“And you—� she said, with passionate scorn, “did you betray him?�
The hunchback’s lips twitched, like those of a person in sudden bodily pain, and he did not reply.
“You miserable creature!� Rosaline continued, her blue eyes sparkling with anger. “Did you offer him shelter at first, and get him here that you might surely betray him? You are baffled, thank God; you are out-witted!�
Charlot’s hands clenched and he looked at her as if she had struck him.
“Sang de Dieu, I am innocent!� he said solemnly; “I never betrayed him. I came here to warn him, and found that he had gone. I heard it all in M. de Baudri’s rooms, and I hurried away, and by hiring a cart that I met in the road, I was at St. Cyr just five minutes before the dragoons came, and madame sent me here to keep you out of harm’s way.�
“The dragoons at St. Cyr!� cried Rosaline, forgetting all else in that announcement, “and my grandmother there alone! Dieu, I will never forgive myself!�
She ran up the bank without heeding the cobbler’s appeals.
“Stay, mademoiselle!� he cried after her; “stay but a moment and listen! Ah, Mère de Dieu, she rushes to her fate!�
He called to deaf ears; Rosaline fled through the woods like a young fawn with the dog at her heels. She took no thought of herself but only remembered her grandmother and the terrible prospect of a dragonnade at St. Cyr. The custom of quartering dragoons on families suspected of heresy was too fearfully frequent for it to be improbable, and such visitations were attended by horrible indignities; neither age nor innocence was spared, and the end generally saw the château in smoking ruins and the members of the devoted family dead or banished.
All these things flashed through Rosaline’s mind as she sped—on the wings of love—toward her home, and no one could have overtaken her. The poor hunchback followed as best he could, cursing the fate that had forced him to tell her.