"See, monsieur," she said, escorting him from dungeon to dungeon, "this is where they brought people to their senses. You can still see the iron rings to which they fastened prisoners after their fetters were put on. This is a dungeon where they say three men were devoured by a huge serpent. The great noblemen of long ago had such creatures at their disposal. We will show to you the oubliettes in a moment: it was no joke to get into them! Ah! if you had come down here before the Revolution, perhaps you would have done well to make the sign of the Cross instead of laughing!"
"Luckily we can laugh here now," said Gilberte, "and think of something else besides those horrible legends. I thank the good Lord that I was born in an age when it is very hard to believe in them, and I prefer our old nest as it is to-day, demolished and harmless forever. You know, Janille, what my father always says to the people of Cuzion, when they come and ask him for some of our stone for building purposes: 'Help yourselves, my friends, help yourselves; it will be the first time it ever served any good purpose!'"
"Never mind," rejoined Janille, "it's worth something to have been first in one's province and the master of everybody else!"
"It makes me realize all the more forcibly," replied the girl, "the pleasure of being everybody else's equal and of no longer causing fear to anybody."
"Oh! that is a glory and a joy which I envy!" cried Emile.
XVI
THE TALISMAN
If Gilberte had been told a week earlier that a day was coming when the tranquillity of her heart would be disturbed by strange commotions, when the circle of her affections would not only be extended to admit a stranger to a place beside her father, Janille and the carpenter, but would suddenly be broken in order that a new name might be placed among those cherished names, she would not have believed that such a miracle could be and would have been terrified by the suggestion.
And yet she had a vague feeling that henceforth the image of this young man with the black hair, sparkling eye and slender figure, would dog her footsteps and follow her even in her sleep.
She spurned the thought of such a fatality, but she could not escape from it. Her chaste and gentle heart did not go forth to meet the intoxicating emotion that came to seek it; but she was destined to feel it when Emile's hand quivered and trembled on touching hers.