Mauprat
"Remember where you are, witness, and to whom you are speaking."
"I know too well, and I shall not say too much. I hereby declare that I have some important things to say, and that I should have said them at the right time, if you had not done violence to the time. I wish to say them, and I shall; and, believe me, it is better that I should make them known while it is still possible to revise these proceedings. It is even better for the judges than the prisoner; for the one comes to life again in honour, as soon as the others die in infamy."
"Witness," said the irritated magistrate, "the virulence and impertinence of your language will be prejudicial rather than advantageous to the prisoner."
"And who says that I am favourable to the prisoner?" said Patience in a voice of thunder. "What do you know about me? What if it pleases me to change an illegal and worthless verdict into one which is legal and irrevocable?"
"But how can you reconcile this desire to see the laws respected," said the magistrate, genuinely moved by Patience's powerful personality, "with your own breach of them in not appearing when summoned by the public prosecutor?"
"I did not wish to appear."
"Severe penalties may be inflicted on those whose wishes are not in harmony with the laws of the land."
"Possibly."
"Have you come here to-day with the intention of submitting to them?"
"I have come to see that you respect them."
"I warn you that, if you do not change your tone, I hall have you taken off to prison."
365
