They were quite silent; at least I heard only from time to time the half-stifled sobs of the female.
"Here is some mystery or premeditated mischief," thought I; "let me watch warily."
At last the woman said faintly—
"Release me!"
The man uttered a growling guttural laugh.
"Release me, I implore you!" she continued in a voice of great softness and pathos.
"For the hundredth time you have thus implored me, mademoiselle, and for the hundredth time I reply—never."
"My father——"
"Tonnerre de Ciel! don't speak to me of your father," said the man, grinding his teeth; "I was an honest woodcutter in the Black Forest of Hunandaye till he ruined me."
"Impossible! my good father is incapable of such a thing."