Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe / Three Plays By Brieux

by Eugène Brieux

Mouzon. Well, then! What's the matter with you that you look at me like that? Bring him in.

Recorder. Which first? Etchepare?

Mouzon. No!—the witness for the defence. The wit-ness for the de-fence—do you understand?

Recorder [outside, angrily] Bridet! Come, Bridet, are you deaf? Come in! [Roughly] Stir yourself!

Bridet enters.

Bridet. Your worship, I am going to tell you—

Mouzon. Hold your tongue. You will speak when you are questioned. Name, surname, age, profession, and place of domicile.

Bridet. Bridet, Jean-Pierre, thirty-eight, maker of alpargates at Faigorry.

Mouzon [in a single breath] You swear to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Say, "I swear." You are neither a blood relative nor a relation by marriage of the accused, you are not in his service and he is not in yours. [To the recorder] Has he said, "I swear"?

Recorder. Yes, your worship.