_She arranges her hair. Enter the Attorney-General, a man with handsome, grave, austere features._

ALL [_bowing and cringing, in a murmur_] His Honor the Attorney-General--

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. I think you can resume the hearing, gentlemen--I am only pa.s.sing through Mauleon. I hope to return before long and make your better acquaintance.

ALL. Your honor--[_They make ready to leave_]

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Monsieur Mouzon, will you remain?

_Mouzon bows._

MADAME VAGRET [_as she goes out_] My respects--the honor--Monsieur--

ATTORNEY-GENERAL [_bowing_] Mr. President--Madame--Madame--

BUNERAT [_to his wife_] You see, that's it!

_They go out._

MOUZON [_to the recorder, who is about to leave_] Well, my dear fellow, I believe my appointment is settled.

RECORDER. I am delighted, Monsieur the Councillor! [_Exit_]

SCENE V:--_Mouzon, Attorney-General. Mouzon rubs his hands together, bubbling with joy._

MOUZON [_obsequiously_] Your honor--

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Sit down. [_Mouzon does so_] A report has come to my office from Bordeaux--which concerns you, Monsieur! [_Feeling in his portfolio_] Here it is. [_Reading_] Mouzon and the woman Pecquet. You know what it is?

MOUZON [_not taking the matter seriously, forces a smile. After a long silence_] Yes, your honor--

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. I am waiting for your explanation.

MOUZON [_as before_] You have been young, your honor--

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Not to that extent, Monsieur!

MOUZON. I admit I overstepped the mark a trifle.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL [_reading_] "Being in a state of intoxication, together with the woman Pecquet and two other women of bad character who accompanied him, the aforesaid Mouzon used insulting and outrageous language to the police, whom he threatened with dismissal." Is that what you call overstepping the mark a trifle?

MOUZON. Perhaps the expression is a little weak.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. And you allow the name of a magistrate to be coupled in a police report with that of the woman Pecquet?

MOUZON. She told me her name was Diane de Montmorency.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. [_continuing_] "Questioned by us, the commissary of police, on the following morning, as to the rank of officer in the navy which he had a.s.sumed"--[_The Attorney-General gazes at Mouzon. Another pause_]

MOUZON [_still smiling_] Yes, it's on account of my whiskers, you know.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Really?

MOUZON. When I--oh, well--when I go to Bordeaux I always a.s.sume the rank of naval officer, in order to safeguard the dignity of the law.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. You seem to have been a little tardy in considering it.

MOUZON. I beg you to note, your honor, that I endeavored to safeguard it from the very first, since I took care to go out of the arrondiss.e.m.e.nt and even the judicial division--in order to--

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. I will continue. "Monsieur Mouzon then informed us of his actual position as examining magistrate, and invoked that quality in requesting that we would stop proceedings."

MOUZON. The a.s.s. He has put that in his report? Oh, really--that's due to his lack of education. No, it's a political affair--the commissary is one of our opponents--I asked him--After all--I wanted to avoid scandal.

Anyone would have done the same in my place.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Is that the only explanation you have to give me?

MOUZON. Explanation? The truth is, Monsieur, that if you insist on maintaining, in this conversation, the relations between a superior and a subordinate, I can give you no further explanation. But if you would be so good as to allow me for a moment to forget your position, if you would agree to talk to me as man to man, I should tell you that this was a fault of youth, regrettable, no doubt, but explained by the profound boredom which exudes from the very paving-stones of Mauleon. Come, come!

I had dined too well. Every night of the year a host of decent fellows find themselves in the same case. It's a pecadillo which doesn't affect one's personal honor.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Monsieur, when one has the honor to be a magistrate--when one has accepted the mission of judging one's fellows, one is bound more than all others to observe temperance and to consider one's dignity in all things. What may not affect the honor of the private citizen does affect the honor of the judge. You may take that for granted.

MOUZON. As you refuse to discuss the matter otherwise than in an official manner, nothing remains for me but to beg you to inform me what you have decided to do.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Cannot you guess?

MOUZON. I am an examining magistrate. You will make me an ordinary magistrate. It means my income will be diminished by five hundred francs a year. I accept.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. It is unfortunately impossible for me to content myself with such a simple measure. To speak plainly, I must inform you that Monsieur Coire, the director of the newspaper which attacks us so persistently, is acquainted with the whole of the facts of the accusation brought against you and will not give his word not to publish them unless by the end of the month you have left the Mauleon Court. I therefore find myself in the unhappy necessity of demanding your resignation.

MOUZON. I shall not resign.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. You will not resign?

MOUZON. I am distressed to oppose any desire of yours, but I am quite decided. I shall not resign.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. But really--you cannot know--

MOUZON. I know everything. ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Very well, sir, we shall proceed against you.

MOUZON. Proceed. [_He rises_]

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Are you not alarmed at the scandal which would result from your appearance in court and your probable conviction?

MOUZON. Conviction is less probable than you think. I shall be able to defend myself and to select my advocate. As for the scandal, it wouldn't fall on me. I am a bachelor, with no family; I know no one or next to no one in Mauleon, where I am really in exile. My friends are all in Bordeaux; they belong to the _monde ou l'on s'amuse_, and I should not in the least lose caste in their eyes on account of such a prosecution.

You think I ought to leave the magistracy? Fortunately I have sufficient to live on without the thirty-five hundred francs the Government of the Republic allows me annually.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. That is enough, Monsieur. Good-day.