"Certainly not," Mayenne answered. "The door is bolted; he might be in the street for all he can hear. The wall was built for that."
"What will you do with him, monsieur?"
"We'll have him out," said Mayenne. Lucas, needing no second bidding, hastened down the room.
All this while mademoiselle, on the floor at my feet, had neither stirred nor whispered, as rigid as the statued Virgin herself. But now she rose and for one moment laid her hand on my shoulder with an encouraging pat; the next she flung the door wide just as Lucas reached the threshold.
He recoiled as from a ghost.
"Lorance!" he gasped, "Lorance!"
"Nom de dieu!" came Mayenne's shout from the back of the room. "What! Lorance!"
He caught up the candelabrum and strode over to us.
Mademoiselle stepped out into the council-room, I hanging back on the other side of the sill. She was as white as linen, but she lifted her head proudly. She had not the courage that knows no fear, but she had the courage that rises to the need. Crouching on the oratory floor she had been in a panic lest they find her. But in the moment of discovery she faced them unflinching.
"You spying here, Lorance!" Mayenne stormed at her.