"I return to Fougeres now,
where you cannot come to me--"
"I can! and if to-morrow you see smoke on the rocks of Saint-Sulpice
you will know that I shall be with you at night, your lover, your
husband,--what you will that I be to you; I brave all!"
"Ah! Alphonse, you love me well," she said, passionately, "to risk
your life before you give it to me."
He did not answer; he looked at her and her eyes fell; but he read in
her ardent face a passion equal to his own, and he held out his arms
to her. A sort of madness overcame her, and she let herself fall
softly on his breast, resolved to yield to him, and turn this yielding
to great results,--staking upon it her future happiness, which would
become more certain if she came victorious from this crucial test. But
her head had scarcely touched her lover's shoulder when a slight noise
was heard without. She tore herself from his arms as if suddenly
awakened, and sprang from the cottage. Her coolness came back to her,
and she thought of the situation.
"He might have accepted me and scorned me," she reflected. "Ah! if I
could think that, I would kill him. But not yet!" she added, catching
sight of Beau-Pied, to whom she made a sign which the soldier was
quick to understand. He turned on his heel, pretending to have seen
nothing. Mademoiselle de Verneuil re-entered the cottage, putting her
finger to her lips to enjoin silence.
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