ause of leniency, he added, "As quiet, as quiet, and never did he fly
at door of cage, nor peck at jailer--aho!"

I looked at him a minute seriously, and then, feeling in my coat, handed
to him the knife which I had secreted, with the words, "Enough for
pecking with, eh?"

He looked at me so strangely, as he weighed the knife up and down in
his hand, that I could not at first guess his thought; but presently I
understood it, and I almost could have told what he would say. He opened
the knife, felt the blade, measured it along his fingers, and then said,
with a little bursting of the lips, "Poom! But what would ma'm'selle
have thought if Gabord was found dead with a hole in his neck--behind?
Eh?"

He had struck the very note that had sung in me when the temptation
came; but he was gay at once again, and I said to him, "What is the hour
fixed?"

"Seven o'clock," he answered, "and I will bring your breakfast first."

"Good-night, then," said I. "Coffee and a little tobacco will be
enough."

When he was gone, I lay down on my bag of straw, which, never having
been renewed, was now only full of worn chaff, and, gathering myself in
my cloak, was soon in a dreamless sleep.

I waked to the opening of the dungeon door, to see Gabord entering with
a torch and a tray that held my frugal breakfast. He had added some
brandy, also, of which I was glad, for it was bitter cold outside, as
I discovered later. He was quiet, seeming often to wish to speak, but
pausing before the act, never getting beyond a stumbling aho! I greeted
him cheerfully enough. After making a little toilette, I drank my coffee
with relish. At last I asked Gabord if no word had come to the citadel
for me; and he said, none at all, nothing save a message from the
Governor, before midnight, ordering certain matters. No more was said,
until, turning to the door, he told me he would return to fetch me forth
in a few minutes. But when halfway out he suddenly wheeled, came back,
and blurted out, "If you and I could only fight it out, m'sieu'! 'Tis
ill for a gentleman and a soldier to die without thrust or parry."

"Gabord," said I, smiling at him, "you preach good sermons always, and I
never saw a man I'd rather fight and be killed by than you!" Then, with
an attempt at rough humour, I added, "But as I told you once, the knot
is'nt at my throat, and I'll tie another one yet elsewhere, if God loves
honest men."

I had no hope at all, yet I felt I must say it.