Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Three Plays By Brieux
Chapter 29
LA BOUZOLE. They tell me, Madame, that you wished to see one of the gentlemen of the Bar.
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Yes, sir.
LA BOUZOLE. You wish to be present at the trial?
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. No, sir. I know so well that they cannot condemn my son that what they say in there doesn't interest me in the least. I am waiting for him. I have come because they have turned us out of our house.
LA BOUZOLE. They have turned you out?
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. The bailiffs came.
LA BOUZOLE. Then your son owed money?
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Since they arrested him all our men have left us. We couldn't get in the crops nor pay what was owing. But of course I know they'll make all that good when my son is acquitted.
LA BOUZOLE [_aside_] Poor woman!
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. I'm so thankful to see the end of all our troubles. He'll come back and get our house and field again for us. He'll make them give up our cattle. That's why I wanted to see one of these gentlemen.
LA BOUZOLE. Will you explain?
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. A fortnight after the gendarmes came to arrest my boy, Monsieur Claudet turned the waste water from his factory into the brook that passes our house where we water the beasts. That was one of the things that ruined us too. If Etchepare finds things like that when he gets back, God knows what he'll do! I want the law to stop them doing us all this harm.
LA BOUZOLE. The law! Ah, my good woman, it would be far better for you to have nothing to do with the law.
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. But why? There is justice, and it's for everybody alike.
LA BOUZOLE. Of course.
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Has Monsieur Claudet the right--
LA BOUZOLE. Certainly not.
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Then I want to ask the judge to stop him.
LA BOUZOLE. It is not so simple as you suppose, Madame. First of all you must go to the bailiff.
OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Good.
LA BOUZOLE. He will make a declaration.
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 assistance.
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 pass. 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._