"Sire, I may not do that, but I shall say the crime was great."
"Then you should do so to the object," continued the King; "what you refuse the King Louis XVI., you cannot Doctor Gilbert."
He stepped aside to discover the doctor, who opened the curtains and appeared as pale as the staggering lady. She tossed her head backwards as if going to swoon, and only kept her footing by aid of a table. She leaned on it in dull despair, like one whom a snake bite was filling with poison.
"My lady, let me put the question to you which the King addressed," said Gilbert.
Andrea's lips moved but no sound struggled forth.
"What did I do to you, lady, that your order threw me into a hideous dungeon?"
The voice made her leap as if it tore the very soul in her.
Suddenly lowering her cold gaze on him, she replied:
"Sir, I do not know you."
But while she was speaking the mesmerist stared at her with so much fixedness and his glance was so charged with invincible boldness that her own lost lustre under his.