It was a strange, picturesque scene there in the starlit garden, with
its stately palms, its immense rough cactuses, its fountains, and
flowers. The man sat there with doubt, trouble, and sympathy looking
out of his frank eyes at the girl who knelt before him, her delicate,
tapering hands pressed together, her white face looking up piteously,
the tears raining from her splendid eyes, and the long veil of golden
hair sweeping loosely about her slender form, that passionate appeal
thrilling over her crimson lips:
"Save me! save me!"
"Poor child, what can I do?" he uttered, almost unconsciously, and she
answered, wildly:
"Only tell me where to fly for refuge! I am dazed and frightened. I
know not where to go unless to the deep, dark river, and fling myself
in. But I do not want to die. I only want to get away from this
terrible place to some happier spot! Ah! _certainement, le bon Dieu_
sent you here, monsieur, to help me, to save me!"
All her trust was in him, all her confidence. He had promised to be her
friend, and in a simplicity and innocence as complete as a child's, she
claimed his promise. Nay, more, she claimed that God had sent him to
her aid in this dark hour of distress.
His mind was a chaos of contending emotions. That he must help her he
had decided already in his mind. But how?
No answer presented itself to the vexing question. His thoughts were in
such a tumult that clear, coherent thinking was an impossibility.
A moment, and he said, gently:
"Yes, I will help you, my child. I were less than man could I let this
thing go on and make no attempt to rescue you from so dark a fate.
But--"
He paused, and she waited anxiously with her straining gaze fixed on
his troubled face.
"But," he went on slowly, "I can not see my way clear yet; I must
think, must decide. And it is not safe to remain out here longer. They
may come out here and find me at any moment. Little one, can you trust
me to go away and think it all over, and then come back to you?"
A moment of silence, then she rose and stood before him.
"Yes, yes, I will trust you," she said, gently; then, with sudden
desperation, "Should--should you not come back I will never be taken by
him. There--is--still--the--river!"
"Do not think of that," he said, quickly; "I will soon return. Trust me
wholly. Have I not promised to be your friend?"
"Yes, yes," eagerly.
She put out her hands as if to clasp his arm, then suddenly withdrew
them. Frank and child-like as she was, she was coy and shy as a fawn.
She clasped her delicate hands before her, and stood waiting.
"Now, tell me, is there not some way by which I can gain the street
without returning to the house?" said Van Zandt.
"Yes, monsieur. Follow me," said the girl, turning swiftly and going
across the garden to a small gate in the wall that opened on the street.
She turned a key in the lock and opened it wide as he came up,
thrusting shyly into his hand some dewy rosebuds she had plucked from a
vine that clambered to the top of the wall.
"Do not fail me, _mon ami_," she breathed, softly.
"You can trust me," he said, again. "Now go back to the garden or the
house. Be as natural as you can. Do not let them suspect your dangerous
knowledge."
She nodded her bright head wisely, and the next moment he was out
in the street, the gate shut against him, alone with the thronging
thoughts awakened by the occurrences of the last hour. He pulled a
cigar from his breast-pocket, lighted it, and walked slowly along the
wide and almost deserted street, under the shade of the tall trees that
bordered the walk, his calmness gradually returning under the influence
of the narcotic weed.
Within the flowery garden the little ma'amselle, so strangely lovely,
so ignorant and innocent, with that deadly peril menacing her young
life, flung herself down upon a garden-seat and gave herself up to
impatient waiting for the return of her knight, her brave Sir Galahad.
"How sweet are looks that ladies bend
On whom their favors fall;
For them I battle to the end
To save from shame and thrall."