from your hands, and do you not think
that the same God who hath seen me cherish and relieve you, will not
bring upon you condign punishment for this execrable villainy thou art
going to commit?_

Perrier was sensible of the truth of what he said, but knowing it was
impossible for him to go back, he gave a sign to the murderers to fall
about the execution of their work; but the old man, who was too wise to
expect mercy from their hands, endeavoured to lay hold of a halbert
which stood in his room, designing therewith, as well as he could, to
defend himself. But before he could get it into his hands the villains
struck him down, and with thirty or forty wounds gave a passage for his
soul into a better life.

The unfortunate young lady lay in the next room to her father's, and
being already got to bed, heard with astonishment the execrable fact.
However, full of fear and astonishment, she covered herself with the bed
clothes, and endeavoured all she was able, to hide herself in the bed.
But alas, her caution was to small purpose. Perrier knew too well the
situation of all things to be deceived by so trivial an artifice, and
therefore after pulling the bedclothes into the middle of the floor, he
exposed, naked, to his fellow ruffians, the most beautiful young lady in
France. In vain she fell upon her knees, and with all that tender
elocution so natural to their sex when in distress, besought them that
they would spare her life, which, as she said, could be of no benefit to
them, and could only serve to increase the number of their sins; but
they were too much flushed in cruelty and blood to give any attention to
her entreaties, and so without respect either to the softness of her
sex, or to her tender age, with a shower of blows from their clubs they
laid her dead upon the floor. Being thus become master of the house,
Perrier took the keys, and opening the several apartments, disclosed to
them all the riches of his deceased master. They immediately brought
away all the ready money they found in the house, which amounted to
little less than ten thousand crowns. All the rich movables they
conveyed away to a boat which they had prepared for that purpose, and
had fastened in a creek of the river on a bank of which the house stood.
They loaded and unloaded this vessel five or six times, for there was no
hurry in carrying away the goods, seeing it was the dead time of the
night, and when they had thoroughly plundered it of ever