"I say! is she dead or asleep?" said a third. "Come, Leroux, just push her a bit! Are we going to spend the night staring at this drudge?"
"Death of my life! I don't know as we've got anything better to do. All's quiet on the road—eh, Jacques?"
Jacques was the man who stood a few steps away, apparently listening. When his comrades addressed him, he approached the group about the girl, saying:
"Damnation! another bad night!"
"Not so bad as it might be!" rejoined Leroux, still gazing at Sister Anne; "morbleu! that's a pretty woman!"
It was at that moment that Sister Anne opened her eyes, resolved to appeal to the compassion of the men who surrounded her, and whose language she did not comprehend, having no suspicion of their profession.
"I say, look!" cried Leroux; "she's waking up. She's got a fine pair of eyes, on my word! I'm curious to hear what she'll say."
Sister Anne cast a glance of entreaty upon them, one after another, clasping her hands as if to implore their pity.
"Oh! don't you be afraid," said Pierre; "we ain't going to hurt you. Where did you come from? where you going? what put it into your head to sleep in our forest?"
The dumb girl, taking the robbers for woodcutters, tried to make them understand that she had lost her way.