And he followed them, closing the door gently behind him.




X


Mademoiselle, who had risen from her chair, where she had listened, only
half understanding the conversation in a tongue foreign from hers, stared
at the closed door, her lips parted, and her forehead wrinkled.

"What have they been saying?" she asked. "Why are they afraid? Is
everyone afraid of this father of yours?"

And then, impulsively, she seized me by the arm.

"But it makes no difference. Come, it is our one chance; come quickly,
Monsieur. I must speak to you, where he will not disturb us."

"But where?" I asked, still staring straight before me; and then I
noticed a bolt on the morning room door. I sprang toward it and drew it
hastily. "It will do no good to talk, Mademoiselle. If you had
understood--" And as I spoke, the enormity of the thing loomed still
larger before me.

"Mademoiselle, this morning he has robbed my uncle of a fortune, snatched
it from him here in this very room, and now he has threatened to move
his ships into midstream, and to open fire on the town! And Mademoiselle,
he means to do it. I thought once--but he means to do it, Mademoiselle."