Chapter 28

removing various papers from the desk and placing them in a cardboard portfolio. Enter La Bouzole._

LA BOUZOLE. Good-day, Benoit.

RECORDER [_hesitating to take the hand which La Bouzole extends to him_] Your worship. It's too great an honor--

LA BOUZOLE. Come, come, Monsieur Benoit, shake hands with me. From to-day I'm no longer a magistrate; my dignity no longer demands that I shall be impolite to my inferiors. How far have they got with the Etchepare trial?

RECORDER. So far the hearing has been devoted entirely to the indictment and the counsel's address.

LA BOUZOLE. They will finish to-day?

RECORDER. Oh, surely. Even if Monsieur Vagret were to reply, because his Honor the President of Assizes goes hunting to-morrow morning.

LA BOUZOLE. You think it will be an acquittal, Monsieur Benoit?

RECORDER. I do, your worship. [_He is about to go out_]

LA BOUZOLE. Who is the old lady waiting in the corridor?

RECORDER. That is Etchepare's mother, your worship.

LA BOUZOLE. Poor woman! She must be terribly anxious.

RECORDER. No. She is certain of the verdict. She hasn't the slightest anxiety. She was there all yesterday afternoon and she came back to-day, just as calm. Only to-day she wanted at any price to see the District Attorney or one of his assistants. Monsieur Ardeuil is away and Monsieur Vagret--

LA BOUZOLE. Is in Court.

RECORDER. She seemed very much put out at finding no one.

LA BOUZOLE. Well, send her in here; perhaps I can give her a little advice. Maitre Placat will be some time yet, won't he?

RECORDER. I believe so.

LA BOUZOLE. Well, tell her to come and speak to me, poor woman. That won't upset anybody and it may save her some trouble.

RECORDER. Very well, your worship. [_He goes to the door on the right, makes a sign to old Madame Etchepare, and goes out by the door at the back_]

LA BOUZOLE [_alone_] It's astonishing how benevolent I feel this morning!

_Old Madame Etchepare enters, clad in the costume peculiar to old women of Basque race._