He could not go thus. "Mademoiselle! Clotilde!" he cried with passion,
"for the last time, listen to me, come with me. Be persuaded!"
"Hush!" Madame Carlat interposed again, and turned a scared face on them.
"It is no messenger! It is Tavannes himself: I know his voice." And she
wrung her hands. "_Oh, mon Dieu, mon Dieu_, what are we to do?" she
continued, panic-stricken. And she looked all ways about the room.
CHAPTER XVI. AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
Fear leapt into Mademoiselle's eyes, but she commanded herself. She
signed to Madame Carlat to be silent, and they listened, gazing at one
another, hoping against hope that the woman was mistaken. A long moment
they waited, and some were beginning to breathe again, when the strident
tones of Count Hannibal's voice rolled up the staircase, and put an end
to doubt. Mademoiselle grasped the table and stood supporting herself by
it.
"What are we to do?" she muttered. "What are we to do?" and she turned
distractedly towards the women. The courage which had supported her in
her lover's absence had abandoned her now. "If he finds him here I am
lost! I am lost!"
"He will not know me," Tignonville muttered. But he spoke uncertainly;
and his gaze, shifting hither and thither, belied the boldness of his
words.
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