“You must—you shall! You must go back to the monastery to-night! Oh how I pray that you may reach it in safety! And, you must leave this wretched country at once. Will you see if Quinnox is outside the door? Be quick! I am mad with the fear that you may be found here—that you may be taken before you can return to St. Valentine's.”
He arose and stood looking down at the intense face, all aquiver with the battle between temptation and solicitude.
“I am not going back to St. Valentine's,” he said, slowly.
“But it is all arranged for you to start from there tomorrow. You cannot escape the city guard except through St. Valentine's.”
“Yetive, has it not occurred to you that I may not wish to escape the city guard?”
“May not wish to escape the—what do you mean?” she cried, bewildered.
“I am not going to leave Edelweiss, dearest. It is my intention to surrender myself to the authorities.”
She gazed at him in horror for a moment and then fell back with a low moan.
“For God's sake, do not say that!” she wailed. “I forbid you to think of it. You cannot do this after all I have done to save you. Ach, you are jesting; I should have known.”
He sat down and drew her to his side. Some moments passed before he could speak.