At this the Circassian rose up in a fury.
Kondjé-Gul fell on her knees before her, supplicating her with tears, in piteous tones.
In my alarm I rushed forward.
"Get her out of the room; take her away!" my uncle said to me sharply.
My poor Kondjé-Gul resisted, so I took her up in my arms and carried her out. At the door I found Fanny, who had come up, and I left my darling in her care.
Madame Murrah darted forward to follow her daughter, but my uncle had seized her by the wrist, and forcing her down again, said to her in Turkish:
"We have not finished; and if you stir, beware!"
"Sir," exclaimed the Circassian, addressing the officer of the law, "you see how violently they are treating me, and how they are threatening me!"
All this had taken place so quickly that the commissary hardly had time to intervene with a gesture. Onésime and Rupert were strolling about outside the window.
"Excuse me for having sent this child out, sir," continued my uncle; "but you are, I believe, sufficiently acquainted already with her decision. Moreover, she is there to reply afresh to you, if you desire to question her alone, secure from all influence and pressure. It remains for me to speak now upon a subject which she ought not to hear mentioned. After her refusal to follow her mother, which she has just given so clearly, be so good as to add on your report that I also refuse very emphatically to give her up to her."