He turned and blew out the candle in her hand.
"Ah, your Excellency!" she cried in tremulous affright.
"We could have been seen from outside," he explained. She turned and saw
the moonlight streaming in at the window, and lying like a silver
coverlet upon the floor. As if with a blind, involuntary instinct for
protection, she stepped forward into the moonlight, and stood there
motionless. The sight thrilled him, and he moved towards her. The mind of
the girl reasserted itself, and she hastened to the door. Again, as she
was about to pass him, he put his hand upon her shoulder.
"Elise--Elise!" he said. The voice was persuasive, eloquent, going to
every far retreat of emotion in her. There was a sudden riot in his
veins, and he took her passionately in his arms, and kissed her on the
lips, on the eyes, on the hair, on the neck. At that moment the outer
door opened below, and the murmur of voices came to them.
"Oh, monsieur--oh, your Excellency, let me go!" she whispered fearfully.
"It is my mother and Duclosse the mealman."
Valmond recognised the fat, wheezy tones of Duclosse--Sergeant Duclosse.
He released her, and she caught up the candle.
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