apprehension, that this extraordinary speech had moved me, not to
pity, but to a fascinated, horrified wonder. I had no idea what
notion she had of her danger. Some sort of abduction. It was
quite possible with the talk of that atrocious old woman. Perhaps
she thought she could be carried off, bound hand and foot and even
gagged. At that surmise I felt as if the door of a furnace had
been opened in front of me.

"Upon my honour!" I cried. "You shall end by going crazy if you
listen to that abominable old aunt of yours--"

I studied her haggard expression, her trembling lips. Her cheeks
even seemed sunk a little. But how I, the associate of her
disreputable father, the "lowest of the low" from the criminal
Europe, could manage to reassure her I had no conception. She was
exasperating.

"Heavens and earth! What do you think I can do?"

"I don't know."

Her chin certainly trembled. And she was looking at me with
extreme attention. I made a step nearer to her chair.

"I shall do nothing. I promise you that. Will that do? Do you
understand? I shall do nothing whatever, of any kind; and the day
after to-morrow I shall be gone."

What else could I have said? She seemed to drink in my words with
the thirsty avidity with which she had emptied the glass of water.