"
"Well, man, supposing you have; what do you want? Are you going to
grumble because I have not slaughtered the wretches you have betrayed
to me?"
"Not at all, General; you know your own duty, doubtless. I am going to
return to Saumur, to which place I desire an escort for myself and this
young lady."
"By heaven I pity her!" said Santerre. "I don't know what has come to
me tonight, that I should trouble myself with the cares of a swarm of
aristocrats." And then he said, addressing Agatha, "Are you ready and
willing, young woman, for a midnight ride with this hot young lover, who
seems so fond of you?"
"She must be ready, General Santerre," said Denot, taking hold of
Agatha's hand: "it is now my turn to command her: she must be ready,
whether she be willing or no."
"You will not force me to leave my father?" said Agatha, appealing to
Santerre. "You will not deliver a poor unprotected girl into the hands
of such a maniac as that."
"Maniac!" said Denot. "But I care not; your words are to me like the
empty wind: the time had gone by for words between you and me, when you
refused to listen to those I addressed to you upon my knees.
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