“No.”
“Ah, ha! I knew she would pretend she had lost her head.”
So malicious did Léocadia look as she made this remark that Sidonie indignantly reproved her. The little cripple had no reason either for loving or defending Catherine, but she was too fair-minded not to take her part when she saw others siding against her with Léocadia.
“You are a wicked woman, Mam’selle Léocadia, a very wicked woman!”
“Well, I am not an invalid or a cripple.”
“Who knows?” rejoined Sidonie.
Mademoiselle Faillot shrugged her shoulders, but continued her abuse. Meanwhile the crowd began to threaten Catherine with death. Her only answer was a smile, and that was irritating in the extreme. At length, the justice decided to arrest her. Just then a young fellow, half drunk, volunteered his opinion in these words: “It was your Bruno Volane who dealt the blow for you, I fancy.”
“Bruno Volane,” said the magistrate. “Who is he?”
“Oh, another one of her lovers.”
“Poor fellow,” groaned Catherine.