"You sent for me, mademoiselle."
Now he had come Christine hardly knew what to say to him, or how best to say it. Could she move him to mercy if she were humble enough?
"I wanted to thank you," she said, "for your leniency to me and—and to others. You might have chosen a harder prison for me than the Château of Passey. It has its associations for me. You thought of that when you chose it."
"Naturally I had reasons for choosing it," he answered.
"My lord, Count Felix is——"
"Mademoiselle, for these three days past the Count's name has been ringing in my ears. Spare me more of it. They shout in the streets at me for his death. In the castle they are insistent that he should die. I cannot forget that Jean's love for me saved my life, and Jean is dead."
"Neither do I forget it; still, I would plead for the Count."
"Surely he merits death?"
"Yes; still, I would plead for him," said Christine earnestly. "You know—you said—you have admitted that for his plotting, at least, there was some excuse. He was mad with the uncontrollable madness of a desperate man."