At last I understood what he meant, and that in his passion he would sacrifice one rather than bring in his sister's name. Nay, I saw more; that he viewed with a cruel exultation the dilemma in which he had placed me; and my brow grew damp, as I looked round wildly, trying to solve the question. I had the sounds of street fighting still in my ears; I knew that men staking all in such a strife owned few scruples and scant mercy. I could see that this man in particular was maddened by the losses and humiliations which he had suffered; and I stood in the way of his schemes. The risk existed, therefore, and was no mere threat; it seemed foolish quixotism to run it. And yet--and yet I hesitated. I even let the men urge me half-way to the door; and then--heaven knows what I should have done or whether I could have seen my way plainly--the knot was cut for me. With a scream, Denise, who since her brother's entrance had leaned, half-fainting, against the wall, sprang forward, and seized him by the arm. "No, no!" she cried in a choked voice. "No! You will not, you will not do this! Have pity, have mercy! I----" "Mademoiselle!" he said, cutting her short quietly, but with a gleam of rage in his eyes. "You are overwrought, and forget yourself. The scene has been too much for you. Here!" he continued sharply to the maid, "take care of your mistress. The man is a spy, and not worthy of her pity." But Denise clung to him. "He is no spy!" she cried, in a voice that went to my heart. "He is no spy, and you know it!" "Hush, girl! Be silent!" he answered furiously. But he had not counted on a change in her, beside which the change in him was petty. "I will not!" she answered, "I will not!" and to my astonishment, releasing the arm to which she had hitherto clung, and shaking back from her face the hair which her violent movements had loosened, she stood out and defied him. "I will not!" she cried. "He is no spy, and you know it, Monsieur! He is my lover," she continued, with a superb gesture, "and he came to see me. Do you understand? He was contracted to me, and he came to see me!" "Girl, are you mad?" he snarled in the breathless hush of the room, the hush that followed as all looked at her. "I am not mad," she answered, her eyes burning in her white face. "Then if you feel no shame do you feel no fear?" he retorted in a terrible voice. "No!" she cried. "For I love! And I love him." I will not say what I felt when I heard that, myself helpless. For one thing, I was in so great a rage I scarcely knew what I felt; and for another, the words were barely spoken before M. le Marquis seized the girl roughly by the waist, and dragged her, screaming and resisting, to the other end of the room.