LUCIE. I couldn’t always get work. When I got it, I was paid sevenpence-halfpenny for twelve hours. I was not a skilled worker. Some people get a shilling and a halfpenny. We were in despair, thinking of the child that was coming. PRES. That was not a reason for leading your sister and her child to their deaths! [_Lucie is seized with a nervous trembling and does not answer_]. Answer! COUN. DEF. Give her a moment to recover, M. le président. LUCIE [_controlling herself_] I wanted to get her into a hospital, but they only take them at the end. It seems there are homes one can go to in Paris, but not in the provinces. PRES. You could have applied for charity. LUCIE. Six months residence was necessary. And then, what should we have done with the child? PRES. As it was impossible for you to bring it up, your sister could have taken it to a foundling hospital. LUCIE. Abandon it—yes, we thought of that. We made inquiries. COUN. DEF. It is necessary to get a certificate of indigence, and then make an application to the board of admission. They inquire into the case and admit or reject. The child may die meanwhile. LUCIE. And they make a condition that the mother shall not know where her child is. That she shall never see it or hear of it again. Only once a month she will be told if it is alive or dead. Nothing more. PRES. Proceed, madame. LUCIE. Then I brought my children back to my husband, because we had nothing left. I went to see the parents of the young man, who is the cause of everything. They practically turned me out of doors. The young man is going to be married. COUN. DEF. May I say a word, M. le président? PRES. You are sure it is only a word? COUN. DEF. Yes, M. le président. All the guilty are not in court. I look in vain for the seducer of this poor girl. He is waiting anxiously in the provinces to hear the result of this trial, fearing his name may come out. I have received from him and from his family an imploring letter, entreating me to spare him and not to mention him by name during the proceedings. Until now, as a matter of fact his name has not been mentioned, and we are at the end of the trial. Well, I am going to make it known at once. I shall have no more pity for the family and the intended wife of this criminal, than he had for the woman who is dead, and for the woman whose life he has ruined. If there is no law in the Code of this country which can reach him, there will be at least indignation enough in the hearts of all honest people to prevent Jacques Bernin from enjoying in peace the happiness he has stolen! [_Prolonged applause_]. PRES [_to Lucie_] Proceed, madame. [_Pause_]. Kindly conclude your evidence. LUCIE. I implored my husband to take us back, Annette and me. He wouldn’t. We came to Paris with a little money he gave me. It was too soon for them to take Annette into one hospital: in another, where they would have taken her, there was no room. My husband filed a petition for divorce.