"
"What proof have you of this?"
"The future will afford the proof. Marat hid his designs behind a
mask of patriotism."
Montane shifted the ground of his interrogatory.
"Who were your accomplices in this atrocious act?"
"I have none."
Montane shook his head. "You cannot convince anyone that a person
of your age and sex could have conceived such a crime unless
instigated by some person or persons whom you are unwilling to
name."
Charlotte almost smiled. "That shows but a poor knowledge of the
human heart. It is easier to carry out such a project upon the
strength of one's own hatred than upon that of others." And then,
raising her voice, she proclaimed: "I killed one man to save a
hundred thousand; I killed a villain to save innocents; I killed
a savage Wild-beast to give repose to France. I was a Republican
before the Revolution. I never lacked for energy."
What more was there to say? Her guilt was completely established.
Her fearless self-ossession was not to be ruffled. Yet Fouquier-
Tinville, the dread prosecutor, made the attempt. Beholding her
so virginal and fair and brave, feeling perhaps that the Tribunal
had not had the best of it, he sought with a handful of
revolutionary filth to restore the balance.
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