"Why so?"
"You have one syllable too many."
"Cut it off! cut it off! Citizen Prosecutor! that is your trade, you know."
The imperturbable countenance of Fouquier Tinville assumed a pallid hue at this horrible pleasantry.
"And in what light," demanded the president, "did the Citizen Dixmer view this liaison of a professed Republican with his wife?"
"As to that I can tell you nothing, declaring that I was never acquainted with the Citizen Dixmer, and never had any desire to be so."
"But," resumed Fouquier Tinville, "you did not tell us that your friend Maurice Lindey formed the link of this pure friendship between yourself and the accused?"
"If I did not say so," replied Lorin, "it was because it seemed to me wrong to speak of it; and I think that you might even follow my example."
"The citizen jurors," said Fouquier Tinville, "will appreciate this singular alliance between an aristocrat and two Republicans, and at the very moment when this aristocrat is convicted of the blackest plot that could be concocted against the nation."
"How should I know anything concerning this plot you speak of?" demanded Lorin, disgusted by the brutal stupidity of the argument.