"Make for me a sacred oath, and I will swear by it that those
toys will do your children no harm."

I drew out the little wooden cross that Mathilde had given me,
and held it up. They looked at me astonished. What should I, a
heretic and a Protestant, do with this sacred emblem? "This
never leaves me," said I; "it was a pious gift."

I raised the cross to my lips, and kissed it.

"That's well," said Bamboir to his comrade. "If otherwise, he
should have been struck down by the Avenging Angel."

We got back to the chateau without more talk, and I was locked
in, while my guards retired. As soon as they had gone I got to
work, for my great enterprise was at hand.

At ten o'clock I was ready for the venture. When the critical
moment came, I was so arrayed that my dearest friend would not have
known me. My object was to come out upon my guards as La Jongleuse,
and, in the fright and confusion which should follow, make my
escape through the corridors and to the entrance doors, past the
sentinels, and so on out. It may be seen now why I got the woman's
garb, the sheet, the horsehair, the phosphorus, the reeds, and such
things; why I secured the knife and pistol may be guessed likewise.
Upon the lid of a small stove in the room I placed my saltpetre,
and I rubbed the horsehair on my head with phosphorus, also on my
hands, and face, and feet, and on many objects in the room. The
knife and pistol were at my hand, and when the clock struck ten,