"She says that today, but can you affirm that she will say the
same thing five years from now, ten years from now? I tell you
you will not obtain that divorce, because I will most certainly
refuse you the necessary certificate."
"Then," cried the other, "I will find other means of establishing
proofs. I will have the child examined by another doctor!"
The other answered. "Then you do not find that that poor little
one has been already sufficiently handicapped at the outset of
its life? Your granddaughter has a physical defect. Do you wish
to add to that a certificate of hereditary syphilis, which will
follow her all her life?"
Monsieur Loches sprang from his chair. "You mean that if the
victims seek to defend themselves, they will be struck the
harder! You mean that the law gives me no weapon against a man
who, knowing his condition, takes a young girl, sound, trusting,
innocent, and befouls her with the result of his debauches--makes
her the mother of a poor little creature, whose future is such
that those who love her the most do not know whether they ought
to pray for her life, or for her immediate deliverance? Sir," he
continued, in his orator's voice, "that man has inflicted upon
the woman he has married a supreme insult. He has made her the
victim of the most odious assault. He has degraded her--he has
brought her, so to speak, into contact with the woman of the
streets. He has created between her and that common woman I know
not what mysterious relationship.
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