time clutching him by the arm, and drawing him into the shed to within a couple of yards of where I stood.

"Curse the coward!' muttered the other between his teeth. 'What's the matter now? Are you afraid?'

"The bargain! Monsieur does not forget the bargain?'

"To hell with the bargain and you too! Can't you believe me, you d-d fool? You shall have the money to-night. I have told you so a thousand times. Now, let's settle it. Come!'

"One second.'

him in his hold.

François still detained

Remember, I have nothing

to do with it. Whether the business is

accomplished or not, I get double what you paid me to-day.'

"Yes! yes! yes!'

guide.

And if he kills you?' whispered the

"Idiot!' said the other, snatching a long knife from his breast and seizing François

as he spoke.

'Another moment and I dis

pense with your assistance for ever."

"Follow then,' said François, shaking off the grasp of his companion; and the two moved noiselessly up-stairs.

"What were my feelings as I listened to this conversation! The instant the two men entered the shed, I recognized in the companion of François the object of my hatred and revenge, Winter! Curiosity, nothing but an ungovernable desire to hear him talk, to learn his motive for coming, and to assure myself of the nature and object of his intimacy with François, withheld me from springing upon my prey unawares and strangling him on the spot.

"Without stirring from my hiding-place, the position I occupied commanded a view of the same side of the court where my bedroom was. François pointed out the door, and immediately glided off, leaving Winter to enter alone. As he cautiously raised the latch and disappeared from my sight, a

chilling shudder passed through my frame at the thought of the horrible fate Providence had so mercifully saved me from. But I had no time for reflection. I saw him come out of the room, and slam the door behind him. I stole quickly from the shed and stood in the side of the archway, close by the foot of the staircase. I heard the hollow sound of his step and the creaking of the balcony. I breathed so quickly that I thought I must alarm him. He came nearer and nearer. I trembled in every joint and sweated in every pore. His last step was on the staircase. One bound, and hands clutched his throat!

my

"Who could resist the maniac strength which hatred darted through every muscle of my body? Had he been a thousand times as strong, my fierceness must have torn him like a reed to the ground! I see him now, his throat distorted, his terror-starting eyeballs! A stifled shrieking gasp escaped him. One wild effort, and then a sudden relaxation

of hands. A cold numbness crept adown my back, a faint sickening sensation, a consciousness that blood was trickling from me, and then a fall, and all was darkness and oblivion !"

CHAPTER IX.

"THE first dreary rays of dawn were struggling through the dingy door-panes as I woke. At first I could not remember

where I was. By degrees the door-panes reminded me of my kennel. Then a stiff feeling in the neck, as I tried to raise myself, recalled my wound. Again a dizziness clouded my senses. I strove to connect the fact of the wound with the dingy door-panes, and an indistinct recollection of Winter entering the room with a knife in his hand, induced me to think I had been murdered and was dying.