“Everything. He told me your life was his, and I have promised him that you shall live.”
“You have promised him that I shall live?”
“Yes.”
“But, sir, you spoke of vigilance and protection. Are you a doctor?”
“Yes; the best you could have at the present time, believe me.”
“But you say you have watched?” said Valentine uneasily; “where have you been?—I have not seen you.”
The count extended his hand towards the library.
“I was hidden behind that door,” he said, “which leads into the next house, which I have rented.”
Valentine turned her eyes away, and, with an indignant expression of pride and modest fear, exclaimed:
“Sir, I think you have been guilty of an unparalleled intrusion, and that what you call protection is more like an insult.”
“Valentine,” he answered, “during my