MOUZON [_laughing_] That was it! That was it! And the witness for the defence--that idiot. Didn't you make him look a fool? He couldn't finish his evidence, they laughed so when you said: "If you wish to conduct the case, only say so. Perhaps you'd like to take my place?" BUNERAT. Ah, yes! Ladies, my good friend here reminds me of a rather amusing anecdote. The other day--it was in the Correctional Court-- THE MANSERVANT [_announcing_] Monsieur Gabriel Ardeuil. SCENE VI:--_The same, with Ardeuil._ ARDEUIL [_to Madame Vagret_] I hope you'll forgive me for coming so late. I was detained until now. MADAME VAGRET. I will forgive you all the more readily since I'm told you have had such a success to-day as will make all the advocates of the district jealous of you. _Ardeuil is left to himself._ LA BOUZOLE [_touching him on the shoulder_] Young man--come, sit down by me--as a favor. Do you realize that it won't take many trials like to-day's to get you struck off the rolls? ARDEUIL. I couldn't be struck off the rolls because-- LA BOUZOLE. Hang it all--a man does himself no good by appearing singular. ARDEUIL. Singular! But you yourself--Well, the deliberations are secret, but for all that I know you stand for independence and goodness of heart in this Court. LA BOUZOLE. Yes, I've permitted myself that luxury--lately. ARDEUIL. Lately? LA BOUZOLE. Yes, yes, my young friend, for some little time. Because for some little time I've been cured of the disease which turns so many honest fellows into bad magistrates. That disease is the fever of promotion. Look at those men there. If they weren't infected by this microbe, they would be just, kindly gentlemen, instead of cruel and servile magistrates. ARDEUIL. You exaggerate, sir. The French magistracy is not-- LA BOUZOLE. It is not venal--that's the truth. Among our four thousand magistrates you might perhaps not find one--you hear me, not one--even among the poorest and most obscure--who would accept a money bribe in order to modify his judgment. That is the glory of our country's magistracy and its special virtue. But a great number of our magistrates are ready to be complaisant--even to give way--when it is a question of making themselves agreeable to an influential elector, or to the deputy, or to the minister who distributes appointments and favors. Universal suffrage is the god and the tyrant of the magistrate. So you are right--and I am not wrong. ARDEUIL. Nothing can deprive us of our independence. LA BOUZOLE. That is so. But, as Monsieur de Tocqueville once remarked, we can offer it up as a sacrifice. ARDEUIL. You are a misanthrope. There are magistrates whom no promise of any kind--