t was quick and heavy,
like the breathing of a very tired or a very excited man. Then he
turned away and went to the door of the front-room opposite. Here he
also stood for a few moments.

All was still.

Then he came back, and entered Hawbury's room.

Now the crisis had come--the moment when all might be discovered. And
if so, they all were lost. Ethel bent far forward and tried to peer
through the gloom. She saw the dark figure of the new-comer pass by
one of the windows, and by the outline she knew that it was Girasole.
He passed on into the shadow, and toward the place where the straw
was. She could not see him any more.

Girasole stepped noiselessly and cautiously, as though fearful of
waking the sleeper. At every step he paused and listened. The silence
reassured him.

He drew nearer and nearer, his left hand groping forward, and his
right hand holding a pistol. His movements were perfectly noiseless.

His own excitement was now intense, his heart throbbed fiercely and
almost painfully as he approached his victim.

At last he reached the spot, and knelt on one knee. He listened for a
moment. There was no noise and no movement on the part of the figure
before him.

In the gloom he could see the outline of that figure plainly. It lay
on its side, curled up in the most comfortable attitude which could be
assumed, where arms and legs were bound.

"How soundly he sleeps!" thought Girasole.

He paused for a moment, and seemed to hesitate; but it was only for a
moment. Then, summing up his resolution, he held his pistol close to
the head of the figure, and fired.

[Illustration: "HE HELD HIS PISTOL CLOSE TO THE HEAD, AND FIRED."]

The loud report echoed through the house. A shriek came from Minnie's
room, and a cry came from Mrs. Willoughby, who sprang toward the hall.
But Girasole came out and intercepted her.

"Eet ees notin," said he, in a tremulous voice. "Eet ees all ovair.
Eet ees only a false alarm."

Mrs. Willoughby retreated to her room, and Minnie said nothing. As for
Ethel, the suspense with her had passed away as the report of the
pistol came to her ears.

Meanwhile the coffin was carried out of the house, and the men,
together with the priest, walked on toward a place further up the
shore and on the outskirts of the woods. They reached a place where a
grave was dug.

At this moment a pistol-shot sounded. The priest stopped, and the men
stopped also. They did not understand it. The pries