A new
feeling took possession of her. She knew that there was one
question at my lips which I dared not utter. She became very quiet,
and a sweet, settled firmness came into her face.
"Robert," she said, "you must go back to your army without me. I
can not leave my father now. Save yourself alone, and if--and if
you take the city, and I am alive, then we shall be reunited. If
you do not take the city, then, whether father lives or dies, I
will come to you. Of this be sure, that I shall never live to be
the wife of any other man--wife or aught else. You know me. You
know all, you trust me, and, my dear husband, my own love, we
must part once more. Go, go, and save yourself, keep your life
safe for my sake, and may God in heaven, may God--"
Here she broke off and started back from my embrace, staring hard
a moment over my shoulder; then her face became deadly pale, and
she fell back unconscious. Supporting her, I turned round, and
there, inside the door, with his back to it, was Doltaire. There
was a devilish smile on his face, as wicked a look as I ever saw on
any man. I laid Alixe down on a sofa without a word, and faced him
again.
"As many coats as Joseph's coat had colours," he said. "And for
once disguised as an honest man--well, well!"
"Beast" I hissed, and I whipped out my short sword.
"Not here," he said, with a malicious laugh.
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