on."

The abbe allowed himself to be led away with unaffected calmness. The
spectators were filled with respect, and a profound silence reigned
in court, in spite of the bitter efforts of the monks and cures, who
continued to revile the heretic in an undertone.

When the various witnesses had been heard (and I must say that those
who had been suborned played their part very feebly in public), to crown
all, Mademoiselle Leblanc appeared. I was surprised to find the old maid
so bitter against me and able to turn her hatred to such account. In
truth, the weapons she could bring against me were only too powerful.
In virtue of the right which domestics claim to listen at doors and
overhear family secrets, this skilled misinterpreter and prolific liar
had learnt and shaped to her own purposes most of the facts in my
life which could be utilized for my ruin. She related how, seven years
before, I had arrived at the chateau of Sainte-Severe with Mademoiselle
de Mauprat, whom I had rescued from the roughness and wickedness of my
uncles.

"And let that be said," she added, turning toward John Mauprat with a
polite bow, "without any reference to the holy man in this court, who
was once a great sinner, and is now a great saint. But at what a price,"
she continued, facing the judges again, "had this miserable bandit saved
my dear mistress! He had dishonoured her, gentlemen; and, throughout the
days that followed, the poor young lady had abandoned herself to grief
and shame on account of the violence which had been done her, for which
nothing could bring consolation. Too proud to breath her misfortune to
a single soul, and too honest to deceive any man, she broke off her
engagement with M. de la Marche, whom she loved passionately, and who
returned her passion. She refused every offer of marriage that was
made her, and all from a sense of honour, for in reality she hated M.
Bernard. At first she wanted to kill herself; indeed, she had one of her
father's little hunting-knives sharpened and (M. Marcasse can tell you
the same, if he chooses to remember) she would certainly have killed
herself, if I had not thrown this knife into the well belonging to the
house. She had to think, too, of defending herself against the night
attacks of her persecutor; and, as long as she had this knife, she
always used to put it under her pillow; every night she would bolt the
door of her room; and frequently I have seen her rush back, pale and
ready t