"Dear to me, Monsieur!" Gabriel interrupted; "why, yes,—he was my father."
"Very well, Monsieur, if you desire to pay the last sad honors to his memory, I am directed to allow you to remove the body from this place."
"Ah, indeed!" replied Gabriel, with the same terrible calmness. "He is strictly just with me, then, and is keeping his word to me with great exactitude, I must confess. You must know, Monsieur le Gouverneur, that he swore to restore my father to me. He is restored to me: behold him! I recognize the fact that there was no undertaking to restore him to me alive."
He laughed a harsh, unpleasant laugh.
"Come, courage!" rejoined Monsieur de Sazerac. "It is time now to say adieu to him for whom you weep."
"I am doing so, as you see, Monsieur."
"Yes, but I mean that you really must leave this place at once. The air that we breathe here is not fit for human lungs, and a longer stay in this poisonous miasma might be very dangerous."
"Here is a proof of it before our eyes," said Gabriel, pointing to the body of his father.
"Come, come, we must be going!" replied the governor, taking the poor fellow's arm to force him away.
"Yes, yes, I will follow you," said Gabriel; "but for God's sake, leave me here a few moments longer!"