We were at the time the foremost of the party save the
Vidame; and there was nothing to interrupt our view of his gigantic
figure as he moved on alone before us with bowed shoulders. "Perhaps
not," Croisette repeated thoughtfully. "Sometimes I think we do not
understand him; and that after all there may be worse people in the
world than Bezers."

I looked hard at the lad, for that was not what I had meant. "Worse?"
I said. "I do not think so. Hardly!"

"Yes, worse," he replied, shaking his head. "Do you remember lying
under the curtain in the box-bed at Mirepoix's?"

"Of course I do! Do you think I shall ever forget it?"

"And Madame d'O coming in?"

"With the Coadjutor?" I said with a shudder. "Yes."

"No, the second time," he answered, "when she came back alone. It was
pretty dark, you remember, and Madame de Pavannes was at the window,
and her sister did not see her?"

"Well, well, I remember," I said impatiently. I knew from the tone of
his voice that he had something to tell me about Madame d'O, and I was
not anxious to hear it. I shrank, as a wounded man shrinks from the
cautery, from hearing anything about that woman; herself so beautiful,
yet moving in an atmosphere of suspicion and horror. Was it shame, or
fear, or some chivalrous feeling having its origin in that moment when
I had fancied myself her knight? I am not sure, for I had not made up
my mind even now whether I ought to pity or detest her; whether she had
made a tool of me, or I had been false to her.

"She came up to the bed, you remember, Anne?" Croisette went on. "You
were next to her. She saw you indistinctly, and took you for her
sister. And then I sprang from the bed."

"I know you did!" I exclaimed sharply. All this time I had forgotten
that grievance. "You nearly frightened her out of her wits, St. Croix.
I cannot think what possessed you--why you did it?"

"To save your life, Anne," he answered solemnly, "and her from a crime!
an unutterable, an unnatural crime. She had come back to I can hardly
tell it you--to murder her sister. You start. You do not believe me.
It sounds too horrible. But I could see better than you could. She
was exactly between you and the light. I saw the knife raised. I saw
her wicked face! If I had not startled her as I did, she would have
stabbed you. She dropped the knife on the floor, and I picked it up
and have it. See!"

I looked furtively, and turned away again, shivering.