"Let us hasten then!" cried Mario; "we may be in time to save an unfortunate fellow creature. Come, come, monsieur l'abbé! The peace is signed; no one has the right to torture Huguenots!" "It is too late," said the priest, "the sounds have ceased." The shrieks had suddenly ceased and the smoke had disappeared. Perhaps they were mistaken. However, they urged their horses and soon reached the top of the hill. Thereupon they espied, in the valley beyond, and much farther away than they had supposed, a group of peasants bustling about a half-extinct fire. Before they came within ear-shot, the men had dispersed. A single old woman remained near the smoking ashes, which she was turning over with a fork as if in search of something. Mario arrived first at the spot, where his nostrils were assailed by an acrid, intolerable odor. "What are you looking for there, mother?" he said; "what have you been burning?" "Oh! nothing, my fine gentleman! nothing but a witch who gave us the fever with her look whenever she passed. Our men made an end of her, and I am looking to see if she didn't leave her secret in the ashes." "What? her secret?" said Mario, disgusted by the sang-froid of that harridan. "You see," replied the old woman, "she had something around her neck that glistened, and she lost it struggling when they put her in the fire. Then she shrieked: 'I have lost it, I am lost myself!'--It must have been an amulet to protect her from a violent death, and I would like to find it." [Illustration: _MARIO FINDS PILAR'S TALISMAN._ "_Look" said Mario, picking up a coin with a hole in it, which he saw shining at his feet, "is this it?_" "_Yes, yes, that's it, my fine gentleman! Give it to me for the trouble I had keeping the fire burning._"] "Look," said Mario, picking up a coin with a hole in it, which he saw shining at his feet, "is this it?" "Yes, yes, that's it, my fine gentleman! Give it to me for the trouble I had keeping the fire burning." Mario threw the coin far away, impelled by a feeling of unconquerable horror. He had read upon it a name carved with a knife. It was Pilar's talisman. Naught else remained of her save that testimony of her fatal love, a few charred bones, and the disgusting odor of burned flesh with which the atmosphere was heavy. Overwhelmed with horror and pity, Mario rode rapidly away, refusing to give Clindor, who questioned him closely, the key to the riddle; and, during a considerable part of the journey, he was unable to shake off the painful impression produced by that shocking incident.