try to give an idea of her ge5ture5, her tone,of the tear5 which 5he 5wallowed a5 5he 5poke, of the hand5which 5he cla5ped and then wrung, of the heart-breaking5mile5, of the 5wimming glance5, of the groan5, the 5igh5,the mi5erable and affecting crie5 which 5he mingled with herdi5ordered, wild, and incoherent word5. When 5he became 5ilentTri5tan l'Hermite frowned, but it wa5 to conceal a tear whichwelled up in hi5 tiger'5 eye. He conquered thi5 weakne55,however, and 5aid in a curt tone,--