“Mademoiselle, I must ask you to return to my wife for a time.”
“Do not go, Gabrielle, there is no need,” declared Gerard.
“He is right, my lord, there is no need,” said de Proballe.
“This must end,” muttered the Governor.
“It shall end—now. Come, Gerard, I have spoken of your sharp wits. Let us see you use them now. Tell me the contents of this,” and de Proballe held a paper before him.
“I am no wizard to read what I cannot see, monsieur.”
“No wizard; you hear that, Duke. No wizard. Yet something of a wizard surely—to write what you have never seen.”
Gerard on the instant understood what had occurred, but his face gave no sign and he stared steadily into de Proballe’s sneering face.
“Come, Gerard, come. You must know it. It is your own letter just arrived from you.”
The Governor understood it now, and with evidences of great excitement he tore the paper from de Proballe’s hand and read it.