No more was said, until, turning to the
door, he told me he would return to fetch me forth in a few minutes.
But when halfway out he suddenly wheeled, came back, and blurted
out, "If you and I could only fight it out, m'sieu'! 'Tis ill for a
gentleman and a soldier to die without thrust or parry."
"Gabord," said I, smiling at him, "you preach good sermons always,
and I never saw a man I'd rather fight and be killed by than you!"
Then, with an attempt at rough humour, I added, "But as I told you
once, the knot is'nt at my throat, and I'll tie another one yet
elsewhere, if God loves honest men."
I had no hope at all, yet I felt I must say it. He nodded, but
said nothing, and presently I was alone.
I sat down on my straw couch and composed myself to think; not
upon my end, for my mind was made up as to that, but upon the girl
who was so dear to me, whose life had crept into mine and filled
it, making it of value in the world. It must not be thought that I
no longer had care for our cause, for I would willingly have spent
my life a hundred times for my country, as my best friends will
bear witness; but there comes a time when a man has a right to set
all else aside but his own personal love and welfare, and to me the
world was now bounded by just so much space as my dear Alixe might
move in. I fastened my thought upon her face as I had last seen it.
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