“I cannot,” was the calm reply.
“Tell me where she is,” said Rogere, in tones of thunder, “or by heaven your gray hairs shall not save you!”
“As you please,” said the lady.
“Nay, madam,” said Rogere, his fury rebuked by the calmness of the lady, “it is vain to resist my power; and why attempt it? Why not yield your daughter to my care and protection? I am now master of this island; I am its ruler and its sovereign. I will make Emily my companion; nay, I will be her slave. Tell me where she is; give her up to me, and I will treat her tenderly.”
“M. Rogere, do you think me so foolish as to be beguiled by words which are belied by actions? You came here with force, and, threatening to take the life of the mother, talk of tenderness to the child! Telling me that my gray hairs shall not save me, you promise to be kind to my daughter, if I will give her up to you! Shall the brooding dove believe the hawk when he asks for her young ones, even though he swears to protect them? Shall she believe him and give them up? Nay, sir, you came here to use force, and you will have your way. Yet I fear you not! Ruthless as you are, you dare not lay your hand upon an aged and unprotected woman. The blood of a French heart will gush out, every drop of it will leave his breast, before it will nerve a man’s arm to such a dastardly deed!”
“Listen to reason,” said Rogere.
“Listen, yourself!” said the lady; “leave this place; withdraw your men, restore us all to liberty and peace—then come and ask my daughter; and if she, in the free exercise of a woman’s choice, will give you her hand, I will not oppose it.”
“This cannot be; I know her heart is set upon that dreamer, Brusque.”
“And you, then, are to play the tyrant; force her to forego her wishes; compel her to give up the man she loves, and become the plaything of the man she must abhor! And you call this treating her tenderly! O, God, is there a being on this earth that can be guilty of such tyranny? Yes! man, lordly man, is such a creature when the restraints of government and law are withdrawn.”
“This passes all patience,” said Rogere, fiercely. “I say, old woman, as you value your life, tell me where your daughter is, or I will strike you to the earth this instant.”