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Pamela Giraud: A Play in Five Acts, a play by Honore de Balzac |
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Act 2 - Scene 4 |
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_ ACT II - SCENE FOURTH The same persons, General de Verby and Madame du Brocard.
DE VERBY. (bowing to Rousseau) Monsieur--I simply came to learn-- ROUSSEAU. (presenting Dupre to De Verby) General, M. Dupre. (Dupre and De Verby exchange bows.) DUPRE. (aside, while De Verby talks with Rousseau) He is general of the antechamber, holding the place merely through the influence of his brother, the lord chamberlain; he doesn't seem to me to have come here without some object. DE VERBY. (to Dupre) I understand, sir, that you are engaged for the defence of M. Jules Rousseau in this deplorable affair-- DUPRE. Yes, sir, it is a deplorable affair, for the real culprits are not in prison; thus it is that justice rages fiercely against the rank and file, but the chiefs are always passed by. You are General Vicomte de Verby, I presume? DE VERBY. Simple General Verby--I do not take the title--my opinions of course. --Doubtless you are acquainted with the evidence in this case? DUPRE. I have been in communication with the accused only for the last three days. DE VERBY. And what do you think of the affair? ALL. Yes, tell us. DUPRE. According to my experience of the law courts, I believe it possible to obtain important revelations by offering commutation of sentence to the condemned. DE VERBY. The accused are all men of honor. ROUSSEAU. But-- DUPRE. Characters sometime change at the prospect of the scaffold, especially when there is much at stake. DE VERBY. (aside) A conspiracy ought not to be entered upon excepting with penniless accomplices. DUPRE. I shall induce my client to tell everything. ROUSSEAU. Of course. MME. DU BROCARD. Certainly. MME. ROUSSEAU. He ought to do so. DE VERBY. (anxiously) I presume there is no other way of escape for him? DUPRE. None whatever; it can be proved that he was of the number of those who had begun to put in execution the plot. DE VERBY. I would rather lose my head than my honor. DUPRE. I should consider which of the two was worth more. DE VERBY. You have your views in the matter. ROUSSEAU. Those are mine. DUPRE. And they are the opinions of the majority. I have seen many things done by men to escape the scaffold. There are people who push others to the front, who risk nothing, and yet reap all the fruits of success. Have such men any honor? Can one feel any obligation towards them? DE VERBY. No, they are contemptible wretches. DUPRE. (aside) He has well said it. This is the fellow who has ruined poor Jules! I must keep my eye on him. _ |
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