Dreading, doubtless, to reveal the whole truth without warning to him whose life was imperilled thereby, she checked, by a violent effort, the words that had risen from her heart to her lips.
"No, I know nothing," said Canolles, gravely. "But you will tell me, won't you? I am a man! Speak, Claire, speak."
"You know that Richon is dead?" said she.
"Yes, I know it."
"But do you know how he died?"
"No, but I suspect. He was killed at his post, was he not, in the breach at Vayres?"
Claire was silent for a moment; then, in a tone as solemn as that of a bell tolling for the dead, she replied:
"He was hanged in the market place at Libourne!"
Canolles started back.
"Hanged!" he cried; "Richon,—a soldier!"