eized the
encumbrance and hurled the heavy vehicle to the bottom of the river
that it might not obstruct the passage. And as the young man watched
the slow, toilsome retreat along the opposite bank, a movement that had
commenced the day before and certainly would not be ended by the coming
dawn, he could not help thinking of that other artillery that had gone
storming through Beaumont, bearing down all before it, crushing men
and horses in its path that it might not be delayed the fraction of a
second.

Honore drew his chair nearer to Silvine, and in the shuddering darkness,
alive with all those sounds of menace, gently whispered:

"You are unhappy?"

"Oh! yes; so unhappy!"

She was conscious of the subject on which he was about to speak, and her
head sank sorrowfully on her bosom.

"Tell me, how did it happen? I wish to know."

But she could not find words to answer him.

"Did he take advantage of you, or was it with your consent?"

Then she stammered, in a voice that was barely audible:

"_Mon Dieu!_ I do not know; I swear to you, I do not know, more than a
babe unborn. I will not lie to you--I cannot! No, I have no excuse to
offer; I cannot say he beat me. You had left me, I was beside myself,
and it happened, how, I cannot, no, I cannot tell!"

Sobs choked her utterance, and he, ashy pale and with a great lump
rising in his throat, waited silently for a moment. The thought that she
was unwilling to tell him a lie, however, was an assuagement to his rage
and grief; he went on to question her further, anxious to know the many
things, that as yet he had been unable to understand.

"My father has kept you here, it seems?"

She replied with her resigned, courageous air, without raising her eyes:

"I work hard for him, it does not cost much to keep me, and as there
is now another mouth to feed he has taken advantage of it to reduce my
wages. He knows well enough that now, when he orders, there is nothing
left for me but to obey."

"But why do you stay with him?"

The question surprised her so that she looked him in the face.

"Where would you have me go? Here my little one and I have at least a
home and enough to keep us from starving."

They were silent again, both intently reading in the other's eyes, while
up the shadowy valley the sounds of the sleeping camp came faintly to
their ears, and the dull rumble of wheels upon the bridge of boats went
on unceasingly. There was a shriek, the loud, despair