We all accompanied Alixe to the door of her apartments, and there Doltaire with courtesy took leave of her, saying that he would return in a little time to see if she was comfortable, and to bring her any fresh news of her father. The Sisters were given apartments next her own, and they entered her room with her, at her own request.
When the door closed, Doltaire turned to Gabord, and said, “You shall come with me to bear letters to General Montcalm, and you shall send one of these fellows also for me to General Bougainville at Cap Rouge.” Then he spoke directly to me, and said, “You shall guard this passage till morning. No one but myself may pass into this room or out of it, save the Sisters of Mercy, on pain of death.”
I saluted, but spoke no word.
“You understand me?” he repeated.
“Absolutely, monsieur,” I answered in a rough peasantlike voice.
He turned and walked in a leisurely way through the passage, and disappeared, telling Gabord to join him in a moment. As he left, Gabord said to me in a low voice, “Get back to General Wolfe, or wife and life will both be lost.”
I caught his hand and pressed it, and a minute afterwards I was alone before Alixe’s door.
An hour later, knowing Alixe to be alone, I tapped on her door and entered. As I did so she rose from a priedieu where she had been kneeling. Two candles were burning on the mantel, but the room was much in shadow.
“What is’t you wish?” she asked, approaching.
I had off my hat; I looked her direct in the eyes and put my fingers on my lips. She stared painfully for a moment.