Page:Stanley Weyman--Count Hannibal.djvu/80

68 His first thought should have been of her and for her; his first impulse to console, if he could not save her. His it should have been to soften, were that possible, the fate before her; to prove to her by words of farewell, the purest and most sacred, that the sacrifice she was making, not to save her own life but the lives of others, was appreciated by him who paid with her the price.

And all these things, and more, may have been in M. de Tignonville’s mind; they may even have been uppermost in it, but they found no expression. The man remained sunk in a sombre reverie. He had the appearance of thinking of himself, not of her; of his own position, not of hers. Otherwise he must have looked at her, he must have turned to her; he must have owned the subtle attraction of her unspoken appeal when she drew a deep breath and slowly turned her eyes on him, mute, asking, waiting what he should offer.

Surely he should have! Yet it was long before he responded. He sat buried in thought of himself, and his position, the vile, the unworthy position in which her act had placed him. At length the constraint of her gaze wrought on him, or his thoughts became unbearable; and he looked up and met her eyes, and with an oath he sprang to his feet.

“It shall not be!” he cried, in a tone low, but full of fury. “You shall not do it! I will kill him first! I will kill him with this hand! Or—” a step took him to the window, a step brought him back—ay, brought him back exultant, and with a changed face. “Or better, we will thwart him yet. See, Mademoiselle, do you see? Heaven is merciful! For a moment the cage is open!” His eye shone with excitement, the sweat of sudden hope stood on his brow as he pointed to the unguarded casement. “Come! it is our one chance!” And he caught her by her arm and strove to draw her to the window.