"Child," he said, "do not draw upon yourself the anger of the saints by listening to the voice of the tempter. Remember where you are, unfortunate, and who you are. A moment's delay, and I leave you here a prey to want, captivity, and death; a target for the heretic's scorn, a lost sheep abandoned by the Holy Virgin. Here perdition and misery ... there in your Fatherland the favour of the saints. Choose quickly, for the sleigh stands waiting; the morning dawns, and day must not find us in this nest of heretics."
Regina hesitated.
"Swear," she said, "that you are innocent of Dorthe's death!"
"I swear it!" exclaimed the Jesuit, "by the cross and by the holy Loyola's bones. May the firm ground open under my feet, and the abyss swallow me alive, if I have ever given this woman any drink but what was healthful and medicinal."
"Well, then," said Regina, "the saints have heard your oath, and written it down in the book of judgment. Farewell, my mother, my friend! Come, let us go!"
Both hurried out.
It was still dark. A pale ray of light appeared over the dark firs on the edge of Koivukoski fall. The horses stood harnessed. The sleepy guard at the castle gate gave a free passage to the physician, who was well known to all.
The Jesuit already thought himself in safety, when a sleigh from the mainland met the fugitives on the narrow bridge, and drove close up to them in the darkness. The monk's sleigh turned on the edge, and was only hindered by the half-rotten railing from upsetting into the depths.
Regina gave a cry of terror.
At the sound of this cry a man sprang from the other sleigh and approached the fugitives.