"You drive me to extremes," said he, "you make my life unbearable. I
prefer to have done with it. We shall both be tried and condemned. And
there will be an end to it all."
"Do you think you'll frighten me?" shouted his wife. "I am as weary as
you are. I'll go to the commissary of police myself, if you don't. Ah!
Indeed, I am quite ready to follow you to the scaffold, I'm not a coward
like you. Come along, come along with me to the commissary."
She had risen, and was making her way to the staircase.
"That's it," stammered Laurent, "let's go together."
When they were down in the shop they looked at once another, anxious and
alarmed. It seemed as though they were riveted to the ground. The few
seconds they had taken to run downstairs had suffered to show them, as
in a flash, all the consequences of a confession. They saw at the same
moment, suddenly and distinctly: gendarmes, prison, assize-court and
guillotine. This made them feel faint, and they were tempted to throw
themselves on their knees, one before the other, to implore one another
to remain, and reveal nothing. Fright and embarrassment kept them
motionless and mute for two or three minutes. Therese was the first to
make up her mind to speak and give way.
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