We were trusted by Tallien and
the men of the Ninth Thermidor, because we had been suspected by
Robespierre, Couthon, and St. Just. Arrested informally, we were
now liberated informally. When it came to my sister's turn and
mine, we were not under examination five minutes. No such thing
as a searching question was asked of us; I believe we might even
have given our own names with perfect impunity. But I had
previously instructed Rose that we were to assume our mother's
maiden name--Maurice. As the citizen and citoyenne Maurice,
accordingly, we passed out of prison--under the same name we have
lived ever since in hiding here. Our past repose has depended,
our future happiness will depend, on our escape from death being
kept the profoundest secret among us three. For one all
sufficient reason, which you can easily guess at, the brother and
sister Maurice must still know nothing of Louis Trudaine and Rose
Danville, except that they were two among the hundreds of victims
guillotined during the Reign of Terror."
He spoke the last sentence with a faint smile, and with the air
of a man trying, in spite of himself, to treat a grave subject
lightly. His face clouded again, however, in a moment, when he
looked toward his sister, as he ceased. Her work had once more
dropped on her lap, her face was turned away so that he could not
see it; but he knew by the trembling of her clasped hands, as
they rested on her knee, and by the slight swelling of the veins
on her neck which she could not hide from him, that her boasted
strength of nerve had deserted her.
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