wear I will not.'

"'No, I will not believe the oaths of a robber. You have firearms and I
am therefore defenceless against you. Go and hang up your musket, your
pistols, and your hunting-knife on that beech-tree, which is a hundred
paces distant from the house; when you come back without your firearms I
will believe that you do not want to kill me and will listen to what you
have to say?'

"The robber fell into the snare and did as he was bid. Then he
returned. 'Here I am without weapons,' said he. 'Let me in!'

"We had to gain as much time as possible, so I whispered Mariora to say
that she must first stir up the fire into a blaze for she could not let
him in in the dark.

"These words inflamed the passion of the tempter still more.

"'You will have time for that afterwards,' said he. 'I can see your
beautiful eyes even in the dark, for then they shine all the more
brightly.'

"'Then I suppose I have eyes like a cat?' I made Mariora say.

"'Silly fool!' growled the tempter to himself in Hungarian, which
Mariora did not understand. 'No,' he then added in Roumanian, 'you have
eyes like stars.'

"'But confess now, do you really love me? Or do you only come hither
with evil designs? Don't you want, now, to cut off the hands of my
little child? for robbers covet the hacked off hands of babies,--they
make them invisible.'

"At this the man's temper fairly gave way. He perceived that he was
being trifled with and exclaimed roughly: 'Woman, open the door, or I'll
bring it down about your ears!' And he gave the door such a blow with
his clenched fist that it cracked from end to end. 'I tell you for the
last time,' cried he, 'let me in peaceably. If you will come with me, I
will take you, and your child also, to a pleasant place. I will make a
gentleman of him and a lady of you. But if you gainsay me another
moment, I'll batter in the door, dash the brains of your brat out
against the wall and carry you off by force wherever I please.'

"Thereupon Mariora paid no more attention to me but began wringing her
hands and I snatched up the child, who had been awakened by the noise
and begun to cry. I drew my pistol from my bosom and planted myself
beside the door. If there's nobody else, I thought, I must bear the
brunt of it.

"The robber planted his shoulder against the door and pressed it inwards
with tremendous force. The boards cracked and as the middle of the door
was barricaded by a stout beam, there was soon a r