“Because we all love her. Even the patroon would lay down his life for her. Do you suppose he is afraid to have her know the truth? It is because he loves her and would save her pain.”
“I have seen him try to strike her with a glass.”
“It was in anger. He has a strange infirmity that comes upon him suddenly. He does not know what he is doing when it has got hold of him. She forgives all that, her heart is so big.”
“But last night—the death of Ronald Guy?”
“Hush, not a word of that before her. She knows nothing of all that.”
“But she does know it. She was on the terrace. I saw her with my own eyes.”
“Yet she does not know it. We are used to the Red Band drilling at night. I knew what was coming yesterday, and at night I drew her curtains close so she could not see what was going on. When the guns went off she sprang out of bed. She heard her father’s cry. I could not stop her before she threw on a cloak and ran down stairs in her bare feet. She met her father in the doorway taken with one of his strange fits. She had no eyes for anything but him. She did not see poor Ronald lying in a heap, nor Meg.”
“She cannot be kept in ignorance forever. How long has this thing been going on?”
“Not long. The Red Band is a new thing. It will bring ruin upon the house. My poor mistress, when she learns the truth! The truth will break her heart, she is so strong for right.” The tears were streaming out of the poor girl’s eyes. “Promise me you will do nothing to harm my mistress.”
“I swear before God I shall protect her.”