"And you did not speak?"

"I did not."

"Ah, Jacques, you are not aware of the danger you run! You do not
know"--

"I know," he said, interrupting her in a harsh, hoarse voice,--"I know
that the scaffold, or the galleys, are at the end."

Dionysia was petrified with horror.

Poor girl! She had imagined that she would only have to show herself
to triumph over Jacques's obstinacy, and that, as soon as she had heard
what he had to say, she would feel reassured. And instead of that--

"What a misfortune!" she cried. "You have taken up these fearful
notions, and you will not abandon them!"

"I must keep silent."

"You cannot. You have not considered!--"

"Not considered," he repeated.

And in a lower tone he added,--

"And what do you think I have been doing these hundred and thirty mortal
hours since I have been alone in this prison,--alone to confront a