“That is all. We will start for Paris together; I shall leave you before we get there. But I’ll see you later in Paradise.”
“You refuse to tell me why you wish to stay at the house in Paradise?”
“Yes,... I refuse. And, by-the-way, the Countess is to think that I have presented myself in Paris and that the government has pardoned me.”
“You are willing to believe that I will not have you arrested?” 121
“I don’t ask you to promise. If you are fool enough to try it—try it! But I’m not going to give you the chance in Paris—only in Paradise.”
“You don’t require my word of honor?”
“Word of—what? Well—no;... it’s a form I can dispense with.”
“But how can you protect yourself?”
“If all the protection I had was a ’word of honor,’ I’d be in a different business, my friend.”
“And you are willing to risk me, and you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself?”