Go
fight the English, lazy ruffian!"
The soldier gave a grunt, made a mocking gesture, and the door
closed on me and my attendant. This fellow would not speak at all,
and I did not urge him, but lay and watched the day decline and
night come down. I was taken to a small alcove which adjoined the
room, where I slept soundly.
Early the next morning I waked, and there was Voban sitting just
outside the alcove, looking at me. I sat up in bed and spoke to
him, and he greeted me in an absent sort of way. He was changed as
much as I; he moved as one in a dream; yet there was the ceaseless
activity of the eye, the swift, stealthy motion of the hand. He
began to attend me, and I questioned him; but he said he had orders
from mademoiselle that he was to tell nothing--that she, as soon as
she could, would visit me.
I felt at once a new spring of life. I gave him the letter I had
written, and bade him deliver it, which he promised to do; for
though there was much in it not vital now, it was a record of my
thoughts and feelings, and she would be glad of it, I knew.
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