"Don't move; and keep calm. I swear to you that not one of those men shall touch you, as long as I am alive."
The door of the first room was tried. Dolores, clinging to him with all her might, cried:
"Oh, there they are! There they are! . . . They will kill you . . . you are alone! . . ."
Eagerly, he said:
"No, I am not alone. . . . You are here. . . . You are here beside me. . . ."
He tried to release himself. She took his head in her two hands, looked him deep in the eyes and whispered:
"Where are you going? What are you going to do? No . . . you must not die. . . . I won't have it . . . you must live . . . you must."
She stammered words which he did not catch and which she seemed to stifle between her lips lest he should hear them; and, having spent all her energy, exhausted, she fell back unconscious.
He leant over her and gazed at her for a moment. Softly, lightly, he pressed a kiss upon her hair.
Then he went back to the first room, carefully closed the door between the two and switched on the electric light.