I was between two fires. I had left the window unguarded, and I could not tell what was passing outside. On the other hand I could not let her go down and place herself in the power of these miscreants, who, unless they were fools, would hold her as a hostage for my surrender. I caught her by the arm. “Don’t!” I cried. “You are mad!” But she would not listen, she persisted. She struggled with me, and I had only one arm. I had to use my full strength. I dragged her away at last, and in the excitement, having the unguarded window on my mind and the fear of what the men might do while she kept me thus, I shook her—I shook her angrily. “Come back to your senses!” I said. “I am not going to let you do it! Do you hear! You are not going down!” “I must!” she cried, struggling with me. “You will not!” I said. She ceased to struggle at that, and appeared to come to herself. Then—I still held her firmly by the arm—a blush dyed her face to the roots of her hair. Her eyes fell. “Let me go,” she muttered. “Will you do as I say?” I cried. “Will you be guided?” “Yes,” she said, her lips quivering. There were tears in her eyes. “And give up this mad idea?” “Yes.” “That is better,” I replied. “Then put that case back, if you please. The news will be neither better nor worse because you do not hear it.” And I let her go, and turned quickly to the window, intent, as far as appearances went, upon Levi and the gang. But if there had been anything to note, if Levi had made a move at that moment, I doubt if I should have seen it. The contest had not taken two minutes, but it had changed all our relations. The struggle and her surrender, the contact between us—our hands had hardly met hitherto—had put the spark to a train that in my case was already laid. My blood was in a tumult, my face as hot as hers, my heart beat furiously. What her feelings were I could only guess. But the tell-tale blood that had waved its signal in her cheek, her sudden confusion, her drooping head, if these did no more than own the man’s mastery, they were such an advance on anything that had passed between us that it was no wonder that I forgot the peril, Levi, the rogues, all. A minute or two, during which I dared not look at her, brought me to my senses. I saw that the mist was thinner, that the sun was beginning to peer through it. Soon we should be able to look abroad, and Levi and his men, surprised in the open and almost within view of the highway, might find the boot on the other leg. My spirits rose; and again I remembered, and they sank as quickly. The news! The news that she longed for so hungrily, from which she expected so much. How could it be good? I knew Rawdon too well, and the story of poor André was too fresh in my memory. Besides, the men’s ultimatum could hardly have been delivered. And were the news bad, as bad it must be, it mattered little what she felt for me now. The feeling would not survive the shock.