"Stay, Monsieur, we
may be going too fast. To go out now and in that guise--may it not be to
incur greater peril than you incur here? I feel sure that you are in no
danger of your life at present. Therefore, why run the risk--"
"In no danger, Madame!" he cried, interrupting her in astonishment. "Have
you seen the gibbet in the Square? Do you call that no danger?"
"It is not erected for you."
"No?"
"No, Monsieur," she answered firmly, "I swear it is not. And I know of
reasons, urgent reasons, why you should not go. M. de Tavannes"--she
named her husband nervously, as conscious of the weak spot--"before he
rode abroad laid strict orders on all to keep within, since the smallest
matter might kindle the city. Therefore, M. de Tignonville, I request,
nay I entreat," she continued with greater urgency, as she saw his
gesture of denial, "you to stay here until he returns."
"And you, Madame, will answer for my life?"
She faltered. For a moment, a moment only, her colour ebbed. What if
she deceived herself? What if she surrendered her old lover to death?
What if--but the doubt was of a moment only. Her duty was plain.
"I will answer for it," she said, with pale lips, "if you remain here.
And I beg, I implore you--by the love you once had for me, M.
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