“Yes,” said the boy slowly; “yes, I like it.”
“And why do you like it?” continued the Doctor. “(We are now pursuing the Socratic method.) Why do you like it?”
“It is quiet,” answered Jean-Marie; “and I have nothing to do; and then I feel as if I were good.”
Doctor Desprez took a seat on the post at the opposite side. He was beginning to take an interest in the talk, for the boy plainly thought before he spoke, and tried to answer truly. “It appears you have a taste for feeling good,” said the Doctor. “Now, there you puzzle me extremely; for I thought you said you were a thief; and the two are incompatible.”
“Is it very bad to steal?” asked Jean-Marie.
“Such is the general opinion, little boy,” replied the Doctor.
“No; but I mean as I stole,” explained the other. “For I had no choice. I think it is surely right to have bread; it must be right to have bread, there comes so plain a want of it. And then they beat me cruelly if I returned with nothing,” he added. “I was not ignorant of right and wrong; for before that I had been well taught by a priest, who was very kind to me.” (The Doctor made a horrible grimace at the word “priest.”) “But it seemed to me, when one had nothing to eat and was beaten, it was a different affair. I would not have stolen for tartlets, I believe; but any one would steal for baker’s bread.”
“And so I suppose,” said the Doctor, with a rising sneer, “you prayed God to forgive you, and explained the case to Him at length.”
“Why, sir?” asked Jean-Marie. “I do not see.”
“Your priest would see, however,” retorted Desprez.