f wood had long been exhausted, one might have
seen the hunchback sleeping upon a chair, her head resting on her bosom,
her hands concealed beneath her cotton apron, and her feet resting on
the lowest rung of the chair; from time to time, she shivered in her
damp, chill garments.

After that long day of fatigue and diverse emotions, the poor creature
had eaten nothing. Had she even thought of it, she would have been at a
loss for bread. Waiting for the return of Dagobert and Agricola, she
had sunk into an agitated sleep--very different, alas! from calm
and refreshing slumber. From time to time, she half opened her eyes
uneasily, and looked around her. Then, again, overcome by irresistible
heaviness, her head fell upon her bosom.

After some minutes of silence, only interrupted by the noise of the
wind, a slow and heavy step was heard on the landing-place. The door
opened, and Dagobert entered, followed by Spoil-sport.

Waking with a start, Mother Bunch raised her head hastily, sprang from
her chair, and, advancing rapidly to meet Agricola's father, said to
him: "Well, M. Dagobert! have you good news? Have you--"

She could not continue, she was so struck with the gloomy expression of
the soldier's features. Absorbed in his reflections, he did not at first
appear to perceive the speaker, but threw himself despondingly on a
chair, rested his elbows upon the table, and hid his face in his
hands. After a long meditation, he rose, and said in a low voice: "It
must--yes, it must be done!"

Taking a few steps up and down the room, Dagobert looked around him,
as if in search of something. At length, after about a minute's
examination, he perceived near the stove, a bar of iron, perhaps two
feet long, serving to lift the covers, when too hot for the fingers.
Taking this in his hand, he looked at it closely, poised it to judge
of its weight, and then laid it down upon the drawers with an air of
satisfaction. Surprised at the long silence of Dagobert, the needlewoman
followed his movements with timid and uneasy curiosity. But soon her
surprise gave way to fright, when she saw the soldier take down his
knapsack, place it upon a chair, open it, and draw from it a pair of
pocket-pistols, the locks of which he tried with the utmost caution.

Seized with terror, the sempstress could not forbear exclaiming: "Good
gracious, M. Dagobert! what are you going to do?"

The soldier looked at her as if he only now perceived her for the f