"She's lived here for fifteen years," the officer says. "She hates gypsy women. She can't help us. Let's go."
Sachette watches the soldiers return to their horses. She thinks her daughter will be safe. Now they will be happy together.
Then another officer arrives on horseback.
"Sir, gypsies are not my business. With your permission, I will return to my company." The voice belongs to Phoebus de Chäteaupers, officer of the King's Guard.
Esmeralda hears the voice and lifts her head. Before her mother can stop her, the girl runs to the window.
"Phoebus! Here I am, my Phoebus!" she shouts.
Phoebus has already ridden off, so he does not hear Esmeralda's cry. But the other soldiers are still there.
"The witch was lying. I thought so," says the officer. "Take the girl away and hang her now. It's the King's order."
Sachette cannot speak. She puts her arms around her daughter's waist and holds tight.
"Mother! Protect me!" cries Esmeralda, as the soldiers pull the two women out of the prison.
The sun is climbing into the sky. There is nobody in the Place de Grěve, but two men are watching this terrible picture. They are at the top of one of the towers of Notre-Dame, on the other side of the river.
The hangman is waiting for the girl with his rope as the soldiers carry her and her mother to his ladder. When Sachette sees the rope, she begins to cry. The soldiers pull her away and the hangman carries Esmeralda up the ladder.
"No! No! I don't want to die!" the girl screams.
The hangman, with tears in his eyes, places the rope around Esmeralda's beautiful neck. Sachette tries to climb the ladder. She tries to stop the hangman, but he pushes her to the ground. Sachette hits her head on the hard earth and dies immediately. Then the hangman finishes his job.
50
♦
Earlier at the cathedral, Esmeralda's empty room made Quasimodo crazy. Where was she? Was she in danger? The poor bellringer ran through the cathedral calling her name. When the soldiers arrived, he opened the big door for them. He did not realize that they, not the gypsies, were Esmeralda's enemies.
After searching every corner of the great church, the soldiers left. Quasimodo returned to Esmeralda's little room and tried to think. Who took Esmeralda? There was only one possible answer: Father Claude Frollo. He was the only person with a key to Esmeralda's room. The hunchback remembered the priest's attacks on the girl. But even now Quasimodo s love for Father Claude was very deep.
Quasimodo climbed to the top of Notre-Dame and saw Father Claude disappear behind the door of the north tower. From this tower, a person can see the Place de Grěve. Fearful and angry, the hunchback silently followed the priest.
When he reached the tower, Quasimodo found Father Claude. He wanted to ask him about Esmeralda. But the priest was in another world. He did not hear or see the hunchback. He was watching something, and only this existed for him. Quasimodo stood behind him and followed his eyes to the Place de Grěve.
A group of soldiers was in the square at the hanging place. A man was pulling something white along the ground, with something black on top of it. Suddenly the sun shone brightly and Quasimodo could see clearly. A soldier pulled a woman in black away from a girl in white. Then another man, the King's hangman, began to climb the ladder with the girl over his shoulder. There was a rope around her neck. The girl was his Esmeralda.
Claude Frollo climbed on to the wall that goes around the north tower. He wanted to see better. Suddenly, the hangman kicked the ladder away, and Esmeralda hung in the air at the end
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