. The monk and the hangman's daughter. ng her eyes from the ground. Can I not betrusted ? Ah, but, Benedicta, the enemy is strong, and 147 Et>t ifttonft 148 anK t\)t yQ^ have a traitor to unbar the gates. Yonr own?eangraan»s j^^art, poor child, will at last betray « jjg ^jii j^o^ j-^ami me, she murmured. Youwrong him, sir, indeed you do. But I knew that I did not, and was all themore concerned to judge that the wolf would usethe arts of the fox. Before the sacred purity ofthis maiden the base passions of the youth had notdared to declare themselves. But none the less Iknew tha
. The monk and the hangman's daughter. ng her eyes from the ground. Can I not betrusted ? Ah, but, Benedicta, the enemy is strong, and 147 Et>t ifttonft 148 anK t\)t yQ^ have a traitor to unbar the gates. Yonr own?eangraan»s j^^art, poor child, will at last betray « jjg ^jii j^o^ j-^ami me, she murmured. Youwrong him, sir, indeed you do. But I knew that I did not, and was all themore concerned to judge that the wolf would usethe arts of the fox. Before the sacred purity ofthis maiden the base passions of the youth had notdared to declare themselves. But none the less Iknew that an hour would come Vvdien she wouldhave need of all her strength, and it would failher. I grasped her arm and demanded that shetake an oath that she would throw herself into thewaters of the Black Lake rather than into thearms of Rochus. But she would not reply. Sheremained silent, her eyes fixed upon mine with alook of sadness and reproach which filled my mindwith the most melancholy thoughts, and, turningaway, I left her. ^OED, Savior of my soul,whither hast thon led me ?Here am I in the culpritstower, a condemned mur-derer, and to-morrow at sun-rise I shall be taken to thegallows and hanged! Forwhoso slays a fellow being, he shall be slain ; thatis the law of God and man. On this the last day of my life I have asked thatI be permitted to write, and my prayer is the name of God and in the truth I shall nowset down all that occurred. Leaving Benedicta, I returned to my cabin, and,having packed everything, waited for the boy. Buthe did not come : I should have to remain in themountains another night. I grew restless. Thecabin seemed too narrow to hold me ; the air tooheavy and hot to sustain life. Going outside, I layupon a rock and looked up at the sky, dark and 149 arte £aort& anlr t|)c Jljanjimans 3IDauflJ)ter. 150 glittering with stars. But my soul was not in theheavens; it was at the cabin by tlie Black Lake. Suddenly I heard a faint, distant cvy, l
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbierceam, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1892
