‘Rénée,’ whispered Gaspard, holding the girl’s hands in both his own, and looking down into her frank eyes as he spoke, ‘Rénée, I trusted thee to the
care of our Father above, and He has preserved thee alive.’
‘But I,’ and her answering voice sunk and broke, ‘but I have been faithless—unworthy. I have doubted. I have despaired.’
The tramp of the main body of Arnaud’s army was close upon them. Gaspard remembered his place, which was on the advance guard.