tary? Then I can do my business with
you. It is said that two aristocrats in disguise are lurking about
this house.

[_All start_.]

I must communicate with you in secret, Citizen.

[_Turning to_ DIANE.]

Are you the daughter of this old man?

DIANE.

I am his daughter, Diane Leblanc.

GOUROC.

You remain.

[_To_ SANS CULOTTES.]

You, Comrades, wait across the street;

[_Exeunt_ SANS CULOTTES.]

and you, Citizen Potin, take your wife, leave the room, and wait
within call. You understand?

POTIN.

I do, Citizen. When the Republic commands, I obey.

[_Exit, with_ NANETTE.

GOUROC.

[_Bowing with great politeness_.]

Monsieur le Duc de Beaumont.

[DIANE _starts_.]

DUKE.

[_Turning with contempt_.]

Monsieur le Marquis de Vaux.

DIANE

[_Amazed_.]

This--the Marquis de Vaux?

GOUROC.

You are surprised to see me in this garb. I am equally surprised to
find you the guests of Citizen Kauvar, President of the Republican
Section of Fraternity.

DUKE.

Not quite as strange as discovering the dainty Marquis de Vaux a
Public Accuser and the servile slave of the guillotine.

GOUROC.

Reserve your contempt till you understand the meaning of my presence
here. I come to warn you against your host.

DIANE.

[_Haughtily_.]

How, sir! You suspect the loyalty of Monsieur Kauvar?

GOUROC.

What if he has trapped you here only to betray you?

DIANE.

That's impossible, sir! Monsieur Kauvar is the soul of honour and
devotion.

DUKE.

Besides, his head is surety for ours. The discovery that he had
sheltered us would entail his own death.

GOUROC.

Precisely! And what if the sense of that danger had prompted a
denunciation, while there still was some merit in it?

[_The_ DUKE _starts_. DIANE _turns aside with scorn_.]

One thing is certain: an anonymous denunciation of you, describing
your disguise and your retreat, has been made to our club.

DIANE.

[_Clasping her father_.]

What!--Discovered and denounced?

GOUROC.

As Public Accuser, the denunciation fell first into my hands. I have
risked my life by withholding it from the Tribunal until your safety
is assured.

DUKE.

[_Giving_ GOUROC _his hand_.]

Pardon, Marquis, that I did not realize before the motives of your
course.

GOUROC.

Grant me, then, the privilege of saving you.

DUKE.

We will. You belong to our own race; we may trust you.

GOUROC.

Then pre