[A court house, of which only two sides are visible. The footlights would almost correspond with a line drawn from one angle to the opposite one. On the left to the front is the raised seat of the public Minister. Further back, to the left, the court. Facing the audience, successively, counsels’ bench; the defendants’ bench, a little raised; and the police bench.
[In the centre, facing the table on which lie the ‘pièces à conviction,’ is the witness-box.
[To the extreme right are three or four benches, of which a part only is visible, reserved for the public. The jury, which is not visible, would be in the prompter’s place.
[There are present the advocate-general: the president of the court and his assessors; also the counsel for the defence and some junior barristers. In the dock are Madame Thomas, Marie Caubert, Tupin, Madame Tupin and several policemen. Madame Chevillot is among the public.
PRESIDENT [authoritatively, to the counsel for the defence] Maître Verdier, you cannot speak now. I see what line you propose to take for the defence, and I give you fair warning that I shall use my whole power and authority to prevent you from making light of the criminal acts attributed to the defendants.
COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENCE. You are mistaken, M. le président. I have no intention of making light of them. On the contrary, I declare definitely that in my eyes abortion is a crime, because it deprives of life a creature already living; and to condone it would lead to condoning infanticide also. But what I propose to demonstrate is that in not permitting affiliation and in not respecting all motherhood, whatever its origin may be, society has lost its right to condemn a crime rendered excusable by the hypocrisy of custom and the indifference of the laws.
PRES. This is not the time for your address. Let the woman Thomas stand up. [To Madame Thomas] So you hunted up your clients in the provinces?
MME. THOMAS. No, M. le président. They came and found me.
PRES. We shall see. Usher, bring forward the witness—[he hunts for the name in his notes]—Madame Lucie Brignac.
MME. CHEV [among the audience, to her neighbor] Mustn’t Brignac be in a hurry to get his divorce!