"To him?"
"Yes."
"The magistrates will decide, at Angers."
"But he did not do it! I swear he did not."
Count Hannibal shook his head coldly.
"I swear, monsieur, I took the letters!" she repeated piteously. "Punish me!" Her figure, bowed like an old woman's over the neck of her horse, seemed to crave his mercy.
Count Hannibal smiled.
"You do not believe me?"
"No," he said. And then, in a tone which chilled her, "If I did believe you," he continued, "I should still punish him!" She was broken; but he would see if he could not break her further. He would try if there were no weak spot in her armour. He would rack her now, since in the end she must go free. "Understand, madame," he continued in his harshest tone, "I have had enough of your lover. He has crossed my path too often. You are my wife, I am your husband. In a day or two there shall be an end of this farce and of him."
"He did not take them!" she wailed, her face sinking lower on her breast. "He did not take them! Have mercy!"