ACT III
The office of the District Attorney. A door to the left, set in a diagonal wall, gives on to a corridor. It opens inwardly, so that the lettering on the outside can be read: "Parquet de Monsieur le Procureur de la République." A desk, chairs, and a chest of drawers.
Scene I:—Benoît, La Bouzole. As the curtain rises the recorder is removing various papers from the desk and placing them in a cardboard portfolio. Enter La Bouzole.
La Bouzole. Good-day, Benoît.
Recorder [hesitating to take the hand which La Bouzole extends to him] Your worship. It's too great an honor—
La Bouzole. Come, come, Monsieur Benoît, shake hands with me. From to-day I'm no longer a magistrate; my dignity no longer demands that I shall be impolite to my inferiors. How far have they got with the Etchepare trial?
Recorder. So far the hearing has been devoted entirely to the indictment and the counsel's address.
La Bouzole. They will finish to-day?
Recorder. Oh, surely. Even if Monsieur Vagret were to reply, because his Honor the President of Assizes goes hunting to-morrow morning.
La Bouzole. You think it will be an acquittal, Monsieur Benoît?
Recorder. I do, your worship. [He is about to go out]
La Bouzole. Who is the old lady waiting in the corridor?
Recorder. That is Etchepare's mother, your worship.
La Bouzole. Poor woman! She must be terribly anxious.
Recorder. No. She is certain of the verdict. She hasn't the slightest anxiety. She was there all yesterday afternoon and she came back to-day, just as calm. Only to-day she wanted at any price to see the District Attorney or one of his assistants. Monsieur Ardeuil is away and Monsieur Vagret—
La Bouzole. Is in Court.
Recorder. She seemed very much put out at finding no one.
La Bouzole. Well, send her in here; perhaps I can give her a little advice. Maître Plaçat will be some time yet, won't he?
Recorder. I believe so.
La Bouzole. Well, tell her to come and speak to me, poor woman. That won't upset anybody and it may save her some trouble.
Recorder. Very well, your worship. [He goes to the door on the right, makes a sign to old Madame Etchepare, and goes out by the door at the back]
La Bouzole [alone] It's astonishing how benevolent I feel this morning!
Old Madame Etchepare enters, clad in the costume peculiar to old women of Basque race.
Scene II:—La Bouzole, Old Madame Etchepare.
La Bouzole. They tell me, Madame, that you wished to see one of the gentlemen of the Bar.
Old Madame Etchepare. Yes, sir.
La Bouzole. You wish to be present at the trial?
Old Madame Etchepare. No, sir. I know so well that they cannot condemn my son that what they say in there doesn't interest me in the least. I am waiting for him. I have come because they have turned us out of our house.
La Bouzole. They have turned you out?
Old Madame Etchepare. The bailiffs came.
La Bouzole. Then your son owed money?
Old Madame Etchepare. Since they arrested him all our men have left us. We couldn't get in the crops nor pay what was owing. But of course I know they'll make all that good when my son is acquitted.
La Bouzole [aside] Poor woman!
Old Madame Etchepare. I'm so thankful to see the end of all our troubles. He'll come back and get our house and field again for us. He'll make them give up our cattle. That's why I wanted to see one of these gentlemen.
La Bouzole. Will you explain?
Old Madame Etchepare. A fortnight after the gendarmes came to arrest my boy, Monsieur Claudet turned the waste water from his factory into the brook that passes our house where we water the beasts. That was one of the things that ruined us too. If Etchepare finds things like that when he gets back, God knows what he'll do! I want the law to stop them doing us all this harm.
La Bouzole. The law! Ah, my good woman, it would be far better for you to have nothing to do with the law.
Old Madame Etchepare. But why? There is justice, and it's for everybody alike.
La Bouzole. Of course.
Old Madame Etchepare. Has Monsieur Claudet the right—
Old Madame Etchepare. Then I want to ask the judge to stop him.
La Bouzole. It is not so simple as you suppose, Madame. First of all you must go to the bailiff.
Old Madame Etchepare. Good.
La Bouzole. He will make a declaration.
Old Madame Etchepare. What about?
La Bouzole. He will declare that your water supply is contaminated.
Old Madame Etchepare. There is no need to trouble a bailiff, sir. A child could see that.
La Bouzole. It is the law.
Old Madame Etchepare. Well, and then?
La Bouzole. Then you must go to a lawyer and get a judgment.
Old Madame Etchepare. Very well, if there 's no other way of doing it—
La Bouzole. That is not all. If Monsieur Claudet contests the facts, the President will appoint an expert who will visit the site and make a report. You will have to put in a request that the President will grant a speedy hearing on grounds of urgency. Your case being finally put on the list of causes, it would be heard in its turn—after the vacations.
Old Madame Etchepare. After the vacations!
La Bouzole. And that is not all. Monsieur Claudet's lawyer might default, in which case judgment would be declared in your favor. But Monsieur Claudet might defend the case, or enter some kind of plea and obtain a judgment on that plea, or appeal against the judgment before the matter would be finally settled. All this would cost a great deal of money.
Old Madame Etchepare. Who would pay it?
La Bouzole. You, naturally, and Monsieur Claudet.
Old Madame Etchepare. It's all one to him; he's rich; but for us, who haven't a penny left!
La Bouzole. Then you would have to apply for judicial assistance.
Old Madame Etchepare. That would take still more time?
La Bouzole. That would take much longer.
Old Madame Etchepare. But, sir, I've always been told that justice was free in France.
La Bouzole. Justice is gratuitous, but the means of obtaining access to justice are not. That is all.
Old Madame Etchepare. And all that would take—how long?
La Bouzole. If Monsieur Claudet were to appeal, it might last two years.
Old Madame Etchepare. It isn't possible! Isn't the right on my side?
La Bouzole. My poor woman, it's not enough to have the right on your side—you must have the law on your side too.
Old Madame Etchepare. I understand. Justice is a thing we poor people can know only when it strikes us down. We can know it only by the harm it does us. Well—we must go away—it doesn't matter where—and I shan't regret it; people insult us; they call out to us as they pass. Etchepare wouldn't put up with that.
La Bouzole. In that respect the law protects you. Register a complaint and those who insult you will be prosecuted.
Old Madame Etchepare. I don't think so. I have already registered a complaint, as you say, but they've done nothing to the man who injured us. So he goes on.
La Bouzole. Is he an inhabitant of your commune?
Old Madame Etchepare. Yes. A neighbor, a friend of Monsieur Mondoubleau, the deputy. Labastide.
La Bouzole. Good. I will do what I can, I promise you.
Old Madame Etchepare. Thank you, sir. [A pause] Then I will go and wait till they give me back my boy.
La Bouzole. That's right.
She goes out slowly.
Scene III:—La Bouzole, recorder.
Recorder [entering by the door at the back] The hearing is suspended, your worship.
La Bouzole. Has Maître Plaçat concluded?
Recorder. With great applause. Two of the jurymen were seen wiping their eyes. No one doubts there will be an acquittal.
La Bouzole. So much the better.
Recorder. Your worship knows the great news?
La Bouzole. Which?
Recorder. That the Attorney-General has arrived.
La Bouzole. No—I know nothing of it.
Recorder. Yes, he has just arrived. It seems he brings the nomination of one of these gentlemen to the post of Councillor in the Court of Appeal.
La Bouzole. Ah, ah! And whose is the prize, in your opinion, Benoît? Vagret's?
Recorder. That was my opinion. I hesitated a long time between him and his Honor the President, and I decided it would be Monsieur Vagret. But now I think I am wrong.
La Bouzole. Do you think Monsieur Bunerat is appointed?
Recorder. No, your worship. I feel very proud—I believe it is my employer who has the honor.
La Bouzole. Monsieur Mouzon!
La Bouzole. What makes you think that?
Recorder. His Honor the Attorney-General requested me to beg Monsieur Mouzon to come and speak to him before the rising of the Court.
La Bouzole. My congratulations, my dear Monsieur Benoît.
Madame Bunerat enters.
Scene IV:—The same and later Madame Vagret, Bunerat, the President of Assizes, and Mouzon, then the Attorney-General.
Madame Bunerat [in tears] Oh, my dear Monsieur La Bouzole!
La Bouzole. What has happened, Madame Bunerat?
Madame Bunerat. It's that advocate! What talent! What a heart! What feeling! What genius! I feel quite shaken—quite upset—
La Bouzole. It's an acquittal?
Madame Bunerat. They hope so—
Madame Vagret [entering] Well, my dear Monsieur La Bouzole, you have heard this famous advocate! What a ranter!
La Bouzole. It seems he has touched the jury. That means an acquittal.
Madame Vagret. I'm very much afraid it does.
Enter Bunerat in a black gown.
Bunerat. Do you know what they tell me? The Attorney-General is here!
Madame Bunerat. Really!
Madame Vagret. Are you certain?
La Bouzole. It is true enough. He brings Monsieur Mouzon his appointment to the Court of Appeal at Pau.
Bunerat. Mouzon!
Madame Vagret and Madame Bunerat. And my husband! We had a definite promise!
The President of Assizes enters, wearing a red gown.
The President. Good-day, gentlemen. You have not seen the Attorney-General, have you?
La Bouzole. No, your honor—but if you will wait—
The President. No. Tell me, La Bouzole—you are an old stager—were you in Court?
La Bouzole. From the balloting for the jurymen to the plea for the defence.
The President. Did you notice if I let anything pass that would make an appeal to the Court of Cassation possible?
La Bouzole. I am sure you didn't.
The President. It's my constant fear—I am thinking of nothing else all the time counsel are speaking. I always have the Manual of the President of Assizes wide open in front of me; I'm always afraid, nevertheless, of forgetting some formality. You see the effect of being in the Chancellery—I never have a quiet conscience until the time-limit has expired. [A pause] They tell me there were journalists here from Toulouse and Bordeaux.
La Bouzole. And one from Paris.
The President. One from Paris! Are you sure?
La Bouzole. He was standing near the prisoner's bench.
The President. He was left to stand! A journalist from Paris and he was left to stand! [Catching sight of the recorder] You knew that, Monsieur the recorder, and you didn't warn me? Is that how you perform your duties? Go at once and express my regret and find him a good seat; do you hear?
Recorder. Yes, your honor. [He turns to go]
The President [running after him] Here! [Aside to the recorder] Find out if he's annoyed.
The President. And then—[He encounters Madame Bunerat at the door. Pardon, Madame. He goes out, running, lifting up his gown]
La Bouzole. When I was at Montpellier I knew an old tenor who was as anxious as that at his third début—
Enter Mouzon. Frigid salutations.
Madame Bunerat [after a pause] Is it true, Monsieur Mouzon—
Madame Vagret. That the Attorney-General—
Bunerat. Has arrived?
Mouzon [haughtily] Quite true.
Bunerat. They say he brings a councillor's appointment.
Mouzon. They say so.
Madame Bunerat. And you don't know?
Madame Vagret. You don't know?
Mouzon. Nothing at all.
Bunerat. Does nothing lead you to suppose—
Mouzon. Nothing.
Recorder [entering] Here is his Honor the Attorney-General.
Madame Bunerat. Oh, Lord!
She arranges her hair. Enter the Attorney-General, a man with handsome, grave, austere features.
All [bowing and cringing, in a murmur] His Honor the Attorney-General—
Attorney-General. I think you can resume the hearing, gentlemen—I am only passing through Mauleon. I hope to return before long and make your better acquaintance.
All. Your honor—[They make ready to leave]
Attorney-General. Monsieur Mouzon, will you remain?
Mouzon bows.
Madame Vagret [as she goes out] My respects—the honor—Monsieur—
Attorney-General [bowing] Mr. President—Madame—Madame—
Bunerat [to his wife] You see, that's it!
They go out.
Mouzon [to the recorder, who is about to leave] Well, my dear fellow, I believe my appointment is settled.
Recorder. I am delighted, Monsieur the Councillor! [Exit]
Scene V:—Mouzon, Attorney-General. Mouzon rubs his hands together, bubbling with joy.
Mouzon [obsequiously] Your honor—
Attorney-General. Sit down. [Mouzon does so] A report has come to my office from Bordeaux—which concerns you, Monsieur! [Feeling in his portfolio] Here it is. [Reading] Mouzon and the woman Pecquet. You know what it is?
Mouzon [not taking the matter seriously, forces a smile. After a long silence] Yes, your honor—
Attorney-General. I am waiting for your explanation.
Mouzon [as before] You have been young, your honor—
Attorney-General. Not to that extent, Monsieur!
Mouzon. I admit I overstepped the mark a trifle.
Attorney-General [reading] "Being in a state of intoxication, together with the woman Pecquet and two other women of bad character who accompanied him, the aforesaid Mouzon used insulting and outrageous language to the police, whom he threatened with dismissal." Is that what you call overstepping the mark a trifle?
Mouzon. Perhaps the expression is a little weak.
Attorney-General. And you allow the name of a magistrate to be coupled in a police report with that of the woman Pecquet?
Mouzon. She told me her name was Diane de Montmorency.
Attorney-General. [continuing] "Questioned by us, the commissary of police, on the following morning, as to the rank of officer in the navy which he had assumed"—[The Attorney-General gazes at Mouzon. Another pause]
Mouzon [still smiling] Yes, it's on account of my whiskers, you know.
Attorney-General. Really?
Mouzon. When I—oh, well—when I go to Bordeaux I always assume the rank of naval officer, in order to safeguard the dignity of the law.
Attorney-General. You seem to have been a little tardy in considering it.
Mouzon. I beg you to note, your honor, that I endeavored to safeguard it from the very first, since I took care to go out of the arrondissement and even the judicial division—in order to—
Attorney-General. I will continue. "Monsieur Mouzon then informed us of his actual position as examining magistrate, and invoked that quality in requesting that we would stop proceedings."
Mouzon. The ass. He has put that in his report? Oh, really—that's due to his lack of education. No, it's a political affair—the commissary is one of our opponents—I asked him—After all—I wanted to avoid scandal. Anyone would have done the same in my place.
Attorney-General. Is that the only explanation you have to give me?
Mouzon. Explanation? The truth is, Monsieur, that if you insist on maintaining, in this conversation, the relations between a superior and a subordinate, I can give you no further explanation. But if you would be so good as to allow me for a moment to forget your position, if you would agree to talk to me as man to man, I should tell you that this was a fault of youth, regrettable, no doubt, but explained by the profound boredom which exudes from the very paving-stones of Mauleon. Come, come! I had dined too well. Every night of the year a host of decent fellows find themselves in the same case. It's a pecadillo which doesn't affect one's personal honor.
Attorney-General. Monsieur, when one has the honor to be a magistrate—when one has accepted the mission of judging one's fellows, one is bound more than all others to observe temperance and to consider one's dignity in all things. What may not affect the honor of the private citizen does affect the honor of the judge. You may take that for granted.
Mouzon. As you refuse to discuss the matter otherwise than in an official manner, nothing remains for me but to beg you to inform me what you have decided to do.
Attorney-General. Cannot you guess?
Mouzon. I am an examining magistrate. You will make me an ordinary magistrate. It means my income will be diminished by five hundred francs a year. I accept.
Attorney-General. It is unfortunately impossible for me to content myself with such a simple measure. To speak plainly, I must inform you that Monsieur Coire, the director of the newspaper which attacks us so persistently, is acquainted with the whole of the facts of the accusation brought against you and will not give his word not to publish them unless by the end of the month you have left the Mauleon Court. I therefore find myself in the unhappy necessity of demanding your resignation.
Mouzon. I shall not resign.
Attorney-General. You will not resign?
Mouzon. I am distressed to oppose any desire of yours, but I am quite decided. I shall not resign.
Attorney-General. But really—you cannot know—
Mouzon. I know everything. Attorney-General. Very well, sir, we shall proceed against you.
Mouzon. Proceed. [He rises]
Attorney-General. Are you not alarmed at the scandal which would result from your appearance in court and your probable conviction?
Mouzon. Conviction is less probable than you think. I shall be able to defend myself and to select my advocate. As for the scandal, it wouldn't fall on me. I am a bachelor, with no family; I know no one or next to no one in Mauleon, where I am really in exile. My friends are all in Bordeaux; they belong to the monde ou l'on s'amuse, and I should not in the least lose caste in their eyes on account of such a prosecution. You think I ought to leave the magistracy? Fortunately I have sufficient to live on without the thirty-five hundred francs the Government of the Republic allows me annually.
Attorney-General. That is enough, Monsieur. Good-day.
Mouzon. My respects. [He goes out]
Doorkeeper. Monsieur the deputy is here, your honor. Monsieur the deputy says that your honor is waiting for him.
Attorney-General. That is so. Ask him to come in.
Enter Mondoubleau. The Attorney-General advances towards him and shakes hands with him.
Scene VI:—Mondoubleau, Attorney-General.
Mondoubleau. Good-day, my dear Attorney-General.
Attorney-General. Good-day, my dear deputy.
Mondoubleau. I'm delighted to see you. I've come from Paris. I had lunch yesterday with my friend the Keeper of the Seals. The Government is badly worried just at the moment.
Attorney-General. About what?
Mondoubleau. They're afraid of an interpellation. Just a chance—I'll tell you about it. Tell me—it seems you have a young assistant here who has been playing pranks.
Attorney-General. Monsieur Ardeuil?
Mondoubleau. Ardeuil, yes, that's the man. Eugène follows matters very closely.
Attorney-General. Eugène?
Mondoubleau. Eugène—my friend Eugène—the Keeper of the Seals. He said to me, "I expect your Attorney-General to understand how to do his duty."
Attorney-General. I ask nothing better, but let me know what my duty is.
Mondoubleau. That's just what one wants to avoid. But look here, my friend, you are a very mysterious person!
Attorney-General. I?
Mondoubleau. You are asking for a change of appointment.
Attorney-General. Who told you that?
Mondoubleau. Who do you suppose? He is the only one who knows.
Attorney-General. Eug—[Quickly] The Keeper of the Seals?
Mondoubleau. You want to be appointed to Orléans? Am I correctly informed?
Attorney-General. Quite true. We have relations there.
Mondoubleau. I fancy you are concerned in the movement now in preparation.
Attorney-General. Is there a movement in preparation?
Mondoubleau. There is. As for Monsieur Ardeuil, the Minister confined himself to saying that he had confidence in your firmness and zeal.
Attorney-General. The Keeper of the Seals may rely on me. I shall have to show considerable severity in several directions here, and I shall lack neither determination nor zeal, I can assure you.
Mondoubleau. Yes, but above all, tact! Eugène repeated a dozen times, "Above all, no prosecutions, no scandals. At the present moment less than ever. We are being watched. So everything must be done quietly."
Attorney-General. You needn't be alarmed. There's the matter of Mouzon.
Mondoubleau. Mouzon! Mouzon the examining magistrate!
Attorney-General. Yes.
Mondoubleau. Of Mauleon?
Attorney-General. Precisely.
Mondoubleau. You aren't thinking of—One of my best friends—very well disposed—a capital fellow—an excellent magistrate, full of energy and discernment. I mentioned his name to Eugène in connection with the vacant post of Councillor.
Attorney-General. [offering him the report] You've picked the wrong man. I am going to show you a document about him. Besides, the post is promised to Monsieur Vagret.
Mondoubleau. What is wrong?
Attorney-General. Here. I shall have to report him to the Superior Council of the Magistracy or proceed against him in the Court of Appeal.
Mondoubleau. What has he done?
Attorney-General. Read it.
Mondoubleau [after casting a glance over the document which the other has handed to him] Of course. But really—there's nothing in that. If you keep quiet about it, no one will know anything. No scandal. The magistracy is suffering from too many attacks already just now, without our providing our enemies with weapons.
Attorney-General. Unfortunately Coire knows of it, and he threatens to tell the whole story in his paper unless Monsieur Mouzon is sent away from Mauleon.
Mondoubleau. The devil! [He begins to laugh]
Attorney-General. What are you laughing at?
Mondoubleau. Nothing—an extravagant idea, a jest. [He laughs] Tell me—but you won't be annoyed?—it's only a joke—
Attorney-General. Well?
Mondoubleau. I was thinking—I tell you, it's a grotesque idea. But after all—after all, if you propose Mouzon for the Councillor's chair at Pau, you will be pleasing everyone!
Attorney-General. My dear deputy—
Mondoubleau. A joke—of course, merely a joke—but what's so amusing about it is that if you did so it would please Coire, it would please me, it would please Mouzon, and it would please Eugène, who doesn't want any scandal.
Attorney-General. But it would be a—
Mondoubleau. No, no. In politics there can be no scandal except where there is publicity.
Attorney-General. But really—
Mondoubleau. I agree with you—I know all that could be said—I repeat, I am only chaffing. And do you realize—it's very curious—when one reflects—this fantastic solution is the only one that does not offer serious disadvantages—obvious disadvantages. That is so. If you leave Mouzon here, Coire tells everything. If you proceed against him, you give a certain section of the press an opportunity it won't lose—an opportunity of sapping one of the pillars of society. Those gentry are not particular as to the means they employ. They will confound the whole magistracy with Mouzon. It won't be Mouzon who will be the rake, but the Court, the Court of Appeal. There will be mud on all—on every robe.
Attorney-General. But you can't seriously ask me—
Mondoubleau. Do you know what we ought to do? Let us go and talk it over with Rollet the senator—he is only a step from here.
Attorney-General. I assure you—
Mondoubleau. Come—come. You will put in a word as to your going to Orléans at the same time. What have you to risk? I tell you my solution is the best. You will come to it, I assure you! I'll take you along. [He takes his arm]
Attorney-General. Well, well, I had certainly something to say to Rollet.
The doorkeeper enters.
Doorkeeper. Your honor—
Attorney-General. Where are they? The verdict—?
Doorkeeper. Not yet. Monsieur Vagret has been making a reply.
Attorney-General. Is the jury in the withdrawing room?
Doorkeeper. No, your honor. They were going out when Monsieur Vagret asked for an adjournment.
Mondoubleau. What an idea! Really! Well, my friend, let us go. I tell you, you'll come round!
Attorney-General [weakly] Never! Never!
Scene VII:—Recorder, then the doorkeeper, then Madame Vagret, the President of Assizes, Bunerat, Madame Bunerat, and Vagret.
Recorder [much moved] Admirable!
Doorkeeper [half opening the door at the back] Monsieur Benoît! What's the news?
Recorder. Splendid! Our Prosecutor was admirable—and that Etchepare is the lowest swine.
Enter Madame Vagret, greatly moved. The recorder goes up to her. The doorkeeper disappears.
Madame Vagret. Ah! My God!
Recorder. Madame Vagret, I am only a simple clerk, but allow me to say it was admirable! Wonderful!
Madame Vagret. Wonderful!
Recorder. As for the counsel from Bordeaux, Monsieur Vagret had him absolutely at his mercy!
Madame Vagret. Hadn't he?
Recorder. He's certain enough, now, to be condemned to death!
Madame Vagret. Certain!
Recorder. Madame, the jurymen were looking at that fellow Etchepare, that thug, in a way that made my blood run cold. As Monsieur Vagret went on with his speech you felt they would have liked to settle his hash themselves—the wretch!
Madame Vagret. I saw that—
Recorder. I beg your pardon, Madame—I am forgetting myself—but there are moments when one is thankful, yes, so gratified, that social differences don't count.
Madame Vagret. You are right, my dear man.
Enter the President of Assizes and Bunerat.
The President. Madame, I congratulate you! We've got it, the capital sentence!
Madame Vagret. We have it safely this time, haven't we, Monsieur?
The President. That is certain. But where is our hero? Magnificent—he was magnificent—wasn't he, Bunerat?
Bunerat. Oh, sir, but the manner in which you presided prepared the way so well—
The President. Well, well, I don't say I count for nothing in the result, but we must do justice to Vagret. [To Madame Vagret] You ought to be greatly gratified—very proud and happy, my dear Madame—
Madame Vagret. Oh, I am, your honor—
The President. But what a strange idea to demand an adjournment! Is he unwell?
Madame Vagret. Oh, dear!
The President. No. Here he is.
Enter Vagret. He is anxious.
Madame Vagret. Ah, my dear! [She takes his hand in hers. She can say no more, being choked by tears of joy]
The President. It was wonderful!
Bunerat. I can't restrain myself from congratulating you too.
Vagret. Really, you confuse me. The whole merit is yours, Monsieur.
The President. Not at all. Do you know what carried them all away? [He lights a cigarette]
Vagret. No!
The President. It was when you exclaimed, "Gentlemen of the jury, you own houses, farms, and property; you have beloved wives, and daughters whom you tenderly cherish. Beware—" You were splendid there! [Resuming] "Beware, if you leave such crimes unpunished; beware, if you allow yourselves to be led astray by the eloquent sentimentality of the defence; beware, I tell you, if you fail in your duty as the instrument of justice; beware, lest those above you snatch up the sword which has fallen from your feeble hands, when the blood that you have not avenged will be spilt upon you and yours!" That was fine! Very fine! And it produced a great effect.
Bunerat. But you, my dear President, you moved them even more noticeably when you recalled the fact, very appropriately, that the accused loved the sight of blood.
The President. Ah, yes, that told a little!
All. What? What was that?
Bunerat. The President put this question: "On the morning of the crime did you not slaughter two sheep?" "Yes," replied the accused. And then, looking him straight in the eyes—
The President. Yes, I asked him: "You were getting into practice, weren't you?" [To Vagret] But after all, if I have to a certain extent affected the result, the greater part of the honor of the day is yours.
Vagret. You are too kind.
The President. Not at all! And your peroration! [With an artist's curiosity] You were really, were you not, under the stress of a great emotion, a really great emotion?
Vagret [gravely] Yes, I was under the stress of a great emotion, a really great emotion.
The President. You turned quite pale when you faced the jury—when you added, in a clear voice, "Gentlemen, I demand the head of this man!"
Vagret [his eyes fixed] Yes.
The President. Then you made a sign to the advocate.
Vagret. Yes. I thought he would have something else to say.
The President. But why delay the verdict? You had won the victory.
Vagret. Precisely.
The President. What do you mean?
Vagret. During my indictment a fact came to light that worried me.
The President. A fact?
Vagret. Not a fact—but—in short—[A pause] I beg your pardon—I am very tired—
The President. I can very well understand your emotion, my dear Vagret. One always feels—on the occasion of one's first death sentence—but—you will see one gets used to it. [Going out, to Bunerat] Indeed, he does look very tired.
Bunerat. I fancy he is feeling his position too keenly.
Vagret. As I was leaving the Court I met the Attorney-General. I begged him urgently to give me a moment's conversation. I wanted to speak with him alone—and with you, Monsieur le Président.
Bunerat. As you wish.
Madame Vagret. I am afraid you are unwell, my dear. I shall wait there. I will come back directly these gentlemen have gone.
Vagret. Very well.
Madame Bunerat [going out, to her husband] There's a man ready to do something stupid.
Bunerat. That doesn't concern us.
They go out.
Scene VIII:—Vagret, the President of Assizes, then the Attorney-General.
The President. Did you notice any mistake on my part in the direction of the case?
Vagret. No, if any mistake was made, it was I who made it.
The Attorney-General enters.
Attorney-General. What is this that is so serious, my dear sir?
Vagret. It's this—I am more worried than I can say. I want to appeal to the conscience of you two gentlemen—to reassure myself—
Attorney-General. Tell us.
Vagret. A whole series of facts—the attitude of the accused—certain details which had escaped me—have given rise, in my mind, to a doubt as to the guilt of this man.
Attorney-General. Was there any mention of these facts, these details, in the brief?
Vagret. Certainly.
Attorney-General. Had the advocate studied this brief?
Vagret. Naturally.
Attorney-General. Well, then? What are you worrying yourself about?
Vagret. But—suppose the man is not guilty?
Attorney-General. The jury will decide. We can do no more, all of us, than bow to its verdict.
Vagret. Let me tell you, sir, how my convictions have been shaken.
Attorney-General. I do not wish to know. All that is a matter between yourself and your conscience. You have the right to explain your scruples to the jury. You know the proverb: "The pen is a slave, but speech is free."
Vagret. I shall follow your advice.
Attorney-General. I do not give you any advice.
Vagret. I shall explain my doubts to the jury.
Attorney-General. It will mean acquittal.
Attorney-General. Do as you wish; but I should like to tell you one thing. When a man plans a startling trick of this kind and has the courage to accomplish it entirely of his own accord, he must have the courage to accept the sole responsibility of the blunders he may commit. You are too clever; you want to discover some means by which you need not be the only one to suffer from the consequences of your vacillations.
Vagret. Clever? I? How?
Attorney-General. Come, come! We are not children, and I can perfectly well see the trap into which you have lured me. You are sheltering yourself behind me. If the Chancellery should complain of your attitude, you will say that you consulted your superior, and I shall be the victim. And then I shall have a quarrel with the Chancellery on my hands. You don't care, you don't think of my position or my interests, of which you know nothing. Some silly idea gets into your head, and against my will you want to make me responsible for it. I say again, it is extremely clever, and I congratulate you, but I don't thank you.
Vagret. You have misunderstood me, sir. I have no wish to burden you with the responsibilities I am about to assume. I should hardly choose the moment when I am on the point of being appointed Councillor to perpetrate such a blunder. I told you of my perplexity, and I asked your advice. That was all.
The President. Are you certain one way or the other?
Vagret. If I were certain, should I ask advice? [A pause] If we only had a cause for cassation, a good—
The President [enraged] What's that you say? Cause for cassation? Based on an error or on an oversight on my part, no doubt! Really, you have plenty of imagination! You are attacked by certain doubts, certain scruples—I don't know what—and in order to quiet your morbidly distracted conscience you ask me kindly to make myself the culprit! Convenient, in truth, to foist on others who have done their duty the blunders one may have committed oneself!
Attorney-General [quietly] It is indeed.
The President. And at the Chancellery, when they mention me, they'll say, "Whatever sort of a councillor is this, who hasn't even the capacity to preside over an Assize Court at Mauleon!" A man whom we've taken such trouble to get condemned! And to make me, me, the victim of such trickery! No, no! Think of another way, my dear Monsieur; you won't employ that, I can assure you.
Vagret. Then I shall seek other means; but I shall not leave matters in their present state.
Attorney-General. Do what you like, but realize that I have given you no advice in one direction or another.
Vagret. I realize that.
The President. When you have decided to resume the hearing you will notify us.
Vagret. I will notify you.
Attorney-General [to the President] Let us go.
They leave the office.
Scene IX:—Vagret, Madame Vagret.
Madame Vagret. What is it?
Vagret. Nothing.
Madame Vagret. Nothing? You are so depressed—and yet you've just had such a success as will tell on your career.
Vagret. It is that success which alarms me.
Madame Vagret. Alarms you?
Madame Vagret. Afraid of what?
Vagret. Of having gone too far.
Madame Vagret. Too far! Doesn't the murderer deserve death ten times over?
Vagret [after a pause] Are you quite certain, yourself, that he is a murderer?
Madame Vagret. Yes.
Vagret [in a low voice] Well—for myself—
Madame Vagret. You?
Vagret. I—I don't know. I know nothing.
Madame Vagret. My God!
Vagret. A dreadful thing happened to me in the course of my indictment. While I, the State Attorney, the official prosecutor, was exercising my function, another self was examining the case calmly, in cold blood; an inner voice kept reproaching me for my violence and insinuating into my mind a doubt, which has gone on increasing. A painful struggle has been going on in my mind, a cruel struggle—and if, as I was finishing, I labored under that emotion of which the President was speaking, if when I demanded the death penalty my voice was scarcely audible, it was because I was at the end of my struggle; because my conscience was on the point of winning the battle, and I made haste to finish, because I was afraid it would speak out against my will. When I saw the advocate remain seated and that he was not going to resume his speech in order to tell the jury the things I would have had him tell them—then I was really afraid of myself, afraid of my actions, of my words, of their terrible consequences, and I wanted to gain time.
Madame Vagret. But, my dear, you have done your duty; if the advocate has not done his, that does not concern you.
Vagret. Always the same reply. If I were an honest man I should tell the jury, when the hearing is resumed, of the doubts that have seized me. I should explain how those doubts arose in me; I should call their attention to a point which I deliberately concealed from them, because I believed the counsel for the defence would point it out to him.
Madame Vagret. You know, my dear, how thoroughly I respect your scruples, but allow me to tell you all the same that it won't be you who will declare Etchepare guilty or not guilty; it will be the jury. If anyone ought to feel disturbed, it is Maître Plaçat, not you—
Vagret. But I ought to represent justice!
Madame Vagret. Here is a prisoner who comes before you with previous convictions, with a whole crushing series of circumstances establishing his guilt. He is defended by whom? By one of the ornaments of the Bar, a man famed for his conscience as much as for his ability and his oratorical skill. You expound the facts to the jury. If the jury agrees with you, I cannot see that your responsibility as a magistrate is involved.
Vagret. I don't think about my responsibility as a magistrate—but my responsibility as a man is certainly involved! No! No! I have not the right. I tell you there is a series of circumstances in this case of which no one has spoken and the nature of which makes me believe in the innocence of the accused.
Madame Vagret. But—these circumstances—how was it you knew nothing of them until now?
Vagret [his head drooping] Do you think I did know nothing of them? My God! Shall I have the courage to tell you everything? I am not a bad man, am I? I wouldn't wish anyone to suffer for a fault of mine—but—oh, I am ashamed to admit it, to say it aloud, even, when I have admitted it to myself! Well, when I was studying the brief, I had got it so firmly fixed in my mind, to begin with, that Etchepare was a criminal, that when an argument in his favor presented itself to my mind, I rejected it utterly, shrugging my shoulders. As for the facts of which I am speaking, and which gave rise to my doubts—at first I simply tried to prove that those facts were false, taking, from the depositions of the witnesses, only that which would militate against their truth and rejecting all the rest, with a terrible simplicity of bad faith. And in the end, in order to dissipate my last scruples, I told myself, just as you told me, "That is the business of the defence; it isn't mine!" Listen, and you'll see to what point the exercise of the magistrate's office distorts our natures, makes us unjust and cruel. At first I had a feeling of delight when I saw that the President, in his cross-examination, was throwing no light whatever on this series of little facts. It was my profession speaking in me, my profession, do you see? Oh, what poor creatures we are, what poor creatures!
Madame Vagret. Perhaps the jury won't find him guilty?
Vagret. It will find him guilty.
Madame Vagret. Or it may find there are extenuating circumstances.
Vagret. No. I adjured them too earnestly to refuse to do so. I was zealous enough, wasn't I? Violent enough?
Madame Vagret. That's true. Why did you make your indictment so passionately?
Vagret. Ah, why, why? Long before the hearing of the case it was so clearly understood by everybody that the prisoner was the criminal! And then it all went to my head, it intoxicated me—the way they talked. I was the spokesman of humanity, I was to reassure the countryside, I was to restore tranquillity to the family, and I don't know what else! So then—I felt I must show myself equal to the part intrusted to me. My first indictment was relatively moderate—but when I saw the celebrated counsel making the jurymen weep, I thought I was lost; I felt the verdict would escape me. Contrary to my habit, I replied. When I rose to my feet for the second time I was like a man fighting, who has just had a vision of defeat, and who therefore fights with the strength of despair. From that moment Etchepare, so to speak, no longer existed. I was no longer concerned to defend society or sustain my accusation; I was contending against the advocate; it was a trial of orators, a competition of actors; I had to be the victor at all costs. I had to convince the jury, resume my hold on it, wring from it the double "yes" of the verdict. I tell you, Etchepare no longer counted; it was I who counted, my vanity, my reputation, my honor, my future. It's shameful, I tell you, shameful. At any cost I wanted to prevent the acquittal which I felt was certain. And I was so afraid of not succeeding that I employed every argument, good and bad, even that of representing to the terrified jurymen their own houses in flames, their own flesh and blood murdered. I spoke of the vengeance of God falling on judges without severity. And all this in good faith—or rather unconsciously, in a burst of passion, in an access of anger against the advocate, whom I hated at that moment with all my might. My success was greater than I hoped; the jury is ready to obey me; and I, my dear, I have allowed myself to be congratulated, I have grasped the hands held out to me. That is what it is to be a magistrate!
Madame Vagret. Never mind. Perhaps there aren't ten in all France who would have acted otherwise.
Vagret. You are right. Only—if one reflects—it's precisely that that's so dreadful.
Recorder [entering] Monsieur le Procureur, the President is asking when the sitting can be resumed.
Vagret. At once.
Madame Vagret. What are you going to do?
Vagret. My duty as an honest man. [He makes ready to go]