"I am able to hear you now, Robert Tournay."
He drew a sigh of relief. "She has the de Rochefort spirit," he thought.
"All is quiet now," he said. "But when Gardin fully recovers consciousness I fear he will excite his followers to further violence. It will be unsafe for you to remain here." As she did not answer, he continued,—"I have made arrangements, mademoiselle, to conduct you to the German frontier. Can you prepare to accompany me at once?"
"I am prepared to leave here at once—but—I cannot go with you. It is better that I go alone," Mademoiselle de Rochefort replied.
"Alone! It would be folly in you to attempt it. Do you suppose that I could stand quietly by and see you incur such a danger?"
Mademoiselle de Rochefort's eyes, at all other times so frank and fearless, did not meet his earnest gaze; she answered him hastily, as one who would have an unpleasant interview come to a speedy end:—
"You have saved me from a great danger. Believe me, I am not ungrateful. You have already done too much. I cannot accept anything more from you. Pray leave me now to go my own way."
"That is impossible, mademoiselle; I shall only leave you when you are across the frontier. Traveling as my wife, under the passports that I have secured, the journey can be made in comparative safety, provided always that we start in time."
At the words "my wife" Mademoiselle de Rochefort started, but she only repeated:—
"I cannot go with you."