"Nothing—nothing," she gasped. "Oh, father, let him go! let him go!"
"Twice have you interfered between me and him. Why is that?"
She could not answer his question; she did not attempt to do so. She persisted in her entreaties. In her anguish she caught hold of one of his injured feet and made him cry out with pain.
"Father! If I have ever done anything for you! If you have any love for me—any thought to do what I wish—grant me this. Spare him! Spare him!"
"Never!" answered Le Gros Guillem. Then he waved his long hand and said, "Remove this silly girl."
But when Noémi felt hands laid on her, she leaped to her feet, shook herself free, and said, panting—
"Let be! Do not touch me! I ask his life, no more."
"You do well, child," sneered the Captain. "You then run no more risk of disappointment."
"Yet—if that be denied me, there is one thing I do ask," gasped Noémi.
Her breath came as though she had been running up hill. She put her hands to her head, and held it, till she had recovered sufficiently to proceed.