“You did not try to save him?”
“He lied and got me six months in irons once; he called down on my back one hundred and fifty lashes, a year ago; he had me kept on bread and water, and degraded to the fourth class, where I could never hear from my wife and children—never write to them. I lost one eye in the quarries because he made me stand too near a lighted fuse—”
“Poor man, poor man!” she said. “You found the food I left here?”
“Yes, God bless you! And my wife and children will bless you too, if I see France again.”
“You know where the boat is?”
“I know, mademoiselle.”
“When you reach Point Assumption you will find horses there to take you across the Brocken Path. M. Laflamme knows. I hope that you will both escape; that you will be happy in France with your wife and children.”
“You will not come here again?”
“No. If M. Laflamme should not arrive, and you should go alone, leave one pair of oars; then I shall know. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye, mademoiselle. A thousand times I will pray for you. Ah, mon Dieu! take care!—you are on the edge of the great tomb.”