"Far, far rather!" she repeated passionately.

"And Monsieur? And Monsieur?" he urged with stern persistence, while his
eyes passed lightly from her to Tignonville and back to her again, their
depths inscrutable. "If you love Monsieur, Mademoiselle, and I believe
you do--"

"I can die with him!" she cried.

"And he with you?"

She writhed in her chair.

"And he with you?" Count Hannibal repeated, with emphasis; and he thrust
forward his head. "For that is the question. Think, think,
Mademoiselle. It is in my power to save from death him whom you love; to
save you; to save this _canaille_, if it so please you. It is in my
power to save him, to save you, to save all; and I will save all--at a
price! If, on the other hand, you deny me that price, I will as
certainly leave all to perish, as perish they will, before the sun that
is now rising sets to-night!"

Mademoiselle looked straight before her, the flicker of a dreadful
prescience in her eyes.

"And the price?" she muttered. "The price?"

"You, Mademoiselle."

"I?"