Vagualame took a few steps forward, then returned to where the girl was leaning against the van.
"Listen to me, Bobinette, listen, for, by Heaven, the words I am about to utter are the last you will ever hear."
Before Bobinette could interrupt, Vagualame continued:
"Tell me, do you know of anything more wicked, more contemptible, more vile, more shameful than treachery, than betrayal, than a trap set, a snare laid to catch one who has always been your friend, your defender?... Tell me, Bobinette, who is more hateful than the Judas who sells you with a kiss?... Tell me, Bobinette, who is less worthy of pity than the cowardly criminal who betrays his accomplice?... Than the bandit who delivers up his chief for money, perhaps for less than money—because of fear—who betrays his master to save his own skin?"...
Bobinette did not seem to understand one word of this apostrophe. She kept silence, terrified, crushed, in front of the awful abyss she divined.
Vagualame seized her by the shoulders and shook her brutally, thrusting her fiercely against the side of the van.
"Speak! Reply, Bobinette! I command you!"
"I do not understand you! I am afraid!"
A shout of ferocious laughter burst from Vagualame.
"You do not understand me! You are afraid?... Ah! If you are afraid it is because you understand well enough!... Bobinette! You know well enough what I have to reproach you with!... What I have to force you to expiate!"...