LUCIE. Oh!
BRIGNAC. This is a provincial town! This is Chartres!
LUCIE. So when an unhappy woman is seduced by a scoundrel, her shame, if shame there is, falls on her whole family! Is that the system you uphold?
BRIGNAC. Society must defend itself against immorality. Without the guarantee of social punishment, there would soon be hardly any except illegitimate children.
LUCIE. If anyone is guilty, two are. Why do you only punish the mother?
BRIGNAC. How should I know? Because it’s easier.
LUCIE. But you can’t sit still and do nothing. You must do something! You’re the head of the family.
BRIGNAC. Something! Something! What? The only logical thing I know is to take a pistol—
LUCIE. Julien!
BRIGNAC. And go coolly and put a bullet through the man’s head. No? A crime, is it? Ah, if we lived in an age with a little more guts! [As if to himself] No; I’m not sure it’s not my duty to go and do justice myself