Page:Idalia, by 'Ouida' volume 2.djvu/206

Rh "I—as eagerly as yourself—would be the first to try all things, and to risk much in the service of the Countess Vassalis," pursued Vane, with the soft, even, almost unnatural calm which he had held throughout his interview with the Roman prelate. "But, frankly, I see nothing that is to be done with any sort of benefit. To penetrate the secrets of the government will take time, and, what we have very little of, money; to avow ourselves her partisans will be only at once to share her imprisonment and be lodged in the casemates yonder; to attempt a rescue requires the one thing we do not possess—knowledge of where she has been taken. What remains? We are as helpless, so far as I can see, as if their chains were already about our limbs. There is nothing for it—yet at least—except to wait and watch."

Phaulcon sank down again, with his head drooped and his hands locked savagely one in another,

"You are right, I dare say," he said, bitterly; "and very cautious! But—you never loved her." There was not even the flicker of an emotion, not the faintest flush on his companion's face; but a smile passed for a second over his listener's lips; he had not loved her!—he whose thwarted love had