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"Why did you leave me?" she asked "Why did you leave me, if you could

not come back at once? Do you understand, sir," she continued, "that it

was at your instance I came to Paris, that I came to this Court, and that

I look to you for protection?"

"Surely," he said "And--"

"And do you think Carlat and his wife fit guardians for , but for your promise, and

Madame your cousin's? If I had not deemed myself almost your wife," she

continued warmly, "and secure of your protection, should I have come

within a hundred miles of this dreadful city? To which, had I my will,

none of our people should have come"

"Dreadful? Pardieu, not so dreadful," he answered, sive the dispute a playful turn "You have seen more in a week than

you would have seen at Vrillac in a lifetime, Mademoiselle"

"And I choke!" she retorted; "I choke! Do you not see how they look at

us, at us Huguenots, in the street? How they, who live here, point at us

and curse us? How the very dogs scent us out and snarl at our heels, and

the babes cross theo by? Can you see the Place des