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Modern Prose And Poetry; For Secondary Schools - Edited With Notes, Study Helps, And Reading Lists by Various
page 78 of 377 (20%)
[_He buries his face in his hands._]

[_Enter_ MADAME _with dishes for the table; she continues
passing in and out, preparing supper._]

BISHOP. You have suffered much, sir--

JEAN (_nodding_). The red shirt, the ball on the ankle, a plank
to sleep on, heat, cold, toil, the whip, the double chain for nothing,
the cell for one word--even when sick in bed, still the chain! Dogs,
dogs are happier! Nineteen years! and now the yellow passport!

BISHOP. Yes, you have suffered.

JEAN (_with violence_). I hate this world of laws and courts! I
hate the men who rule it! For nineteen years my soul has had only
thoughts of hate. For nineteen years I've planned revenge. Do you hear?
Revenge--revenge!

BISHOP. It is not strange that you should feel so. And if you
continue to harbor those thoughts, you are only deserving of pity. But
listen, my brother; if, in spite of all you have passed through, your
thoughts could be of peace and love, you would be better than any one of
us.

[_Pause. Jean reflects._]

JEAN (_speaking violently_). No, no! I do not belong to your
world of men. I am apart--a different creature from you all. The galleys
made me different. I'll have nothing to do with any of you!
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