And that motive she would not find far to seek.

She would account his present attitude the consummation of a miserable subterfuge by which he sought to win her confidence and esteem.

She would--she must--believe that he had but made a semblance of befriending her so disinterestedly only that he might enlist her kindness and regard, and turn them presently to his own purposes.
She would infer that he had posed as unselfish--as self-sacrificing, almost--only that he might win her esteem, and that by telling her now that Robespierre was inflexible in his resolve to send Ombreval to the guillotine, he sought to retain that esteem whilst doing nothing for it.

That he had ever intended to save Ombreval she would not credit.
She would think it all a cunning scheme to win his own ends.

And now he bethought him of the grief that would beset her upon learning that her journey had indeed been fruitless.