With a blind instinct for protection, she staggered towards the door, and fell, her fingers still clasping the precious herbs.
As Parpon hastily entered, Madame Degardy hobbled out of the shadow of the trees, and furtively watched the hut.

When a light appeared, she crept to the door, opened it stealthily upon the intruders of her home, and stepped inside.
Parpon was kneeling by Elise, lifting up her head, and looking at her in horrified distress.
With a shrill cry the old woman came forward and dropped on her knees at the other side of Elise.

Her hand, fumbling anxiously over the girl's breast, met the hard and warty palm of the dwarf.

She stopped suddenly, raised the sputtering candle, and peered into his eyes with a vague, wavering intensity.

For minutes they knelt there, the silence clothing them about, the body of the unconscious girl between them.