With a gasp she
started to her feet, and on the instant there came the click of the
electric switch by the door, and the room was flooded with light.
Dazzled, almost blinded, she stared across the intervening space, and
met the steely, relentless eyes of Pierre Dumaresq!
IV
She stood motionless, staring, as one dazed. He, without apology or word
of any sort, strode straight forward. His face expressed stern
determination, naught else.
But ere he reached her she awoke to action, stepping sharply backwards
so that the table was between them. He came to a stand perforce in front
of it, and looked her full and piercingly in the eyes.
"Mademoiselle," he said, and his voice was so curt that it sounded
brutal, "you must come at once. The palace is in the hands of murderers.
The Governor has been assassinated. In a few seconds more they will be
at your door. Come!"
She recoiled from him with a face of horror.
"With you, monsieur? Never!" she cried.
He laid his hand upon the table and leaned forward.
"With me, yes," he said, speaking rapidly, yet with lips that scarcely
seemed to move. "I have come for you, and I mean to take you. Be wise,
Mademoiselle Stephanie! Come quietly!"
She scarcely heard him. Frenzy had gripped her--wild, unreasoning,
all-mastering frenzy. The supreme moment had come for her, and, with a
face that was like a death-mask, she raised the silver flask to her
lips.
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