[PART I]
CHAPTER
I [The First Act of Procedure]
II [The First Judges]
III [The Plaintiff]
IV [The Defendant]
[PART II]
I [The Other Side of the World]
II [The Watch]
III [Albert's Diary]
IV [Anne de Sézery]
V [Elizabeth's Awakening]
[PART III]
I [The First Stage]
II [Elizabeth's Day]
III [Madame Molay-Norrois]
IV [The New Life]
V [A Ghost]
VI [Madame Derize]
[PART IV]
I [The Palms]
II [Philippe Lagier's Mysterious Journey]
III [Elizabeth in Paris]
IV [The Return]
V [The Phantom]
VI [The Chartreuse of Prémol]
VII [The Opened Eyes]
THE AWAKENING
[PART I]
I
THE FIRST ACT OF PROCEDURE
A suit for divorce or separation is begun, as everyone knows, by a petition to the presiding judge: the party seeking freedom or release from the conjugal tie briefly states his grievances, and requests the magistrate, according to law, to attempt a reconciliation, a useless proceeding in most cases, before the final break. In the provinces, the first step in the proceedings is generally heartily welcomed in the solicitors' offices. The clerks hastily leave their desks to get a look at the rough draft—which they will soon have to copy—with all the eagerness of youth to enjoy a scandal, the participants in which are known to them. It is a regular treat for them; but their unkindness is quite devoid of malice.
Thus, the Derize case at Grenoble brought into close conference in M. Tabourin's office, during the chief's absence, the four clerks—the learned Vitrolle, Dauras, Lestaque and the errand-boy Malaunay. They began the reading of a communication from the veteran barrister, M. Salvage with the formality commensurate with the importance of the persons concerned, and with a sense of the glory reflected upon the office by such a truly Parisian affair.
"Another victim of man's selfishness!" cried Vitrolle with an air of finality.
The head clerk was chivalrous, a feminist, and imbued with a local patriotism stimulated by the scholarly learning of an archivist. Had he not discovered from statistics—into what will statistics not inquire?—that "the number of deceived husbands is less in Dauphiné than anywhere else," this being an opinion which an old author named Chateaumières de Grenaille had formulated as early as the 16th century, stating that it was "almost a miracle to hear of a woman in Grenoble having a love-affair to the damage or prejudice of her reputation." Nothing less than this learned authority could have induced him to side against M. Derize, whose almost universal reputation as an historian would otherwise have had great weight with him.
"Pooh, let's wait for the answer," protested young Malaunay, who, at the age of seventeen or eighteen, after having gone through many offices, was profoundly skeptical in all matters of morals.
But his doubts were not shared by his three colleagues, for they had seen the pretty, quiet Madame Derize in the street, in the public garden, on the quays of the Isère, and they earnestly and unanimously vouched for the innocence of their new client.