Page:Stanley Weyman--Count Hannibal.djvu/119

107 She was on her feet, standing before him with something of the submissiveness of Roxana before her conqueror.

“I did,” she said; and stopped at that, her hand to her side as if she could not continue. But presently in a low voice, “I have heard,” she went on, “what you said, Monsieur, after I lost consciousness.”

“Yes?” he said; and was silent. Nor did he lose his watchful look.

“I am obliged to you for your thought of me,” she continued in a faint voice, “and I shall be still further obliged—I speak to you thus quickly and thus early—if you will grant me a somewhat longer time.”

“Do you mean—if I will postpone our marriage?”

“Yes, Monsieur.”

“It is impossible!”

“Do not say that,” she cried, raising her voice impulsively. “I appeal to your generosity. And for a short, a very short, time only.”

“It is impossible,” he answered quietly. “And for reasons, Mademoiselle. In the first place, I can more easily protect my wife. In the second, I am even now summoned to the Louvre, and should be on my way thither. By to-morrow evening, unless I am mistaken in the business on which I am required, I shall be on my way to a distant province with royal letters. It is essential that our marriage take place before I go.”

“Why?” she asked stubbornly.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Why?” he repeated. “Can you ask, Mademoiselle, after the events of last night? Because, if you please, I do not wish to share the fate of M. de Tignonville. Because in these days life is uncertain, and death too certain. Because it was our turn last night, and it may be the turn of your friends—to-morrow night!”

“Then some have escaped?” she cried.