d a
blanket rolled tightly about the body prevents any movements; that is
an easy matter you see. They would have carried you off without the
slightest difficulty, for the stable boy was bribed, and was to open the
back door for them."

"Who has laid this wicked plot?" asked the poor, frightened, young girl,
with a trembling voice, horror-stricken at the danger she had escaped.

"The great lord who has given them all such heaps of money; oh! such
quantities of big gold pieces--by the handful," said Chiquita, her great
dark eyes glittering with a fierce, covetous expression, strange and
horrible to see in one so young. "But all the same, YOU gave me the
pearls, and he shall not hurt you; he shall not have you if you don't
want to go. I will tell them that you were awake, and there was a man
in the room, so that I could not get in and open the door for them; they
will all go away quietly enough; you need not be afraid. Now let me have
one good look at you before I go--oh, how sweet and pretty you are--and
I love you, yes, I do, ever so much; almost as much as Agostino. But
what is this?" cried she suddenly, pouncing upon a knife that was lying
on the table near the bed. "Why, you have got the very knife I lost; it
was my father's knife. Well, you may keep it--it's a good one."

'When this viper bites you, make sure
That you must die, for there's no cure.'

"See, this is the way to open it, and then you use it like this: strike
from below upwards--the blade goes in better that way--and it's so sharp
it will go through anything. Carry it in the bosom of your dress, and it
is always ready; then if anybody bothers you, out with it, and paf! you
have them ripped up in no time," and the strange, eerie little creature
accompanied her words with appropriate gestures, by way of illustration.
This extraordinary lesson in the art of using a knife, given in the dead
of night, and under such peculiar circumstances, seemed like a nightmare
to Isabelle.

"Be sure you hold the knife like this, do you see? tightly clasped in
your fingers--as long as you have it no one can harm you, but you can
hurt them. Now, I must go--adieu, and don't forget Chiquita."

So saying, the queer little elf pushed a table up to the wall under the
bull's eye, mounted it, sprang up and caught hold of the iron bar with
the agility of a monkey, swung herself up in some extraordinary fashion,
wriggled through the small opening and disappeared, chan