this lady from the prison."

The man saluted again and went out of the door. After him followed
Lysbeth. She spoke no more, but as she passed she looked at Montalvo,
and he knew well that though she might be gone, yet her curse remained
behind.

The plague was on her, the plague was on her, her head and bones were
racked with pain, and the swords of sorrow pierced her poor heart. But
Lysbeth's mind was still clear, and her limbs still supported her. She
reached her home and walked upstairs to the sitting room, commanding the
servant to find the Heer Adrian and bid him join her there.

In the room was Elsa, who ran to her crying,

"Is it true? Is it true?"

"It is true, daughter, that Foy and Martin have escaped----"

"Oh! God is good!" wept the girl.

"And that my husband is a prisoner and condemned to death."

"Ah!" gasped Elsa, "I am selfish."

"It is natural that a woman should think first of the man she loves. No,
do not come near me; I fear that I am stricken with the pest."

"I am not afraid of that," answered Elsa. "Did I never tell you? As a
child I had it in The Hague."

"That, at least, is good news among much that is very ill; but be
silent, here comes Adrian, to whom I wish to speak. Nay, you need not
leave us; it is best that you should learn the truth."

Presently Adrian entered, and Elsa, watching everything, noticed that he
looked sadly changed and ill.

"You sent for me, mother," he began, with some attempt at his old
pompous air. Then he caught sight of her face and was silent.

"I have been to the Gevangenhuis, Adrian," she said, "and I have news to
tell you. As you may have heard, your brother Foy and our servant Martin
have escaped, I know not whither. They escaped out of the very jaws of
worse than death, out of the torture-chamber, indeed, by killing that
wretch who was known as the Professor, and the warden of the gate,
Martin carrying Foy, who is wounded, upon his back."

"I am indeed rejoiced," cried Adrian excitedly.

"Hypocrite, be silent," hissed his mother, and he knew that the worst
had overtaken him.

"My husband, your stepfather, has not escaped; he is in the prison
still, for there I have just bidden him farewell, and the sentence
upon him is that he shall be starved to death in a cell overlooking the
kitchen."

"Oh! oh!" cried Elsa, and Adrian groaned.

"It was my good, or my evil, fortune," went on Lysbeth, in a voice of
ice, "to see the written evidence upon