(Exeunt.)
SCENE THIRTEENTH. Vautrin and the Duchess.
Vautrin (aside)
He has a father, an ancestral family, a mother. What a climax! In whom
shall I henceforth find an interest? Whom shall I be able to love?
After ten years of paternity, the loss is irreparable.
The Duchess (approaching Vautrin)
What is it?
Vautrin What is it? It is, that I can never give back to you your son, madame; it is, that I do not feel brave enough to survive his separation from me, nor his contempt for me. The loss of such as Raoul is irretrievable! My life has been bound up in his.
The Duchess But could he feel affection for you, you a criminal whom one could at any moment give up—
Vautrin To justice do you mean? I thought you would have been more tender. But you do not, I perceive, see the abyss in which I am dragging you, your son and the duke, and which all descend in company.
The Duchess
Oh! What have you made of my poor child?
Vautrin
A man of honor.
The Duchess
And he loves you?