s, and
you will be respected.

(Exeunt all except Vautrin.)

SCENE FOURTH.

Vautrin (alone)
In order to lead them it is only necessary to let them think they have
an honorable future. They have no future, no prospects! Pshaw! If
generals took their soldiers seriously, not a cannon would be fired!
In a few days, following upon years of subterranean labors, I shall
have won for Raoul a commanding position; it must be made sure to him.
Lafouraille and Philosopher will be necessary to me in the country
where I am to give him a family. Ah, this love! It has put out of the
question the life I had destined him to. I wished to win for him a
solitary glory, to see him conquering for me and under my direction,
the world which I am forbidden to enter. Raoul is not only the child
of my intellect and of my malice, he is also my instrument of revenge.
These fellows of mine cannot understand these sentiments; they are
happy; they have never fallen, not they! They were born criminals. But
I have attempted to raise myself. Yet though a man can raise himself
in the eyes of God, he can never do so in the eyes of the world.
People tell you to repent, and then refuse to pardon. Men possess in
their dealings with each other the instincts of savage animals. Once
wounded, one is down-trodden by his fellows. Moreover, to ask the
protection of a world whose laws you have trampled under foot is like
returning to a house which you have burnt and whose roof would fall
and crush you. I have well polished and perfected the magnetic
instrument of my domination. Raoul was brave, he would have sacrificed
his life, like a fool; I had to make him cold and domineering, and to
dispel from his mind, one by one, his exalted ideas of life; to render
him suspicious and tricky as--an old bill-broker, while all the while
he knew not who I was. And at this moment love has broken down the
whole scaffolding. He should have been great; now, he can only be
happy. I shall therefore retire to live in a corner at the height of
his prosperity; his happiness will have been my work. For two days I
have been asking myself whether it would not be better that the
Princesse d'Arjos should die of some ailment--say brain fever. It's
singular how many plans a woman can upset!

SCENE FIFTH.
Vautrin and Lafouraille.

Vautrin
What is the matter? Cannot I be alone one moment? Did I call?

Lafouraille
We are likely to feel the claws of justice scratch our shoulders.

V