It seemed to the young couple as if they were being rocked on a sea of verdure.

Miette argued the point obstinately; she asked Silvere if her father should have let the gendarme kill him, and Silvere, after a momentary silence, replied that, in such a case, it was better to be the victim than the murderer, and that it was a great misfortune for anyone to kill a fellow man, even in legitimate defence.
The law was something holy to him, and the judges had done right in sending Chantegreil to the galleys.

At this the girl grew angry, and almost struck her sweetheart, crying out that he was as heartless as the rest.

And as he still firmly defended his ideas of justice, she finished by bursting into sobs, and stammering that he was doubtless ashamed of her, since he was always reminding her of her father's crime.

These discussions ended in tears, in mutual emotion.