Denham confessed that he had not eaten for some time; he had not been hungry. Well, perhaps he was a trifle _fatigué_, but 'twas nothing, nothing at all. He was ready now for anything. If Mademoiselle would only not put herself in danger! By way of showing his readiness, he made a movement forward, but he was compelled to sit down, resting his forehead on his hand. The long strain had told upon even his vigorous constitution. "Ah! C'est ça!" she murmured. "But you will be better, monsieur, for a cup of coffee." Ivor had no choice but to yield, and she moved daintily about, making such coffee as only a Frenchwoman can, and bringing it presently to his side. "This is not right," he protested. "I cannot allow you to wait upon me, mademoiselle." She would listen to no remonstrances, however, and when he had disposed of it, she insisted that he should lie down on a couch in the small adjoining room, while she undertook to look after Roy. She had her friends' permission, she said, not explaining that she had refused to be forbidden, and Monsieur in his present state could do no more. How long was it since he had slept? Ah, doubtless some days! Ivor gave in, after much resistance, and in ten minutes he was again heavily asleep, not to wake for many hours. Nature at last was claiming her revenge. When he woke, after five hours' unbroken rest, he was another man. Roy seemed much better. The doctor had paid a visit and was gone; the room could scarcely be recognised as the same; and Ivor warmly expressed his gratitude, wondering as he did so at Lucille's look of steady sadness. She insisted on coming again the next day, while he should rest and have an hour's walk. "Isn't she nice and jolly?" Roy demanded, when the door closed behind Lucille. "I like her, don't you? She has told me lots of things while you were asleep. Only think, her father and mother were both guillotined. _Both_ of them had their heads cut off. And they hadn't done one single thing to make them deserve it. They were awfully good and kind to everybody, she says. And she was only a little girl then, and when they were dead, somebody took her away to England, and she was there three or four years. And then she came back to France, and she lives with some people at a place called Verdun. She says they give her a home, and she works for them. And she would like to go to England again some day."