He paused, but not before she had caught his meaning. The truth was difficult for Aymery to utter, and yet she honoured him for thinking of her honour.
“None but our friends come this way,” she answered.
He half rose in bed with the strong and generous passion that made his pale face shine on her out of the darkness of the cell.
“Mother of God, child, am I so selfish, and so blind! Do I not remember what you are, to all of us in these parts. If these dogs found me here! I would rather crawl on my hands and knees than tempt that chance.”
Her face flushed deeply, but not because of the mere words that he had spoken. A sudden impulse seized her, an impulse that came she knew not whither. Aymery had sunk back again, and the sight of this strong man’s weakness went to her heart. In the taking of a breath she was bending over him, and holding the wooden cross that hung at her girdle. Kissing it she held it before Aymery’s eyes.
“Lord, let this be as a sign between us, for I have no fear.”
He looked at the cross, then at Denise, and his eyes seemed to catch the glimmer of her hair.
“Denise, but one day,” he said. “To-morrow——”
“Leave God the morrow.”
“Yet, who knows what even the morrow may bring.”