"What have you done cowardly?"
"Everything."
"Do you regret what you have done just now?"
"Yes!"
"I do not believe you."
"I tell you that I regret it, for it is another proof of the power you have over us all. Did you not hear what Mont Saint Jean said when she was on her knees to thank you?"
"What did she say?"
"She said, in speaking of us, that with nothing you turn us from evil to good. I could have strangled her when she said that, for, to our shame, it is true. Yes, in a moment you change us from black to white: we listen to you, we give way to our impulses, and we are your dupes."
"My dupe—because you have generously assisted this poor woman!"
"It shall not be said," cried La Louve, "that a little girl like you can trample me under foot."