Dolores made no response. She cast a beseeching look upon Vauquelas. At a word from him the soldiers would have departed; but he remembered the history of Dolores which Coursegol had confided to him, and he said to himself that the adopted daughter of the late Marquis de Chamondrin would not be likely to marry other than a nobleman, and that this nobleman must be an implacable enemy to the new order of things, and consequently one of those men whom the Committee of Public Safety were so relentlessly pursuing. That such a person should be found in his house augured ill for his patriotism and might cost him his influence over Robespierre, so it was necessary to strike a crushing blow if he wished to emerge from this ordeal unscathed.
"Why have you concealed your marriage from me?" he inquired, turning to Dolores.
"For purely personal reasons."
"And why does your husband steal into my house like a robber, instead of entering by the door?"
"Because we wished to keep our marriage a secret."
"All this is not very clear," remarked the sergeant; then addressing Philip, he demanded:
"What is your name, and from whence do you come?"
And seeing Philip hesitate, the man continued:
"The citizen and this young woman will follow us to the station-house. They can explain matters to the officials there; and if no blame attaches to them, they will be immediately set at liberty."
"Yes, yes, take them away," cried Vauquelas, glad of any decision that would remove the soldiers from his house.