"It relates to the
final measures for the safety of the Dauphin. They are my
instructions to those members of the League who are in or near
Paris at the present moment. Ffoulkes, I know, must be with
you--he was not likely, God bless his loyalty, to let you come to
Paris alone. Then give this letter to him, dear heart, at once,
to-night, and tell him that it is my express command that he and
the others shall act in minute accordance with my instructions."
"But the Dauphin surely is safe now," she urged. "Ffoulkes and the
others are here in order to help you."
"To help me, dear heart?" he interposed earnestly. "God alone can
do that now, and such of my poor wits as these devils do not
succeed in crushing out of me within the next ten days."
Ten days!
"I have waited a week, until this hour when I could place this
packet in your hands; another ten days should see the Dauphin out
of France--after that, we shall see."
"Percy," she exclaimed in an agony of horror, "you cannot endure
this another day--and live!"
"Nay!" he said in a tone that was almost insolent in its proud
defiance, "there is but little that a man cannot do an he sets his
mind to it. For the rest, 'tis in God's hands!" he added more
gently. "Dear heart! you swore that you would be brave.
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