At this moment Etienne reached the house. He did not see Gabrielle,
and he uttered a piercing cry.
"He is here!" cried the young girl; "let me go now and comfort him."
"I shall come for your answer to-morrow," said the baron.
"I will consult my father," she replied.
"You will not see him again. I have received orders to arrest him and
send him in chains, under escort, to Rouen," said d'Artagnon, leaving
Gabrielle dumb with terror.
The young girl sprang to the house, and found Etienne horrified by the
silence of the nurse in answer to his question, "Where is she?"
"I am here!" cried the young girl, whose voice was icy, her step
heavy, her color gone.
"What has happened?" he said. "I heard you cry."
"Yes, I hurt my foot against--"
"No, love," replied Etienne, interrupting her. "I heard the steps of a
man."
"Etienne, we must have offended God; let us kneel down and pray. I
will tell you afterwards."
Etienne and Gabrielle knelt down at the prie-dieu, and the nurse
recited her rosary.
"O God!" prayed the girl, with a fervor which carried her beyond
terrestrial space, "if we have not sinned against thy divine
commandments, if we have not offended the Church, not yet the king,
we, who are one and the same being, in whom love shines with the light
that thou hast given to the pearl of the sea, be merciful unto us, and
let us not be parted either in this world or in that which is to
come.
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