The woman Tison, who had listened to Maurice with increasing terror, turned wildly toward the queen.
"You hear, Antoinette? My daughter! It is you who will ruin my child!"
The queen in her turn appeared bewildered, not by the fury which sparkled in the eyes of her female jailer, but by her evident despair. "Come with me, Madame Tison," said she, "I have something to say to you."
"Holloa! No cajolery; we are not in your way here," said Maurice's colleague. "Before the municipality—everything open and above board."
"Never mind, Citizen Agricola," whispered Maurice, "provided we discover the truth, it does not matter in what fashion we do so."
"You are right, Citizen Maurice; but—"
"Let us pass behind the glazed partition, Citizen Agricola; and if you agree with me, we will turn our backs, and I am certain the individual for whom we evince this consideration will not make us repent it."
The queen heard these words, intended for her to hear, and cast upon the young man a look of grateful acknowledgment. Maurice carelessly turned his head, and walked to the other side of the glazed partition. Agricola followed him.
"You see this queen," said he to Agricola: "as a queen she is very culpable, as a woman she is high-minded and dignified. It is well to destroy crowns; princes are purified by misfortune."
"By thunder! you speak well, Citizen Maurice; I like to hear you talk, and your friend Lorin. Is that poetry you recited?"