“You have run this risk for me!” and he smiled.
“I run no risk; but if risk there were, you must be free.”
“Shall I go, mademoiselle? The door must be locked,” said Pierre.
“Yes, go, good Pierre. Keep watch and warn us of any danger.”
“There is a full half-hour and more, mademoiselle. But I will watch;” and he went out and locked the door behind him.
“How you trust me, Gabrielle,” said Gerard.
“We must not speak save in whispers; and there is much to do and to tell you.” As she spoke she slipped off the cloak and disclosed a somewhat bulky roll fastened cunningly about her. Then she took a knife from a sheath, and with it cut the bonds which bound Gerard’s arms and legs.
He tried to rise, but fell back helpless.
“You are ill!” she cried in quick alarm; and glancing at the torture implements, which showed gaunt and gruesome in the slanting rays of the moonlight, she caught her breath and added—“They have not dared——”
“No, no. It is but the rush of blood through my numbed veins. It will pass in a moment.”