Vautrin: A Drama in Five Acts

by Honoré de Balzac

ACT V.

SCENE FIRST. (The scene is laid at the Montsorel house, in a room on the ground floor.)

Joseph (alone) The cursed white mark appears this evening on the wicket side of the garden. Things cannot go on long in this way; the devil only knows how it will end. I prefer seeing him there, however, rather than in the apartments; the garden is at least away from the house, and when the warning comes, one can walk out to meet him.

SCENE SECOND. Joseph, Lafouraille and Buteux; later, Vautrin.

(The humming sound of a voice is heard for a moment.)

Joseph
There it is, our national air, which I never hear without trembling.
(Enter Lafouraille) And who are you? (Lafouraille makes a sign) A new
one coming?

Lafouraille
No, an old one.

Joseph
Oh, he whose mark is in the garden.

Lafouraille
Can he be waiting here? He intended to be here. (Buteux appears.)

Joseph
Why, there will be three of you.

Lafouraille (pointing to Joseph)
There will be four of us.

Joseph And what do you come to do at this hour? Do you want to snatch up everything here?

Lafouraille
He takes us for thieves!

Buteux We prove that we can be, when we are down in our luck; but we never say so.

Lafouraille
That is, we make money, like other people.

Joseph
But his grace the duke is going—

Lafouraille Your duke cannot return home before two o'clock, and that gives us time enough: do not therefore interlard with anxious thought the professional dish which we have to serve—

Buteux
And serve hot.

(Vautrin wears a brown coat, blue trousers, and a black waistcoat. His hair is short and he is got up as an imitation of Napoleon in undress. As he enters he abruptly puts out the candle and draws the slide of his dark lantern.)

Vautrin What! You have lights here! You think yourselves still members of respectable society. I can understand that this fool should ignore the first elements of sane conduct—but you others! (To Buteux, as he points out Joseph to him) Put wool in this fellow's ears, and talk with him over there. (To Lafouraille) And what of the youngster?

Lafouraille
He is kept well out of sight.

Vautrin
In what place?

Lafouraille
In the other rookery of Giroflee's woman, near here, behind the
Invalides.

Vautrin
And see that he does not escape like that slippery eel of a
Saint-Charles, that madman, who came for the purpose of breaking up
our establishment—for I—but I never threaten.

Lafouraille Upon the youngster's safety I will stake my head! Philosopher has put buskins on his hands and frills on his feet, he cannot stir hand or foot, and will be given up only to me. As for the other, who could help it? Poor Giroflee cannot resist strong liquors, and Blondet knew it.

Vautrin
What did Raoul say?

Lafouraille
He made a terrible uproar; and swore he was disgraced. Fortunately
Philosopher is insensible to metaphors.

Vautrin Do you think the boy wishes for a fight to the death? A young man is fearful; he has the courage to conceal his terror and the folly to allow himself to be killed. I hope they prevent him from writing to any one.

Lafouraille (aside)
We are in for it! (Aloud) I can conceal nothing from you, before he
was fastened up the prince sent little Nini with a letter to the
Christoval house.

Vautrin
To Inez?

Lafouraille
To Inez.

Vautrin
He wrote a lot of rubbish, I'll warrant.

Lafouraille
A pack of lies and absurdities.

Vautrin (to Joseph)
Hello there! You—the honest man.

Buteux (leading Joseph to Vautrin)
You had better explain things to the master, as he desires.

Joseph It seems to me that I am not unreasonable to ask what risk I am to run, and what profit is to accrue to me.

Vautrin Time is short, speech long, let us employ the former and drop the latter. There are two lives in peril, that of a man I am interested in, and that of a musketeer which I consider useless: we are going to crush him.

Joseph What! Do you mean monsieur the marquis? I will have nothing to do with it.

Lafouraille
You have no say in the matter of your consent.

Buteux
We have captured him. Look you, my friend, when the wine is drawn—

Joseph
If it is bad, it must not be drunk.

Vautrin And you refuse to pledge me in a glass? He who thinks calculates, and he who calculates betrays.

Joseph
Your calculations lead to the scaffold.

Vautrin Enough! You tire me. Your master is to fight a duel to-morrow. In this duel one of the combatants will never leave the ground alive; imagine that the duel has taken place, and that your master has had no fair chance.

Buteux
That is just it.

Lafouraille
The master is as deep as fate.

Joseph
A fine condition to be in.

Buteux
The devil to pay and no pitch hot!

Vautrin (to Joseph, pointing out Lafouraille and Buteux)
You will conceal these two.

Joseph
Where?

Vautrin I tell you, you must conceal them. When all are asleep in the house, excepting us, you must send them up to the musketeer's room. (To Buteux and Lafouraille) Try to go there without him; you must be cautions and adroit; the window of his room overlooks the court. (Whispers in their ears) Throw him down. It will be a case of despair (turning to Joseph), and suicide will be a ground for averting suspicion from all.

SCENE THIRD.

Vautrin (alone) All is saved! There is only one suspect among us, and I will change that state of affairs. Blondet is the traitor, and in this case bad debts will make good friends, for I will point him out to the duke in a friendly manner as the murderer of Vicomte de Langeac. I must finally discover the motive of the duchess's singular behavior. If what I learn explains the suicide of the marquis, what a master stroke it will be!

SCENE FOURTH. Joseph and Vautrin.

Joseph Your men are well concealed, but you doubtless intend to leave the house?

Vautrin
No, I am going to do some reading in the study of the Duc de
Montsorel.

Joseph
But if he comes home, won't you be afraid?

Vautrin
If I feared anything, would I be master of you all?

Joseph
But where are you going?

Vautrin
You are very curious.

SCENE FIFTH.

Joseph (alone) There, he is disposed of for the moment, his two fellows likewise; I hold them, and, as I don't want to have anything to do with the affair, I am going—

SCENE SIXTH Joseph, a footman; and afterwards Saint-Charles.

The footman
Monsieur Joseph, some one is asking for you.

Joseph
At this hour?

Saint-Charles
It is I.

Joseph (to the footman)
You may go.

Saint-Charles His grace the duke cannot come home until after the king's retirement for the night. The duchess is on her way home. I wish to speak to her privately and wait for her here.

Joseph
Here?

Saint-Charles
Here.

Joseph (aside)
O my God! And Jacques—

Saint-Charles
If it inconveniences you—

Joseph
Not in the least.

Saint-Charles
Tell me the truth, you are expecting some one?

Joseph
I am expecting the duchess.

Saint-Charles
And not Jacques Collin?

Joseph
Oh! don't talk to me about that man, you make me shudder.

Saint-Charles Collin is mixed up with some business that might bring him here. You must have seen him lately. I have no time to pump you, and I have no need to bribe, but you must choose between him and me, and pretty quickly, too.

Joseph
What do you require of me?

Saint-Charles
To tell me everything that takes place here.

Joseph Well, the latest thing is the duel of the marquis; he fights to-morrow with Monsieur de Frescas.

Saint-Charles
What next?

Joseph
I see her grace the duchess has just returned.

SCENE SEVENTH.

Saint-Charles (alone) What a timid beast he is! This duel is a capital excuse for speaking with the duchess. The duke did not understand me, he saw in me nothing but a tool, to be taken up and dropped at pleasure. Did he not, by imposing silence upon me towards his wife, betray his suspicion that I was dangerous to him? The patrimony of the strong is the faculty of utilizing the faults of a neighbor. I have already devoured several patrimonies, and my appetite is still good.

SCENE EIGHTH. Saint-Charles, the Duchesse de Montsorel and Mademoiselle de Vaudrey.

(Saint-Charles disappears till the two ladies have passed, and remains at the back, while they come to the front of the stage.)

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
You are quite worn out.

The Duchesse de Montsorel (sinking into an armchair)
Yes; I am dead! In despair—

Saint-Charles (coming forward)
Madame the duchess.

The Duchess Ah! I had forgotten! Sir, it is impossible at this moment to grant you the interview you ask. To-morrow—or later in the day.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey (to Saint-Charles)
My niece, sir, is not in a condition to listen to you.

Saint-Charles
To-morrow, ladies, it will be too late! The life of your son, the
Marquis de Montsorel, who fights a duel to-morrow with Monsieur de
Frescas, is threatened.

The Duchess
The duel is indeed a frightful thing.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey (in a low tone to the duchess)
You have already forgotten that Raoul is a stranger to you.

The Duchess (to Saint-Charles)
Sir, my son will know how to acquit himself.

Saint-Charles May I venture to inform you of facts which ordinarily would be kept from a mother? Your son will be killed without any fighting. His adversary's servants are bravoes, wretches of whom he is the ringleader.

The Duchess
And what proof have you of this?

Saint-Charles A former steward of Monsieur de Frescas has offered me a vast sum if I would join in this foul conspiracy against the Christoval family. In order to make time, I pretended to assent; but just as I was on my way to warn the authorities, I was dashed to the ground by two men who came by at full speed, and I lost consciousness; they administered to me in this condition a powerful narcotic, thrust me into a cab, and when I came to myself, I was in a den of criminals. Recovering my self-possession, I escaped from my confinement, and set out to track these dare-devils.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey You sometimes come here to see Monsieur de Montsorel, according to what Joseph tells us?

Saint-Charles
Yes, madame.

The Duchess
And who, pray, may you be, sir?

Saint-Charles I am a private detective, whom his grace the duke distrusts, and I am hired for clearing up mysterious occurrences.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey (to the duchess)
O Louise!

The Duchess (fixing her eyes on Saint-Charles)
And who has had the impertinence to send you to address me?

Saint-Charles A sense of your danger brings me here. I am paid to be your enemy. You can keep silence as well as I; prove that your protection is more advantageous to me than the hollow promises of the duke, and I can assure you the victory. But time presses, the duke will soon be here, and if he finds us together, the success of our undertaking would be endangered.

The Duchess (to Mademoiselle de Vaudrey) Ah! we may still hope! (To Saint-Charles) And what were you going to do at the house of Monsieur de Frescas?

Saint-Charles
That which, at present, I am doing at yours.

The Duchess
Silence, sir.

Saint-Charles Your grace has given me no answer; the duke has my word, and he is very powerful.

The Duchess And I, sir, am immensely rich; but do not expect to take advantage of me. (She rises) I will never be the dupe of Monsieur de Montsorel, I recognize his trickery in this secret interview, which you had asked for. (With emphasis) Let me complete your information. Monsieur de Frescas is not a wretch; his servants are not assassins; he belongs to a family as rich as it is noble, and he is about to marry the Princesse d'Arjos.

Saint-Charles Yes, madame, a Mexican envoy has produced letters from Monsieur de Christoval, and documents remarkably authentic. You have sent for a secretary of the Spanish legation, who has endorsed them: seals, stamps, authentications—ah! all are flawless.

The Duchess
Yes, sir, the documents are unassailable.

Saint-Charles
You are very much interested, madame, in their being proved forgeries,
I presume?

The Duchess (to Mademoiselle de Vaudrey)
Never has such torture as this wrung the heart of a mother!

Saint-Charles (aside)
Whose side shall I take, husband's or wife's?

The Duchess
Sir, any sum you may ask shall be yours, if you can prove to me that
Monsieur Raoul de Frescas—

Saint-Charles
Is a criminal?

The Duchess
No, but a child—

Saint-Charles
You mean your child, don't you?

The Duchess (forgetting herself)
Yes, yes! Be my deliverer, and I will be your eternal protector. (To
Mademoiselle de Vaudrey) Ah me! What have I said? (To Saint-Charles)
Where is Raoul?

Saint-Charles He has disappeared, and this steward of his, who procured the forged deeds in Rue Oblin, and doubtless played the part of the Mexican envoy, is one of the most astute of criminals. (The duchess starts.) Oh, you need not be alarmed; he is too clever to shed blood; but he is more formidable than those who shed it recklessly; and such a man is the guardian of Raoul.

The Duchess
My whole fortune for his life!

Saint-Charles I am for you, madame. (Aside) I know all, and can choose which side I like.

SCENE NINTH. The same persons, the Duc de Montsorel and a footman.

The Duke Ah, well you are getting your own way; there is talk of nothing else but the fortune and coming marriage of Monsieur de Frescas; but of course he can claim a family. (Whispers to the Duchesse de Montsorel) He has a mother. (Perceiving Saint-Charles) What! You here, chevalier, and with the duchess?

Saint-Charles (taking the duke aside) Your grace will approve of what I have done. (Aloud) You have been at the palace and I thought it necessary to warn the duchess of the danger which threatens her only son, the marquis; he is likely to be murdered.

The Duke
Murdered!

Saint-Charles
But your grace will listen to my advice—

The Duke Come into my study, my friend, and let us at once take steps to avert this catastrophe.

Saint-Charles (exchanging a look of intelligence with the duchess) I have strange things to tell your grace. (Aside) I am certainly going to take the duke's part.

SCENE TENTH. The Duchess, Mademoiselle de Vaudrey and Vautrin.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
If Raoul is your son, how vile is the company he keeps.

The Duchess
An angel would purify hell itself.

(Vautrin half opens with caution a French casement that leads to the garden, where he has been listening to the preceding conversation.)

Vautrin (aside)
I know all. Two brothers cannot fight a duel. Ah, here is my duchess!
(Aloud) Ladies!

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
A man! Help! Help!

The Duchess
It is he!

Vautrin (to the duchess)
Silence! Women can do nothing but cry out. (To Mademoiselle de
Vaudrey) Mademoiselle de Vaudrey, run to the chamber of the marquis.
Two infamous murderers are there; be quick, before they cut out his
throat. But let the wretches be seized without making a disturbance.
(To the duchess) Stay where you are, madame.

The Duchess
Go, dear aunt; have no fear for me.

Vautrin (aside) My rascals will be vastly surprised. What will they think? This is the way I bring down judgment upon them.

(A noise is heard.)

SCENE ELEVENTH. The Duchess and Vautrin.

The Duchess The whole house is in commotion! What will be said, when it is known that I am here?

Vautrin
Let us hope that the foundling will be saved.

The Duchess
But you are known here, and the duke is with—

Vautrin
The Chevalier de Saint-Charles. I am imperturbed; you will defend me.

The Duchess
I?

Vautrin
Yes, you. Or you will never again see your son, Fernand de Montsorel.

The Duchess
Raoul is undoubtedly my son then?

Vautrin He is—I hold in my possession complete proofs of your innocence, and —your son.

The Duchess
You! You shall not leave me until—

SCENE TWELFTH. The same persons and Mademoiselle de Vaudrey on one side of the stage, Saint-Charles on the other, and domestics.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
Here he is! (To Vautrin) Begone! At once!

The Duchess (to Mademoiselle de Vaudrey)
You are ruining everything.

Saint-Charles (to the servants) Behold their ringleader and accomplice! Whatever he may say, seize him!

The Duchess (to the company)
I command you to leave me alone with this man.

Vautrin
What is it, chevalier?

Saint-Charles
You are a puzzle to me, baron.

Vautrin (whispering to the duchess) You behold in this man the murderer of the viscount whom you loved so well.

The Duchess
He the murderer?

Vautrin (to the duchess) Let him be closely watched, or he will slip through your fingers like money.

The Duchess
Joseph!

Vautrin (to Joseph)
What happened upstairs?

Joseph His lordship the marquis drew his sword, and being attacked from the rear, defended himself, and was twice slightly wounded. His grace the duke is with him now.

The Duchess (to her aunt)
Return to Albert's room, I implore you. (To Joseph, pointing out
Saint-Charles) I shall hold you responsible for this man's detention.

Vautrin (to Joseph)
So shall I.

Saint-Charles (to Vautrin)
I see the situation, you have got ahead of me.

Vautrin
I bear no malice towards you, my dear fellow.

Saint-Charles (to Joseph)
Take me before the duke.

(Exeunt.)

SCENE THIRTEENTH. Vautrin and the Duchess.

Vautrin (aside)
He has a father, an ancestral family, a mother. What a climax! In whom
shall I henceforth find an interest? Whom shall I be able to love?
After ten years of paternity, the loss is irreparable.

The Duchess (approaching Vautrin)
What is it?

Vautrin What is it? It is, that I can never give back to you your son, madame; it is, that I do not feel brave enough to survive his separation from me, nor his contempt for me. The loss of such as Raoul is irretrievable! My life has been bound up in his.

The Duchess But could he feel affection for you, you a criminal whom one could at any moment give up—

Vautrin To justice do you mean? I thought you would have been more tender. But you do not, I perceive, see the abyss in which I am dragging you, your son and the duke, and which all descend in company.

The Duchess
Oh! What have you made of my poor child?

Vautrin
A man of honor.

The Duchess
And he loves you?

Vautrin
He loves me still.

The Duchess But has that wretch spoken the truth in revealing what you are and whence you come?

Vautrin
Yes, madame.

The Duchess
And have you taken care of my son?

Vautrin Your son, our son—yes—have you not perceived that he is as pure as an angel?

The Duchess Ah, may you receive a blessing for what you have done! May the world pardon you! Oh God! (she kneels) The voice of a mother must reach Thee, forgive, forgive this man. (She looks at Vautrin.) My tears shall bathe his hands! Oh! grant that he may repent! (Turning to Vautrin) You belong to me; I will change you! But people are deceived, you are no criminal, and, whatever you are, all mothers will give you their absolution!

Vautrin
Come, it is time to restore her son to her.

The Duchess Did you still harbor the horrible thought of refusing him to his mother? But I have waited for him for two and twenty years.

Vautrin And I, have I not been for ten years his father? Raoul is my very soul! Let me endure anguish, let men heap shame upon me; if he is happy and crowned with honor, I shall see it and my life will once more be bright.

The Duchess
I am overwhelmed. He loves like a mother.

Vautrin The only tie that binds me to the world, to life, is this bright link, purer than gold.

The Duchess
And—without stain?

Vautrin Ah! People know themselves only in their virtues, and are austere for others alone. But in myself I see but infamy—in him the heart of honor. And yet was he found by me on the highroad from Toulon to Marseilles, the route of the convict. He was twelve years old, without bread, and in rags.

The Duchess
Bare-foot, it may be?

Vautrin
Yes. But beautiful, with curly hair—

The Duchess
It was thus you saw him?

Vautrin
Poor angel, he was crying. I took him with me.

The Duchess
And you brought him up?

Vautrin
I stole the means to do so.

The Duchess
I should, perhaps, myself have done the like.

Vautrin
I did more!

The Duchess
He must have suffered much.

Vautrin Never! I concealed from him the means I took to make his life happy and easy. I would not let him even suspect them—it would have blighted him. You may ennoble him by parchments, I have made him noble in heart.

The Duchess
And he was my son!

Vautrin Yes, a son full of nobility, of winning grace, of high instincts; he needed but to have the way made clear to him.

The Duchess (wringing the hand of Vautrin) You must needs be great indeed, who have so well performed a mother's task!

Vautrin And better than you mothers do! Often you love your babes amiss—Ah, you will spoil him for me even now!—He was of reckless courage; he wished to be a soldier, and the Emperor would have accepted him. I showed him the world and mankind under their true light—Yet now he is about to renounce me—

The Duchess
My son ungrateful?

Vautrin
NO, 'tis mine I speak of.

The Duchess
Oh! give him back to me this very instant!

Vautrin
I and those two men upstairs—are we not all liable to prosecution?
And ought not the duke to give us assurance of silence and release?

The Duchess
Those two men then are your agents? And you came—

Vautrin But for me, of the two, natural and lawful son, there would not, in a few hours, have survived but one child. And they might perchance both have fallen—each by the other's hand.

The Duchess
Ah! you are a providence of horror!

Vautrin
What would you have had me do?

SCENE FOURTEENTH. The same persons, the Duke, Lafouraille, Buteux, Saint-Charles, and all the domestics.

The Duke (pointing to Vautrin) Seize him! (Pointing to Saint-Charles) And obey no one but this gentleman.

The Duchess But you owe to him the life of your Albert! It was he who gave the alarm.

The Duke
He!

Buteux (to Vautrin)
Ah! you have betrayed us! Why did you bring us here?

Saint-Charles (to the duke)
Does your grace hear them?

Lafouraille (to Buteux)
Cannot you keep silence? Have we any right to judge him?

Buteux
And yet he condemns us!

Vautrin (to the duke) I would inform your grace that these two men belong to me, and I claim possession of them.

Saint-Charles
Why, these are the domestics of Monsieur de Frescas!

Vautrin (to Saint-Charles)
Steward of the Langeacs, hold your tongue! (He points to Lafouraille)
This is Philip Boulard. (Lafouraille bows.) Will your grace kindly
send every one out of the room?

The Duke
What! Do you dare give your orders in my house?

The Duchess
Ah! sir, he is master here.

The Duke
What! This wretch?

Vautrin If his grace the duke wishes to have an audience present we will proceed to talk of the son of Dona Mendes.

The Duke
Silence!

Vautrin
Whom you are passing off as the son of—

The Duke
Once more I say, silence!

Vautrin Your grace perceives, evidently, that there are too many people within hearing.

The Duke
All of you begone!

Vautrin (to the duke) Set a watch on every outlet from your house, and let no one leave it, excepting these two men. (To Saint-Charles) Do you remain here. (He draws a dagger and cuts the cords by which Lafouraille and Buteux are bound.) Take yourselves off by the postern; here is the key, and go to the house of mother Giroflee. (To Lafouraille) You must send Raoul to me.

Lafouraille (as he leaves the room)
Oh! our veritable emperor.

Vautrin
You shall receive money and passports.

Buteux (as he goes out)
After all, I shall have something for Adele!

The Duke
But how did you learn all these facts?

Vautrin (handing some documents to the duke)
These are what I took from your study.

The Duke These comprise my correspondence, and the letters of the duchess to the Viscount de Langeac.

Vautrin
Who was shot at Mortagne, October, 1792, through the kind efforts of
Charles Blondet, otherwise known as the Chevalier de Saint-Charles.

Saint-Charles
But your grace very well knows—

Vautrin It was he himself who gave me these papers, among which you will notice the death certificate of the viscount, which proves that he and her grace the duchess never met after the Tenth of August, for he had then left the Abbaye for the Vendee, accompanied by Boulard, who seized the moment to betray and murder him.

The Duke
And so Fernand—

Vautrin
The child sent to Sardinia is undoubtedly your son.

The Duke
And her grace the duchess—

Vautrin
Is innocent.

The Duke
My God! (He sinks back into an armchair.) What have I done?

The Duchess
What a horrible proof—his death! And the assassin stands before us.

Vautrin Monsieur le Duc de Montsorel, I have been a father to Fernand, and I have just saved your two sons, each from the sword of the other; you alone are the author of all this complication.

The Duchess Stop! I know him better than you do, and he suffers at this moment all that I have suffered during twenty years. In the name of mercy, where is my son?

The Duke
What, Raoul de Frescas?

Vautrin Fernand de Montsorel is on his way here. (To Saint-Charles) And what do you say about all this?

Saint-Charles
You are a hero; let me be your servant.

Vautrin
You are ambitious. Would you follow me?

Saint-Charles
Anywhere.

Vautrin
I can well believe it.

Saint-Charles Ah! what a master mind you obtain in me, and what a loss to the government!

Vautrin
Go; and wait for me at the bureau of passports.

(Exit Saint-Charles.)

SCENE FIFTEENTH. The same persons, the Duchesse de Christoval, Inez and Mademoiselle de Vaudrey.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
Here they are!

The Duchesse de Christoval My daughter, madame, has received a letter from Monsieur Raoul, in which this noble young man declares that he would rather give up Inez, than deceive us; he has related his whole life's history. He is to fight a duel with your son to-morrow, and as Inez is the involuntary cause of this duel we are come to prevent it; for it is now entirely without ground or reason.

The Duchesse de Montsorel
There will be no duel, madame.

Inez
He will live then!

The Duchesse de Montsorel
And you shall marry the Marquis de Montsorel, my child.

SCENE SIXTEENTH. The same persons, Raoul and Lafouraille. (The last named does not tarry.)

Raoul (to Vautrin)
What! Would you imprison me to prevent my fighting a duel?

The Duke
With your brother?

Raoul
My brother?

The Duke
Yes.

The Duchesse de Montsorel
You are, then, really my child! (She embrace Raoul.) Ladies, this is
Fernand de Montsorel, my son, the—

The Duke (taking Raoul by the hand, and interrupting his wife) The eldest son, who was carried off from us in childhood. Albert is now no more than Comte de Montsorel.

Raoul
For three days I have been in a dream! You, my mother! You, sir—

The Duke
Your father—yes!

Raoul
Among the very people who asked me to name my family—

Vautrin
Your family has been found.

Raoul
And—are you still to have a place in my life?

Vautrin (to the Duchesse de Montsorel) What shall I say to you? (to Raoul) Remember, my lord marquis, that I have, in advance, absolved you from all charge of ingratitude. (To the duchess) The child will forget me; will the mother also?

The Duchesse de Montsorel
Never.

The Duke
But what are the misfortunes that plunged you into so dark an abyss?

Vautrin
Can any one explain misfortune?

The Duchesse de Montsorel
Dear husband, is it not in your power to obtain his pardon?

The Duke
The sentences under which he has served are irreversible.

Vautrin That word reconciles me to you, it is a statesman's word. Your grace should explain that transportation is the last expedient to which you can resort in overcoming us.

Raoul
Monsieur—

Vautrin
You are wrong; I am not even monsieur at present.

Inez I think I understand that you are an outlaw, that my friend owes you a vast debt, and cannot discharge it. Beyond the sea, I have extensive lands, which require a man's energy for their right administration; you shall go and exercise there your talents, and become—

Vautrin Rich, under a new name? Child, can you not realize that in this world there are pitiless necessities? Yes, I could acquire a fortune, but who will give me the opportunity? (To the duke) The king could at your grace's intercession grant me a pardon, but who then would take my hand in his?

Raoul
I would!

Vautrin Ah! It was this I waited for before taking leave. You now have a mother. Farewell!

SCENE SEVENTEENTH. The same persons, a police officer, guards and servants.

(The window casements are flung open; and an officer enters; at the back of the stage are gendarmes.)

The officer (to the duke) In the name of the king, of the law, I arrest Jacques Collin, convicted of having broken—

(All persons present fling themselves between the armed force and
Jacques, in order to give him opportunity for escaping.)

The Duke
Gentlemen, I take upon myself—

Vautrin In your grace's house the justice of the king must have free course. The matter lies between these gentlemen and me. (To the officer) I will follow you. (To the duchess) It was Joseph who brought the police; he is one of us; discharge him.

Raoul
Are we separated forever?

Vautrin You will marry very shortly. Within a year, on a day of christening, scan carefully the faces of the poor at the church door; one will be there who wishes to be certain of your happiness. Till then, adieu. (To the officer) It is time for us to be moving.

Final Curtain.