'Will you do the same for me?' asked Madame Plomb, her leaden face darkening and becoming purple, as the blood rushed into it. 'Dear mistress, I will do all that I am able to do; I will spare no trouble, no exertion. I am poor, but so was Madame Legros; I am a nobody, but so was she. If she was successful, why should not I be so too?' 'God bless you, dear heart!' said the poor woman, in a tender tone, the wild light deserting her eyes, and the nervous contraction of the mouth yielding to a natural softness. She extended her hands over the girl's head,--Gabrielle was still kneeling before her; and said in the same low tone, 'God bless you, dear child! And sweet Mother Mary assist you, and your patron Gabriel protect you.' Then she asked abruptly in her usual tone, 'Well! what are you going to do?' 'Madame, I had formed the intention of seeking an interview with the queen, and imploring her to use her influence with the king, to obtain for you an order of release.' 'But I am mad.' 'No, no, dearest madame. I know you better. Ill usage has made you very unhappy; but if you were alone,--away from M. Berthier and your father, in some quiet place, and I were to attend on you, you would be happy and well again.' Joy irradiated the leaden face. The poor woman laughed and clapped her hands. 'We shall be together in a cottage, with flowers before the door.' 'Surely, madame.' 'And away, far away from Paris and Bernay, where there are trees and mountains. Gabrielle, my father took me once when I was a little girl to a beautiful country where there were great mountains, and snow covered them in the midst of summer; and there were forests there, and people did not talk French. I ran away and hid among the rocks and trees. I was a little girl then, quite a little girl; but they could not find me. I was behind a mossy stone, and I saw them searching, and they never would have found me, unless I had laughed aloud. We will go there. I have not laughed for many years; we shall be able to hide away there, and they would never find us. Of that I am sure. I would not laugh and let them catch me. We shall go there.' 'Where was that?' asked Gabrielle, her mind recurring to the Deschwandens, father and son. 'I do not know. I remember, that is all.' 'Was it,' asked Gabrielle, hesitatingly, 'was it, do you think, the country of Bruder Klaus?' 'I do not know. We shall take Gabriel with us, shall we not?' 'Certainly.' 'And you will be with me always?' 'Yes, I will not leave you, dear, kind mistress, unless you send me away.' 'That I will never do.' 'When shall we start?' 'Oh, madame! you are not out of this hateful place yet.' 'No,' said the poor prisoner, her face returning to its ashen greyness, which, in the Bastille, shut out from the sun, had become more livid; 'no, and I have not said good-bye to the Beast yet.' 'Madame!' 'Ay. To the Beast! Oh for that good-bye!'