"No, Citizen President,—except that before Simon attached the words 'traitor and coward' to a man like myself, it would have been better to have waited till he was more correctly informed."
"You say that? you say that?" replied Simon, with the sneering accent peculiar to the plebeian Parisian.
"I say, Simon," replied Maurice, with more of sorrow than anger, "that you will be most cruelly punished immediately, when you see what is about to happen."
"What is about to happen, I should like to know?" demanded Simon.
"Citizen President," said Maurice, without deigning to notice the question of his hideous accuser, "I unite with my friend Lorin in demanding that the young girl who has just been arrested may be heard before this poor woman is compelled to speak, who, no doubt, has been prompted to this deposition."
"Listen, Citizeness!" said Simon; "listen! They say down there that you are a false witness?"
"I a false witness!" cried the woman Tison. "You shall see; you shall see! Wait!"
"Citizen," said Maurice, "in pity desire this woman to remain silent."
"Ah! you are afraid," said Simon,—"you are afraid! Citizen President, I require the deposition of the woman Tison."
"Yes! yes! the deposition!" cried the Tribunes.