I would not move away from her, I might need to clasp her at any
moment; but I prayed fervently before the altar, where I knelt till I
grew faint with weariness; and then I sat at her feet, and thought
over all the possibilities of being rescued. If my sister were free
I knew she would leave no stone unturned to deliver me, and that my
rescue could be only a matter of time; but she might also have been
seized, and if so---? Anyhow, I was absolutely determined that they
should kill me before I consented to become the wife of M. de Lamont,
or to give him any right over my son.
After a time the door was cautiously opened, and one of the dragoons
came in, having taken off his boots and spurs that he might move more
noiselessly.
'Madame,' he said, 'pardon me. I loved our brave captain; I know
you. You sent me new linen in the hospital. Captain de Bellaise was
a brave man.'
'And you will see no wrong done to his widow and child, my good
friend?' I cried.
'Ah, Madame, you should command all of us. But we are under orders.'
'And that means doing me unmanly violence, unworthy of a brave
soldier! You cannot help me?'
'If Madame would hear me! The gentlemen are at dinner. They may sit
long over their wine to give them courage to encounter Madame again.
My comrade, Benlot, is on duty. I might find a messenger to Madame's
friends.'
Then he told me what I had little guessed, that we had been driven
round and round, and were really only in the Faubourg St.
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