COUNSEL. It is not a crime; it is a revolt against nature!
PRESIDENT. Guards, remove the defendants! [The guards do not hear or do not understand]. Maître Verdier, if I have to employ force—
Tumult in court.
COUNSEL [succeeding by the force of his voice in imposing a short silence] It is a revolt against nature! A revolt that fills my heart with pity, at the cause of which all the force of my mind is roused to indignation! Yes; I look forward with eagerness to that hour of freedom when the store-house of science shall give to everyone the means, without a restraint that is only hypocrisy, without the profanation of love, to have none but the children he wants! That will be indeed a victory over nature, that cruel nature which sows with criminal profusion the life that she watches die with indifference. But meanwhile—
The tumult begins again.
PRESIDENT. Guards, clear the court! Guards! Guards, remove the defendants. The sitting is adjourned.
The judges put on their caps and rise.
MME. THOMAS. It’s not me who kills the innocents! I’m no murderess!
SCHOOLMISTRESS. Mercy! Mercy!
MME. TUPIN. She’s no murderess!