Part 143 (1/2)
”'Yes, yes, I!' replied he
”'Oh, leave one, if you do not desire to see ainst that wall before your eyes!'
”'Very well, it is your own doing Till to, then!' replied I, allowing e”
Felton leaned for support upon a piece of furniture; and Milady saith the joy of a deth would fail him perhaps before the end of her recital
57 MEANS FOR CLassICAL TRAGEDY
After aman who listened to her, Milady continued her recital
”It was nearly three days since I had eaten or drunk anything I suffered frightful torments At times there passed before me clouds which pressed my brohich veiledcame I was so weak that every tiht I was about to die
”In the midst of one of these swoons I heard the door open Terror recalled me to myself
”He entered the apartment followed by a man in a mask He was masked likewise; but I knew his step, I knew his voice, I knew hi which hell has bestowed upon his person for the curse of humanity
”'Well,' said he to me, 'have you made your mind up to take the oath I requested of you?'
”'You have said Puritans have but one word Mine you have heard, and that is to pursue you--on earth to the tribunal of men, in heaven to the tribunal of God'
”'You persist, then?'
”'I swear it before the God who hears me I will take the whole world as a witness of your crier'
”'You are a prostitute,' said he, in a voice of thunder, 'and you shall undergo the punishment of prostitutes! Branded in the eyes of the world you invoke, try to prove to that world that you are neither guilty northe man who accompanied him, 'Executioner,' said he, 'do your duty'”
”Oh, his name, his name!” cried Felton ”His name, tell it me!”
”Then in spite of an to co worse than death--the executioner seized me, threw me on the floor, fastened me with his bonds, and suffocated by sobs, al God, who did not listen to htful cry of pain and sha fire, a red-hot iron, the iron of the executioner, was iroan
”Here,” said Milady, rising with the majesty of a queen, ”here, Felton, behold the new irl, the victim of the brutality of a villain Learn to know the heart of men, and henceforth eance”
Milady, with a rapid gesture, opened her robe, tore the caer and si man the ineffaceable impression which dishonored that beautiful shoulder
”But,” cried Felton, ”that is a FLEUR-DE-LIS which I see there”
”And therein consisted the infaland!--it would be necessary to prove what tribunal had imposed it on me, and I could have dom; but the brand of France!--oh, by that, by THAT I was branded indeed!”