Vautrin And I, have I not been for ten years his father? Raoul is my very soul! Let me endure anguish, let men heap shame upon me; if he is happy and crowned with honor, I shall see it and my life will once more be bright. The Duchess I am overwhelmed. He loves like a mother. Vautrin The only tie that binds me to the world, to life, is this bright link, purer than gold. The Duchess And--without stain? Vautrin Ah! People know themselves only in their virtues, and are austere for others alone. But in myself I see but infamy--in him the heart of honor. And yet was he found by me on the highroad from Toulon to Marseilles, the route of the convict. He was twelve years old, without bread, and in rags. The Duchess Bare-foot, it may be? Vautrin Yes. But beautiful, with curly hair-- The Duchess It was thus you saw him? Vautrin Poor angel, he was crying. I took him with me. The Duchess And you brought him up? Vautrin I stole the means to do so. The Duchess I should, perhaps, myself have done the like. Vautrin I did more! The Duchess He must have suffered much. Vautrin Never! I concealed from him the means I took to make his life happy and easy. I would not let him even suspect them--it would have blighted him. You may ennoble him by parchments, I have made him noble in heart. The Duchess And he was my son! Vautrin Yes, a son full of nobility, of winning grace, of high instincts; he needed but to have the way made clear to him. The Duchess (wringing the hand of Vautrin) You must needs be great indeed, who have so well performed a mother's task! Vautrin And better than you mothers do! Often you love your babes amiss--Ah, you will spoil him for me even now!--He was of reckless courage; he wished to be a soldier, and the Emperor would have accepted him. I showed him the world and mankind under their true light--Yet now he is about to renounce me-- The Duchess My son ungrateful? Vautrin NO, 'tis mine I speak of. The Duchess Oh! give him back to me this very instant! Vautrin I and those two men upstairs--are we not all liable to prosecution? And ought not the duke to give us assurance of silence and release? The Duchess Those two men then are your agents? And you came-- Vautrin But for me, of the two, natural and lawful son, there would not, in a few hours, have survived but one child. And they might perchance both have fallen--each by the other's hand. The Duchess Ah! you are a providence of horror! Vautrin What would you have had me do? SCENE FOURTEENTH. The same persons, the Duke, Lafouraille, Buteux, Saint-Charles, and all the domestics. The Duke (pointing to Vautrin) Seize him! (Pointing to Saint-Charles) And obey no one but this gentleman. The Duchess But you owe to him the life of your Albert! It was he who gave the alarm. The Duke He! Buteux (to Vautrin) Ah! you have betrayed us! Why did you bring us here? Saint-Charles (to the duke) Does your grace hear them?