Leroux stared at her in amazement, but in a moment smiled again, saying:
"Oho! so you're balky, are you? Pretty good! Do you really think of resisting me?"
He rose and went toward her; with a well-directed kick, he sent the table to the other end of the room; then, seizing the girl, who struggled to no purpose, he took her in his arms and carried her back to the heap of straw. Once more she summoned all her courage, all her strength, to resist the brigand, who was determined to triumph over her, and who, after laughing scornfully at her defence, finally became furious at her obstinate resistance. This pitiful struggle lasted a long time, but the unfortunate girl felt that her strength was failing her; tears and sobs suffocated her, and she was on the point of becoming the victim of the villain who strove to force her, when of a sudden there was a succession of violent blows on the door of the cabin.
"The devil take anybody who comes just now!" cried Leroux. "Those fellows have done it on purpose; but I won't let 'em in."
At that moment, he heard a strange voice, which said:
"Open, for God's sake! save me! you shall be handsomely rewarded!"
It was not the voice of any of Leroux's companions. The robber was surprised beyond words. He listened in terror, while Sister Anne fell on her knees and thanked heaven for rescuing her.
Christine came hastily from the other room, and ran up to Leroux in evident perturbation.
"Somebody's knocking, do you hear? It's a strange voice."
"Morbleu! yes, I hear it well enough. Go and look out of the window, and try to see whether it's just one man."