"What have you done that is cowardly?"
"Everything."
"Do you regret the good resolution you made just now?"
"Yes."
"I cannot believe you."
"I say I do regret it,—for it is another proof of what you can do with all of us. Didn't you understand what Mont Saint-Jean meant when she went on her knees to thank you?"
"What did she say?"
"She said, speaking of you, that with nothing you turned us from evil to good. I could have throttled her when she said it, for, to our shame, it was true. Yes, in no time you change us from black to white. We listen to you,—give way to our first feelings, and are your dupes, as we were just now."
"My dupe! for having generously succoured this poor woman?"
"Oh, it has nothing to do with all that," exclaimed La Louve, with rage. "I have never till now stooped my head before a breathing soul. La Louve is my name, and I am well named: more than one woman bears my marks, and more than one man, too; and it shall never be said that a little chit like you can place me beneath her feet."