FIRST SCENE
(In the Luxembourg Gardens, at the group of Adam and Eve. The wind is
shaking the trees and stirring up dead leaves, straws, and pieces of
paper from the ground.)
(MAURICE and HENRIETTE are seated on a bench.)
HENRIETTE. So you don't want to die?
MAURICE. No, I am afraid. I imagine that I am going to be very cold down
there in the grave, with only a sheet to cover me and a few shavings
to lie on. And besides that, it seems to me as if there were still some
task waiting for me, but I cannot make out what it is.
HENRIETTE. But I can guess what it is.
MAURICE. Tell me.
HENRIETTE. It is revenge. You, like me, must have suspected Jeanne and
Emile of sending the detectives after me yesterday. Such a revenge on a
rival none but a woman could devise.
MAURICE. Exactly what I was thinking. But let me tell you that my
suspicions go even further. It seems as if my sufferings during these
last few days had sharpened my wits. Can you explain, for instance,
why the waiter from the Auberge des Adrets and the head waiter from the
Pavilion were not called to testify at the hearing?
HENRIETTE. I never thought of it before. But now I know why. They had
nothing to tell, because they had not been listening.
MAURICE. But how could the Commissaire then know what we had been
saying?
HENRIETTE. He didn't know, but he figured it out. He was guessing, and
he guessed right. Perhaps he had had to deal with some similar case
before.
MAURICE. Or else he concluded from our looks what we had been saying.
There are those who can read other people's thoughts--Adolphe being the
dupe, it seemed quite natural that we should have called him an ass.
It's the rule, I understand, although it's varied at times by the use of
"idiot" instead. But ass was nearer at hand in this case, as we had
been talking of carriages and triumphal chariots. It is quite simple to
figure out a fourth fact, when you have three known ones to start from.
HENRIETTE. Just think that we have let ourselves be taken in so
completely.
MAURICE. That's the result of thinking too well of one's fellow beings.
This is all you get out of it. But do you know, _I_ suspect somebody
else back of the Commissaire, who, by-the-bye, must be a full-fledged
scoundrel.
HENRIETTE. You mean the Abbe, who was taking the part of a private
detective.
MAURICE. That's what I mean. That man has to receive all kinds of
confessions. And note you: Adolphe himself told us he had been at the
Church of St. Germain that morning. What was he doing there? He was
blabbing, of course, and bewailing his fate. And then the priest put the
questions together for the Commissaire.
HENRIETTE. Tell me something: do you trust Adolphe?
MAURICE. I trust no human being any longer.
HENRIETTE. Not even Adolphe?
MAURICE. Him least of all. How could I trust an enemy--a man from whom I
have taken away his mistress?
HENRIETTE. Well, as you were the first one to speak of this, I'll give
you some data about our friend. You heard he had returned that medal
from London. Do you know his reason for doing so?
MAURICE. No.
HENRIETTE. He thinks himself unworthy of it, and he has taken a
penitential vow never to receive any kind of distinction.
MAURICE. Can that he possible? But what has he done?
HENRIETTE. He has committed a crime of the kind that is not punishable
under the law. That's what he gave me to understand indirectly.
MAURICE. He, too! He, the best one of all, the model man, who never
speaks a hard word of anybody and who forgives everything.
HENRIETTE. Well, there you can see that we are no worse than others. And
yet we are being hounded day and night as if devils were after us.
MAURICE. He, also! Then mankind has not been slandered--But if he has
been capable of ONE crime, then you may expect anything of him. Perhaps
it was he who sent the police after you yesterday. Coming to think of it
now, it was he who sneaked away from us when he saw that we were in
the papers, and he lied when he insisted that those fellows were not
detectives. But, of course, you may expect anything from a deceived
lover.
HENRIETTE. Could he be as mean as that? No, it is impossible,
impossible!
MAURICE. Why so? If he is a scoundrel?--What were you two talking of
yesterday, before I came?
HENRIETTE. He had nothing but good to say of you.
MAURICE. That's a lie!
HENRIETTE. [Controlling herself and changing her tone] Listen. There is
one person on whom you have cast no suspicion whatever--for what reason,
I don't know. Have you thought of Madame Catherine's wavering attitude
in this matter? Didn't she say finally that she believed you capable of
anything?
MAURICE. Yes, she did, and that shows what kind of person she is.
To think evil of other people without reason, you must be a villain
yourself.
(HENRIETTE looks hard at him. Pause.)
HENRIETTE. To think evil of others, you must be a villain yourself.
MAURICE. What do you mean?
HENRIETTE. What I said.
MAURICE. Do you mean that I--?
HENRIETTE. Yes, that's what I mean now! Look here! Did you meet anybody
but Marion when you called there yesterday morning?
MAURICE. Why do you ask?
HENRIETTE. Guess!
MAURICE. Well, as you seem to know--I met Jeanne, too.
HENRIETTE. Why did you lie to me?
MAURICE. I wanted to spare you.
HENRIETTE. And now you want me to believe in one who has been lying to
me? No, my boy, now I believe you guilty of that murder.
MAURICE. Wait a moment! We have now reached the place for which my
thoughts have been heading all the time, though I resisted as long as
possible. It's queer that what lies next to one is seen last of all, and
what one doesn't WANT to believe cannot be believed--Tell me something:
where did you go yesterday morning, after we parted in the Bois?
HENRIETTE. [Alarmed] Why?
MAURICE. You went either to Adolphe--which you couldn't do, as he was
attending a lesson--or you went to--Marion!
HENRIETTE. Now I am convinced that you are the murderer.
MAURICE. And I, that you are the murderess! You alone had an interest in
getting the child out of the way--to get rid of the rock on the road, as
you so aptly put it.
HENRIETTE. It was you who said that.
MAURICE. And the one who had an interest in it must have committed the
crime.
HENRIETTE. Now, Maurice, we have been running around and around in this
tread-mill, scourging each other. Let us quit before we get to the point
of sheer madness.
MAURICE. You have reached that point already.
HENRIETTE. Don't you think it's time for us to part, before we drive
each other insane?
MAURICE. Yes, I think so.
HENRIETTE. [Rising] Good-bye then!
(Two men in civilian clothes become visible in the background.)
HENRIETTE. [Turns and comes back to MAURICE] There they are again!
MAURICE. The dark angels that want to drive us out of the garden.
HENRIETTE. And force us back upon each other as if we were chained
together.
MAURICE. Or as if we were condemned to lifelong marriage. Are we really
to marry? To settle down in the same place? To be able to close the door
behind us and perhaps get peace at last?
HENRIETTE. And shut ourselves up in order to torture each other to
death; get behind locks and bolts, with a ghost for marriage portion;
you torturing me with the memory of Adolphe, and I getting back at you
with Jeanne--and Marion.
MAURICE. Never mention the name of Marion again! Don't you know that she
was to be buried today--at this very moment perhaps?
HENRIETTE. And you are not there? What does that mean?
MAURICE. It means that both Jeanne and the police have warned me against
the rage of the people.
HENRIETTE. A coward, too?
MAURICE. All the vices! How could you ever have cared for me?
HENRIETTE. Because two days ago you were another person, well worthy of
being loved---
MAURICE. And now sunk to such a depth!
HENRIETTE. It isn't that. But you are beginning to flaunt bad qualities
which are not your own.
MAURICE. But yours?
HENRIETTE. Perhaps, for when you appear a little worse I feel myself at
once a little better.
MAURICE. It's like passing on a disease to save one's self-respect.
HENRIETTE. And how vulgar you have become, too!
MAURICE. Yes, I notice it myself, and I hardly recognise myself since
that night in the cell. They put in one person and let out another
through that gate which separates us from the rest of society. And now
I feel myself the enemy of all mankind: I should like to set fire to
the earth and dry up the oceans, for nothing less than a universal
conflagration can wipe out my dishonour.
HENRIETTE. I had a letter from my mother today. She is the widow of a
major in the army, well educated, with old-fashioned ideas of honour and
that kind of thing. Do you want to read the letter? No, you don't!--Do
you know that I am an outcast? My respectable acquaintances will have
nothing to do with me, and if I show myself on the streets alone the
police will take me. Do you realise now that we have to get married?
MAURICE. We despise each other, and yet we have to marry: that is hell
pure and simple! But, Henriette, before we unite our destinies you must
tell me your secret, so that we may be on more equal terms.
HENRIETTE. All right, I'll tell you. I had a friend who got into
trouble--you understand. I wanted to help her, as her whole future was
at stake--and she died!
MAURICE. That was reckless, but one might almost call it noble, too.
HENRIETTE. You say so now, but the next time you lose your temper you
will accuse me of it.
MAURICE. No, I won't. But I cannot deny that it has shaken my faith
in you and that it makes me afraid of you. Tell me, is her lover still
alive, and does he know to what extent you were responsible?
HENRIETTE. He was as guilty as I.
MAURICE. And if his conscience should begin to trouble him--such things
do happen--and if he should feel inclined to confess: then you would be
lost.
HENRIETTE. I know it, and it is this constant dread which has made me
rush from one dissipation to another--so that I should never have time
to wake up to full consciousness.
MAURICE. And now you want me to take my marriage portion out of your
dread. That's asking a little too much.
HENRIETTE. But when I shared the shame of Maurice the murderer---
MAURICE. Oh, let's come to an end with it!
HENRIETTE. No, the end is not yet, and I'll not let go my hold until I
have put you where you belong. For you can't go around thinking yourself
better than I am.
MAURICE. So you want to fight me then? All right, as you please!
HENRIETTE. A fight on life and death!
(The rolling of drums is heard in the distance.)
MAURICE. The garden is to be closed. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake;
thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee."
HENRIETTE. "And the Lord God said unto the woman---"
A GUARD. [In uniform, speaking very politely] Sorry, but the garden has
to be closed.
(Curtain.)
SECOND SCENE
(The Cremerie. MME. CATHERINE is sitting at the counter making entries
into an account book. ADOLPHE and HENRIETTE are seated at a table.)
ADOLPHE. [Calmly and kindly] But if I give you my final assurance that I
didn't run away, but that, on the contrary, I thought you had played me
false, this ought to convince you.
HENRIETTE. But why did you fool us by saying that those fellows were not
policemen?
ADOLPHE. I didn't think myself that they were, and then I wanted to
reassure you.
HENRIETTE. When you say it, I believe you. But then you must also
believe me, if I reveal my innermost thoughts to you.
ADOLPHE. Go on.
HENRIETTE. But you mustn't come back with your usual talk of fancies and
delusions.
ADOLPHE. You seem to have reason to fear that I may.
HENRIETTE. I fear nothing, but I know you and your scepticism--Well, and
then you mustn't tell this to anybody--promise me!
ADOLPHE. I promise.
HENRIETTE. Now think of it, although I must say it's something terrible:
I have partial evidence that Maurice is guilty, or at least, I have
reasonable suspicions---
ADOLPHE. You don't mean it!
HENRIETTE. Listen, and judge for yourself. When Maurice left me in the
Bois, he said he was going to see Marion alone, as the mother was out.
And now I have discovered afterward that he did meet the mother. So that
he has been lying to me.
ADOLPHE. That's possible, and his motive for doing so may have been
the best, but how can anybody conclude from it that he is guilty of a
murder?
HENRIETTE. Can't you see that?--Don't you understand?
ADOLPHE. Not at all.
HENRIETTE. Because you don't want to!--Then there is nothing left for me
but to report him, and we'll see whether he can prove an alibi.
ADOLPHE. Henriette, let me tell you the grim truth. You, like he, have
reached the border line of--insanity. The demons of distrust have got
hold of you, and each of you is using his own sense of partial guilt to
wound the other with. Let me see if I can make a straight guess: he has
also come to suspect you of killing his child?
HENRIETTE. Yes, he's mad enough to do so.
ADOLPHE. You call his suspicions mad, but not your own.
HENRIETTE. You have first to prove the contrary, or that I suspect him
unjustly.
ADOLPHE. Yes, that's easy. A new autopsy has proved that Marion died of
a well-known disease, the queer name of which I cannot recall just now.
HENRIETTE. Is it true?
ADOLPHE. The official report is printed in today's paper.
HENRIETTE. I don't take any stock in it. They can make up that kind of
thing.
ADOLPHE. Beware, Henriette--or you may, without knowing it, pass across
that border line. Beware especially of throwing out accusations that may
put you into prison. Beware! [He places his hand on her head] You hate
Maurice?
HENRIETTE. Beyond all bounds!
ADOLPHE. When love turns into hatred, it means that it was tainted from
the start.
HENRIETTE. [In a quieter mood] What am I to do? Tell me, you who are the
only one that understands me.
ADOLPHE. But you don't want any sermons.
HENRIETTE. Have you nothing else to offer me?
ADOLPHE. Nothing else. But they have helped me.
HENRIETTE. Preach away then!
ADOLPHE. Try to turn your hatred against yourself. Put the knife to the
evil spot in yourself, for it is there that YOUR trouble roots.
HENRIETTE. Explain yourself.
ADOLPHE. Part from Maurice first of all, so that you cannot nurse your
qualms of conscience together. Break off your career as an artist,
for the only thing that led you into it was a craving for freedom and
fun--as they call it. And you have seen now how much fun there is in it.
Then go home to your mother.
HENRIETTE. Never!
ADOLPHE. Some other place then.
HENRIETTE. I suppose you know, Adolphe, that I have guessed your secret
and why you wouldn't accept the prize?
ADOLPHE. Oh, I assumed that you would understand a half-told story.
HENRIETTE. Well--what did you do to get peace?
ADOLPHE. What I have suggested: I became conscious of my guilt,
repented, decided to turn over a new leaf, and arranged my life like
that of a penitent.
HENRIETTE. How can you repent when, like me, you have no conscience? Is
repentance an act of grace bestowed on you as faith is?
ADOLPHE. Everything is a grace, but it isn't granted unless you seek
it--Seek!
(HENRIETTE remains silent.)
ADOLPHE. But don't wait beyond the allotted time, or you may harden
yourself until you tumble down into the irretrievable.
HENRIETTE. [After a pause] Is conscience fear of punishment?
ADOLPHE. No, it is the horror inspired in our better selves by the
misdeeds of our lower selves.
HENRIETTE. Then I must have a conscience also?
ADOLPHE. Of course you have, but--
HENRIETTE, Tell me, Adolphe, are you what they call religious?
ADOLPHE. Not the least bit.
HENRIETTE. It's all so queer--What is religion?
ADOLPHE. Frankly speaking, I don't know! And I don't think anybody else
can tell you. Sometimes it appears to me like a punishment, for nobody
becomes religious without having a bad conscience.
HENRIETTE. Yes, it is a punishment. Now I know what to do. Good-bye,
Adolphe!
ADOLPHE. You'll go away from here?
HENRIETTE. Yes, I am going--to where you said. Good-bye my friend!
Good-bye, Madame Catherine!
MME. CATHERINE. Have you to go in such a hurry?
HENRIETTE. Yes.
ADOLPHE. Do you want me to go with you?
HENRIETTE. No, it wouldn't do. I am going alone, alone as I came here,
one day in Spring, thinking that I belonged where I don't belong, and
believing there was something called freedom, which does not exist.
Good-bye! [Goes out.]
MME. CATHERINE. I hope that lady never comes back, and I wish she had
never come here at all!
ADOLPHE. Who knows but that she may have had some mission to fill here?
And at any rate she deserves pity, endless pity.
MME. CATHERINE. I don't, deny it, for all of us deserve that.
ADOLPHE. And she has even done less wrong than the rest of us.
MME. CATHERINE. That's possible, but not probable.
ADOLPHE. You are always so severe, Madame Catherine. Tell me: have you
never done anything wrong?
MME. CATHERINE. [Startled] Of course, as I am a sinful human creature.
But if you have been on thin ice and fallen in, you have a right to
tell others to keep away. And you may do so without being held severe
or uncharitable. Didn't I say to Monsieur Maurice the moment that lady
entered here: Look out! Keep away! And he didn't, and so he fell in.
Just like a naughty, self-willed child. And when a man acts like that he
has to have a spanking, like any disobedient youngster.
ADOLPHE. Well, hasn't he had his spanking?
MME. CATHERINE. Yes, but it does not seem to have been enough, as he is
still going around complaining.
ADOLPHE. That's a very popular interpretation of the whole intricate
question.
MME. CATHERINE. Oh, pish! You do nothing but philosophise about your
vices, and while you are still at it the police come along and solve the
riddle. Now please leave me alone with my accounts!
ADOLPHE. There's Maurice now.
MME. CATHERINE. Yes, God bless him!
MAURICE. [Enters, his face very flushed, and takes a seat near ADOLPHE]
Good evening.
(MME. CATHERINE nods and goes on figuring.)
ADOLPHE. Well, how's everything with you?
MAURICE. Oh, beginning to clear up.
ADOLPHE. [Hands him a newspaper, which MAURICE does not take] So you
have read the paper?
MAURICE. No, I don't read the papers any longer. There's nothing but
infamies in them.
ADOLPHE. But you had better read it first---
MAURICE. No, I won't! It's nothing but lies--But listen: I have found a
new clue. Can you guess who committed that murder?
ADOLPHE. Nobody, nobody!
MAURICE. Do you know where Henriette was during that quarter hour when
the child was left alone?--She was THERE! And it is she who has done it!
ADOLPHE. You are crazy, man.
MAURICE. Not I, but Henriette, is crazy. She suspects me and has
threatened to report me.
ADOLPHE. Henriette was here a while ago, and she used the self-same
words as you. Both of you are crazy, for it has been proved by a second
autopsy that the child died from a well-known disease, the name of which
I have forgotten.
MAURICE. It isn't true!
ADOLPHE. That's what she said also. But the official report is printed
in the paper.
MAURICE. A report? Then they have made it up!
ADOLPHE. And that's also what she said. The two of you are suffering
from the same mental trouble. But with her I got far enough to make her
realise her own condition.
MAURICE. Where did she go?
ADOLPHE. She went far away from here to begin a new life.
MAURICE. Hm, hm!--Did you go to the funeral? ADOLPHE. I did.
MAURICE. Well?
ADOLPHE. Well, Jeanne seemed resigned and didn't have a hard word to say
about you.
MAURICE. She is a good woman.
ADOLPHE. Why did you desert her then?
MAURICE. Because I WAS crazy--blown up with pride especially--and then
we had been drinking champagne---
ADOLPHE. Can you understand now why Jeanne wept when you drank
champagne?
MAURICE. Yes, I understand now--And for that reason I have already
written to her and asked her to forgive me--Do you think she will
forgive me?
ADOLPHE. I think so, for it's not like her to hate anybody.
MAURICE. Do you think she will forgive me completely, so that she will
come back to me?
ADOLPHE. Well, I don't know about THAT. You have shown yourself so poor
in keeping faith that it is doubtful whether she will trust her fate to
you any longer.
MAURICE. But I can feel that her fondness for me has not ceased, and I
know she will come back to me.
ADOLPHE. How can you know that? How can you believe it? Didn't you even
suspect her and that decent brother of hers of having sent the police
after Henriette out of revenge?
MAURICE. But I don't believe it any longer--that is to say, I guess that
fellow Emile is a pretty slick customer.
MME. CATHERINE. Now look here! What are you saying of Monsieur Emile? Of
course, he is nothing but a workman, but if everybody kept as straight
as he--There is no flaw in him, but a lot of sense and tact.
EMILE. [Enters] Monsieur Gerard?
MAURICE. That's me.
EMILE. Pardon me, but I have something to say to you in private.
MAURICE. Go right on. We are all friends here.
(The ABBE enters and sits down.)
EMILE. [With a glance at the ABBE] Perhaps after---
MAURICE. Never mind. The Abbe is also a friend, although he and I
differ.
EMILE. You know who I am, Monsieur Gerard? My sister has asked me to
give you this package as an answer to your letter.
(MAURICE takes the package and opens it.)
EMILE. And now I have only to add, seeing as I am in a way my sister's
guardian, that, on her behalf as well as my own, I acknowledge you free
of all obligations, now when the natural tie between you does not exist
any longer.
MAURICE. But you must have a grudge against me?
EMILE. Must I? I can't see why. On the other hand, I should like to have
a declaration from you, here in the presence of your friends, that you
don't think either me or my sister capable of such a meanness as to send
the police after Mademoiselle Henriette.
MAURICE. I wish to take back what I said, and I offer you my apology, if
you will accept it.
EMILE. It is accepted. And I wish all of you a good evening. [Goes out.]
EVERYBODY. Good evening!
MAURICE. The tie and the gloves which Jeanne gave me for the opening
night of my play, and which I let Henrietta throw into the fireplace.
Who can have picked them up? Everything is dug up; everything comes
back!--And when she gave them to me in the cemetery, she said she
wanted me to look fine and handsome, so that other people would like me
also--And she herself stayed at home--This hurt her too deeply, and well
it might. I have no right to keep company with decent human beings. Oh,
have I done this? Scoffed at a gift coming from a good heart; scorned a
sacrifice offered to my own welfare. This was what I threw away in order
to get--a laurel that is lying on the rubbish heap, and a bust that
would have belonged in the pillory--Abbe, now I come over to you.
ABBE. Welcome!
MAURICE. Give me the word that I need.
ABBE. Do you expect me to contradict your self-accusations and inform
you that you have done nothing wrong?
MAURICE. Speak the right word!
ABBE. With your leave, I'll say then that I have found your behaviour
just as abominable as you have found it yourself.
MAURICE. What can I do, what can I do, to get out of this?
ABBE. You know as well as I do.
MAURICE. No, I know only that I am lost, that my life is spoiled, my
career cut off, my reputation in this world ruined forever.
ABBE. And so you are looking for a new existence in some better world,
which you are now beginning to believe in?
MAURICE. Yes, that's it.
ABBE. You have been living in the flesh and you want now to live in the
spirit. Are you then so sure that this world has no more attractions for
you?
MAURICE. None whatever! Honour is a phantom; gold, nothing but dry
leaves; women, mere intoxicants. Let me hide myself behind your
consecrated walls and forget this horrible dream that has filled two
days and lasted two eternities.
ABBE. All right! But this is not the place to go into the matter more
closely. Let us make an appointment for this evening at nine o'clock in
the Church of St. Germain. For I am going to preach to the inmates
of St. Lazare, and that may be your first step along the hard road of
penitence.
MAURICE. Penitence?
ABBE. Well, didn't you wish---
MAURICE. Yes, yes!
ABBE. Then we have vigils between midnight and two o'clock.
MAURICE. That will be splendid!
ABBE. Give me your hand that you will not look back.
MAURICE. [Rising, holds out his hand] Here is my hand, and my will goes
with it.
SERVANT GIRL. [Enters from the kitchen] A telephone call for Monsieur
Maurice.
MAURICE. From whom?
SERVANT GIRL. From the theatre.
(MAURICE tries to get away, but the ABBE holds on to his hand.)
ABBE. [To the SERVANT GIRL] Find out what it is.
SERVANT GIRL. They want to know if Monsieur Maurice is going to attend
the performance tonight.
ABBE. [To MAURICE, who is trying to get away] No, I won't let you go.
MAURICE. What performance is that?
ADOLPHE. Why don't you read the paper?
MME. CATHERINE and the ABBE. He hasn't read the paper?
MAURICE. It's all lies and slander. [To the SERVANT GIRL] Tell them that
I am engaged for this evening: I am going to church.
(The SERVANT GIRL goes out into the kitchen.)
ADOLPHE. As you don't want to read the paper, I shall have to tell you
that your play has been put on again, now when you are exonerated. And
your literary friends have planned a demonstration for this evening in
recognition of your indisputable talent.
MAURICE. It isn't true.
EVERYBODY. It is true.
MAURICE. [After a pause] I have not deserved it!
ABBE. Good!
ADOLPHE. And furthermore, Maurice---
MAURICE. [Hiding his face in his hands] Furthermore!
MME. CATHERINE. One hundred thousand francs! Do you see now that they
come back to you? And the villa outside the city. Everything is coming
back except Mademoiselle Henriette.
ABBE. [Smiling] You ought to take this matter a little more seriously,
Madame Catherine.
MME. CATHERINE. Oh, I cannot--I just can't keep serious any longer!
[She breaks into open laughter, which she vainly tries to smother with
her handkerchief.]
ADOLPHE. Say, Maurice, the play begins at eight.
ABBE. But the church services are at nine.
ADOLPHE. Maurice!
MME. CATHERINE. Let us hear what the end is going to be, Monsieur
Maurice.
(MAURICE drops his head on the table, in his arms.)
ADOLPHE. Loose him, Abbe!
ABBE. No, it is not for me to loose or bind. He must do that himself.
MAURICE. [Rising] Well, I go with the Abbe.
ABBE. No, my young friend. I have nothing to give you but a scolding,
which you can give yourself. And you owe a duty to yourself and to your
good name. That you have got through with this as quickly as you have is
to me a sign that you have suffered your punishment as intensely as if
it had lasted an eternity. And when Providence absolves you there is
nothing for me to add.
MAURICE. But why did the punishment have to be so hard when I was
innocent?
ABBE. Hard? Only two days! And you were not innocent. For we have to
stand responsible for our thoughts and words and desires also. And in
your thought you became a murderer when your evil self wished the life
out of your child.
MAURICE. You are right. But my decision is made. To-night I will
meet you at the church in order to have a reckoning with myself--but
to-morrow evening I go to the theatre.
MME. CATHERINE. A good solution, Monsieur Maurice.
ADOLPHE. Yes, that is the solution. Whew!
ABBE. Yes, so it is!
(Curtain.)
End of Project Gutenberg's There are Crimes and Crimes, by August Strindberg