"And all are not here! Before I marry you, you must show me M. de
Tignonville alive and safe!"
He shrugged his shoulders. "He has taken himself off," he said. "It is
naught to me what happens to him now."
"It is all to me!" she retorted.
At that he glared at her, the veins of his forehead swelling suddenly.
But after a seeming struggle with himself he put the insult by, perhaps
for future reckoning and account.
"I did what I could," he said sullenly. "Had I willed it he had died
there and then in the room below. I gave him his life. If he has risked
it anew and lost it, it is naught to me."
"It was his life you gave me," she repeated stubbornly. "His life--and
the others. But that is not all," she continued; "you promised me a
minister."
He nodded, smiling sourly to himself, as if this confirmed a suspicion he
had entertained.
"Or a priest," he said.
"No, a minister."
"If one could be obtained. If not, a priest."
"No, it was to be at my will; and I will a minister! I will a minister!"
she cried passionately. "Show me M. de Tignonville alive, and bring me a
minister of my faith, and I will keep my promise, M. de Tavannes. Have
no fear of that. But otherwise, I will not."
"You will not?" he cried. "You will not?"
"No!"
"You will not marry me?"
"No!"
The moment she had said it fear seized her, and she could have fled from
him, screaming.
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