"Help! Treason! To arms! Help! The Huguenots!"
But instantly the Cordelier's voice expired upon his lips. A vigorous hand seized him by the throat, the blade of a dagger shone in the air and twice plunged into the fratricide's breast. He fell over backward, bathed in his own blood, straightened himself for an instant, foamed at the mouth, and breathed his last;—and a muffled voice cried "Twenty-five—the bill is paid. Now I can die in peace. My sister and her daughter are avenged! The ransom of the crime is paid in full."
The Franc-Taupin had emerged from under ground after Antonicq, and preceded Captain Mirant, who rushed to his daughter's embrace while the Franc-Taupin stabbed the fratricidal monk to death.
"Let us flee!" said Cornelia to her father and her betrothed, after responding to their demonstrations of tenderness. "The monk's cries reached the hall of the guards at the head of the corridor. I hear them coming. Do you hear those steps? The sound of those approaching voices?"
"We have nothing to fear. Your presence of mind, my dear girl, has insured our safe retreat. They will find it no easy task to enter the cell. The door is thick, the bolt solid," remarked the Franc-Taupin, examining and fastening more tightly the bolt with imperturbable calmness. "Cornelia, Antonicq, and you, Captain Mirant, descend to the aqueduct quickly, and wait for me just this side of the mine that I planted in the underground passage, and near which Master Barbot and the sailors are waiting for our signal."
Turning to Serpentin, the apprentice, who also came in after Captain Mirant the Franc-Taupin said:
"Come here, my gay fellow—bring me the little machine and implements. We shall serve up a peppery broth to the royalists."
Cornelia, her father and Antonicq hastened to descend the stairs of the underground passage that the trap door masked. Hardly had they disappeared, leaving the Franc-Taupin and the apprentice behind in Fra Hervé's cell, when they heard violent knocks given at the door, and a confused noise of voices calling out:
"Fra Hervé! Fra Hervé!"
The Marquis of Montbar was heard saying: "A minute ago he cried: 'Help! Treason!' He now makes no answer. The witch may have strangled the reverend Father!"