M. de Baudri bowed, with his hand on his heart.
“Absolutely,� he replied pleasantly; “he has not yet been handed over to the authorities. By lifting my finger I can set him free and also your grandmother, and as easily I can consign both to the miserable fate awaiting the heretics.�
Rosaline took a step forward, clasping her hands and gazing intently into his face.
“Ah, monsieur, surely you will be merciful,� she exclaimed, “surely you will spare my grandmother—a feeble woman—and M. d’Aguesseau—has he not suffered enough? Dieu! he has lost all,—his parents, his sister, his property. I cannot believe that you will condemn these two! You are a man, and not a fiend.�
He watched her with an inscrutable expression on his face.
“And what will you do to regain their liberty?� he asked slowly. “What petition do you make for them?�
“I ask you in God’s name,� she said with passionate earnestness, “and on my knees, monsieur, though I never kneeled to living man before.�
She was kneeling, her white face lifted, her hands clasped; and with her golden hair she looked more like a supplicating angel than an unhappy and defenceless girl. For him it was a moment of triumph; and his heart was untouched by any feeling of compulsion; it only throbbed with fierce determination.
“Rise, mademoiselle,� he said, offering his hand with gallantry. “Serious as the situation is, dangerous as it is for me to release heretics, yet I must be less than human to resist such eloquence and beauty. Your petition is granted—on one condition.�
She looked at him searchingly, and her heart sank as she read the expression in his eyes.