The six sisters of the valleys : an historical romance - University Library

260 THE SIX SISTEES OP THE VALLEYS.
She had heard his voice, and had learned
that his danger had arisen through his
noble kindness at the farm of La Baudene.
She was its cause ; in saving her he had
killed her pursuer. She acquitted him of
having deceived her at the grave, and per-
ceived that his arrest had prevented him
from keeping his second appointment. She
sympathized with the mental agony and
self-reproaches which he must have
gone through on her behalf. She had
witnessed his heroism that day, in that
he preferred death to torturing an un-
known heretic ; and her heart whispered
that he would have been trebly resolute had
he known who lay upon the rack.
"Not his son !" murmured Ardoine to
herself; "then it is not his father that he
has struck. Oh, that he belonged not
to the Romish Church ! Ah
!
in loving
liim am I disobeying my mother's dying
injunction ? Must I struggle with my
doubts and fears ? Alas ! why
think of