"Ciel, si beau garçon! and to die like a cochon!"

"But the blood on your bodice, and on your hand, how came it there ?"

"It was evening, sir, and the evil birds of prey are out then; a cruel hawk swooped down upon a linnet, but I scared it with my kerchief, and the linnet fell fluttering at my feet. I laid it against my bosom, but its wing was torn, and its eyes looked like those of Melanie's little baby when it lay dying on my lap. Soon I saw the poor bird was dead, and I laid it down on the soft grass that grows above the rocks. That was how the blood came upon my bodice."

Her clasped hands fell in front of her; the light had faded from her eyes-the poor, sad, tear-dimmed eyes that used to be like those of a happy, trusting child.

Père Sylvestre looked in the face of the judge, but alas! what he sought for, pity and credence, were not there.

The judge did not believe Lisbette.

Her admission of the insult offered by the murdered man had been fatal, and a murmur of wonder at the girl's cunning ran through the crowd.

A subtle sense of the fact that she was losing ground in the minds of her accusers was now borne in upon the girl's soul; she grew paler than ever, and when she tried to speak her voice failed, but making one supreme effort, she turned in passionate appeal to the only human being she had to cling to in that vast assemblage:

"Father!" she cried, "tell them that I am innocent; tell them that never yet had I to confess to thee a lie; maybe they will hear thy voice!" But the curé was silent.

Full well he knew that the law, and righteously, would not permit him to use his knowledge of Lisbette as her spiritual guide to plead for her or proclaim her innocence.

Deserted then, as it seemed, by all earthly powers, the poor child appealed in her agony to heaven.

She stretched her arms upwards to the God who hears the cry of the oppressed, and her voice was filled with an awful anguish as it rung through the crowded court: "My God! thou knowest I am innocent!"

CHAPTER IV.

"GOD and our Lady help us, but the girl is surely dead!" cried one to another, as a still white face lay back on the curé's arm, and for the time being Lisbette was at rest from

sorrow.

"Give her air!" cried the priest, "she faints! her life fails!"

"But how can that be, to give her air in this crowd, my father?" answered one of those nearest to the prisoner.

And while thus Père Sylvestre gazed with troubled eyes at the white upturned face, the terrible semblance of death upon it, a strange tumult, the sound of wild cries, a rush and stir of many feet, became audible outside the building.

Then the packed assembly surged and swayed and rolled from side to side like a troubled sea, and a man with starting eyes, bareheaded, disordered in dress as if by hasty travel, made his way, where a few moments before one would have said to force a passage was a miracle. He seemed to cleave the people aside as he fought and struggled through their ranks as a mower cuts down the blades of corn with his sickle, and at last he stood beside those two pitiful figures that formed the centre of the scene.

With uplifted arms he claimed a hearing from the judge, and, pointing to the insensible form of the girl who lay as one slain by the cruel hand of calumny, he cried in a voice hoarse with an excitement that touched on madness: "Would you slay the innocent? I-I only am guilty. I-I only am the mur

derer of Antoine Martel! This hand drove the knife into his heart! I knelt upon his breast and looked into his eyes until he knew me for Theophile Le Moine-knew me for the avenger of my sister's shame!" Triumph, wild and cruel triumph was in the murderer's eyes and voice; he seemed to glory in the deed that had rid the world of a villain.

A silence like the silence of death had reigned while he spoke, but now the sound of countless voices, raised in wild debate and exclamation, drowned the answer of the judge. Yet amid all the tumult Lisbette lay still and white, the violet eyes never unclosed, the little shell-like ears did not hear.

Once more the murderer spoke. He had been asked why he had let the innocent girl be arrested for his crime; why he had so long delayed his confession. "Love of life is strong in a man's heart," said the clear, deep voice of Le Moine; "when the deed is done, then one thinks of the penalty. The fishingboats were going out in the early morning, mine among the rest; I knew no one could have aught to say at my departure, and that I might escape, for my boat is sure and good; there are other countries in the world than France, and it would have been thought that I was lost, but in the nighttime, as I lay under the quiet heaven, I bethought me of the little maiden arrested for my crime. Perhaps God stirred the thought within me, who knows? that she had a look reminding me of my little Babette, my dear one that was stolen away from my home while I was at sea; I alone am guilty; I alone shall suffer; but she-what hath she done?-and now, behold, I am here to give my life for my crime!"

Then they carried Lisbette from the crowded court, lifting her high above the people's heads. Twenty willing hands were ready to aid in bearing aloft that still form, from which the shackled hands hung life

lessly down; a hundred voices rejoiced in her safety and deliverance, for now the public mind had veered like the wind on an autumn day, and yielding to their impulsive, national character, the people were ready to make of Lisbette a martyr and a saint. They laid her on the soft grass in the court-yard, and some kindly woman's hand unloosed the white bodice about her throat, while another laved her pallid face with fresh spring water.

At last, like opening flowers, the violet eyes unclosed; a faint color returned to her cheeks and lips, and Lisbette sat up and gazed at the people about her, a crowd in which the tall white caps of the women were conspicuous, for the men, with native chivalry of feeling, had retired to the background and let the women close around.

The dark figure of Père Sylvestre knelt beside Lisbette, and her eyes sought his face with wild appeal, as the cruel recognition of all around her came back to her poor confused brain, and filled her with a fresh terror.

"Am I to die, father?" she said. "Why have they brought me here?"

Then the people kept silent, and the curé told her gently, for joy kills as well as pain sometimes, of the marvellous mercy God had meted out to her, and how she was acquitted by the tribunal, and once more known by men as the innocent maiden of St. Lys.

"Father, it was the dear Saviour who heard your prayers," she said, folding her hands, and smiling softly to see that the iron bands were there no longer; she was strangely calm and quiet, hushed into stillness by the nearness of God's hand over her.

Soon a frantic figure burst through the crowd, and would have precipitated itself upon Lisbette's neck, for Annette had heard the news, and Lisbette, innocent and a heroine, must be at once claimed as a dear relative, though Lisbette, a prisoner,

and held in detestation by the little world of Mervaine, was to be avoided, and (had it been possible) disowned!

But the girl shrank from the proffered embrace. Misfortune brings out the truth and the falsehood of the love that is given to us, as the hand of the cutter lays bare the flaw in the jewel.

"Take me back to St. Lys, my

father!" said Lisbette, slipping her hand into that of the curé. "I will never leave it more."

So the good priest took his child home to the village among the hills, and a festa was held in honor of their return; and still far and near the people told each other the marvellous story of the Dream of Père Sylvestre.

THE college library occupies a room on the main floor at the western extremity of the northernmost of the two college buildings. The structure in which it is placed was erected in the last century, but was only completely fitted up about the year 1806. Even then the library was not placed here, but occupied a room in the south building. The present library-room was used as a study-hall until about the year 1830, when it was prepared for its present purpose and the books were removed into it. The main room is 23 by 33 feet, and connected with it is an octagonal room in one of the two towers which form buttresses to the building on the north side. The space was thought ample at first, but the gradual increase of the library has made it necessary to occupy two smaller rooms at the eastern extremity, second floor of the same building, besides three other rooms in the attic of the south building, which contain duplicates, broken sets, old breviaries and missals, works on law and medicine, novels, translations, bound volumes of large newspapers, unbound pamphlets, congressional reports, and school books. Thus the library,

like some other departments of the college, stands greatly in need of increased space in order to bring all its collections together.

In the library-room two projections on each side form alcoves of the intervening spaces. The two upper shelves of these projections are carried across to meet those opposite, and are supported by wooden columns painted to imitate Brazilwood, resting on bases of mahogany and curled maple. Thirty-one pilasters of Brazilwood form the angles of the cases or separate the compartments, and likewise rest on mahogany and maple bases. The Brazilwood used was a present from a former student, a South American. Two wide and very long tables, on which books may be displayed, occupy sides of the room. On one of these tables is a large show-case containing the more remarkable manuscripts, the oldest books, etc., so that these objects can be viewed without being handled. Open shelves, eleven in number, run up to the ceiling, twelve feet in height, or to the cornice under it. height of the upper shelves is such that they cannot be reached without a ladder, which is a great inconve

The

nience, and the projections of the pilasters form dark corners on every shelf, so that convenience has been sacrificed to a fine appearance. A small locked room in one corner of the library-room formerly contained translations and other confiscated books. These have now been replaced by the large number of ancient books, which are rather objects of curiosity than valuable as references. Two windows to the south give the principal light to the room, but the middle alcoves are generally more or less obscured. Panels in the jambs of the four windows are set with engraved copies of Raphael's frescos. In one of the two upper rooms, previously referred to, are kept the ascetical and catechetical works, and Catholic journals, bound and unbound. In the other one are the works on the fine arts and antiquities, on science, on canon law and councils, and works on the pastoral office. It is needless to observe that when the college builds, the defects of the present library, in the matter of space and convenience, will be remedied, and the books will be sheltered all together in a fireproof building. A considerable number of astronomical and scientific works occupy shelves in the observatory, distant a quarter of a mile from the college, and separated from it by a deep valley. The more modern works on English and foreign literature, and the books of reference, occupy the room of the prefect of studies. Each professor is also provided in his own room with all the books he may need for use or reference in the course of the year, so that the works constituting the library are scattered all over the premises. Hence the difficulty even of enumerating them, since the exigencies of the house are such that no one can be spared to occupy himself exclusively with the library.

The books are grouped according to subjects, so far as the disproportionate space required for the theo

logical folios will permit. In the main library these divisions are under the head of bibles and biblical literature, controversy by Catholic authors, Christian ethics by the same, non-Catholic writers on religion, Catholic theology, Catholic sermons, travels, and sketches, Catholic religious biography, general biography, classical literature, English literature, encyclopedias, British literary magazines, natural science, profane history, ecclesiastical history, French literature, Spanish literature, Italian literature, modern Latin essayists and poets (about 150 vols.), mental philosophy, journals of learned societies, works of the fathers of the Church, bibliography and educational works. In the rearrangement of the library, which took place about six years ago, wherever a sufficient number of books were found to form a specialty, they were given a place by themselves, not all these specialties being named above. In the principal divisions there are subdivisions, and the shelves marked, for instance under history, are general history, ancient history, modern history, American, Italian, and Irish history, chronology, and historical essays. It was the intention of the librarian to prepare a new catalogue, arranged under the head of subjects, but other duties devolving upon him the work was not even begun.

The principal manuscripts preserved in the library are as follows: Monastic prayer-book written on vellum, with miniatures the size of the page, a decorated border to every page, and initial letters in colors and gold; was damaged by water before it came into the possession of the college, and the pictures are consequently much injured; attributed to the thirteenth century. An Epistolarium (the epistles of the ecclesiastical year) written on vellum in very large text, the headings of the epistles and some of the initials in brilliant gold, the other initials ele

gantly done in colors, with much delicate tracery proceeding from them. The book seems not to have been completed, as the space for the grand initial letter is not occupied, and the last page is not filled out; assigned to the fourteenth century. Hora Diurna, small, on vellum; the principal capitals are alternately red and blue, with elegant tracery frequently running from them down the margin of the page. The initial letter has the appearance of being embossed. No date assigned. There is another monastic prayer-book written on vellum, with music for the chants. Some of the pages are surrounded by a rich margin in gold and colors, the initials are brilliantly illuminated, a small miniature of King David with his harp occupying the first place; attributed to the fifteenth century. Ordo Ceremoniarum in Vestitione Novitiorum Canonicorum Regular. S. Augustini, a modern work, probably of the last century, but remarkable for the beauty of the lettering and the brilliancy of the gold border around each page. Relationes Patrum Soc. Jesu Missionariorum in America Septentrionale et China, a book of original letters written by Jesuit missionaries in China and South America, 1676 to 1682. Manifesto al Mundo de Augustin de Yturbide, a manuscript written by the Emperor Iturbide, and signed by his hand a few days before his overthrow in 1823. Manuscript in old French, explanation of the Creed, etc., headings and capitals written in red. Manuscript in the Irish character, doctrinal and religious tracts, considerably time-stained, chiefly extracts from the historian Geoffry Keating; another Irish manuscript in parchment cover, like a wallet, a kind of portable miscellany. A manuscript in the Siamese language, written on both sides of heavy paper, folded; length of the sheet when opened about six feet. A small book of extracts from the Koran,

written in Arabic, found on the body of a Tripolitan sailor at the time of Decatur's assault; presented by Mrs. Decatur. Manuscript theology, by Rev. John Carroll, afterwards founder of Georgetown College, and first Archbishop of Baltimore, probably the notes of his theological course at Liège, 1755 and 1759. Prayers, etc., in the Penobscot language, a book prepared by Rev. Romagné, Catholic pastor of those Indians in 1804, and for many years thereafter. Manuscript catalogue of the Society of Jesus in the province of New Spain, 1744, with title-page fancifully executed in gilding and colors. Besides these there are other manuscripts not sufficiently remarkable to be added to a list already long. Some of them are theological. One is kind of commonplace book," English extracts, about two hundred years old.

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Of early printed books, the library possesses the Liber Etymologiarum of St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, printed at Augsburg in 1472 (twenty years before the discovery of America); Tractatus de Vitiis, by William, Bishop of Lyons, 1473; Explanations of the Gospels of the Year, by Albert of Padua, Venice, 1476; Pandects of Justinian, with Commentary, Venice, 1477; Summa S. Thomæ, first part of second book, complete in itself; initial letter curiously painted, Venice, 1478.

Biblia Sacra, the entire Bible, with St. Jerome's prologues to each book, with elaborate initial letter, 1479. Another Latin Bible, with many ancient manuscript annotations on margin, Venice, 1479; Commentary of Paul de Castro on the first part of the Pandects of Justinian. Attached to the wooden cover is the original chain and staple with which the book was secured to its desk, in some court of law, evidently as a book of general reference, Bologna, 1483; Tractatus de Horis Canonisis, by John Moschius,