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Her heart pounded painfully as she leaned back against the brass-studded oak door in an agony of relief.

Gradually her eyes became accustomed to the gloom and she could discern the long flight of spiraling open wooden stairs a few yards away leading to the belfry.

Beyond the staircase moonlight streamed through an open doorway.

Catherine must have found the south courtyard deserted and taken the second step to freedom.

Juliette straightened and started eagerly for the open doorway.

“You weren’t thinking of leaving, Citizeness?”

Juliette froze.

A small, slender shadow detached itself from the darkness beneath the spiraling stairs.

It held a sword in one hand and a coil of rope in the other.

“Not after I’ve gone to so much trouble and been waiting so patiently,” the voice continued.

Juliette now watched as the figure waved the sword toward the open doorway.

“Your little friend was in such a hurry, I wasn’t able to get down the steps from the belfry in time to detain her.

However, I’m sure someone else will intercept the little flower before she gets too far.

From the glimpse I caught before she ran out the door I’d say she was quite pretty.

I was about to go after her myself when you ran into the bell tower. ”

Juliette took a step back, her gaze fixed on the sword. She had been so close to freedom. Mother of God, she didn’t want to die.

“Ah, well, you’re a little thin but not unattractive yourself. Permit me to introduce myself. I’m Raoul Dupree. And what’s your name, little one?” The man stepped forward, peering at her face.

Juliette didn’t answer.

“Tell me, do you wish me to throw you to that mob in the courtyard?”

“Don’t be absurd. Of course I don’t.”

“Very wise. I’m afraid the good sisters and your fellow schoolmates are having a dreadful time of it. It’s regrettable, but the only way I could get my patriots to travel from Paris to do their duty was to offer them the opportunity to quench their lusts on these fine aristos.”

“They’re raping the nuns too.”

“Well, the Marseilles are none too fond of the church.” Dupree shook his head.

“I must admit the sight of so much carnal revelry has aroused me, but I have a distaste for seconds. That’s why I rang the bell.

” He chuckled. “I thought I’d catch a sweet little virgin for my very own.

Unfortunately, your friends were seen almost as soon as they poured out the door and I feared I was going to be deprived of my pleasure.

” He pressed the tip of his sword to Juliette’s throat. “Are you afraid? You’re not speaking.”

Juliette swallowed. “Of course I’m afraid. I’d be stupid not to be frightened.”

“And you’re not stupid or you’d have run bleating into the arms of those louts like all the others. I think I shall enjoy you, little aristo.”

“You’ll get no pleasure from me.”

“You’re wrong.” He held out the coil of rope to her. “However, I have no time now. I must see to organizing the trials. Form a loop in the rope and slip it around your wrists.”

Juliette didn’t move.

“Shall I tell you what will happen to you if you don’t do as I command?

One of two things. I’ll either plunge this sword into your throat or I’ll march you out to the courtyard and toss you to the Marseilles.

I really don’t want to make that choice.

What I’d like to do is tie you up and leave you here.

Then, when I have time to indulge myself, I’ll return to your eager arms. Now, which shall it be? ”

Juliette quickly considered her situation.

Dupree intended to save her for himself.

While he was gone she might be able to escape the ropes.

He might even forget she was there once he joined the frenzy outside.

In any event, she had little choice. She took the rope, formed a noose, and slipped it over her wrists.

“Very sensible.” Dupree tightened the noose about her wrists and then wound the rope around her torso.

“But if you weren’t sensible, you’d be out in the courtyard with the rest, wouldn’t you?

Come over here beneath the steps.” He sheathed the sword and jerked her into the dark recess beneath the staircase.

He passed the rope three times around the fifth step before knotting it.

“That should be adequate. Now, all you have to do is stand here and wait for me.” He leaned forward and patted her cheek and then stopped to stroke it.

“What soft skin. Don’t scream or you’ll attract some of those crude fellows in the courtyard. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

She didn’t answer, surreptitiously testing the thick ropes binding her wrists.

“No, we wouldn’t want that.” Dupree moved toward the door to the north courtyard, his steps precise, mincing.

He opened the door and the light from the torches in the courtyard allowed her to get her first clear look at him.

He reminded her of a cat with his thin, triangular face and slightly slanted hazel eyes.

Even his body was catlike, small, wiry almost to the point of scrawniness.

Instead of the rough loose trousers and coarse shirts of the men in the courtyard, he was dressed in an elegant light blue coat trimmed in gold brocade and dark blue knee breeches.

“Au revoir , Citizeness. I’ll return as soon as I can lure these good men from their pleasure to their duty in starting the trials. ”

He shut the door firmly behind him.

Trial. It was the second time Dupree had mentioned a trial. Juliette dismissed the thought as she concentrated on her own predicament. The ropes were too strong to break and the knots dismayingly secure.

She bent her head forward and began to gnaw with her teeth at the loop of the rope wound around the step.

There were men in the south courtyard too!

Catherine skidded to a stop halfway across the courtyard and shrank into the shadow of the tall cistern.

She’d thought the courtyard was deserted but there was no mistaking the sound of a woman sobbing and masculine laughter coming from the direction of the passage linking the north and south courtyards.

The gate seemed a hundred miles away as she glanced longingly at it. The atrocity going on seemed to be limited to four or five men gathered around the supine body of a nude woman, but she couldn’t risk one of them glancing toward the gate.

She could tell by the pleas, sobs, and prayers tumbling in an indiscriminate stream from the woman’s lips that she was one of the nuns but she didn’t know which one. Sister Thérèse? Sister Hélène? It would be a sin not to help that poor woman.

Catherine took an impulsive step forward and then stopped in an agony of indecision.

She had the right to risk herself but not Juliette.

If Juliette saw Catherine in trouble, she knew she would forget every practical argument and rush to save her.

Juliette had great confidence in her own abilities and was more gallant than she knew herself to be.

A choice. She and Juliette or that poor woman being assaulted by those beasts?

She fell to her knees by the cistern, trying to close out both the sobs of the woman and the coarse remarks of the men. She would wait and hope they would leave the courtyard quickly after they were done with the nun.

She closed her eyes, her lips forming the silent words of prayer. Sweet Jesus, deliver us from evil…

Where was Juliette? Had she seen the men and remained in the bell tower, waiting for them to begone?

Go to Sister Bernadette, Juliette had said. Yes, she’d be safe in the tomb. Why had she ever been afraid of the dead when life was so much more savage? She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop the shudders racking her body.

Please come, Juliette. I’m so alone .

Mary, Mother of God, let them not find me .

Let Juliette be safe .

Let all those poor women stop suffering .

“Well, what do we have here?”

The sudden shout caused Catherine’s heart to lurch sickeningly.

“How very naughty. You shouldn’t have dragged her out of the courtyard around here. You know the agreement. We’re all to share and share alike.”

There was a burst of laughter from one of the men. “There’s not much to share. She’s only a stringy old crow of a woman.”

“Still, she belongs with the rest of the spoils.”

Catherine leaned forward to venture a swift glance around the curve of the cistern. She could make out two silhouettes moving toward the men. Whoever the new arrivals were, they seemed to be in positions of authority.

“Now, stop ramming her and bring her back to the courtyard.”

There was a grumbling among the men, but they began to stir from the spread-eagled body of the nun. “Get up, whore.”

“She won’t move.” A coarse chuckle. “You see? She doesn’t want to go back to the rest. She likes us.”

“Then carry her.”

More grumbling, then the naked woman was lifted by one of the brawnier men and carried toward the two men waiting in the shadows. “What difference does it make? There are plenty of women to go around.”

“Rules are rules.”

Catherine tensed, her gaze fixed eagerly on the departing figures. They entered the shadows. Soon their footsteps faded. She jumped to her feet and streaked toward the open gate.

A shout!

Dear Mary, someone had seen her!

Footsteps on the cobblestones.

Please God, don’t let them catch me.

She tore through the vegetable garden.

She couldn’t hear them behind her any longer. Was it because they were running on the soft earth instead of on the cobblestones or was she not their prey?

Her heart pounded so hard she was sure it would burst.

The blood drummed in her temples.

She was running among the graves. Why had she never noticed the moss growing on the crosses looked like rivulets of blood?

Sister Bernadette. She must reach Sister Bernadette.

She heard something behind her. A laugh? She was afraid to glance over her shoulder to see.

It could have been the wind.

Oh, let it be the wind.

Gabriel’s marble wings shining in the moonlight. Sister Bernadette’s tomb. She frantically shoved the bolt aside, dashed into the crypt, and slammed the door behind her.

No bolt on the inside.

Of course not. The dead needed no locks.

She backed away from the door.

Her hip collided with the marble sarcophagus.

She scarcely felt the pain as she sank to her knees beside Juliette’s easel. The darkness pressed in on her, taking her breath.

She leaned her hot cheek against the cold marble of the sarcophagus, her gaze straining toward the door.

Protect me, Sister Bernadette. You were only ten and eight when you died. You must have wanted to live too.

Protect me. Don’t let them find me.

Dear God, why had she come here? This tomb wasn’t a sanctuary.

It was a trap.

The door of the crypt swung open.