"To treason,—to discover my name would be treason."
"I said truly, you compel me to act a singular part for a Republican!"
"You act the part of a truly generous man. You find a poor woman subjected to insult; you do not contemn her because she might be 'one of the people,' but that she may be exempted from fresh annoyances, to save her from shipwreck, you reconduct her to the miserable quarter she inhabits."
"As far as appearances go, you state the matter correctly, and I might have credited you, had I never either seen you or heard you speak; but your beauty and mode of expression stamp you as a woman of distinction, and it is just this distinction, in opposition to your costume and this miserable quarter, which proves to me that your absence from home at this unseasonable hour conceals some mystery. You are silent. We will speak no more. Are we far from your house, Madame?"
At this moment they entered the Rue des Fossés Saint Victor.
"You see that small dark building," said the unknown to Maurice, pointing toward a house situated beyond the walls of the Jardin des Plantes. "When we reach there you must quit me."
"Very well, Madame, issue your orders; I am here only to obey."
"You are angry."
"I angry?—not the least in the world; besides, what does it matter to you?"
"It matters much, since I have yet a favor to ask of you."