She stood in silence. Then her eyes met his. He read her answer there before she spoke, and in the look she gave him he thought he read still more--something he dared not believe, scarcely dared hope. "You are right," she replied, speaking slowly and distinctly. "Go back to France! It is I who bid you go." "I knew you would tell me to go," he replied. The sound of voices in the corridor outside fell upon their ears. "There are Gaillard and the escort," said Tournay, sadly. "Mademoiselle, good-by! I may never see you again. But I thank God that you are here in safety, and I shall find some happiness in the thought that I have been an instrument in your deliverance." She did not answer, but stretched out her hand to him. He took it, and dropping on one knee, put it to his lips. "It is for the last time," he said, looking up at her. His face was deadly pale, and there was a look of pleading in his brown eyes. She placed her other hand upon his head. It was but the slightest touch, as if she yielded to a sudden impulse, and then with the same swift movement she drew away from him. "As it _must_ be, I pray you to go quickly," she said, and without waiting for a reply she turned and left him. Tournay rose to his feet,--"I swear to you now, mademoiselle, that some day I shall see you again," and he rushed from the room to the courtyard below. "Are the horses ready?" he whispered hoarsely, grasping Gaillard by the arm. "At the door with an escort of Prussian officers," was the reply. "What time is it?" "Three hours before dark." "We must be over the frontier and well into France by to-night," was Tournay's rejoinder. "Come!" Standing by the window, Edmé saw him leap into the saddle. He gave one look in her direction, but could not see her, concealed as she was by the heavy curtains. She heard the officers laughing and talking among themselves. She saw one of the men jump from his horse, tighten a saddle girth, and remount with an agile spring. Then Colonel von Waldenmeer approached and addressed some remark to Robert Tournay. The latter, who had been sitting erect and motionless upon his horse, turned slightly in the saddle to answer the Prussian officer. Edmé could see that his features were set and their expression stern. Colonel von Waldenmeer mounted his own horse, gave a word of command, and the party started forward. Edmé watched them as they went up the road. Ten horses riding two abreast, the snow flying out from under the heels of the galloping hoofs. She watched them until the square shoulders of Colonel Tournay were hardly distinguishable from those of Colonel Karl who rode beside him. The cavalcade disappeared around a bend in the road, and Edmé turned from the wintry aspect without to the dreary salon with a heavy heart. CHAPTER XII THE FOUR COMMISSIONERS Under the escort of Karl von Waldenmeer and half a dozen of his French officers, Tournay and Gaillard rode rapidly toward the French boundary.