"Be silent, unhappy girl, you pain me. I was wrong to say so; I have been too harsh. Come, speak; but in the name of Heaven, do not lie. However frightful the truth may be, yet tell it me all; let me learn it from your lips, and it will be less cruel. Speak, for, alas! our moments are counted, they are waiting for you down below. Ah, just Heaven, what a sad, sad parting!"
"My father, I will tell you all,—everything," replied Louise, taking courage; "but promise me—and our kind benefactor must promise me also—not to repeat this to any person,—to any person. If he knew that I had told!—oh," and she shuddered as she spoke, "you would be destroyed, destroyed as I am; for you know not the power and ferocity of this man."
"What man?"
"My master!"
"The notary?"
"Yes," said Louise in a whisper, and looking around her as if she feared to be overheard.
"Take courage," said Rodolph; "no matter how cruel and powerful this man may be, we will defeat him! Besides, if I reveal what you are about to tell us, it would only be in the interest of yourself or your father."
"And me too, Louise, if I speak, it would be in endeavouring to save you. But what has this villain done?"
"This is not all," said Louise, after a moment's reflection; "in this recital there will be a person implicated who has rendered me a great service, who has shown the utmost kindness to my father and family; this person was in the employ of M. Ferrand when I entered his service, and he made me take an oath not to disclose his name."
Rodolph, believing that she referred to Germain, said to Louise: