“Give me your revolver.”

“Here it is.”

“Do you think, if I fired it off, any one would hear?”

“No, certainly not. Who is there to hear? But . . .”

“But what?”

“You’re surely not going to fire?”

“Yes, I am.”

“At yourself, M. Siméon, at yourself? Are you going to kill yourself?”

“Don’t be an ass.”

“Well, who then?”