"I beg of you to let us go together."
"Impossible."
"Why?"
"Because, first, I must be at Nantes in twenty hours."
"I will follow you, even should I die with fatigue."
"Then, because you are no longer your own mistress; you have here a protector, to whom you owe respect and obedience."
"The duke?"
"Yes; the duke. Oh, when you know what he has done for me—for us."
"Let us leave a letter for him, and he will forgive us."
"No, no; he will say we are ungrateful; and he would be right. No, Helene; while I go to Bretagne, swift as a saving angel, you shall remain here and hasten the preparations for our marriage. And when I return I shall at once demand my wife; at your feet I shall bless you for the happiness and the honor you bestow on me."