human
My mother has sent you,
gpt
She and I are bitter enemies, came the sullen answer.
human
I have but borne with her for your sake. She seeks to stir up mischief all the day long. He turned abruptly.
gpt
Have you no kind word for me, little cousin?
human
You brought me to this place against my will, she reminded him.
gpt
I was happy in our cabin beyond the river. You have played into the hands of my mother, who desires to see me punished because I have abjured her faith. Would you have brought me here had you found the plain country maid you had looked to see?
human
I swore to your brother to protect you.
gpt
Do not recall that death scene, I pray you, she said firmly.
human
If the spirit of Jean-Marie looks down upon us now, he finds you--protecting me!
gpt
Blame me not, he said more submissively.
human
Were you a civil prisoner only, I would open this door, and you should go as free as air. My purpose in coming to you is to urge you to free yourself.
gpt
Never at the price demanded. Arnaud, I put your courage to the test. I trow that the man who loves a woman will for her sake perform what she may demand, even though he lose position for it. Open the door, and lead me to Father Laroche, and say to him: 'Father, I have taken it upon myself to release your prisoner, since it shames me to see flesh and blood of mine confined against her will in the fortress over which I rule.' Do so, Arnaud, and I shall believe in you.
human
It is madness to ask it,
gpt
Let us have the truth. You dare not.
human
It is so, he confessed.
gpt
I dare not set myself against the Church, which has the power to consign a man's soul to hell.
human
If you would search your heart and read truly what there you find, I should hear a different answer. You do not fear Father Laroche. He does not wish to hold me here. Rather would he cast me from his mind, that he might have more time to spend at the tavern and his brawls. I will tell you what you fear: your actions are watched, your words criticised. If you let me free, it would be rumoured that you were false to the faith. That rumour would be wafted across seas, and your enemies at home would see to it that you were recalled and relegated to the obscurity from which you have arisen. You would rather treat your cousin as a courtesan than abate one fragment of the pitiful power which shall some day fall from your body like a rag. Now, my commandant, are you answered?
gpt
That pride shall break when she knows.
human
Know? cried Madeleine.
gpt
What should I know?
human
That your lover is hanged at my command.