"Yes, I would go to the lowest
pit in hell for her! But why are you taunting me, De Pean!"
"I taunt you? Read her note again! She wants your trusty counsel
in an affair of the last importance to her welfare and happiness.
You know what is the affair of last importance to a woman! Will you
refuse her now, Le Gardeur?"
"No, par Dieu! I can refuse her nothing; no, not if she asked me
for my head, although I know it is but mockery."
"Never mind! Then you will return with us to the city? We start at
daybreak."
"Yes, I will go with you, De Pean; you have made me drunk, and I am
willing to stay drunk till I leave Amelie and my aunt and Heloise,
up at the Manor House. Pierre Philibert, he will be angry that I
leave him, but he can follow, and they can all follow! I hate
myself for it, De Pean! But Angelique des Meloises is to me more
than creature or Creator. It is a sin to love a woman as I love
her, De Pean!"
De Pean fairly writhed before the spirit he evoked. He was not so
sure of his game but that it might yet be lost.
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