Pamela Giraud | Page 9

you were engaged for the
defence of M. Jules Rousseau; I have been to your place, and have
waited for you until I could wait no later. This morning I found that
you had left your home, and as I am working for this house, a happy
inspiration sent me here. I thought you would be coming here, and I
waited for you--
Dupre What do you want with me?
Joseph I am Joseph Binet.
Dupre Well, proceed.
Joseph Let me say without offence, sir, that I have fourteen hundred
francs of my own--quite my own!--earned sou by sou. I am a
journeyman upholsterer, and my uncle, Du Mouchel, a retired wine
merchant, has plenty of the metal.
Dupre Speak out openly! What is the meaning of this mysterious
preamble?
Joseph Fourteen hundred francs is of course a mere trifle, and they say

that lawyers have to be well paid, and that it is because they are well
paid that there are so many of them. I should have done better if I had
been a lawyer--then she would have married me!
Dupre Are you crazy?
Joseph Not at all. I have here my fourteen hundred francs; take them,
sir--no humbug! They are yours.
Dupre And on what condition?
Joseph You must save M. Jules--I mean, of course, from death--and
you must have him transported. I don't want him to be put to death; but
he must go abroad. He is rich, and he will enjoy himself. But save his
life. Procure a sentence of simple transportation, say for fifteen years,
and my fourteen hundred francs are yours. I will give them to you
gladly, and I will moreover make you an office chair below the market
price. There now!
Dupre What is your object in speaking to me in this way?
Joseph My object? I want to marry Pamela. I want to have my little
Pamela.
Dupre Pamela?
Joseph Pamela Giraud.
Dupre What connection has Pamela Giraud with Jules Rousseau?
Joseph Well I never! Why! I thought that advocates were paid for
learning and knowing everything. But you don't seem to know anything,
sir. I am not surprised that there are those who say advocates are
know-nothings. But I should like to have back my fourteen hundred
francs. Pamela is accused, that is to say, she accuses me of having
betrayed his head to the executioner, and you will understand that if
after all he escapes, and is transported, I can marry, can wed Pamela;
and as the transported man will not be in France, I need fear no
disturbance in my home. Get him fifteen years; that is nothing; fifteen
years for traveling and I shall have time to see my children grow up,
and my wife old enough--you understand--
Dupre (aside) He is candid, at any rate--Those who make their
calculations aloud and in such evident excitement are not the worst of
people.
Joseph I say! Do you know the proverb--"A lawyer who talks to
himself is like a pastry cook who eats his own wares,"--eh, sir?
Dupre I understand you to say that Pamela is in love with M. Jules?

Joseph Ah! I see, you understand matters.
Dupre They used frequently to meet I suppose?
Joseph Far too frequently! Oh! if I had only known it, I would have put
a stop to it!
Dupre Is she pretty?
Joseph Who?--Pamela?--My eye! My Pamela! She is as pretty as the
Apollo Belvidere!
Dupre Keep your fourteen hundred francs, my friend, and if you have
courage, you and your Pamela, you will be able to help me in effecting
his deliverance; for the question is absolutely whether we must let him
go to the scaffold, or save him from it.
Joseph I beg you, sir, do not think of saying one word to Pamela; she is
in despair.
Dupre Nevertheless you must bring it about that I see her this morning.
Joseph I will send word to her through her parents.
Dupre Ah! she has a father and mother living then? (Aside) This will
cost a lot of money. (Aloud) Who are they?
Joseph They are respectable porters.
Dupre That is good.
Joseph Old Giraud is a ruined tailor.
Dupre Very well, go and inform them of my intended visit, and above
all things preserve the utmost secrecy, or M. Jules will be sacrificed.
Joseph I shall be dumb.
Dupre And let it be thought that we have never met.
Joseph We have never seen each other.
Dupre Now go.
Joseph I am going.
(He mistakes the door.)
Dupre This is the way.
Joseph This is the way, great advocate--but let me give you a bit of
advice-- a slight taste of transportation will not do him any harm; in
fact, it will teach him to leave the government in