"Deschamps—"
"I warned them that the lad would suffer. He is dead?"
"No, Madame, but he was struck by a splinter of shell, and—" the words stuck in his throat.
"Yes?" she queried, gently.
"The doctor says he will be totally blind, Madame!"
The bird croaked harshly, as though with a laugh of evil satisfaction. It never took its eyes from the woman nor did she relax her gaze upon the bird.
"So," she said, "he is blind, my husband has gone to his death, and you, an American, return safe, bearing a captive."
The woman's figure stiffened, as though in a trance.
The hunchback clenched the boy's arm in a grip so powerful that he had difficulty in repressing a cry.
"Listen to every word," warned Croquier.