Thérèse’s failed attempt to rescue Rosalie, followed by branding and expulsion

Thérèse’s failed attempt to rescue Rosalie, followed by branding and expulsion, marks the end of her effort to free her friend from Rodin’s control. After reaching the door and finding its key, Thérèse urges Rosalie to flee and promises to follow; Rodin and Rombeau intercept them, return them to the apartments, and punish Thérèse before abandoning her at the edge of a forest.

The escape attempt and its reversal

Thérèse batters at the door until one blow dislodges the key. She opens it, embraces Rosalie, urges her to escape, and promises to follow. Rosalie crosses the threshold, but Rodin seizes his daughter almost at once, while Rombeau restrains Thérèse. The prospect of deliverance lasts only a moment: the attempted rescue ends with both women back inside and the doors bolted.

Rodin’s accusation and punishment

Rodin casts Thérèse’s intervention as the kidnapping of a daughter from her father, and accuses her of encouraging Rosalie’s flight. Thérèse answers that she had to act because Rodin was plotting against his daughter’s life. He treats her defense as further evidence against her, calling her conduct espionage and seduction and ordering that the matter be judged upstairs.

Rosalie is tied to a bedpost. Rodin and Rombeau turn their attention to Thérèse, and a proposed examination is framed as a way to observe her heart. Rodin then interrupts the plan, saying that the men must attend to the operations scheduled for Rosalie and choosing another punishment for Thérèse. This shift does not release her: Rodin heats an iron and brands her as a thief.

Expulsion and continuing danger

Rodin displays the mark as a means of threatening Thérèse if she appears in public, presenting it as justification for sending her away. After she is bandaged and dressed, she is given a few drops of brandy. Under cover of night, Rodin and Rombeau escort her to the edge of the forest and leave her there.

Before abandoning her, they warn that making a complaint would expose her to danger in her disgraced condition. The failed rescue therefore ends not only with Rosalie still in Rodin’s power but with Thérèse expelled, marked, and discouraged from seeking redress. The key that briefly opened a route to freedom is followed by the brand, which threatens to make her attempt at compassion a lasting liability.