The High Priest makes a sign. Total darkness. A peal of thunder.
The High Priest makes a sign. Total darkness. A peal of thunder.
Satni.Ah! [Terrified, he leaps forward. A faint light returns slowly, the temple is empty] I am alone! [He is terrified, standing erect against a pillar facing the audience] Alone in the temple, within sight of the goddess almost. I know 'tis but an image—yet am I steeped in terror, even to the marrow of my bones. [He utters an agonized cry] Ah!—I thought I beheld in the darkness—No—I know that there is nothing—Oh! coward nature! Because I was cradled amid tales of religion, because I grew up in the fear of the gods, because my father and my father's father, and all those from whom I come, were crushed by this terror even from the blackest night of time, I tremble, and my reason totters. All this is false, I know—the god obeys the priest. Yet, from these towering columns, horror and mystery descend upon me—[A thunder clap brings him to his knees. The stones that mask the entrance tothe sanctuary roll slowly back. He tries to look] The holy of holies opens—I am afraid—I am afraid—[He mutters words, wipes the sweat from his brow with his hand. He trembles and falls sobbing to the ground. A long pause] 'Tis the beast in me that is afraid—Ah! coward flesh! [Biting his hands] I shall conquer thee—I would chastise my weakness. I am shamed—I am shamed—In spite of all I will look her in the face. I have the will! but I must fight against so many memories, against all the dead whose spirits stir in mine. I shall conquer the dead. My life, and my will—courage!
With great effort and after many struggles he gains the mastery of himself, goes to the shrine and looks upon the goddess. The High Priest reappears touching him on the shoulder.
With great effort and after many struggles he gains the mastery of himself, goes to the shrine and looks upon the goddess. The High Priest reappears touching him on the shoulder.
High Priest.Terror does not move you. Let us see if you be proof against pity. Come—[He leads him to the side of the shrine, presses a spring and a door opens, revealing in the interior of the shrine the machinery of the miracle, a lever and cordage] Look! 'Tis by pressing this lever that one of ours, in a little while, will bring about the miracle. I leave you in his place. At my signal the doors of the sacred enclosure will open, and the people draw near the sanctuary. Listen to them. And if you are moved to pity by their prayers, you—youshall give them the consoling lie for which they pray.
Satni.There will be no miracle.
High Priest.Watch and hear. [He leaves Satni, who remains visible to the audience. The stones roll back over the shrine. The High Priest makes a sign, other priests appear] All is ready?
A Priest.All.
High Priest[to another] Listen.
He whispers to him. The Priest bows and goes out. While the crowd comes in later, this priest is seen to enter the hiding-place right, where he stands watching Satni, dagger in hand.
He whispers to him. The Priest bows and goes out. While the crowd comes in later, this priest is seen to enter the hiding-place right, where he stands watching Satni, dagger in hand.
High Priest.Now, let them come in.
He makes a gesture and all disappear. A pitiable crowd bursts into the temple, bustling, running, filling all the empty spaces. Four men carry a litter on which is a beautiful young woman clothed in precious stuffs. Mieris, Yaouma, and all the characters of the play come on.
He makes a gesture and all disappear. A pitiable crowd bursts into the temple, bustling, running, filling all the empty spaces. Four men carry a litter on which is a beautiful young woman clothed in precious stuffs. Mieris, Yaouma, and all the characters of the play come on.
Young Woman.Nearer, lay me nearer the goddess! She will drive forth the evil spirit that will not let me move my legs.
Cripples, people on crutches, creatures with hands or feet wrapped in bandages crowd past her.
Cripples, people on crutches, creatures with hands or feet wrapped in bandages crowd past her.
A Blind Girl[to him who leads her] When the stone rolls back and the goddess appears, watch well her face, to tell me if she will not give me back my sight.
A paralytic drags himself in on his hands.
A paralytic drags himself in on his hands.
The Paralytic.I would be quite near, quite near! In a little while I shall walk.
Two sons lead in their mother, who is mad, striving to calm her. A mother, with her child in her arms, begs the crowd to let her get near. A man, whose head is bandaged, and whose eyes and mouth are mere holes, hustles his neighbors. Many blind, and people borne on chairs.
Two sons lead in their mother, who is mad, striving to calm her. A mother, with her child in her arms, begs the crowd to let her get near. A man, whose head is bandaged, and whose eyes and mouth are mere holes, hustles his neighbors. Many blind, and people borne on chairs.
A Woman.She will speak, she will say "yes." She will reveal herself again as protectress of Egypt.
Another.They say not. They say that great calamities are in store for us.
Another.If she answer not?
Another.Silence!
Music. The Pharaoh's procession enters. He is conducted down left where he remains invisible to the spectators.The High Priest mounts his throne. The people prostrate themselves.
Music. The Pharaoh's procession enters. He is conducted down left where he remains invisible to the spectators.The High Priest mounts his throne. The people prostrate themselves.
High Priest.Ammon is great!
A pause.
A pause.
The People.Ammon is great!
High Priest.The sanctuary is about to open.
Voices.The stones will roll back! I am afraid! The goddess will appear! We shall behold her! Hush! Hush!
The High Priest lifts his hands to heaven.
The High Priest lifts his hands to heaven.
A Priest[in the recess, to some men ready to work the ropes, in a low voice] Now!
The men pull the ropes, the stones roll back. The crowd bow themselves flat on the ground. Those who cannot, hide their faces on their arms.
The men pull the ropes, the stones roll back. The crowd bow themselves flat on the ground. Those who cannot, hide their faces on their arms.
High Priest.Rise! Behold and pray! [A smothered cry of terror rises, women mad with terror are seized with nervous fits. They are carried out] O goddess! Thy people adore thee, and humble themselves before thee!
All.Isis, we adore thee!
High Priest.This year, once more, show to us by that miraculous sign of thy divine head, that still thou art our protectress. [The people repeat the incantation in a murmur] O goddess, if thou hast pity on those who suffer, thou wilt bend thy head. Pity! Pity! we suffer! The evil spirits torment us.
The People.We suffer! Drive forth the evil spirits!
High Priest.Neith! Mother of the Universe! The evil spirits torment us! Neith! Virgin genetrix! Isis, sacred earth of Egypt, bend thy head! Sati, queen of the heavens! Bend thy head!
The Mother.The soul of a dead man has entered the body of my child, O Isis! And he is dying. I hold him towards thee, Isis. Behold how he is fair, beholdhow he suffers. Look, he is so little. Let me keep him! Isis! Isis! Let me keep him!
All.Pity! Pity!
High Priest.Show us that thou dost consent to hear us! Isis, bend thy head!
Blind Girl.Open my eyes! Ever since I was born a demon held them closed. Let me see the skies of whose splendor they tell me. I am unhappy, Isis! He whom I love, he who loves me, I have not looked upon his countenance! I am unhappy, Isis!
All.Pity! Pity!
High Priest.Anouke! Soul of the Universe! Pity! We are before thee like little children who are lost.
The People.Yes! Yes! like little children who are lost!
The Son.For my father who is blind, Isis, I implore thee!
All.Isis! Father! Pity!
High Priest.Thmei, Queen of Justice! Mirror of truth! Bend thy head!
The Young Paralytic.I have offered up ten lambs to thee. Let me get up and walk!
The Man[with the bandaged head] An unseen monster devours my face making me howl with pain.
Paralyzed Man.I drag through the mire, like a beast unclean. Let me walk upright like a god.
The Two Sons[of the mad woman] Behold our mother, Isis, behold our mother, who knows us no more, who knows not herself even, and who laughs!—
The Mother.Isis! Thou art a mother. Isis, in the name of thine own child, save mine. Let me not go with empty arms, bereft of my tender burden. Thou art a mother, Isis!
High Priest.All! All! Pray! Supplicate! Flingyou with your faces to the ground—yes! yes! again! Silence! She is about to answer. [A long pause] Your prayers are lukewarm. Your supplications need fervor! Pray! Weep! Cry out! Cry out!
All.Isis! Drive out the evil spirits! Answer us! Answer us!
High Priest.Louder! Louder!
The People.Sorrows! Tears! Sobs! Cries! Have pity!
High Priest.Once more, though you die!
The People.Thou dost abandon Egypt! What ills will overwhelm us! Help! Help us! Have pity!
High Priest.Have pity! Have pity! [bursting into sobs] Oh! unhappy people, Isis, if thou dost abandon them.
Voices[amid the sobs of the others] She hears us not! She answers not. Evil is upon us! Evil overwhelms us!
High Priest.Desperate! We are desperate!
All.We are desperate!
A Cry.Her head is bending! No! Yes!
Silence. Then a great cry of distress and disappointment.
Silence. Then a great cry of distress and disappointment.
High Priest.O mother! O goddess!
The Mother.O Isis! mother of Horus! the child god! Wilt thou let die my child? Behold him! Behold him!
Young Paralytic.Thy heart is hard, O goddess!
Paralyzed Man.Thou hast but to will it, Isis, and I walk!
The Man[with the bandaged head] Heal my sores! I sow horror around me! Heal my sores!
High Priest.Answer us! Bend thy head!
All.Pity!
The crowd, delirious, cries and sobs in a paroxysm of despair.
The crowd, delirious, cries and sobs in a paroxysm of despair.
Satni.Oh! the poor wretched souls!
He presses the lever. As the head of the statue bows, the people respond with one wild roar of acclamation.
He presses the lever. As the head of the statue bows, the people respond with one wild roar of acclamation.
Scene:—Same as Acts I and II.The statues of the gods are set up again, in their places, facing them a throne has been erected on which the High Priest is seated. Rheou, Satni, Mieris, Yaouma, Sokiti, Nourm, Bitiou, the Steward and all the women and servants of the household, and the laborers. When the curtain rises all are prostrate with their faces to the ground.
Scene:—Same as Acts I and II.
The statues of the gods are set up again, in their places, facing them a throne has been erected on which the High Priest is seated. Rheou, Satni, Mieris, Yaouma, Sokiti, Nourm, Bitiou, the Steward and all the women and servants of the household, and the laborers. When the curtain rises all are prostrate with their faces to the ground.
High Priest[after a pause] Rise! [All rise to their knees. A pause] The divine images are again in their places. You have shown that you repent. You have begged for pardon. You have testified your horror of the terrible crime you were driven to commit. You await your chastisement. The gods now permit that we proceed to the sacrifice, that will bring about the overflowing of the Nile, and give for yet another year, life to the land of Egypt. She who has chosen, the elect, the savior, is she here?
Yaouma[rising to her feet, radiant] I am here!
High Priest.Let her go to clothe her in the sacred robe. Form the procession to bear her to the threshold of the abode of the glorious and the immortal.
Yaouma.Come!
A number of the women rise and go out right with Yaouma.
A number of the women rise and go out right with Yaouma.
High Priest.To-day, at the hour when Ammon-Ra came forth from the underworld, I entered the sanctuary.Face to face with the god, I heard his words, which now you shall hear from me. These are the commands of the God. Rheou! [Rheou stands up] You have been to make submission to the Pharaoh—Light of Ra—you have implored his mercy. You have sworn on the body of your father, to serve him faithfully, and you have given that body to him in pledge of your obedience. You have denounced to his anger and justice those who conceived the impious plot to dethrone the Lord of Egypt. You have declared that if you did permit the images of the gods to be thrown down before you, it was because the spells of Satni had clouded your reason. Ammon has proclaimed to me that you are sincere! You are pardoned, on conditions which I shall presently impart. [Rheou bows and kneels down] Satni! [Satni stands up. He casts down his eyes, he is steeped in sorrow and shame] Satni, you have admitted and proclaimed the power of the gods, whom you dared to deny. You have bowed you down before them. Once, in the temple, you took the first priestly vows; your life is therefore sacred. But you stand now reproved. This very day you will quit Egypt. Withdraw from the Gods! [Satni, with eyes on the ground, withdraws, the people shrink aside to let him pass, abusing him in whispers, shaking their fists, and some even striking him. He goes to the terrace down left where he stands, hiding his face on his arm] Ammon has spoken other words. [The people turn from Satni] All you who are here, you are guilty of the most odious, the most monstrous of crimes. You are all deserving of death. Such is the decree of the God.
All.O Ammon! Pity! Pity! Ammon!
High Priest.Cease your sobs! Cease your cries! Cease your useless prayers! Hear the God who speaks through my mouth.
All.Be kind! Thou! Thou! Have pity! Beseechthe God for us, we implore thee! We would not die. Not death! not death! not death!
High Priest.Yes—I—I have pity on you. But your crime is so great! Have you considered well the enormity of your sin? None can remember to have seen the like. The Gods! To overthrow the Gods! And such Gods! Ammon and Thoueris! I would I might disarm their wrath. But what shall I offer them in your name that may equal your offence?
People.All! Take all we possess, but spare our lives.
High Priest.All you possess! 'Tis little enough.
People.Take our crops.
High Priest.And who then will feed you? Already you pay tithes. I will offer a fourth of your harvests for ten years. But 'tis little. Even did I say you would give half of all that is in your homes, should I succeed? And would you give it me?
People.Yes! Yes!
High Priest.Still it will not be enough. Hear what the God hath breathed to me. There must be prayers, ceaseless prayers in the temple. Every year ten of your daughters must enter the house of the God to be consecrated.
People.Our daughters! Ammon! Our daughters!
High Priest.The God is good! The God is good! Lo! I hear him pronounce the words of pardon. But further, you must needs assist the Pharaoh to carry out the divine commands. Ammon wills that the Ethiopian infidels be chastised. All who are of an age to fight will join the army, that is on the eve of departure.
People[in consternation] Oh! the war! the war!
High Priest.Proud Ethiopia threatens invasion to Egypt. You must defend your tombs, your homes, and your women. Would you become slaves of the blacks?
People.No, no, we would not!
High Priest.You will go to punish the foes of your kings?
People.We will go.
High Priest.And what will be your reward? Know you not that victory will be yours, because the god is with you. And if some fall in battle, should we not all envy their fate, since they leave this world to go towards Osiris. The arrows of your foes will fall harmless at your feet, like wounded birds. Their swords shall bend on your invulnerable bodies. The fire they light against you will become as perfumed water. All this you know to be true. You know that your gods protect you. You know they are all-powerful, because, yesterday, you all did see how the stone image of the goddess Isis did bow, to show you she protects you.
People.To the war! To the war! To Ethiopia!
Satni[leaping up to the terrace] I have been coward too long! [To the crowd] The miracle of yesterday—'twas I—'twas I who worked it.
General uproar.
General uproar.
High Priest.I deliver this man to you, and I deliver you to him. You will not let him deceive you twice.
Execrations of the people, Satni cannot speak. The High Priest is borne out on his throne accompanied by Rheou.
Execrations of the people, Satni cannot speak. The High Priest is borne out on his throne accompanied by Rheou.
Satni[when the uproar subsides] I was in the temple—
People.That is a lie!
Satni.It was I who made the head of the image bow.
People.He blasphemes. Have done! Have done! Let him not blaspheme!
Satni.It was I! And I ask your forgiveness.
A Man.Why should you do it, if you despise our gods?
Satni.I did it out of pity.
People.We have no need of your pity.
Satni.That is true. You have need only of my courage. And I failed you. I was touched by your tears. I was weak, thinking to be kind.
A Man.You are not kind. You would have handed us over to foreign gods.
People.Yes! yes! that is true!
Satni.I gave you the lie that you begged for. I wanted to lull your sorrows to sleep.
A Man.You have brought down on us the anger of the gods.
Another.The evils that crush us, 'tis you have let them loose on us.
All.Yes, yes! Liar! Curse you! Let him be accursed!
Satni.Curse me. You are right. I am guilty. I had not the strength to persevere; to lead you, in spite of your tears, to the summits I would lead you to. To still a few sobs, to give hope to some who were stricken, I worked the miracle; and, beholding that false miracle, you made submission. I have confirmed, I have strengthened the empire of the lie.
A Man.'Twas you who lied.
Satni.I have given back your minds, for another age, to slavery and debasement. I have given back to the priests their power that was endangered. I have given them means to increase your burdens, to take your daughters, to send you to a war, covetous, murderous, and unjust.
A Man.You are a spy from Ethiopia!
Another.You are a traitor to your country!
All.Yes! a traitor! Death to the traitor!
Satni.And to defend your tyrants, you will kill men as wretched as yourselves, dupes like you, and like you enslaved.
A Man.We know you are paid to betray Egypt!
All.Yes, we know it! We know the price of your treason!
Another.You would sell Egypt, and 'tis to weaken us you would overthrow our gods.
All.Traitor! Traitor!
Satni.If I am a traitor, 'tis to my own cause! But a while ago I was proud of my deed, thinking I had sacrificed myself to you. Alas! I only sacrificed your future to my pity. I wept for you; to weep for misfortune—what is that but an easy escape from the duty of fighting its cause? I pitied you. Pity is but a weakness, a submission—To perpetuate the falsehood of the miracle, and the life of atonement to come is to drug misery to sleep.
A Man.Misery!—can you give us anything to cure it?
They laugh.
They laugh.
Satni.They have implanted in you, the belief that misery is immortal, invincible. By my falsehood, I too have seemed to admit this; and thus I have helped those, in whose interest it is that misery should last for ever.
A Man.He insults the Pharaoh!
Another.Do not insult our priests!
Satni.Had there been no miracle, you would have despaired—you would have sorrowed. I ought to have faced that. I ought to have faced the death of a few, to save the future of all. We go forward only by destroying. What matter blood and pain! Pain and blood—never a child is born without them! I would—
An angry outburst.
An angry outburst.
A Woman.Kill him! Kill him! He says we must put our children to death!
Satni.All are glorious who preach new efforts—
People.Death! Death to the traitor!
Satni.All are infamous who preach resignation—
People.Enough! Kill him! Death!
Satni.It is in this world that the wretched must find their paradise, it is here that every one's good must be sought with a zeal that knows no limit, save respect for the good of others.
A burst of laughter.
A burst of laughter.
People.He is mad! He knows not what he says! He is mad!
Yaouma is borne on right on a litter carried by young girls. She is decked out like an idol; she stands erect, half in ecstasy.
Yaouma is borne on right on a litter carried by young girls. She is decked out like an idol; she stands erect, half in ecstasy.
People.Yaouma! The chosen of Ammon-Ra! Glory to her who goes to save Egypt!
With jubilant cries the procession goes slowly towards the gates at the back, preceded and surrounded by musicians and dancers.
With jubilant cries the procession goes slowly towards the gates at the back, preceded and surrounded by musicians and dancers.
Satni.Yaouma! Yaouma! One word! One look of farewell! Yaouma! 'Tis I, Satni! Look on me!
The acclamations drown his voice. Yaouma is wrapped in her soul's dream. She passes without hearing Satni's voice. The crowd follows her.
The acclamations drown his voice. Yaouma is wrapped in her soul's dream. She passes without hearing Satni's voice. The crowd follows her.
Mieris[to Delethi who supports her] Lead me to Satni—go—[To Satni] Satni, your words have sunk deep in my heart—Yaouma, they tell me, did not hear your voice. She is lost in the joy of sacrifice. The need to make sacrifice is in us all. If the gods are not, to whom shall we sacrifice ourselves?
Satni.To those who suffer.
Mieris.To those who suffer.
During this Bitiou has come slowly down behind Satni.
During this Bitiou has come slowly down behind Satni.
Bitiou.Look! He too, he will fall down!
He plunges a dagger in Satni's back. Delethi draws Mieris away. Satni falls.
He plunges a dagger in Satni's back. Delethi draws Mieris away. Satni falls.
Satni[raising himself slightly] It was you who struck me, Bitiou—[He looks long and sadly at him]I pity you with all my heart—with all my heart. [He dies]
Bitiou looks at the blood on the dagger, and flings it away in horror. Then he crouches down by Satni and begins to cry softly.
Bitiou looks at the blood on the dagger, and flings it away in horror. Then he crouches down by Satni and begins to cry softly.
Delethi[to Mieris] Mistress, come and pray!
Mieris.No, I do not believe in gods in whose name men kill.
Outside are heard the trumpets and acclamations that accompany Yaouma to the Nile.
Outside are heard the trumpets and acclamations that accompany Yaouma to the Nile.
MouzonVagretEtchepareMondoubleauLa BouzoleBuneratAttorney-GeneralPresident of AssizesDelormeArdeuilBridetPolice SergeantRecorderPlaçatDoorkeeperYanettaEtchepare's MotherMadame VagretMadame BuneratBerthaCatialéna
MouzonVagretEtchepareMondoubleauLa BouzoleBuneratAttorney-GeneralPresident of AssizesDelormeArdeuilBridetPolice SergeantRecorderPlaçatDoorkeeperYanettaEtchepare's MotherMadame VagretMadame BuneratBerthaCatialéna
Time—The present.
Time—The present.
The curtain rises, revealing Madame Vagret in evening dress; she is altering the position of the chairs to her own satisfaction. Enter Bertha, also in evening dress, a newspaper in her hand.
The curtain rises, revealing Madame Vagret in evening dress; she is altering the position of the chairs to her own satisfaction. Enter Bertha, also in evening dress, a newspaper in her hand.
Bertha.Here's the local paper, theJournal. I sent theOfficial Gazetteto father; he has just come home from the Court. He's dressing.
Madame Vagret.Is the sitting over?
Bertha.No, not yet.
Madame Vagret[taking the newspaper] Are they still discussing the case?
Bertha.As usual.
Madame Vagret.One doesn't need to search long. There's a big head-line at the top of the page: "The Irissary Murder." They're attacking your father now! [She reads] "Monsieur Vagret, our District Attorney." [She continues to read to herself] And there are sub-headings too: "The murderer still at large." As if that was our fault! "Justice asleep!" Justice asleep indeed! How can they say such things when your father hasn't closed his eyes for a fortnight! Can they complain that he hasn't done his duty? Or that Monsieur Delorme, the examining magistrate, isn't doing his? He has made himself quite ill, poor man! Only the day before yesterday he had a tramp arrested because his movements were ever so little suspicious! So you see! No! I tell you these journalists are crazy!
Bertha.It seems they are going to have an article in the Basque paper too.
Madame Vagret.TheEskual Herria!
Bertha.So the chemist told me.
Madame Vagret.I don't care a sou for that. The Attorney-General doesn't read it.
Bertha.On the contrary, father was saying the other day that the Attorney-General has translations sent him of every article dealing with the magistracy.
Madame Vagret.The Attorney-General has translations sent him! Oh well, never mind. Anyhow, let's change the subject! How many shall we be this evening? You've got the list?
Bertha[She takes the list from the over-mantel] The President of Assizes—the President of the Court—
Madame Vagret.Yes. Yes, that's all right; nine in all, isn't it?
Bertha.Nine.
Madame Vagret.Nine! To have nine people coming to dinner, and not to know the exact hour at which they'll arrive! That's what's so trying about these dinners we have to give at the end of a session—in honor of the President of Assizes. One dines when the Court rises. When the Court rises! Well, we'll await the good pleasure of these gentlemen! [She sighs] Well, child!
Bertha.Mother?
Madame Vagret.Are you still anxious to marry a magistrate?
Bertha[with conviction] I am not!
Madame Vagret.But you were two years ago!
Bertha.I am not now!
Madame Vagret.Look at us! There's your father. Procurator of the Republic—Public Prosecutor—State Attorney; in a court of the third class,it's true, because he's not a wire-puller, because he hasn't played the political game. And yet he's a valuable man—no one can deny that. Since he's been District Attorney he has secured three sentences of penal servitude for life! And in a country like this, where crimes are so frightfully rare! That's pretty good, don't you think? Of course, I know he'll have had three acquittals in the session that ends to-day. Granted. But that was mere bad luck. And for protecting society as he does—what do they pay him? Have you any idea?
Bertha.Yes, I know; you've often told me, mother.
Madame Vagret.And I'll tell you again. Counting the stoppages for the pension, he gets altogether, and for everything, three hundred and ninety-five francs and eighty-three centimes a month. And then we are obliged to give a dinner for nine persons in honor of the President of Assizes, a Councillor! Well, at all events, I suppose everything is ready? Let's see. MyRevue des Deux Mondes—is it there? Yes. And my armchair—is that in the right place? [She sits in it] Yes. [As though receiving a guest] Pray be seated, Monsieur le Président. I hope that's right. And Monsieur Dufour, who was an ordinary magistrate when your father was the same, when we were living at Castelnaudery, he's now President of the second class at Douai, and he was only at Brest before he was promoted!
Bertha.Really!
Madame Vagret[searching for a book on the over-mantel] Look in the Year Book.
Bertha.I'll take your word for it.
Madame Vagret.You may! The Judicial Year Book. I know it by heart!
Bertha.But then father may be appointed Councillor any day now.
Madame Vagret.He's been waiting a long time for his appointment as Councillor.
Bertha.But it's as good as settled now. He was promised the first vacancy, and Monsieur Lefévre has just died.
Madame Vagret.I hope to God you are right. If we fail this time, we're done for. We shall be left at Mauleon until he's pensioned off. What a misfortune it is that they can't put their hands on that wretched murderer! Such a beautiful crime too! We really had some reason for hoping for a death sentence this time! The first, remember!
Bertha.Don't worry, motherkins. There's still a chance.
Madame Vagret.It's easy for you to talk. You see the newspapers are beginning to grumble. They reproach us, they say we are slack. My dear child, you don't realize—there 's a question of sending a detective down from Paris! It would be such a disgrace! And everything promised so well! You can't imagine how excited your father was when they waked him up to tell him that an old man of eighty-seven had been murdered in his district! He dressed himself in less than five minutes. He was very quiet about it. But he gripped my hands. "I think," he said, "I think we can count on my nomination this time!" [She sighs] And now everything is spoilt, and all through this ruffian who won't let them arrest him! [Another sigh] What's the time?
Bertha.It has just struck six.
Madame Vagret.Write out themenus. Don't forget. You must write only their titles—his Honor the President of Assizes, his Honor the President of the High Court of Mauleon, and so forth. It's the preamble to themenu. Don't forget. Here is your father. Go and take a look round the kitchen andappear as if you were busy. [Bertha leaves the room. Vagret enters in evening dress]
Madame Vagret.Hasn't the Court risen yet?
Vagret.When I left my substitute was just getting up to ask for the adjournment.
Madame Vagret.Nothing new?
Vagret.About the murder? Nothing.
Madame Vagret.But your Monsieur Delorme—the examining magistrate—is he really looking for the murderer?
Vagret.He's doing what he can.
Madame Vagret.Well, if I were in his place, it seems to me—Oh, they ought to have women for examining magistrates! [Distractedly] Is there nothing in theOfficial Gazette?
Vagret[dispirited and anxious] Yes.
Madame Vagret.And you never told me. Anything that affects us?
Vagret.No. Nanteuil has been appointed Advocate-General.
Madame Vagret.Nanteuil?
Vagret.Yes.
Madame Vagret.Oh, that's too bad! Why, he was only an assistant at Lunéville when you were substitute there!
Vagret.Yes. But he has a cousin who's a deputy. You can't compete with men like that. [A pause. Madame Vagret sits down and begins to cry]
Madame Vagret.We haven't a chance.
Vagret.My dearest! Come, come, you are wrong there.
Madame Vagret[still tearful] My poor darling! I know very well it isn't your fault; you do your best.Your only failing is that you are too scrupulous, and I am not the one to reproach you for that. But what can you expect? It's no use talking; everybody gets ahead of us. Soon you'll be the oldest District Attorney in France.
Vagret.Come, come! Where's the Year Book?
Madame Vagret[still in the same tone] It's there—the dates, the length of service. See further on, dear.
Vagret[throwing the Year Book aside] Don't cry like that! Remember I'm chosen to succeed Lefévre.
Madame Vagret.I know that.
Vagret.I'm on the list for promotion.
Madame Vagret.So is everybody.
Vagret.And I have the Attorney-General's definite promise—and the presiding judge's too.
Madame Vagret.It's the deputy's promise you ought to have.
Vagret.What?
Madame Vagret.Yes, the deputy's. Up to now you've waited for promotion to come to you. My dear, you've got to run after it! If you don't do as the others do, you'll simply get left behind.
Vagret.I am still an honest man.
Madame Vagret.It is because you are an honest man that you ought to try to get a better appointment. If the able and independent magistrates allow the others to pass them by, what will become of the magistracy?
Vagret.There's some truth in what you say.
Madame Vagret.If, while remaining scrupulously honest, you can better our position by getting a deputy to push you, you are to blame if you don't do so. After all, what do they ask you to do? Merely that you should support the Ministry.
Vagret.I can do that honestly. Its opinions are my own.
Madame Vagret.Then you'd better make haste—fora ministry doesn't last long! To support the Ministry is to support the Government—that is, the State—that is, Society. It's to do your duty.
Vagret.You are ambitious.
Madame Vagret.No, my dear—but we must think of the future. If you knew the trouble I have to make both ends meet! We ought to get Bertha married. And the boys will cost us more and more as time goes on. And in our position we are bound to incur certain useless expenses which we could very well do without; but we have to keep up appearances; we have to "keep up our position." We want Georges to enter the Polytechnique, and that'll cost a lot of money. And Henri, if he's going to study law—you'd be able to help him on all the better if you held a better position.
Vagret[after a brief silence] I haven't told you everything.
Madame Vagret.What is it?
Vagret[timidly] Cortan has been appointed Councillor at Amiens.
Madame Vagret[exasperated] Cortan! That idiot of a Cortan?
Vagret.Yes.
Madame Vagret.This is too much!
Vagret.What can you expect? The new Keeper of the Seals is in his department. You can't fight against that!
Madame Vagret.There's always something—Cortan! Won't she be making a show of herself—Madame Cortan—who spells "indictment" i-n-d-i-t-e? She'll be showing off her yellow hat! Don't you remember her famous yellow hat?
Vagret.No.
Madame Vagret.It's her husband who ought to wear that color!
Vagret.Rosa, that's unjust.
Madame Vagret[painfully excited] I know it—but it does me good!