“No thanks to you. Your husband was ahead of you, hidden in the bushes, waiting for you. If we hadn't given the signal that warned you—”
“But you gave it.” She spoke triumphantly. “I'd trapped you, and yet you didn't want me to be caught. To have shown generosity at a moment when you thought that I was threatening your life, you must still have been fond of me.”
“Thought!” He drew back from her, revolted by her insincerity. “You left no room for thought. You were diabolically explicit. You knew that I could prove your guilt. You meant to kill me in order that I might be silenced.”
Her eyes filled. She stretched out her arms beseechingly. They fell hopelessly as he retreated from her.
“Don't misjudge me,” she implored. “I'm a woman who's finished. A woman, as you reminded me, whose hours are numbered—my body and my life are forfeit. It's true what you said: nothing that I am belongs to me. If you like to put it that way, I'm a woman who has nothing to offer. And yet I love you—the first man with whom I was ever in love, now when it's too late. You don't believe me; you're thinking of the many others. Let it pass. I had to see you once more. I couldn't come to you; you were surrounded by my enemies. To persuade you to come to me, I had to trick you. Until it was safe to visit you, I had to have you held by force. I compelled Anna, Madame Varensky to—”
He made an impatient gesture. “Enough! I'm wondering to how many men you've made that speech before. I've heard all about your appeals to chivalry. If you were a man—— Unfortunately you're not, so I have a sentimental compunction about abandoning you. What are your plans? When I saw the ship I hoped you had escaped.”
“I had.”
“And you came back! Why?”
“Varensky was landing from the boat that had been sent to take me off.” She was laying claim to some obscure nobility, making a final bid for his admiration.
“The mist's clearing,” he said brusquely. “In another half-hour you'll be visible for miles. If you're seen here, you'll be taken.”