"Then—would you will them to some one?" he asked.
He was laughing at her. She was glad to have him do that rather than remain serious.
"Please don't make me look ahead to seventy," she shuddered.
Monsieur Soucin was hovering about nervously. He wished to have everything cleared away before the officers arrived, and they would be here now in half an hour. He was solicitous about madame.
"It is a great pity that madame should sleep out of doors," he said. "It makes my heart ache. But, with monsieur to guard her, at least madame will be safe."
Yes, safe from every one but herself. However, Monsieur Soucin could not be expected to read a lady's innermost thoughts. Indeed, it would scarcely have been gallant so to do.
"And now you wish to be rid of us," said Monte as he rose.
"Monsieur should not be unkind," sighed Soucin. "It is a necessity and not a wish."
"You have done as well as you could," Monte reassured him. "We shall probably rise early and be on our way before the soldiers, so—"
Monte slipped into his hand a gold-piece. It was too much from one point of view, and yet from another it was little enough. Soucin had unwittingly made an arrangement for which Monte could not pay in money.