"It was you who paid the man who threatened to have the unfortunate fellow I had thrown down arrested."
Frédérique said nothing; she dared not deny it.
"How much did you give the man?"
"Twenty-nine francs, I believe."
"Here is the money, my dear friend; accept at the same time my thanks for your kind impulse, which did not occur to me, because I thought of nothing but that woman who was running away from me. Furthermore, I know that you also offered money to that poor devil, whom I left there."
"That is true; but he refused it."
"I know that too. Ah! Frédérique, you are kind-hearted; you have a generous heart, superior to the prejudices of society. You would not have run away from me, then closed your door to me, simply because a man in cap and blouse had called me his friend!"
Frédérique turned her face away, but her voice trembled as she replied:
"No, of course not! But you must forgive such foibles—the result of a false way of looking at things."
"Forgive jeers, sarcasm, insults, neglect, if you please; I can understand that; but contempt! never! Love must necessarily be destroyed where contempt shows its head."