"Told me? Who could tell me? ... Then it was...?" she asked breathlessly.
"It was Robespierre!"
She bounded from her seat as if under an electric shock. Incredulous and stupefied, she protested in spite of herself.
"It is not true!" she exclaimed.
"How can it not be true? Leonard heard it from the driver who took you to Paris. Robespierre was a few yards off our house at the Carrefour de la Chèvre. It was from that very spot he set his agents upon you."
These details brought back the scene to Clarisse's memory. And she thought of Vaughan, undoubtedly arrested also.
Olivier recalled her to the present, continuing to speak.
"Yes, it was Robespierre, the infamous wretch!"
She threw herself on him.
"Oh no! Hush! I implore you!"