SCH. Yes, monsieur. My husband and I had arranged our expenses carefully. On the evening of the day we were paid our salary we used to divide the money into little portions and put them away. So much for rent, so much for food, so much for clothing. We just managed to get along by being most careful; and several times we cut down expenses it didn’t seem possible to cut down. A third child coming upset everything. We couldn’t have lived. We should all have starved. Besides, the inspectors and directresses don’t like us to have many children, especially if we nurse them ourselves. They told me to hide myself when I was suckling the last one. I only had ten minutes to do it in, at the recreations at ten o’clock and at two o’clock; and when my mother brought baby to me I had to shut myself up with him in a dark closet. PRES. All that’s irrelevant. COUN. DEF. No, M. le président, it ought to be known here how the State, which preaches increase of the population, treats its employés when they have children. PRES [_furious_] You have no right to speak. [_To the schoolmistress_] Have you anything more to say? SCH. No, M. le président. PRES. Then sit down. Tupin, stand up. TUPIN [_a working man, mean and wretched_] After you, Calvon. PRES. What! _What_ did you say? TUPIN. I said ‘After you, Calvon.’ Calvon’s your name, isn’t it? PRES. I warn you I shall not stand any insolence from you. TUPIN. I say to you ‘After you, Calvon,’ as you say to me ‘Tupin, stand up.’ If that’s insolence, I didn’t begin it. PRES. I shall have you turned out of the court. Stand up. TUPIN [_standing_] There: I’m very glad to. It’ll take the stiffness out of my legs. PRES. Your profession? TUPIN. Electrician. PRES. You were once. It is a long time since you worked regularly. TUPIN. I can’t get work. PRES. Because you look for it in the public house. The police reports about you are most unfavorable. TUPIN. I never liked the police: I’m not surprised they don’t like me. [_Laughter from the audience_]. PRES. Silence! or I shall clear the court. [_To Tupin_] The name of your wife, Eugénie Tupin, has been found in the papers of the woman Thomas. Where is the woman Tupin? Stand up. [_To Tupin_] That will do, sit down. You attempted to conceal her from the police. TUPIN. I thought they were not good company for her. PRES [_pretending not to hear and consulting his notes_] You gave yourself up and declared that you yourself took her to this woman’s house. TUPIN. You speak like a book. PRES. You persistently accused yourself. Did you want to go to prison? TUPIN. It’s not a bad place. One’s warm, and there’s food at every meal. PRES. It is true that prison diet is better than your everyday fare. TUPIN. Now you’re talking.