Part 12 (2/2)
”Sedition?” quoth he, and his thoughts flew to that business at Nantes
It was impossible they could have had news of it in Rennes and acted upon it in so short a time
”Yes, sedition The sedition of that wicked speech of yours at Rennes on Wednesday”
”Oh, that!” said he ”Pooh!” His note of relief ht have told her, had she been reater wickedness co?”
”I alentlemen of the marechaussee have been misunderstood Most probably they have couieres' behalf I restrained the people when they would have burnt the Palais and himself inside it”
”After you had first incited them to do it I suppose you were afraid of your work You drew back at the last uieres, if you are correctly reported, which he will never forgive”
”I see,” said Andre-Louis, and he fell into thought
But Mlle de Kercadiou had already done what thinking was necessary, and her alert young mind had settled all that was to be done
”You et down from your horse, and let ht And sometime to-morrow afternoon, by when you should be well away, I will return it to the Breton arme”
”Oh, but that is impossible”
”Impossible? Why?”
”For several reasons One of them is that you haven't considered ill happen to you if you do such a thing”
”To me? Do you suppose I auieres? I have coive aid to one who is wanted for the crime
That is the law”
”What do I care for the law? Do you iine that the laill presume to touch me?”
”Of course there is that You are sheltered by one of the abuses I co”
”Complain of it as much as you please, but meanwhile profit by it Come, Andre, do as I tell you Get down from your horse” And then, as he still hesitated, she stretched out and caught him by the arm Her voice was vibrant with earnestness ”Andre, you don't realize how serious is your position If these people take you, it is aled Don't you realize it? You o away at once, and lie completely lost for a ti influence to bear to obtain your pardon, youtime, then,” said Andre-Louis ”M de Kercadiou has never cultivated friends at court”
”There is M de La Tour d'Azyr,” she reminded him, to his astonishhed ”But it was chiefly against him that I aroused the resentment of the people of Rennes I should have known that all my speech was not reported to you”
”It was, and that part of it a the rest”
”Ah! And yet you are concerned to save me, the man who seeks the life of your future husband at the hands either of the law or of the people? Or is it, perhaps, that since you have seen his true nature revealed in the ed your views on the subject of beco Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr?”
”You often show yourself without any faculty of deductive reasoning”
”Perhaps But hardly to the extent of ier to do as you suggest”