"  Again ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  whisper  at  the  fountain,"


THE   GALLOWS  RAISED.  195

resumed  the  countryman,  "that  he  is  brought  down  into  our
country  to  be  executed  on  the  spot,  and  that  he  mil  very
certainly  be  executed.  They  even  whisper  that  because  he
has  slain  Monseigneur,  and  because  Monseigneur  was  the
father  of  his  tenants — serfs — what  you  will — he  will  be
executed  as  a  parricide.  One  old  man  says  at  the  fountain,
that  his  right  hand,  armed  with  the  knife,  will  be  burnt  off
before  his  face ;  that,  into  wounds  which  will  be  made  in  his
arms,  his  breast,  and  his  legs,  there  will  be  poured  boiling
oil,  melted  lead,  hot  resin,  wax,  and  sulphur  ;  finally,  that  he
will  be  torn  limb  from  limb  by  four  strong  horses.  That  old
man  says,  all  this  was  actually  done  to  a  prisoner  who  made
an  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  late  King,  Louis  Fifteen.  But
how  do  I  know  if  he  lies  ?     I  am  not  a  scholar.'"

"  Listen  once  again  then,  Jacques !  ■"  said  the  man  with  the
restless  hand  and  the  craving  air.  "  The  name  of  that
prisoner  was  Damiens,  and  it  was  all  done  in  open  day,  in
the  open  streets  of  this  city  of  Paris ;  and  nothing  was  more
noticed  in  the  vast  concourse  that  saw  it  done,  than  the
crowd  of  ladies  of  quality  and  fashion,  who  were  fuU  of  eager
attention  to  the  last — to  the  last,  Jacques,  prolonged  until
nightfall,  when  he  had  lost  two  legs  and  an  arm,  and  stiU
breathed!     And  it  was  done — why,  how  old  £u-e  you.?"

"  Thirty-five,'"  said  the  mender  of  roads,  who  looked  sixty.
