country, children and old men are not condemned to death. I am over
eighty years old; I should have been pardoned; they told me that when,
with tears, I asked pardon for you; once more, forgive me, Gabriel; I
thought my daughter was dead; I thought of nothing else; and besides, I
did not know the law."

"Father, father!" cried Gabriel, touched, "what are you saying? I would
have given my life a thousand times over to purchase one day of yours.
Since you are strong enough to be present at my last hour, fear not; you
will not see me turn pale; your son will be worthy of you."

"And he is to die, to die!" cried Solomon, striking his forehead in
despair, and casting on the walls of the dungeon a look of fire that
would fain have pierced them.

"I am resigned, father," said Gabriel gently; did not Christ ascend the
cross?"

"Yes," murmured the old man in a muffled voice, "but He did not leave
behind a sister dishonoured by His death."

These words, which escaped the old fisherman in spite of himself, threw a
sudden and terrible light into the soul of Gabriel. For the first time
he perceived all the infamous manner of his death: the shameless populace
crowding round the scaffold, the hateful hand of the executioner taking
him by the Hair, and the drops of his blood besprinkling the white
raiment of his sister and covering her with shame.

"Oh, if I could get a weapon!" cried Gabriel, his haggard eyes roaming
around.