"I know. Your leniency there is attributed to me."
"It was your influence, Theresia——" he began.
"That turned you," she broke in coldly, "from a bloodstained beast into a right-minded justiciary. Do you regret it?"
"No, no!" he protested; "since it gained me your love."
"Could I love a beast of prey?" she retorted. "But if you do not regret, you are certainly afraid."
"Robespierre never forgives," he rejoined vaguely. "And he had sent me to Bordeaux to punish, not to pardon."
"Then you are afraid!" she insisted. "Has anything happened?"
"No; only his usual hints—his vague threats. You know them."
She nodded.
"The same," he went on sombrely, "that he used ere he struck Danton."