“Citizen de Vaudrey and Henriette Girard to the bar!”
The Chevalier faces the dread quintet. The prosecutor reads the charge, demands the death penalty on the returned aristocrat. Poor Henriette is divided between her frenzied wish to clasp her sister and her horror about Maurice.
The young man defends himself.
“An emigre, yes!” he acknowledges, “but not an enemy of the people.”
Many a spectator of the scenes––even the wicked judges––could bear witness (did not prejudice blind!) to his kindness for the afflicted and fallen. Is there an undercurrent 155 of sympathy for him even amongst hard sansculottes?
But this is Jacques-Forget-Not’s great moment.
Vengeance’s hour has struck.
The wickedness of the old de Vaudreys is to be expiated at last!