'Promise!' he insisted quite coolly.
And she—very reluctantly—murmured: 'Very well; I promise!'
'To-night!' he insisted.
'No!—no!' she protested. 'Not to-night!'
'To-night!' he reiterated firmly, smiled at her too beneath his mask as if in triumph—Oh, the insolence of him!—and continued to toy with the compromising bit of white rag.
If only Monseigneur would return! There was nothing for it but to acquiesce. De Landas even then looked the very image of wild and unreasoning fury. Jacqueline shuddered and murmured a quick: 'Very well! To-night! I promise!'
Gilles gave an equally quick sigh of satisfaction.
'When?' he asked.
But before she could reply, there came a loud curse from Jehan. He had been seized round the legs by two varlets, even while he was engaged in warding off the blows which were aimed at his head by half a dozen gallants. It was when he came down with a dull thud upon his knees and felt that he could no longer stand between his master and these evil-intentioned gentlemen that he gave forth a prolonged and uproarious stutter:
'The d-d-d-d-d——'