"And can they hesitate?" cried Babette, who had imbibed with her mother's milk bitter hatred of the foreign yoke. "Ah, my noble girl," said Jean, "truly you are deserving of our confidence!" "Neither my heart nor my hands would hesitate for one moment," Pierre rejoined, "if I had it in my power to restore this fair city to King Henri's own hands, or to his representative, Monsieur le Duc de Guise. But the circumstances are such that we shall be compelled to use Monsieur d'Exmès as intermediary." "Well, why not?" asked Babette, amazed at receiving such a reason for hesitation. "Well," said Pierre, "however proud and happy I might be to be associated in so grand an achievement with him who was once our guest, it would be quite as distasteful to me to share the honor with a gentleman lacking bowels of compassion, who has helped to tarnish the honor of our name." "What! you don't mean Monsieur d'Exmès, who is so kind-hearted and so loyal?" "It is nevertheless true," said Pierre, "that your confidence in Monsieur d'Exmès, and Martin-Guerre's lack of conscience, have brought about your ruin; and yet you see that they both keep silent." "But what _could_ Monsieur d'Exmès do or say?" asked Babette. "He could have sent Martin-Guerre here as soon as he returned to Paris, my sister, and have ordered him to bestow his name upon you! He could have sent his squire here instead of that stranger, and thus have paid the debt due your heart and the money owed to me at the same time." "No, no; he could not have done that," said honest Babette, sadly shaking her head. "What! he was not at liberty to give an order to his own servant?" "What good would have been done by that order?" said Babette. "What good?" cried Pierre. "Is there no good in atoning fora crime, or in saving a fair name from shame? Are you losing your wits, Babette?" "Alas! no, unfortunately!" said the poor girl, weeping bitterly. "Those who lose their wits forget." "Well, then," continued Pierre, "how, if you are in full possession of your reason, can you say that Monsieur d'Exmès has done right in not using his authority to compel your seducer to marry you?" "To marry me! to marry me! Oh, how could he do so?" said Babette, in despair. "What is to prevent him, pray?" exclaimed Jean and Pierre, with one voice. Both had risen by an irresistible impulse. Babette fell upon her knees. "Oh," she cried in her despair, "forgive me once more, dear brother! I wanted to conceal it from you. I concealed it even from my own heart! But now that you speak of our blighted honor, of France, and Monsieur d'Exmès, and unworthy Martin-Guerre, what can I do? Oh, my brain is in a whirl! You ask me if I am losing my wits. Truly I believe that I am. Come, you, who are calmer than I, tell me if I am mistaken, tell me if I was dreaming, or if what Monsieur d'Exmès told me was really true!" "What Monsieur d'Exmès told you!" echoed Pierre, in alarm.