In the gentleness of your heart you
kissed me--and--she saw that kiss. Saw me lying in your arms as if you
held me there from love,--saw and turned away. She made no sound in the
soft dust, and when I loosed your face from my clasp she was gone! So I
broke your faith, M'sieu,--so I dragged forth one by one all the sorry
happenings that have followed that evil night."
The muffled voice fell silent, save for the sobs that would no longer
be withheld, and there was an awful stillness in the room, broken by a
stick falling on the hearth and the added roar in the chimney.
When Francette raised her weeping eyes she saw McElroy's face above her
like a mask.
Its lips were open as if breath had suddenly been denied them, its
wasted cheeks were blue, and its eyes stared down upon her in horror:
"Oh! O God! Rette!"
She screamed and sprang up, to run back and crouch against the empty
chair beside the hearth.
The figure upon the bed, half-risen, worked its lips and then fell
back, and the little maid raised her voice and screamed again and again
in mortal terror.
It brought Rette running from where she had waited in the trading-room.
She raised him, and her face was red with rage.
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