“You will certainly not do that, madame, if you are disposed to follow
my advice.”
She looked at him quite amazed; but he insisted.
“I mean you must not look as if you wished not to be seen: that would be
a great, almost irreparable mistake. What would they think if they saw
you in tears and great distress? They would say you were sure of your
son’s guilt; and the few who may still doubt will doubt no longer. You
must control public opinion from the beginning; for it is absolute
in these small communities, where everybody is under somebody else’s
immediate influence. Public opinion is all powerful; and say what you
will, it controls even the jurymen in their deliberations.”
“That is true,” said the marchioness: “that is but too true.”
“Therefore, madame, you must summon all your energy, conceal your
maternal anxiety in your innermost heart, dry your tears, and show
nothing but the most perfect confidence. Let everybody say, as he sees
you, ‘No mother could look so who thinks her son guilty.’”