I confess I was tongue-tied, and could only mutter something, and
Montluc glanced from the one to the other of us.
"Then you are already acquainted?" he asked in surprise.
"Mademoiselle is the lady to whom, as I have mentioned to you, monsieur, I was enabled to render a slight service——"
"That is what he calls saving my life, Monsieur de Montluc. I have at any rate to thank you for giving me a friend for my jailor. There is but one more kindness I ask of you——"
"And that is——?"
"Let this gentleman escort me to Châtellerault. I do not want to go to
Paris."
Montluc held up his hand. "That is the old cry, mademoiselle. It is impossible! The Queen's orders are final."
"And you call yourself my dead father's friend?"
Montluc smiled grimly. "I saved his life at Pavia. That was thirty-three years ago. But that has nothing to do with the matter. You cannot stay here. You cannot stay at Châtellerault. You must go to Paris, and it is growing late."
She flushed all over, but again returned to her point.