With quick and feverish hands she untied the cord which fastened the train of her skirt about her knees.
At first Celia shrank away, fearing some new cruelty.

But Adele's voice came to her ears, speaking--and speaking with remorse.
"I can't endure it!" she whispered.

"You are so young--too young to be killed." The tears were rolling down Celia's cheeks.

Her face was pitiful and beseeching.
"Don't look at me like that, for God's sake, child!" Adele went on, and she chafed the girl's ankles for a moment.
"Can you stand ?" she asked.
Celia nodded her head gratefully.

After all, then, she was not to die.
It seemed to her hardly possible.