suppose, Madame. First of all you
must go to the bailiff.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Good.

LA BOUZOLE. He will make a declaration.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. What about?

LA BOUZOLE. He will declare that your water supply is contaminated.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. There is no need to trouble a bailiff, sir. A
child could see that.

LA BOUZOLE. It is the law.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Well, and then?

LA BOUZOLE. Then you must go to a lawyer and get a judgment.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Very well, if there 's no other way of doing it--

LA BOUZOLE. That is not all. If Monsieur Claudet contests the facts, the
President will appoint an expert who will visit the site and make a
report. You will have to put in a request that the President will grant
a speedy hearing on grounds of urgency. Your case being finally put on
the list of causes, it would be heard in its turn--after the vacations.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. After the vacations!

LA BOUZOLE. And that is not all. Monsieur Claudet's lawyer might
default, in which case judgment would be declared in your favor. But
Monsieur Claudet might defend the case, or enter some kind of plea and
obtain a judgment on that plea, or appeal against the judgment before
the matter would be finally settled. All this would cost a great deal of
money.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. Who would pay it?

LA BOUZOLE. You, naturally, and Monsieur Claudet.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. It's all one to him; he's rich; but for us, who
haven't a penny left!

LA BOUZOLE. Then you would have to apply for judicial assistance.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. That would take still more time?

LA BOUZOLE. That would take much longer.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. But, sir, I've always been told that justice was
free in France.

LA BOUZOLE. Justice is gratuitous, but the means of obtaining access to
justice are not. That is all.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. And all that would take--how long?

LA BOUZOLE. If Monsieur Claudet were to appeal, it might last two years.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. It isn't possible! Isn't the right on my side?

LA BOUZOLE. My poor woman, it's not enough to have the right on your
side--you must have the law on your side too.

OLD MADAME ETCHEPARE. I understand. Justice is a thing we poor people
can know only when it strikes us down. We can know it only by the harm
it does us. Well--we must go away--it doesn't matter where--and I shan't
regret it; people insult us; they call out to us as they pass. Etchepare
w