OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. What about?

LA BOUZOLE. He will declare that your water supply is contaminated.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. There is no need to trouble a bailiff, sir. A child could see that.

LA BOUZOLE. It is the law.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Well, and then?

LA BOUZOLE. Then you must go to a lawyer and get a judgment.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Very well, if there 's no other way of doing it--

LA BOUZOLE. That is not all. If Monsieur Claudet contests the facts, the President will appoint an expert who will visit the site and make a report. You will have to put in a request that the President will grant a speedy hearing on grounds of urgency. Your case being finally put on the list of causes, it would be heard in its turn--after the vacations.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. After the vacations!

LA BOUZOLE. And that is not all. Monsieur Claudet's lawyer might default, in which case judgment would be declared in your favor. But Monsieur Claudet might defend the case, or enter some kind of plea and obtain a judgment on that plea, or appeal against the judgment before the matter would be finally settled. All this would cost a great deal of money.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Who would pay it?

LA BOUZOLE. You, naturally, and Monsieur Claudet.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. It's all one to him; he's rich; but for us, who haven't a penny left!

LA BOUZOLE. Then you would have to apply for judicial a.s.sistance.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. That would take still more time?

LA BOUZOLE. That would take much longer.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. But, sir, I've always been told that justice was free in France.

LA BOUZOLE. Justice is gratuitous, but the means of obtaining access to justice are not. That is all.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. And all that would take--how long?

LA BOUZOLE. If Monsieur Claudet were to appeal, it might last two years.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. It isn't possible! Isn't the right on my side?

LA BOUZOLE. My poor woman, it's not enough to have the right on your side--you must have the law on your side too.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. I understand. Justice is a thing we poor people can know only when it strikes us down. We can know it only by the harm it does us. Well--we must go away--it doesn't matter where--and I shan't regret it; people insult us; they call out to us as they pa.s.s. Etchepare wouldn't put up with that.

LA BOUZOLE. In that respect the law protects you. Register a complaint and those who insult you will be prosecuted.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. I don't think so. I have already registered a complaint, as you say, but they've done nothing to the man who injured us. So he goes on.

LA BOUZOLE. Is he an inhabitant of your commune?

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Yes. A neighbor, a friend of Monsieur Mondoubleau, the deputy. Labastide.

LA BOUZOLE. Good. I will do what I can, I promise you.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Thank you, sir. [_A pause_] Then I will go and wait till they give me back my boy.

LA BOUZOLE. That's right.

_She goes out slowly._

SCENE III:--_La Bouzole, recorder._

RECORDER [_entering by the door at the back_] The hearing is suspended, your worship.

LA BOUZOLE. Has Maitre Placat concluded?

RECORDER. With great applause. Two of the jurymen were seen wiping their eyes. No one doubts there will be an acquittal.

LA BOUZOLE. So much the better.

RECORDER. Your worship knows the great news?

LA BOUZOLE. Which?

RECORDER. That the Attorney-General has arrived.

LA BOUZOLE. No--I know nothing of it.

RECORDER. Yes, he has just arrived. It seems he brings the nomination of one of these gentlemen to the post of Councillor in the Court of Appeal.

LA BOUZOLE. Ah, ah! And whose is the prize, in your opinion, Benoit?

Vagret's?

RECORDER. That was my opinion. I hesitated a long time between him and his Honor the President, and I decided it would be Monsieur Vagret. But now I think I am wrong.

LA BOUZOLE. Do you think Monsieur Bunerat is appointed?

RECORDER. No, your worship. I feel very proud--I believe it is my employer who has the honor.

LA BOUZOLE. Monsieur Mouzon!

RECORDER. Yes, your worship.

LA BOUZOLE. What makes you think that?

RECORDER. His Honor the Attorney-General requested me to beg Monsieur Mouzon to come and speak to him before the rising of the Court.