Thanks to me, these men had discovered nothing of any importance.
The agent of the Republic said to me: “Mademoiselle, I am glad to announce to you that we have found nothing compromising to your father. It would have been serious for him if we had been obliged to state certain facts which we had been informed existed, for your father’s name figures on the list for arrest, and he might have been imprisoned, even exiled. He has the reputation of being a dangerous revolutionist, and, besides, he is accused of making proselytes.”
“Thank you, Monsieur,” I replied. “You must have a daughter yourself, to act in such fatherly fashion to me.”
The agent smiled, but did not answer me. He bowed to my mother and father, and left.
I accompanied him to the door, and I watched “the domiciliary commission” for some minutes; then I bolted the door, locked it, and went into the dining-room, where I found my father prostrated.
“From the expression of your face,” said my mother to him, “it is lucky they did not find the papers, which must be in the garret.”
My father answered:
“Juliette has them!”
“How did she get them?”
I raised my skirt, and cried, victoriously: