The President [taking off his gown] My dear Monsieur, I beg you to be more moderate in your remarks.
Vagret. Ah, I assure you that I am moderate! If I were to speak what is in my mind, you would hear very unpleasant things.
The President [in shirt sleeves] Are you forgetting to whom you are speaking? I am a Councillor of the Court, Monsieur le Procureur.
Vagret. Once again, I am not speaking to you merely; the disagreeable things I might say would condemn me equally. I am thinking of those poor people.
The President [brushing his gown] What poor people? The late prisoners? But after all, they are acquitted. What more do you want? To provide them with an income?
Vagret. They are acquitted, true; but they are condemned, all the same. They are sentenced to misery for life.
The President. What are you talking about?
Vagret. And through your fault, Monsieur.
The President [stopping in his task of folding his gown] My fault!
Vagret. And what is so particularly serious is that you didn't know it, you didn't see, you haven't seen the harm you did.