"Tell me, tell me, and I swear to you I will save you, even if to do so I should have to walk in blood up to the knees. Tell me, Doña Laura, I entreat you."
"No! I prefer to die, than to be saved by you."
"Die, then, and be cursed!" cried the marquis, seizing a pistol from his girdle.
A hand arrested his arm.
He turned round, darting a fierce look at him who had dared to touch him.
"Excuse me, your Excellency," said Diogo to him, still impassable, "if I interrupt your interesting conversation with the señorita."
Doña Laura had not made a movement to escape death. Death for her would have been a deliverance.
"What do you want with me?" cried the marquis.
"To announce to you, my lord, that the moment is near. Look!"
The marquis looked.