Delorme [regretfully] I simply had to.
Vagret [the same] Obviously. [A pause] There is not a chance?
Delorme. No.
Vagret. Well, then?
Delorme. Well, I beg you to give the brief to someone else.
Vagret. Is that final?
Delorme. Yes. You see, my dear fellow, I'm too old to adapt myself to the customs of the day. I'm a magistrate of the old school, just as you are. I inherited from my father certain scruples which are no longer the fashion. These daily attacks in the press get on my nerves.
Vagret. They would cease at the news of an arrest.
Delorme. Precisely. I should end by doing something foolish. Well, I have done something foolish already. I should not have arrested that man if I had not been badgered as I was.
Vagret. He was a tramp. You gave him shelter for a few days. There's no great harm done there.