her, but she is
firm and holds it to her breast till her arms are blackened by the blows
he deals her. Then he curses her _country_, the land that gave her a
_heart_; and, hearing this, she rises up and curses him and his with an
oath the Lord will hear and answer from His judgment throne. _For the
child was slain between them_ and its pitiful, small body blocks the
passage of Mercy between his and hers forever. Woe! woe!"

As suddenly as the vehement change had come upon her, she had become
calm again. The eyes retained their stony stare, but a cold and cruel
smile formed about her lips, as if, with the utterance of that last
word, she saw a futurity of blood and carnage satisfying her ferocious
soul.

It was revolting, horrible; but no one else seemed to feel it as I did.
To most it was a short glimpse into a suffering soul. To me it was the
revelation of causes which had led, and would lead yet, to miseries for
which she had no pity, and which I felt myself too weak to avert.

That it was not intended that the devotees of Madame should have heard
these ravings was evident; for at this juncture the owner of the two
white hands that had failed to control the spirit of Madame came out
from behind the drapery of the dais. He proved to be none other than
the man with the bristling mustache whose plans I had disarranged at the
doctor's office by plugging the keyhole of the box with wax.

This was enough. "Chicanery!" was my inmost thought as I noted his cool
and calculating eye. "But very dangerous chicanery," I added. Was the
ring upon whose immediate capture I now saw that a life, if not lives,
depended, in his possession, or in that of Madame, or in that of the
Quaker-like girl sitting a few seats from me? How impossible to tell,
and yet how imperative to know! As I was debating how this could be
brought about, I watched the man.

Self-control was a habit with him, but I saw the nervous clutch of his
delicate hand. This did not indicate complete mastery of himself at
that moment. He spoke with care, but as if he were in haste to deliver
himself of the few necessary words of dismissal, without betraying his
lack of composure.

"Madame will awake presently; she will be heard no more to-day. Those
who wish to kiss her robes may pass in front of her; but she is still
too far away from earth to hear your voices or to answer any questions.
You will therefore preserve silence."

So! so! more chicanery. Or was it strate