“You have asked me to save you,” I said, reverting to her wild supplication. “I will do so willingly if you only tell me how.”
“It is impossible,” she said in a broken voice, shaking her head mournfully. “By what you have told me I am forewarned.”
A deep sigh escaped her, and I saw that her fingers worked restlessly in the palms of her hands. She was desperate.
“Can I do absolutely nothing?” I asked in a tone of sympathy, placing my hand tenderly upon her shoulder.
“Nothing,” she answered in a hoarse whisper. “I am not fit to talk further. Let us say good-bye.”
“Then you prefer that I should leave you?”
“Yes,” she said, holding out her hand. “Forgive me for this, but I want to go to my own room to think. What you have told me has upset me.”
“Tell me plainly—you fear that man?”
She nodded in the affirmative.
“And you will not allow me either to advise or to assist you?”