“Very well, then, I understand. You declare open war. Be it so! Only
listen to me carefully. I am setting out on a dangerous expedition, and
you hope I shall never return. Undeceive yourself, Miss Brandon; I shall
return. With a passion like mine, with so much love in one’s heart, and
so much hatred, a man can defy every thing. The murderous climate will
not touch me; and, if I had ten rifle-balls in my body, I should still
have the strength to return, and hold you to an account for what you
have done to Henrietta. And if you have touched a hair on her head, if
you have made her shed a single tear, by all that is holy, it will bring
ill luck to you, and ill luck to others!”
He was going to leave her, when a thought struck him.
“I ought to tell you, moreover,” he added, “that I leave a faithful
friend behind me; and, if the count or his daughter should die very
suddenly, the coroner will be informed. And now, madam, farewell--or,
rather, till we meet again!”
At eight o’clock on the evening of the next day, after having left in
M. de Brevan’s hands a long letter for Henrietta, and after having given
him his last instructions, Daniel took his seat in the train which was
to take him to his new post.