“What did she say to you?” asked Madame Sauviat of her grandson.
“I don’t know; she did not speak French.”
“Couldn’t you understand anything she said?” asked Veronique.
“No; but she kept saying over and over,—and that’s why I remember it,—My dear brother!”
Veronique took her mother’s arm and led her son by the hand, but she had scarcely gone a dozen steps before her strength gave way.
“What is the matter? what has happened?” said the others, who now came up, to Madame Sauviat.
“Oh! my daughter is in danger!” said the old woman, in guttural tones.
It was necessary to carry Madame Graslin to her carriage. She signed to Aline to get into it with Francis, and also Gerard.
“You have been in England,” she said to the latter as soon as she recovered herself, “and therefore no doubt you speak English; tell me the meaning of the words, my dear brother.”
On being told, Veronique exchanged a look with Aline and her mother which made them shudder; but they restrained their feelings.