"You are a woman, Citizen; and can comprehend, then, what would outweigh, with a man of such a character as the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge, all considerations of personal security?"
"And what can outweigh the dread of losing one's life in a manner so dreadful?"
"Ah, Citizeness!" answered Maurice, "love."
"Love!" repeated Geneviève.
"Certainly. Do you not know, then, that the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge is enamored of Marie Antoinette?"
Two or three incredulous laughs were faintly heard. Dixmer looked at Maurice as if he sought to penetrate the very depths of his soul. Geneviève felt the tears suffuse her eyes, and a shuddering she could not conceal from Maurice ran through her frame. The Citizen Morand spilled some wine from his glass, which he was then in the act of putting to his lips. His paleness would have alarmed Maurice, had not all the young man's attention been at the time centred on Geneviève.
"You are moved, Citizeness," murmured Maurice.
"Did you not say I should understand this because I was a woman? Well, we women feel for such devotion even if opposed to our principles."
"And that of the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge is the height of devotion, as it is said he has never even spoken to the queen."
"Ah! there now, Citizen Lindey," said the man of extreme measures; "it seems to me, permit me to observe, that you are very indulgent to the Chevalier—"