SACRIFICES OF BLANDINE
183
"So be it," Kehlmark consented, "let us try again, but thou must agree with Guidon Govaertz. He is the being whom I cherish most in this world, he is as necessary to me as the air I breathe; only he has reconciled me to life. And, above all, never an allusion before him to what has passed between us. Beware of showing the least animosity, of making the least reproach, to this child. If aught of ill happ'd to him, if I lost him, if he were taken from me in any way whatever, it would be suicide for me. Dost understand?"
She bent her head in sign of submission, decided to endure the worst tortures, but from his hands, beneath his eyes.
