oe. It was already light
enough to distinguish its shape and its colors.

"Let me see that shoe," said the gypsy, quivering. "God! God!"

And at the same time, with her hand which was at liberty, she quickly
opened the little bag ornamented with green glass, which she wore about
her neck.

"Go on, go on!" grumbled Gudule, "search your demon's amulet!"

All at once, she stopped short, trembled in every limb, and cried in a
voice which proceeded from the very depths of her being: "My daughter!"

The gypsy had just drawn from the bag a little shoe absolutely similar
to the other. To this little shoe was attached a parchment on which was
inscribed this charm,--

_Quand le parell retrouveras
Ta mere te tendras les bras_.*

* When thou shalt find its mate, thy mother will stretch out
her arms to thee.

Quicker than a flash of lightning, the recluse had laid the two shoes
together, had read the parchment and had put close to the bars of the
window her face beaming with celestial joy as she cried,--

"My daughter! my daughter!"

"My mother!" said the gypsy.

Here we are unequal to the task of depicting the scene. The wall and the
iron bars were between them. "Oh! the wall!" cried the recluse. "Oh! to
see her and not to embrace her! Your hand! your hand!"

The young girl passed her arm through the opening; the recluse threw
herself on that hand, pressed her lips to it and there remained, buried
in that kiss, giving no other sign of life than a sob which heaved her
breast from time to time. In the meanwhile, she wept in torrents, in
silence, in the dark, like a rain at night. The poor mother poured out
in floods upon that adored hand the dark and deep well of tears, which
lay within her, and into which her grief had filtered, drop by drop, for
fifteen years.

All at once she rose, flung aside her long gray hair from her brow, and
without uttering a word, began to shake the bars of her cage cell, with
both hands, more furiously than a lioness. The bars held firm. Then she
went to seek in the corner of her cell a huge paving stone, which served
her as a pillow, and launched it against them with such violence that
one of the bars broke, emitting thousands of sparks. A second blow
completely shattered the old iron cross which barricaded the window.
Then with her two hands, she finished breaking and removing the rusted
stumps of the bars. There are moments when woman's hands possess
superh