Then the door opened and the priest came out.
"It is finished," he said.

"May God pardon the sinner!" and he moved away rapidly towards the house.
Alexis spoke a word to his fellow-servants, and these lifted a heavy log from the wood-pile in the courtyard, and carried it into the stable.

Then they seized Paul, and in spite of his screams and struggles laid him with his head across the log.

Alexis raised the heavy axe in the air; it flashed in the light of the lantern; there was a dull, heavy thud, and the head of the traitor rolled on the ground.
"Now," the count said, unmoved, "put a horse into a cart, take picks and shovels, and carry the body of this traitor out to the forest and bury it there.

Dig a hole deeply, that the wolves may not bring it to light.