could not leave Rochelle! I thought of my own mother, and hesitated no
longer. I could not keep these two apart.

"Monsieur," I said, "for good or ill I intend to trust you. We will go
together to your home, and--and afterwards you will return with me to
the _Hôtel Coligny_. If you abuse my confidence, I will leave your
punishment in the hands of God, who judges Huguenot and Catholic alike.
Come, let us hasten."

He made no violent protestations, but murmured brokenly: "May the
blessing of a dying woman reward you!"

We passed out of the inn together, and walked briskly through the
streets, until we reached a house not far from the harbour. The door was
opened by a middle-aged woman who gazed at my companion in astonishment.

"Hush!" he said softly, "am I in time?"

"For the end," she answered, "only for that. Madame has already received
the last rites."

The woman showed us into an empty room, where my companion laid aside
his weapons.

"You do not repent of your generosity?" he asked.

"I have trusted you fully," I replied, and his face lit up with a
gratified smile as he left the room, stepping noiselessly into the
corridor.