Champagne Ask the General, your Honor, if I am not mild as a lamb; but my wife, God forgive her, was the worst that was ever made. An angel could not have stood her. If I have sometimes tried to bring her to reason, the anxious moments you have made me pass here, have been punishment enough! To be taken up for a prisoner, and to know yourself innocent, while you are in the hands of justice. (Weeps.)
The General
Well! well! You are acquitted now!
Napoleon
Papa, what is justice?
The General
Gentlemen, justice ought not to commit errors of this kind.
Gertrude There seems to be always something fatal in this justice! And this poor man will always bear a bad name from your arrival here.
Ramel Madame, for the innocent there is nothing fatal in criminal justice. You see that Champagne has been promptly discharged. (Fixing his eyes upon Gertrude.) Those who live without reproach, who indulge no passions, save the noble and the lawful, have nothing to fear from justice.
Gertrude Sir, you do not know the people of this country. Ten years from this time they will say that Champagne poisoned his wife, that the officers of justice came to investigate and, but for our protection—
The General
Say no more, Gertrude. These gentlemen have done only their duty.
(Felix prepares the coffee.) Gentlemen, can I offer you a cup of
coffee?
The Magistrate
Thank you, General; the urgency of this affair called me away from
home rather suddenly, and my wife is waiting dinner for me at
Louviers. (He goes on the veranda to talk with the doctor.)
The General (to Ramel)
You are a friend of Ferdinand's, I believe?