The Monk

would produce upon the lady. I doubted not but the grains which I had observed were poisonous, and lamented that it had been impossible for me to warn her of the danger. But a few minutes had elapsed before I perceived her eyes grow heavy; her head sank upon her shoulder, and she fell into a deep sleep. I affected not to attend to this circumstance, and continued my conversation with Baptiste, with all the outward gaiety in my power to assume. But he no longer answered me without constraint. He eyed me with distrust and astonishment, and I saw that the banditti were frequently whispering among themselves. My situation became every moment more painful; I sustained the character of confidence with a worse grace than ever. Equally afraid of the arrival of their accomplices and of their suspecting my knowledge of their designs, I knew not how to dissipate the distrust which the banditti evidently entertained for me. In this new dilemma the friendly Marguerite again assisted me. She passed behind the chairs of her stepsons, stopped for a moment opposite to me, closed her eyes, and reclined her head upon her shoulder. This hint immediately dispelled my incertitude. It told me, that I ought to imitate the Baroness, and pretend that the liquor had taken its full effect upon me. I did so, and in a few minutes seemed perfectly overcome with slumber.

“So!” cried Baptiste, as I fell back in my chair; “At last he sleeps! I began to think that he had scented our design, and that we should have been forced to dispatch him at all events.”

“And why not dispatch him at all events?” enquired the ferocious Jacques. “Why leave him the possibility of betraying our secret? Marguerite, give me one of my pistols: a single touch of the trigger will finish him at once.”

“And supposing,” rejoined the father, “Supposing that our friends should not arrive tonight, a pretty figure we should make when the servants enquire for him in the morning! No, no, Jacques; we must wait for our associates. If they join us, we are strong enough to dispatch the domestics as well as their masters, and the booty is our own; if Claude does not find the troop, we must take patience, and suffer the prey to slip through our fingers. Ah! boys, boys, had you arrived but five minutes sooner, the Spaniard would have been done for, and two thousand pistoles our own. But you are always out of the way when you are most wanted. You are the most unlucky rogues!”

“Well, well, father!” answered Jacques; “Had you been of my mind, all would have been over by this time. You, Robert, Claude, and myself, why the strangers were but double the number, and I warrant you we might have mastered them. However, Claude is gone; ’tis too late to think of it now. We must wait patiently for the arrival of the gang; and if the travellers escape us tonight, we must take care to waylay them tomorrow.”

“True! True!” said Baptiste; “Marguerite, have you given the sleeping-draught to the waiting-women?”

She replied in the affirmative.

“All then is safe. Come, come, boys; whatever falls out, we have no reason to complain of this adventure. We run no danger, may gain much, and can lose nothing.”

At this moment I heard a trampling of horses. Oh! how dreadful was the sound to my ears. A cold sweat flowed down my forehead, and I felt all the terrors of impending death. I was by no means reassured by hearing the compassionate Marguerite exclaim in the accents of despair,

“Almighty God! They are lost!”

Luckily the woodman and his sons were too much occupied by the arrival of their associates to attend to me, or the violence of my agitation would have convinced them that my sleep was feigned.

“Open! Open!” exclaimed several voices on the outside of the cottage.

“Yes! Yes!” cried Baptiste joyfully; “They are our friends sure enough! Now then our booty is certain. Away! Lads, away! Lead them to the barn; you know what is to be done there.”

Robert hastened to open the door of the cottage.

“But first,” said Jacques, taking up his arms; “first let me dispatch these sleepers.”

“No, no, no!” replied his father; “Go you to the barn, where your presence is wanted. Leave me to take care of these and the women above.”

Jacques obeyed, and followed his brother. They seemed to converse with the newcomers for a few minutes: after which I heard the robbers dismount, and as I conjectured, bend their course towards the barn.

“So! That is wisely done!” muttered Baptiste; “They have quitted their horses, that they may fall upon the strangers by surprise. Good! Good! and now to business.”

I heard him approach a small cupboard which was fixed up in a distant part of the room, and unlock it. At this moment I felt myself shaken gently.

“Now! Now!” whispered Marguerite.

I opened my eyes. Baptiste stood with his back towards me. No one else was in the room save Marguerite and the sleeping lady. The villain had taken a dagger from the cupboard and seemed examining whether it was sufficiently sharp. I had neglected to furnish myself with arms; but I perceived this to be my only chance of escaping, and resolved not to lose the opportunity. I sprang from my seat, darted suddenly upon Baptiste, and clasping my hands round his throat, pressed it so forcibly as to prevent his uttering a single cry. You may remember that I was remarkable at Salamanca for the power of my arm: it now rendered me an essential service. Surprised, terrified, and breathless, the villain was by no means an equal antagonist. I threw him upon the ground; I grasped him still tighter; and while I fixed him without motion upon the floor, Marguerite, wresting the dagger from his hand, plunged it repeatedly in his heart till he expired.

No sooner was this horrible but necessary act perpetrated than Marguerite called on me to follow