She embraced him closely and burst into tears.
"Luisa!"
"Caro padre, are they near us yet?"
"About three leagues in the rear, perhaps," he replied in a troubled voice.
"And these gentlemen?"
"Our friends, and I trust our saviours! You remember the Signor di Castelermo?"
"O yes; and Signor Claude," she added, in a faint voice.
"May their timely presence and intervention avert that most dread catastrophe, of which even the contemplation is horror."
"You may depend upon us—ay, to the death!" said we both at once.
"You are pursued, I have reason to believe;" added the Maltese knight.