ay no more! Have you a heart?"

Benedetto shrugged his shoulders, and continued:

"You know I heard two persons come up the stairs. I hid behind the door
with my knife, and when the door opened, I struck at the first person I
saw--"

"And it was your mother!"

"Ah! I see your memory is returning. Yes, it was my mother; but how did
you know it?"

"I had seen her in the gorge, and she had told me her story and implored
me to save her son."

"And did she tell you her name?" asked Benedetto, with some uneasiness.

"She told me all, but I swore never to reveal it to any one."

"And she believed in the oath of a convict?"

"I have kept it, at all events."

"You are a hero! But you can, at least, tell me the name."

"No," answered Sanselme, with energy. "You are planning some new
villainy. I shall not tell you!"

Benedetto laughed.

"You must think me very simple. I merely wished to test your memory. The
name of this woman was Danglars."

Sanselme uttered an exclamation. He had hoped that his refusal would
frustrate some nefarious design.

"Now go," he said, sadly. "You can have nothing more to say to me."

"You are mistaken! One would think that you did not care to see me."

"The truth is, Benedetto, that anything connected with the past is
hideously painful to me. I wish to forget."

"You wish to forget, too, that you once tried to kill me."

"Let us say no more about that. Tell me frankly what you want me to do,
and if possible I will do it."

"You are becoming more reasonable, Sanselme. But what is that new life
of which you speak so glibly and with a certain tenderness in your
voice? Perhaps I can guess. She is pretty, that is a fact!"

Sanselme started and took hold of Benedetto's arm.

"Not another word like that, Benedetto! Not if you wish to live!"

"Indeed! What would you do?"

"My fate is in your hands," answered Sanselme. "You can at any moment
denounce me as an escaped convict. Do what you please, but you shall not
say one word of her who is in this house."

"Upon my word, Sanselme, it seems to me that you carry matters with
rather a high hand. Suppose I do not obey you?"

"Then I will denounce you, with the certainty that my arrest will follow
yours. You may laugh when I say that in spite of my shameful past I am
to-day an honest man, devoting my whole life to a creature who has no
one but myself in the world. If she knew who I was she would despise
me."

Benedetto listened with