hastily, and with some confusion. "I have had my own way to push—to prove that I was worthy to lead."
"Yes, yes. And you have proved that long since, I am confident. But tell me of the fighting. Oh, I would that I had been a man to bear my part as a soldier!"
"That had been hard on me, Gabrielle."
"True enough, too. And for that I am glad I am only a woman," she said, gently, nestling yet closer to him. And having thus led her on to the safe topic of his career as a soldier, he told her many of his experiences. She listened eagerly to his story, hanging on his words in rare delight, until he broke off, remembering that he was to see the Governor that night.
"I am forgetting—I could forget all in your company. But M. de Proballe has arranged that I see the Duke to-night. I had best seek him."
"You must be careful with the Governor, Gerard."
"Why? I do not fear him."
"He is all powerful here in Morvaix. You saw what passed in the market place yesterday. He is a man of iron."
"Yet what harm can he do me?"
"He is bad to the heart's core. His wife is my one intimate friend in Morvaix, an honourable, God-fearing woman, who has suffered unspeakable sorrows at his hands in her life. She is now bed-ridden, poor soul; and we have spoken freely together of the Duke."
"He is a tyrant—that I have learnt."
"And many worse things, I fear. I would not willingly speak ill of any man, but to you I should speak freely. He has but too well merited the term men give him—the Tiger of Morvaix. Could the grim walls and torture chambers of his castle bear witness against him, fearsome truths indeed would come to light."
"Tell me of them."
"Nay, not to-night. To-night we will not speak of
