“Not a bit of it. These friends of yours take me for a spy. You may come to the same conclusion. They tried to take my life; and you may wish to do the same. I am simply taking precautions. I have told this lady enough about myself to satisfy her that I am no spy; but if you are not equally satisfied, I prefer to remain here with no other company than ourselves until a chance of getting away offers.”
He was going to reply when madame interposed. To do her justice she took up my cause with a right good will. She repeated all I had previously told her, gave him a graphic account of what had passed, lauded me to the skies, and ended by declaring her absolute conviction that every word I had spoken was the truth.
Feeling that my case was in safe hands, I let them have it out together. He was suspicious, and at every proof of this, her anger and indignation increased.
“I have accepted Mr. Donnington’s word, Dr. Barosa,” she said hotly, when he declared that I ought not to be allowed to leave the house; “and I have given him a pledge for his safety. You know me, and that I will keep my word. Very well, I declare to you on my honour that if any harm comes to him now, I will abandon the cause and reveal everything I know about it and all concerned in it.”
That shook all the opposition out of him on the spot.
“You are at liberty to go, Mr. Donnington,” he said at once.
“Thank you; but what about your friends out there?”
“I will leave the house with you,” declared madame. “And we will see if any one will dare to try and stop you.”
“It might be simpler if they were to go first,” I suggested.
“I will answer for them,” said Barosa. “We have your word that you will not speak of anything you have learned here to-night?”