Page:A courier of fortune (1904).djvu/263

Rh may as well go farther back to the mad thing I did in coming to Morvaix in the way I chose."

"True—all might have been very different," she said, and glanced up and down again, and then smiled as she added, "And would you have me regret that too?"

"I did not mean that," he said quickly, taking her hand.

"I care not what happens," she answered softly.

"Nor the trouble and danger I have brought to you?"

"There is something other than danger or trouble, Gerard; it is of that I think. At this danger we shall smile together when it is over; and I know you will find a way to safety."

"Which means that I had better hurry after Dubois and Pascal," and he smiled again.

"Nay, it means rather my unbounded trust in you. So confident am I, that I am going to be quite prosaic and seek rest. And I shall sleep, secure in my faith in you."

"God bless you, Gabrielle, for this faith of yours," he said, drawing her to him and kissing her.

"And God bless you, my Gerard, for all you are to me."

It was a long and anxious conference that followed. The men that formed their guard were picked and seasoned soldiers who had fought under Gerard in more than one tough campaign; his to a man, heart and soul, ready to do anything at his bidding, willing to lay down their lives in his cause, and burning with resentment at the treatment he had suffered.

They were glad to have laid aside now the monkish garb and to scent the prospect of a fight; and he found them grouped together laughing and jesting in the intervals of abusing the Governor.

Had all else been as reliable as his men, he would have had no doubt of the course to take, and none as to the result. But Pascal's fears were only too well