"What object could I have in persecuting the girl?
I may have said to Goupil how annoyed I was at seeing her in Nemours.

My son Desire fell in love with her, and I didn't want him to marry her, that's all." "Goupil has confessed everything, Monsieur Minoret." There was a moment's silence, but it was terrible, when all three persons examined one another.

Zelie saw a nervous quiver on the heavy face of her colossus.
"Though you are only insects," said the young nobleman, "I will make you feel my vengeance.

It is not from you, Monsieur Minoret, a man sixty-eight years of age, but from your son that I shall seek satisfaction for the insults offered to Mademoiselle Mirouet.

The first time he sets his foot in Nemours we shall meet.