unable to ascertain how I came by my death!  And such a horrible death!  Four hours yet till dawn!  What might not happen in four hours?  The man himself might only have gone to seek an accomplice to murder me.  He might have known that the key would not turn on the inside.  But at last, in spite of myself, fatigue conquered fear and I slept.

“I cannot say how long I had been unconscious when I was awakened by hearing a key turning in the lock:  the door cautiously opened, and a man entered and came toward the bench where I was lying.  My drowsiness calmed me.  I wondered quite placidly whether it was to be robbery or murder.  What a paragraph it would make in the Moniteur next day!  I would cheerfully give him my watch and purse if they would content him.  I might call out and rouse the house, but most likely Brunhilda in my situation would have held a parley.  A good precedent.  I sat up to show that I was awake, and in doing so recognized my old man.  Though nothing could look more threatening as he stealthily advanced, shading his light, taking pains to make no noise, I could not entirely mistrust the weatherbeaten face with its anxious, benevolent eyes that met mine.

    “‘Is it time to go?’ I asked.

    “’Not yet, but soon.  I have just returned, and came in to know if
    you would have a fire:  it is cold outside.’

    “’No, never mind:  I am doing well enough.  I think I will take
    another nap.’

    “’Very well:  I shall be near for the rest of the night, so you need
    not be afraid.’  And he left, carefully locking me in again.

“When he came for me the dawn was beginning to break; the morning star was shining in the sky; the earliest birds were twittering, and cocks answered each other from distance to distance; but not a human being was to be seen.  We crossed ploughed fields and stubble to find the road, and I felt the truth of my guide’s augury of the night before.  Had I attempted to go alone I should have become bewildered, and ended by sleeping in the fields.  It did strike me that if the man wished to rob me, now would be his chance, and at first I intentionally kept a little behind; but his innocent garrulity was such as to allay all suspicions, and we jogged on very amicably until, coming to two roads, he pointed out that which leads to Creil, and bade me good-bye.

“Had I had the giving of a medal of the Legion of Honor, I should have decorated him on the spot.  I believe it repaid me for my annoyance to have found such ample goodness, such chivalry, such kindness, growing as it were by the wayside.  It was as if the world had rolled back into the days of knight-errantry, when to rescue and protect distressed damsels ranked next to religious worship.  Sure am I if my weatherbeaten old man had lived at that time, none would have been more renowned for gentle deeds:  in this prosaic