-Monsieur，doyouwanttoseethoseletters?”askedthegirl，withagulp。Evidentlyhisappearancefrightenedher-orhadheractingreachedthispointofextremefinish?”Ihadnevairethechancetoputthemback。And-andtheybelongtomonsieur。Theyarehis-allhis-andsobeautiful！Ah，justlikepoetry。””Idon’tconsiderthemmine。Ihaven’taparticleofconfidenceinyouorinyourstory。Youareathief-self-convicted；oryou’reanagentofthepolicewhosemotivesIneitherunderstandnorcaretoinvestigate。Takeupyourbagandgo。Ihaven’tacent’sworthofinterestinitscontents。”
Shestartedtoherfeet。Sweetwaterheardherchairgrateonthepaintedfloor，asshepusheditbackinrising。Thebrotherrosetoo，butmorecalmly。Brothersondidnotstir。Sweetwaterfelthishopesrapidlydyingdown-downintoashes，whensuddenlyhervoicebrokeforthinpants：”AndMariesaid-everybodysaid-thatyoulovedourgreatlady；
thatyou，ofthepeople，common，common，workingwiththehands，livingwithmenandwomenworkingwiththehands，thatyouhadsoul，sentiment-whatyouwillofthegoodandthegreat，andthatyouwouldgiveyoureyesforherwords，sifines，sispirituelles，solikedesversdepoete。False！false！allfalse！Shewasanangel。Youare-readthat！”shevehementlybrokein，openingherbagandwhiskingapaperdownbeforehim。”Readandunderstandmyproudandlovelylady。Shedidrighttodie。Youarehard-hard。Youwouldhavekilledherifshehadnot-””Silence，woman！Iwillreadnothing！”camehissingfromthestrongman’steeth，setinalmostungovernableanger。”Takebackthisletter，asyoucallit，andleavemyroom。””Nevaire！Youwillnotread?Butyoushall，youshall。Beholdanother！One，two，three，four！”Madlytheyflewfromherhand。
Madlyshecontinuedhervituperativeattack。”Beast！beast！Thatsheshouldpouroutherinnocenthearttoyou，you！Idonotwantyourmoney，Monsieurofthecommonstreet，ofthecommonhouse。Itwouldbedirt。Pierre，itwouldbedirt。Ah，bah！jem’oublietoutafait。Pierre，ilestbete。Ilrefusedelestoucher。Maisilfautqu’illestouche，sijeleslaissesurleplancher。Va-t’en！
Jememoquedelui。Canaille！L’hommedupeuple，toutafaitdupeuple！”