To accept this offer would be a crime!" "A crime! And why, if you please ?" "Because our cause is not your cause; because its success is doubtful; because dangers surround us on every side." A scornful exclamation from Maurice interrupted her.
"And it is you who think to dissuade me by pointing out the dangers that threaten you, the dangers that you are braving----" "Maurice!" "So if imminent peril menaced me, instead of coming to my aid you would desert me?
You would hide yourself, saying, 'Let him perish, so that I be saved!' Speak! Would you do this ?" She averted her face and made no reply.

She could not force herself to utter an untruth; and she was unwilling to answer: "I would act as you are acting." She waited for her father's decision.
"If I should comply with your request, Maurice," said M.Lacheneur, "in less than three days you would curse me, and ruin us by some outburst of anger.

You love Marie-Anne.

Could you see, unmoved, the frightful position in which she is placed?
Remember, she must not discourage the addresses either of Chanlouineau or of the Marquis de Sairmeuse.

You regard me--oh, I know as well as you do that it is a shameful and odious role that I impose upon her--that she is compelled to play a part in which she will lose a young girl's most precious possession--her reputation." Maurice did not wince.