'I am quite ready,' answered the Intendant; 'this girl had better be removed, had she not? And please remember I have no objection whatever to her revisiting my delectable wife. Madame Plomb, I bid you a respectful farewell, and please set your mind at rest upon the little matter we were speaking about. Gabrielle shall never procure your release, in the way you mentioned, or in any other.'
'Come!' said the jailer to the peasant-girl, 'it is time for you to be out of this. Come with me.'
'See her safely through the gates, Lassimotte.'
'Ay, sir!'
'Beast!' shouted Madame Berthier, before the door closed, glaring upon her husband, and swinging the yellow cat above her head; 'did you want me to dash my head against the walls, and spatter them with blood and brains?'
'Certainly,' answered the Intendant, mockingly, as he bowed with his hand on his heart.
'Or that I should strangle myself with my garters, slung to that stanchion?'
'Let me assure you that you have quite caught my idea;' with another bow, and a step back towards the door.
'Or you would have me hack through my throat with a broken potsherd?'