Her face twitched, her form seemed to stiffen as she drew herself up like one in physical pain.

"Oh, I cannot bear it!" she cried to us in dreadful tones.

"Oh, will no one do anything?
I will go to him! I will tell him I will give him up! I will do whatever he wishes if he will only spare him!" Croisette went from the room crying.

It was a dreadful sight for us--this girl in agony.

And it was impossible to reassure her! Not one of us doubted the horrible meaning of the note, its covert threat.
Civil wars and religious hatred, and I fancy Italian modes of thought, had for the time changed our countrymen to beasts.