“Then why did you fight?”
“Indeed, I don’t know. They told me that honor demanded that I should fight.”
“Then, if they had not represented honor as being so exacting, you would not have fought?”
“No: I would have told the man that he was an impostor, and that would have sufficed.”
The frankness of Eusebe evidently made an impression on the magistrate.
“Monsieur Martin,” said he, “I am a father. Permit me to address you as a man.”
Eusebe bowed, and the magistrate continued.
“Do you think that an actress cares for those who get themselves killed in her defence?”
“Yes,” replied the provincial, “when she is honorable and when she knows she is beloved.”