door, not in strength but in weakness. She had fled from me who came to help her; that when I needed help, she might be at hand to give it! 'Where is she?' I muttered, when he came back and I had drunk. 'Who? Marie?' he asked. 'Yes, if that is her name,' I said, drinking again. 'She is lying down upstairs,' he answered. 'She is worn out, poor child. Not that in one sense, Master Martin,' he continued, dropping his voice and nodding with a mysterious air, 'she is poor. Though you might think it.' 'How do you mean?' I said, raising my head and meeting his eyes. He nodded. 'It is between ourselves,' he said; 'but I am afraid there is a good deal in what our rascals here say. I am afraid, to be plain, Master Martin, that the father was like all his kind: plundered many an honest citizen, and roasted many a poor farmer before his own fire. It is the way of soldiers in that army; and God help the country they march in, be it friend's or foe's!' 'Well?' I said impatiently; 'but what of that now?' The mention of these things fretted me. I wanted to hear nothing about the father. 'The man is dead,' I said. 'Ay, he is,' Peter answered slowly and impressively. 'But the daughter? She has got a necklace round her neck now, worth--worth I dare say two hundred men at arms.' 'What, ducats?' 'Ay, ducats! Gold ducats. It is worth all that.' 'How do you know?' I said, staring at him. 'I have never seen such a thing on her. And I have seen the girl two or three times.' 'Well, I will tell you,' he answered, glancing first at the window and then at Steve to be sure that we were not overheard. 'I'll tell you. When we had carried you into the house the other night she took off her kerchief, to tear a piece from it to bind up your head. That uncovered the necklace. She was quick to cover it up, when she remembered herself, but not quick enough.' 'Is it of gold?' I asked. He nodded. 'Fifteen or sixteen links I should say, and each as big as a small walnut. Carved and shaped like a walnut too.' 'It may be silver-gilt.'
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