He knew--being himself outwardly one of us--to what extent I was involved in the late rebellion, and I knew enough of him to be assured that if some day he should wish to do me ill, he would never scruple to turn traitor.

I am afraid, Monsieur de Lesperon, that it is not for you alone--perhaps not for you at all--that the soldiers have come, but for me." Then, before I could answer him, the door was flung wide, and into the room, in nightcap and hastily donned robe--looking a very meagre in that disfiguring deshabille--swept the Vicomtesse.
"See," she cried to her husband, her strident voice raised in reproach--"see to what a pass you have brought us!" "Anne, Anne!" he exclaimed, approaching her and seeking to soothe her; "be calm, my poor child, and be brave." But, evading him, she towered, lean and malevolent as a fury.
"Calm ?" she echoed contemptuously.

"Brave ?" Then a short laugh broke from her--a despairing, mocking, mirthless expression of anger.

"By God, do you add effrontery to your other failings?
Dare you bid me be calm and brave in such an hour?
Have I been warning you fruitlessly these twelve months past, that, after disregarding me and deriding my warnings, you should bid me be calm now that my fears are realized ?" There was a sound of creaking gates below.

The Vicomte heard it.
"Madame," he said, putting aside his erstwhile tender manner, and speaking with a lofty dignity, "the troopers have been admitted.