Danger! For, warned that we have detected their plot, they will hatch another plot, and instead of working as at present under our eyes, they will work below the surface with augmented care and secrecy: and will, perhaps, deceive us.

No, my friends"-- throwing himself back in his chair with an air of patronage, almost of contempt--for by dint of repeating his argument he had come to believe it, and to plume himself upon it--"I look farther ahead than you do, and for the sake of future gain am willing to take--present responsibility." They were silent awhile: his old mastery was beginning to assert itself.
Then Petitot spoke.

"You take a heavy responsibility," he said, "a heavy charge, Messer Blondel.

What if harm come of it ?" Blondel shrugged his shoulders.
"You have no wife, Messer Blondel." The Fourth Syndic stared.

What did the man mean?
"You have no daughters," Petitot continued, a slight quaver in his tone.
"You have no little children, you sleep well of nights, the fall of wood-ash does not rouse you, you do not listen when you awake.