WITCH. That's very nice of you, Judge, but I hope you don't mind my having given some thought to the others, too.
JUDGE. [Disappointed] Are you poking fun at me, you damned old hag?
WITCH. [Spitting in his face] Hold your tongue, petti-fogger!
JUDGE. What company I have got into!
WITCH. Is it not good enough for you, you old perjurer, you grafter, you forger, you robber of orphans, you false pleader? Now have a look in the peep-show and take in the great spectacle: "From the Cradle to the Grave." There is your whole biography and all your victims—just have a look now. That's right!
JUDGE looks in the stereoscope; then he rises with horror stamped on his face.
WITCH. I hope this slight attention may add to the Christmas joy!
She hands a stereoscope to the OLD LADY, and proceeds thereafter to give one to each person present.
JUDGE. [Sitting at the table, where now the OLD LADY takes a seat opposite him] What do you see?
OLD LADY. Everything is there; everything!—And do you notice that everything is black? All life that seemed so bright is now black, and even moments which I thought full of innocent joy have an appearance of something nauseating, foul, almost criminal. It is as if all my memories had decayed, including the fairest among them——