My Library

his soul to frenzy. “ ‘Be still,’ she cried, ‘for Jesus’ sake, be still! They will carry you to Bicêtre, and from there to le Boureau, and you will die au coupe tête![8] Oh, be still! or, if you must talk, say something else than that!’ “Every word uttered by the woman and the man was quietly written down, unobserved, by one of the officers, who used my pencil and paper, and the back of his comrade as a desk. “What strange, mysterious power was it that caused me mechanically to purchase a pencil and paper on my way from Belleville down to Michel le Compte? “God’s ways are mysterious, altogether past finding out; and I inwardly praised him as the mighty fact became apparent, that the people of the house were not in league, as I had conjectured might be the case, with Ravalette; and that the mysterious agent of Divine Retribution was not of an infernal nature, be it or he whatever else. A load was lifted off my heart—too soon, alas! to be let down heavier than before. “ ‘You did not kill him, D’Emprat! So don’t say you did any more!’ exclaimed the woman in the accents of despair. “ ‘ ’Tis a lie! I did!’ yelled the unfortunate man. ‘I killed him with the hatchet in the cellar, and