She seemed dumbfounded:

"Then you confess it?"

"You have asked a question, madame, and I have answered it."

"But how dared you? What gave you the right?"

"I was not exercising a right, madame; I was performing a duty!"

"Indeed! And what duty, pray?"

"The duty of protecting you against a man who is trying to profit by your
troubles."

"I forbid you to speak like that. I am responsible for my own actions, and
I decided upon them in perfect liberty."

"Madame, I overheard your conversation with M. Rossigny this morning and it
did not appear to me that you were accompanying him with a light heart. I
admit the ruthlessness and bad taste of my interference and I apologise for
it humbly; but I risked being taken for a ruffian in order to give you a
few hours for reflection."

"I have reflected fully, monsieur. When I have once made up my mind to a
thing, I do not change it."

"Yes, madame, you do, sometimes. If not, why are you here instead of
there?"