“They say all is fair in love,” said Barrington.  “Go on, Latour, go on.  I suppose you have come to bargain with me.  My arm may be weak, but my head grows clearer every minute.”

“I want you to fulfill your promise.  You owe me something.  You said you would do your utmost to help me with the woman I loved.  I know now that I could have no more powerful advocate.”

“I cannot admit the debt,” was the answer.  “What do I owe you?”

“Your life once, perhaps twice, and again now.  It is mine to save or destroy.  A word from me and you change this place for a prison and the guillotine.”

“I set no value on my life,” Barrington answered.

“Jeanne St. Clair’s life is in my hands, too,” said Latour, slowly.  “You would do something to save her?”

“Anything in the world.  Save her, Latour, and though you send me to the gallows I will bless you.”

Latour bit his lip a little.  He wanted to hate this man who had come between him and his desires.  He was convinced that he had done so, convinced that but for this American, Jeanne St. Clair would have listened to him.  His worth against Bruslart’s infamy must have appealed to her, had this man not come into her world.

“I know the truth,” he said slowly, “I have had it from mademoiselle herself.  I spoke of my love, as a man must speak when the whole passion of his life is let loose.  She could never love me, she said.  Why?  Because she loves you.  I have threatened her to no purpose.  I threatened to sacrifice you unless she consented.  It was of no avail.  She swore that you did not fear death, that you would willingly die for her.”

“She spoke only the truth,” said Barrington.

“Yet you can save her,” Latour returned.  “You are the only man who can.  You shall go to her and plead with her for me.  For her sake I will desert France, go anywhere, do anything she wills.  She must be mine or, for God’s sake, do not make me even whisper the alternative.”

“Be honest.  Let me know the alternative.”

“She shall die.  There you have it.  You may make your choice.”

“And I thought you loved her,” said Barrington, slowly.

“I cannot bandy phrases with you,” Latour answered passionately.  “You are a man as I am, there is something in us that is alike, I think.  Debate such questions with yourself and you will find an answer.”

“I have said that I am willing to die for her,” answered Barrington.

“Go a step further than that,” returned Latour.  “Help another man to possess her.”

“You are not prepared to make that sacrifice,” said Barrington.  “She must be yours or she must die.  I thought Raymond Latour was too good a man for such villainy.”

“Phrases! phrases!  I want none of them.  I want your help, the help you promised.  I fulfilled my part of the bargain, although it was not mademoiselle I rescued; I expect you to fulfill yours.”