He appeared to check himself and paused.
“And besides?” said Ralph softly.
Marescal still hesitated. But there are hours during which no effort of the reason will prevent you from speaking and revealing the very bottom of your soul [[69]]at the risk of regretting it bitterly. He could not keep his secret.
“Besides it would have doubled, it would have tripled the value of the victory I had won in another field,” he said in an even gloomier tone.
“Another victory?” cried Ralph in a tone of warm admiration.
“Yes; and a decisive victory too.”
“Decisive?”
“Undoubtedly. No one could have snatched it from me since it was a victory over the dead.”
“Not the English girl?” cried Ralph.
“The English girl.”