and fro, distressed and whining. Finally, they
both stopped on the brink together, and setting
up their heads, howled dolefully.

"There is some one lying below," said
Marguerite.

"I think so," said the foremost man. "Stand
well inward, the two last, and let us look over."

The last man kindled two torches from his
basket, and handed them forward. The leader
taking one, and Marguerite the other, they
looked down: now shading the torches, now
moving them to the right or left, now raising
them, now depressing them, as moonlight far
below contended with black shadows. A piercing
cry from Marguerite broke a long silence.

"My God! On a projecting point, where a
wall of ice stretches forward over the torrent, I
see a human form!"

"Where, ma'amselle, where?"

"See, there! On the shelf of ice below the
dogs!"

The leader, with a sickened aspect, drew
inward, and they were all silent. But they were
not all inactive, for Marguerite, with swift and
skilful fingers, had detached both herself and
him from the rope in a few seconds.

"Show me the baskets. These two are the
only ropes?"

"The only ropes here, ma'amselle; but at
the Hospice——"

"If he is alive—I know it is my lover—he
will be dead before you can return. Dear
Guides! Blessed friends of travellers! Look at
me. Watch my hands. If they falter or go
wrong, make me your prisoner by force. If
they are steady and go right, help me to save
him!"

She girded herself with a cord under the
breast and arms, she formed it into a kind of
jacket, she drew it into knots, she laid its
end side by side with the end of the other
cord, she twisted and twined the two together,
she knotted them together, she set her foot upon
the knots, she strained them, she held them for
the two men to strain at.

"She is inspired," they said to one another.

"By the Almighty's mercy!" she exclaimed.
"You both know that I am by far the lightest
here. Give me the brandy and the wine, and
lower me down to him. Then go for assistance
and a stronger rope. You see that when it is
lowered to me—look at this about me now—
I can make it fast and safe to his body. Alive
or dead, I will bring him up, or die with him.
I love him passionately. Can I say more?"

They turned to her companion, but he was
lying senseless on the snow.

"Lower me down to him," she said, taking
two little kegs they had brought, and hanging
them about her, "or I will dash myself to
pieces! I am a peasant, and I know no
giddiness or fear; and this is nothing to me, and I
passionately love him. Lower me down!"

"Ma'amselle, ma'amselle, he must be dying
or dead."

"Dying or dead, my husband's head shall
lie upon my breast, or I will dash myself to
pieces."

They yielded, overborne. With such
preautions as their skill and the circumstances
admitted, they let her slip from the summit,
guiding herself down the precipitous icy wall
with her hand, and they lowered down, and
lowered down, and lowered down, until the cry
came up: "Enough!"

"Is it really he, and is he dead?" they called
down, looking over.

The cry came up: "He is insensible; but his
heart beats. It beats against mine."

"How does he lie?"

The cry came up: "Upon a ledge of ice.
It has thawed beneath him, and it will thaw
beneath me. Hasten. If we die, I am
content."

One of the two men hurried off with the dogs
at such topmost speed as he could make; the
other set up the lighted torches in the snow,
and applied himself to recovering the Englishman.
Much snow-chafing and some brandy
got him on his legs, but delirious and quite
unconscious where he was.

The watch remained upon the brink, and his
cry went down continually: "Courage! They
will soon be here. How goes it?" And the
cry came up: "His heart still beats against
mine. I warm him in my arms. I have cast
off the rope, for the ice melts under us, and
the rope would separate me from him; but I
am not afraid."

The moon went down behind the mountain
tops, and all the abyss lay in darkness. The
cry went down: "How goes it?" The cry
came up: "We are sinking lower, but his heart
still beats against mine."

At length, the eager barking of the dogs, and
a flare of light upon the snow, proclaimed that
help was coming on. Twenty or thirty men,
lamps, torches, litters, ropes, blankets, wood to
kindle a great fire, restoratives and stimulants,
came in fast. The dogs ran from one man to
another, and from this thing to that, and ran to
the edge of the abyss, dumbly entreating Speed,
speed, speed!

The cry went down: "Thanks to God, all
is ready. How goes it?"

The cry came up: "We are sinking still, and
we are deadly cold. His heart no longer beats
against mine. Let no one come down, to add to
our weight. Lower the rope only."

The fire was kindled high, a great glare of
torches lighted the sides of the precipice, lamps
were lowered, a strong rope was lowered.
She could be seen passing it round him, and
making it secure.

The cry came up into a deathly silence:
"Raise! Softly!" They could see her
diminished figure shrink, as he was swung into the
air.

They gave no shout when some of them laid
him on a litter, and others lowered another
strong rope. The cry again came up into a
deathly silence: "Raise! "Softly!" But when
they caught her at the brink, then they shouted,
then they wept, then they gave thanks to
Heaven, then they kissed her feet, then they
kissed her dress, then the dogs caressed her,