Pamela Giraud | Page 7

(He embraces his mother.) Ah! I see you once more! (To Mme. du Brocard) Dear aunt!
Mme. Rousseau My poor child! Come! Come--close to me; they will not dare-- (To the police, who approach her) Leave him, leave him here!
Rousseau (rushing towards the police) Be kind enough--
Dupre (to the magistrate) Monsieur!
Jules My dear mother, calm yourself! I shall soon be free; yes, be quite sure of that, and we will not part again.
Antoine (to Rousseau) Sir, they wish to visit M. Jules's room.
Rousseau (to the magistrate) In a moment, monsieur. I will go with you myself. (To Dupre, pointing to Jules) Do not leave him!
(He goes out conducting the magistrate, who makes a sign to the police to keep guard on Jules.)
Jules (seizing the hand of De Verby) Ah, general! (To Dupre) And how good and generous of you, M. Dupre, to come here and comfort my mother. (In a low voice) Ah! conceal from her my danger. (Aloud, looking at his mother) Tell her the truth. Tell her that she has nothing to fear.
Dupre I will tell her that it is in her power to save you.
Mme. Rousseau In my power?
Mme. du Brocard How can that be?
Dupre (to Mme. Rousseau) By imploring him to disclose the names of those who have led him on.
De Verby (to Dupre) Monsieur!
Mme. Rousseau Yes, and you ought to do it. I, your mother, demand it of you.
Mme. du Brocard Oh, certainly! My nephew shall tell everything. He has been led on by people who now abandon him to his fate, and he in his turn ought--
De Verby (in a low voice to Dupre) What, sir! Would you advise your client to betray--?
Dupre (quickly) Whom?
De Verby (in a troubled voice) But--can't we find some other method? M. Jules knows what a man of high spirit owes to himself.
Dupre (aside) He is the man--I felt sure of it!
Jules (to his mother and aunt) Never, though I should die for it--never will I compromise any one else.
(De Verby shows his pleasure at this declaration.)
Mme. Rousseau Ah! my God! (Looking at the police.) And there is no chance of our helping him to escape here!
Mme. du Brocard No! that is out of the question.
Antoine (coming into the room) M. Jules, they are asking for you.
Jules I am coming!
Mme. Rousseau Ah! I cannot let you go.
(She turns to the police with a supplicating look.)
Mme. du Brocard (to Dupre, who scrutinizes De Verby) M. Dupre, I have thought that it would be a good thing--
Dupre (interrupting her) Later, madame, later.
(He leads her to Jules, who goes out with his mother, followed by the agents.)
SCENE SIXTH
Dupre and De Verby.
De Verby (aside) These people have hit upon a lawyer who is rich, without ambition--and eccentric.
Dupre (crossing the stage and gazing at De Verby, aside) Now is my time to learn your secret. (Aloud) You are very much interested in my client, monsieur?
De Verby Very much indeed.
Dupre I have yet to understand what motive could have led him, young, rich and devoted to pleasure as he is, to implicate himself in a conspiracy--
De Verby The passion for glory.
Dupre Don't talk in that way to a lawyer who for twenty years has practiced in the courts; who has studied men and affairs well enough to know that the finest motives are only assumed as a disguise for trumpery passions, and has never yet met a man whose heart was free from the calculations of self-interest.
De Verby Do you ever take up a case without charging anything?
Dupre I often do so; but I never act contrary to my convictions.
De Verby I understand that you are rich?
Dupre I have some fortune. Without it, in the world as at present constituted, I should be on the straight road for the poor-house.
De Verby It is then from conviction, I suppose, that you have undertaken the defence of young Rousseau?
Dupre Certainly. I believe him to be the dupe of others in a higher station, and I like those who allow themselves to be duped from generous motives and not from self-interest; for in these times the dupe is often as greedy after gain as the man who exploits him.
De Verby You belong, I perceive, to the sect of misanthropes.
Dupre I do not care enough for mankind to hate them, for I have never yet met any one I could love. I am contented with studying my fellow-men; for I see that they are all engaged in playing each, with more or less success, his own little comedy. I have no illusion about anything, it is true, but I smile at it all like a spectator who sits in a theatre to be amused. One thing I never do; I hiss at nothing; for I have not sufficient feeling about things for that.
De Verby (aside) How is it possible to