“But they love me.”
“Because they love you they would keep you. It has been weeks since you saw Mother Angelique, and as for Father Bisset, how long since you have had a call from him? At this moment he is on his way to Holland, unless, indeed, he has been overtaken, the poor miserable apostate.”
“How do you know? How do you know?”
“I am neither deaf nor blind. I see what is before me and I hear what is told me.”
“It is the Revocation which is doing all this,” cried Alaine. “Michelle told me so. Dear Father Bisset! Would he had told me he was going and had given me his blessing before he fled! I hope he will escape in safety.”
“I hope he will not,” returned Étienne, savagely.
Alaine turned and looked at him, then paced up and down the walk, her hands folded against her breast, her eyes bent upon the ground. Her brain was in a whirl, but by degrees she collected herself sufficiently to say, “Étienne, my cousin, I am but a young and not overwise girl, and I cannot decide this thing while you are here to disconcert me. Leave me to-day, and do not come near me till I have thought this over. You have thrust a hard alternative upon me, but I see that I must meet it. I will believe that you intend the best for me, but I must have time to think. To-morrow I will tell you what I will do. It is good of you to allow me the privilege of choosing my own way, for I can see that it might be otherwise; that, in the absence of my father, you and my aunt have the right to exercise a control, or that you might at once report me to the authorities, who would not hesitate to send me whither they would. I am safe here, in my own home, till to-morrow you think?”
“Yes, I am sure you are.”
“Then, leave me, please. Give my duty to my aunt and thank you, Étienne.” She looked up into his face as if searching for something she did not find. “Étienne, you forgive me for what I did yesterday? I was very rude. You do not bear resentment against me for it?”
The look she dreaded came into his eyes. “Would I wish to marry you if I did?” he returned, but without a smile.