The lady smiled at my description, and adjusting her gloves, replied:
"And I am Mlle. de Varion, daughter of a gentleman of Fleurier--"
"What!" I interrupted, "the Catholic gentleman who has been imprisoned
for sheltering a Huguenot?"
"Yes," she answered, sorrowfully, and then with a strange trepidation she
went on: "and it is to save myself from imprisonment that I have
determined to flee to the south, in the hope of finding refuge in one of
the provinces controlled by your King of Navarre."
"But," I interposed, "how can you be in danger of imprisonment? It was
not you, but your father, who violated the edict."
"Nevertheless," she answered, in a low and unsteady voice, averting her
glance to the floor, "M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, has
threatened me with imprisonment if I remain in Berry."
"Doubtless," I said with indignation, "the governor does this in order to
escape the importunities you would make in your father's behalf. He would
save his tender heart from the pain of being touched by your pleadings."
"It may be so," she answered faintly.
I did not tell her that the idea of releasing her father had already
entered my head. In order to bring him safe out of the Chateau of
Fleurier, it would be necessary for me to return to Maury for my company.
The attempt would be a hazardous one, and I might fail, and I did not
wish to raise hopes in her for disappointment.
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