nothing more; you can rob me now--but, mark
you! all that you will ever get is money. Monsieur Cassion, if you
dare lay so much as a finger on me, I will kill you, as I would a
snake. I know what I say, and mean it. You kiss me! Try it, Monsieur,
if you doubt how my race repays insult. I will go with you; I will
bear your name; this the law compels, but I am still mistress of my
soul, and of my body. You hear me, Messieurs? You understand?"

Cassion stood leaning forward, just where my first words had held him
motionless. As I paused his eyes were on my face, and he lifted a hand
to wipe away drops of perspiration. La Barre crumpled the paper he
held savagely.

"So," he exclaimed, "we have unchained a tiger cat. Well, all this is
naught to me; and Francois, I leave you and the wilderness to do the
taming. In faith, 'tis time already you were off. You agree to
accompany the party without resistance, Madame?"

"As well there, as here," I answered contemptuously.

"And you, Hugo Chevet?"

The giant growled something inarticulate through his beard, not
altogether, I thought, to La Barre's liking, for his face darkened.

"By St. Anne! 'tis a happy family amid which you start your honeymoon,
Monsieur Cassion," he ejaculated at length, "but go you must, though I
send a file of soldiers with you to the boats. Now leave me, and I
would hear no more until word comes of your arrival at St. Louis."

We left the room together, the three of us, and no one spoke, as we
traversed the great assembly hall, in which dancers still lingered,
and gained the outer hall. Cassion secured my cloak, and I wrapped it
about my shoulders, for the night air without was already chill, and
then, yet in unbroken silence, we passed down the steps into the
darkness of the street. I walked beside Chevet, who was growling to
himself, scarce sober enough to clearly realize what had occurred, and
so we followed the Commissaire down the steep path which led to the
river.

There was no pomp now, no military guard, or blazing torches. All
about us was gloom and silence, the houses fronting the narrow passage
black, although a gleam of fire revealed the surface of the water
below. The rough paving made walking difficult, and I tripped twice
during the descent, once wrenching an ankle, but with no outcry. I was
scarce conscious of the pain, or of my surroundings, for my mind still
stood aghast over what had occurred. It had been so swiftly
accomplished I