Then with a tigerlike spring La Liberté dashed forward, seized Edmé about the waist with one arm, while she endeavored to secure the parchment with her other hand. Edmé quickly passed the document into her right hand, bringing it forward high above her head. With the same cat-like agility, La Liberté sprang for it on the other side and managed to get hold of it by one corner. There was a short struggle; a tearing of paper, and each held a piece of the document in her hand. "A warrant!" exclaimed La Liberté, darting back a few paces and shaking out the piece of paper in her hand. "You have been tampering with these," she added quickly, putting one hand upon the pile of documents on the table. Edmé made no reply. "Why did you take it?" inquired La Liberté, taking her portion of paper near the light to examine it, while she kept one eye fixed upon her late antagonist, in fear of a sudden attack. The warrant had been divided nearly down the centre; but the last name of the condemned man was upon the piece held by La Liberté. "Tournay!" she cried out in surprise. "Robert Tournay! What object have you in destroying this warrant?" "I have not destroyed it," replied Edmé, making the greatest effort to maintain an outward calm. "It was you who tore it." "Don't try any of those tricks with me," snapped La Liberté. "Come, what was your object in taking this warrant? It is a dangerous thing to tamper with those documents." "I shall not answer any of your questions," was Edmé's rejoinder. For a space of ten seconds the two women stood again confronting each other, as if each waited for the other to move. La Liberté's eyes looked fixedly at Edmé, as if they would read her through and through. "You are not what you pretend to be," she said finally; "you are no woman of the people." Then, suddenly flinging aside the torn paper, she rushed forward and seized Edmé's arm. "I know who you are now!" she exclaimed excitedly. "You are an aristocrat! Don't deny it!" she continued passionately. "I came from La Thierry. I was a young girl when I left there, but my memory serves me well. Your name is Edmé de Rochefort. You are an aristocrat, and you love the republican colonel! You destroyed this warrant. You risked your life in the attempt to prolong his." "Whoever I may be, whatever I attempted to do, you tore that paper. It was you who destroyed it," said Edmé as she wrenched herself free from the woman's grasp. The only answer of La Liberté was a loud and scornful laugh. She approached Edmé again with a malignant glitter in her eyes; but Edmé held her ground and confronted her bravely.