He knew that Basterga would not believe in his courage, if he swore to it.

"No, I said I would be silent," he answered.

"And I should have been," he continued with candour, "if I had not run into your arms." "But if you assented to his wish," Basterga retorted, eyeing him keenly, "why did he depart after that fashion ?" "Something happened to him," Louis said.

"I do not know what.

He seemed to be in distress, or to be ill." "I could see that," the scholar answered dryly.