Made
desperate by his situation, he determined, while he hastened
homeward, to risk the worst, and ask that fatal question of his
father in plain words. But this supreme trial for parent and
child was not to be. When he entered the cottage, Francois was
absent. He had told the younger children that he should not be
home again before noon on the next day.
Early in the morning Gabriel repaired to the farmhouse, as he had
been bidden. Influenced, by his love for Perrine, blindly
confiding in the faint hope (which, in despite of heart and
conscience, he still forced himself to cherish) that his father
might be innocent, he now preserved the appearance at least of
perfect calmness. "If I tell my secret to Perrine's father, I
risk disturbing in him that confidence in the future safety of
his child for which I am his present and only warrant." Something
like this thought was in Gabriel's mind, as he took the hand of
Pere Bonan, and waited anxiously to hear what was required of him
on that day.
"We have a short respite from danger, Gabriel," said the old man.
"News has come to me that the spoilers of our churches and the
murderers of our congregations have been stopped on their way
hitherward by tidings which have reached them from another
district. This interval of peace and safety will be a short
one--we must take advantage of it while it is yet ours.
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