"Why did you not buy it?"
"Because I had no money."
"But you have a gold ring on your finger; why did you not sell it?"
"I am a foundling; when I was taken from the bank of a ditch, this ring
was suspended from my neck by a silken cord, and I kept it in the hope of
thereby discovering at least who were my parents; I cannot dispose of it."
The _procureur du roi_ (king's attorney) made a violent speech against the
prisoner, who was found guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment for five
years. Immediately upon this, a woman, more worn down by poverty than age,
came forward and made the following declaration:
"Gentlemen of the Jury: Twenty years ago a young woman was
married to a young man of the same town, who afterward
abandoned her. Poor and distressed, she was obliged to leave
her child to the care of Providence. The child has since
grown up, and the woman and the husband have grown older;
the child in poverty, the woman in misery, and her husband
in prosperity. They are all three now in court. The child is
the unfortunate prisoner whom you have just pronounced
guilty; the mother is myself; and there sits the father!"
pointing to the king's attorney.