At that, Christine stepped out of the house, and, snatching the lantern from Franck's hand, held it close to Sister Anne's face. After examining her closely for several minutes, she said, in a harsh voice:
"What's all this?"
"A woman, can't you see? And a rare woman, too! a deaf mute!"
"A deaf mute! A fine capture, I swear! What do you expect to do with her?"
"That's none of your business," said Leroux, in a voice that echoed through the forest; "I took this woman for myself; I like her, she suits me just as she is. Don't you dare to look crooked at her, or I'll hang you up to the tallest fir in the forest!"
Christine did not seem alarmed by the threat; she continued to stare at the girl, and, when she noticed her condition, a sarcastic smile lighted up her face, and she muttered between her teeth:
"You'll be sure of having a brat, anyway."
A blow which sent her reeling against the wall of the cabin was Leroux's only reply to this remark of the repellent Christine; she rushed at him with a threatening air, but Pierre stepped between them.
"Come, come, comrades," he said, "that's enough of such fooling; we mustn't let the new-comer raise a row here. Go in, Christine, and see about giving us some supper, quick; we're as hungry as wolves!"
During this altercation between the robbers and their housekeeper, the unfortunate dumb girl felt a sensation of fear, of absolute terror, such as she had never known before. The aspect of the woman, the language of the men, whose brutal character she began to divine, the appearance of that horrible lair—everything combined to give her some conception of the perils that encompassed her. But what could she do? what would become of her? She would have been only too glad, at that moment, to be far away from that spot, even though she had to endure the severe cold, unsheltered, in the forest. But there was no means of escape, and they did not return her money; they had taken her treasure and her clothes; was it for a moment only? she dared not hope so, and she discovered some new cause of alarm every minute. She shuddered from head to foot, her teeth chattered, her knees gave way under her.