"Hush! leave me, Finette. I have remembered you, never fear: go; I do not wish that any harm should befall you. Obey me! They are coming nearer, here they are."
As she spoke a man galloped up to the carriage, followed at some little distance by another horseman; his horse was roaring rather than breathing.
"Sister! sister!" he cried. "Ah! I come in time!"
"Cauvignac!" cried Nanon. "Well, is it all arranged? Is he awaiting me? Shall we go?"
But, instead of replying, Cauvignac leaped down from his horse, and seized Nanon in his arms. She allowed him to do as he pleased, with the stiff inertness of ghosts and fools. He placed her in the carriage, bade Lombard and Francinette take their places beside her, closed the door, and leaped upon his horse. In vain did poor Nanon, once more in possession of her faculties, shriek and struggle.
"Do not release her," said Cauvignac: "whatever happens do not release her. Keep the other door, Barrabas, and do you, coachman, keep your horses on the gallop or I'll blow your brains out."
These orders followed one another so rapidly that there was a moment's delay in putting them in execution; the carriage was slow to move, the servants were trembling with apprehension, even the horses seemed to hesitate.
"Look alive there, ten thousand devils!" shouted Cauvignac; "they are coming! they are coming!"
In the distance could be heard the hoof-beats of many horses, approaching rapidly with a noise like thunder.
Fear is contagious. The coachman, at Cauvignac's threat, realized that some great danger was impending, and seized the reins.