"Surely you do not mean Albert de Morcerf and Eugénie?" she said.
"No," replied Valentine. "They love you, undoubtedly, but the needful assistance is not to be obtained from them."
"Certainly you cannot allude to Mlle. d' Armilly or Ali, my father's devoted Nubian servant?"
"No, I do not allude to them!"
"Whom then do you mean?"
"Cannot you guess, Zuleika?"
A sudden thought came to Zuleika, filling her with intense amazement.
"You cannot mean yourself and your husband, Mme. Morrel?" she gasped.
"And why not, my child?" answered Valentine, sweetly. "All the assistance we can render you will be but a weak, inadequate return for what your father has done for us. He saved me from death, withdrew the suicidal pistol from Maximilian's hand, comforted us in our time of darkest despair, and finally brought us together after a separation that even M. Morrel deemed eternal, simultaneously placing in our hands wealth sufficient to make us altogether independent of the accidents and disasters of this world. Besides, before that he was the benefactor of M. Morrel's father, saving him also from suicide, suicide that he had determined upon as the only means of avoiding terrible disgrace. You see, Zuleika, that we have abundant motives for aiding you."