"In that case, you may as well say farewell to him. How did it happen?"
Charles related Mademoiselle de Brumpt's story, to which Pichegru listened with evident interest.
"In truth," he said, "some creatures dishonor humanity. Saint-Just did well. And you did not get spattered with the mud in the midst of all that?"
"Oh!" said Charles, proud of being the hero of an adventure at his age, "I was in prison when it happened."
"What, in prison?"
"Yes; I was arrested the day before."
"Then they have begun to arrest children?"
"That is just what made Saint-Just so angry."
"But why were you arrested?"
"For warning two deputies from Besançon that it was not safe for them to remain in Strasbourg."