stood silent, ghastly white, hands clinched so hard that the gems cut
into her flesh, eyes fixed on the girl in a last anguished supplication.

Then Alice said to the sacristan: "Madam wants to hear the sound of the
great bell. She asked me to strike it with the hammer, but I told her that
is forbidden during high mass. Madam offered ten francs--twenty francs--she
is going away and is very anxious to hear the bell; she has read about its
beautiful tone. When madam offered twenty francs, I thought it my duty to
let you know." All this with a self-possession that the daughters of Eve
have acquired through centuries of practice.

"Twenty francs!" muttered the guileless Bonneton. "You were right, my
child, perfectly right. That rule was made for ordinary visitors, but with
madam it is different. I myself will strike the bell for madam." And with
all dispatch he entered the Southern tower, where the great bourdon hangs,
whispering: "Twenty francs! It's a miracle."

No sooner was he gone than the lady caught the girl's two hands in hers,
and with her whole soul in her eyes she cried: "God bless you! God bless
you!"

Alice tried to speak, but the words choked her, and, leaning over the
balustrade, she looked yearningly toward the prison, her lips moving in
silence: "Lloyd! Lloyd!" Then the great bell struck and she turned with a
start, brushing away the tears that dimmed her eyes.

A moment later Papa Bonneton reappeared, scarcely believing that already he
had earned his louis and insisting on telling madam various things about
the bell--that it was presented by Louis XIV, and weighed over seventeen
tons; that eight men were required to ring it, two poised at each corner of
the rocking framework; that the note it sounded was _fa diese_--did madam
understand that? _Do, re, mi, fa?_ And more of the sort until madam assured
him that she was fully satisfied and would not keep him longer from his
duties. Whereupon, with a torrent of thanks, the old man disappeared in the
tower, looking unbelievingly at the gold piece in his hand.

"And now what?" asked Alice with feverish eagerness when they were alone
again.

"Let me tell you, first, what you have saved me from," said the lady,
leaning weakly against the balustrade. A feeling of faintness had come over
her in the reaction from her violent emotion.

"No, no," replied the girl, "this is the time for action, not sentiment.
You have promised to save _him_, now do it."

"I wil