ETCHEPARE. For ten years I've lived with that thief--that wretched woman! How she lied! Ah! When I heard that judge say to her, "You were convicted of theft and complicity with your lover," and when, before all those people, she owned to it--I tell you, mummy, I thought the skies were falling on my head--and when she admitted she'd been that man's mistress--I don't know just what happened--nor which I would have killed soonest--the judge who said such things so calmly or her who admitted them with her back turned to me. And then I was on the point of confessing myself guilty--I, an innocent man--in order not to learn any more--to get away--but I thought of you and the children! [_A long pause_] Come! We've got to make up our minds what we're going to do. You left them at home? THE MOTHER. No. I had to send them to our cousin at Bayonne. We've no longer got a home--we've nothing--we are ruined. Besides, I've got a horror of this place now. The women edge away and make signs to one another when I meet them, and in the church they leave me all alone in the middle of an empty space. Already--I had to take the children away from school. ETCHEPARE. My God! THE MOTHER. No one would speak to them. One day Georges picked a quarrel with the biggest, and they fought, and as Georges got the better of it, the other, to revenge himself, called him the son of a gallows-bird. ETCHEPARE. And Georges? THE MOTHER. He came home crying and wouldn't go out of doors. It was then that I sent them away to Bayonne. ETCHEPARE. That's what we'll do. Go away. We'll go and fetch them. To-morrow or to-night I shall be with you again. There are emigration companies there--boats to America--they'll send all four of us--they'll give us credit for the voyage on account of the children. THE MOTHER. And when they ask for their mother-- ETCHEPARE [_after a pause_] You'll tell them she's dead. SCENE IV:--_Yanetta is shown in._ YANETTA [_to someone outside_] Very good, Monsieur. [_The door is closed_] THE MOTHER [_without looking at Yanetta_] Then I'll go. ETCHEPARE [_the same_] Yes. I shall see you again to-night or down there to-morrow. THE MOTHER. Very well. ETCHEPARE. Directly you get there you'll go and find out about the day and hour. THE MOTHER. Very well. ETCHEPARE. Till to-morrow then. THE MOTHER. To-morrow. [_She goes out without glancing at Yanetta_] YANETTA [_takes a few steps towards her husband, falls on her knees, and clasps her hands. In a low voice_] Forgive me! ETCHEPARE. Never! YANETTA. Don't say never! ETCHEPARE. Was the judge lying? YANETTA. No--he wasn't lying. ETCHEPARE. You wretched thing! YANETTA. Yes, I am a wretched thing! Forgive me! ETCHEPARE. Kill you rather! I could kill you! YANETTA. Yes, yes! But forgive me! ETCHEPARE. You're just a loose woman--a loose woman from Paris, with no honor, no shame, no honesty even! YANETTA. Yes! Insult me--strike me! ETCHEPARE. For ten years you have been lying to me!