Don't mix me up in all this; I could do nothing to help you if the others distrusted me.

Instead of annoying Ursula I will defend her; instead of serving Minoret I will try to defeat his schemes.

I live only to ruin him, to destroy him--I'll crush him under foot, I'll dance on his carcass, I'll make his bones into dominoes! To-morrow, every wall in Nemours and Fontainebleau and Rouvre shall blaze with the letters, 'Minoret is a thief!' Yes, I'll burst him like a gun--There! we're allies now by the imprudence of that outbreak! If you choose I'll beg Mademoiselle Mirouet's pardon and tell her I curse the madness which impelled me to injure her.

It may do her good; the abbe and the justice are both there; but Monsieur Bongrand must promise on his honor not to injure my career.

I have a career now." "Wait a minute;" said Savinien, bewildered by the revelation.
"Ursula, my child," he said, returning to the salon, "the author of all your troubles is ashamed of his work; he repents and wishes to ask your pardon in presence of these gentlemen, on condition that all be forgotten." "What! Goupil ?" cried the abbe, the justice, and the doctor, all together.
"Keep his secret," said Ursula, putting a finger on her lips.
Goupil heard the words, saw the gesture, and was touched.
"Mademoiselle," he said in a troubled voice, "I wish that all Nemours could hear me tell you that a fatal passion has bewildered my brain and led me to commit a crime punishable by the blame of honest men.