In one of the corners of the room a couch had been built into the wall. A lady was standing there, dressed all in black, as the valet had said, and whose bearing indicated to Barras at a glance that she did not belong to the frail sisterhood.
Putting his hat on the table, he walked toward her, saying:
"You wished to see me, madame, and I am here."
The young woman, with a superb gesture, raised her veil, and disclosed a face of remarkable beauty.
Beauty is the most powerful of all fairies and the most potent introducer. Barras paused a moment as if dazzled.
"Ah! madame," he said, "how fortunate I am, for I intended remaining out a portion of the night, and only a fortuitous circumstance brought me back to the Luxembourg, where such good fortune awaits me! Be good enough to sit down, madame, and tell me to what I owe the pleasure of your visit."
And he made a movement to take her hand and to lead her to the couch from which she had risen when he was announced.
But she, keeping her hands beneath the folds of her long veil, replied: "Pardon, sir; I will remain standing, as befits a suppliant."
"A suppliant! You, madame? A lady like you does not beg, she commands, or at least she demands."
"Well, sir, I demand! In the name of the town which gave birth to us both; in the name of my father, who was your friend; in the name of outraged humanity and in the name of outraged justice, I come to demand vengeance!"