LA BOUZOLE. Well, send her in here; perhaps I can give her a little
advice. Maitre Placat will be some time yet, won't he?

RECORDER. I believe so.

LA BOUZOLE. Well, tell her to come and speak to me, poor woman. That
won't upset anybody and it may save her some trouble.

RECORDER. Very well, your worship. [_He goes to the door on the right,
makes a sign to old Madame Etchepare, and goes out by the door at the
back_]

LA BOUZOLE [_alone_] It's astonishing how benevolent I feel this
morning!

_Old Madame Etchepare enters, clad in the costume peculiar
to old women of Basque race._

SCENE II:--_La Bouzole, Old Madame Etchepare._

LA BOUZOLE. They tell me, Madame, that you wished to see one of the
gentlemen of the Bar.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Yes, sir.

LA BOUZOLE. You wish to be present at the trial?

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. No, sir. I know so well that they cannot condemn
my son that what they say in there doesn't interest me in the least. I
am waiting for him. I have come because they have turned us out of our
house.

LA BOUZOLE. They have turned you out?

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. The bailiffs came.

LA BOUZOLE. Then your son owed money?

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Since they arrested him all our men have left us.
We couldn't get in the crops nor pay what was owing. But of course I
know they'll make all that good when my son is acquitted.

LA BOUZOLE [_aside_] Poor woman!

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. I'm so thankful to see the end of all our
troubles. He'll come back and get our house and field again for us.
He'll make them give up our cattle. That's why I wanted to see one of
these gentlemen.

LA BOUZOLE. Will you explain?

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. A fortnight after the gendarmes came to arrest my
boy, Monsieur Claudet turned the waste water from his factory into the
brook that passes our house where we water the beasts. That was one of
the things that ruined us too. If Etchepare finds things like that when
he gets back, God knows what he'll do! I want the law to stop them doing
us all this harm.

LA BOUZOLE. The law! Ah, my good woman, it would be far better for you
to have nothing to do with the law.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. But why? There is justice, and it's for everybody
alike.

LA BOUZOLE. Of course.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Has Monsieur Claudet the right--

LA BOUZOLE. Certainly not.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Then I want to ask the judge to stop him.

LA BOUZOLE. It is not so simple as you