You were wrong."
I moved the candles out of danger. "I had to follow madame," I said
mechanically. "She might have needed me."
Cadillac's teeth clicked. "Madame"--he began, but he swallowed the
sentence, and rose and walked the floor. "Do you realize what you have
done? Do you realize what you have done?" he boiled out at me. "This
desertion may have cost you your hold with the western tribes."
"I realize that."
And then he cursed till the candles flared again. "It was the chance
of a lifetime," he concluded.
Why does the audience always feel that they understand the situation
better than the actor? I was willing enough to let Cadillac rage, but
resentful of the time he was using.
"What happened when the Senecas came?" I demanded.
He looked at me with puffing lips. "You know nothing?"
"Nothing."
"But Madame de Montlivet"----
"I asked her no questions."
He whistled under his breath. "Well--nothing happened. The flotilla
reached here at sundown three days ago. The Baron and his followers
met them at the beach and rushed the Senecas into the Huron camp. They
are there now."
"But madame and Starling?"
"I demanded them of Pemaou, and he made no objection.
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