aid.

"'We are then given up to the sword of the assassin!' groaned his
hearers.

"'No, no, never! it must not be!' cried Maurice with sudden stern
determination, though there was a quiver of pain in his voice; and
sending a glance of mingled love and anguish toward the cottage that
sheltered those dearer to him than life, he set off at a brisk pace up
the valley.

"Love moved him to the task, and spite of weakness and pain, never
before had he trodden those steep and dangerous mountain paths with such
celerity.

"Arrived and admitted to Godin's presence, he poured out his petition
with the vehemence of one who can take no denial, urging his suit with
all the eloquence of intense anxiety and deep conviction of the terrible
extremity of the feeble folk in the valley.

"Doubt began to creep into the mind of the brave officer. 'Might there
not be some truth in the story after all?' Yet he answered as before. 'A
mere panic. I cannot believe in a plot so atrocious. What! murder in
cold blood the innocent, helpless wives and children of the brave men
who are defending theirs from a common foe? No, no; human nature is not
so depraved!'"

"'So it was thought on the eve of the Sicilian Vespers; on the eve of
St. Bartholomew; at the time when Castracaro, when De La Trinite, when
Pianeza--'

"'Ah,' interrupted the general with a frown, 'but those were deeds of
days long gone by, and men are not now what they then were.'

"'Sir,' returned Maurice earnestly, 'for twelve hundred years the
she-wolf of Rome has ravaged our fold, slaying sheep and lambs
alike--sparing neither age nor sex; and, sir, it is her boast that she
never changes.

"'Nor are men incapable of the grossest injustice and cruelty even in
these days. Look at the fearful scenes of blood enacted even now in
France! General, the lives of thousands of his majesty's evangelical
subjects are trembling in the balance, and I do most solemnly assure you
that unless saved by your speedy interposition, or a direct miracle from
Heaven, they will this night fall victims to a sanguinary plot.

"'Ah, sir, what more can I say to convince, to move you? The assassins
are already assembling, the time wanes fast, and will you stretch forth
no hand to save their innocent, helpless victims?'

"The general was evidently moved by the appeal. 'Had I but sufficient
proof,' he muttered in an undertone of doubt and perplexity.

"Maurice caught eagerly at the word. 'Proof, genera