from death; I procured his escape! (To the duchess) He paid me back
well, did he not? I was young, madly in love, impetuous, yet I never
crushed the boy! You have to-day made me the same requital for my
pity, as your lover made for my trust in him. Well--things remain just
as they were twenty years ago excepting that the time for pity is
past. And I will repeat what I said to you then: Forget your son, and
he shall live.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
And shall her sufferings during those twenty years count for nothing?

The Duke
A great crime calls for a great atonement.

The Duchess
Ah--if you take my grief for a sign of remorse, I will again protest
to you, I am innocent! No! Langeac never betrayed your confidence; it
was not for his king alone he went to his death, and from the fatal
day on which he bade me farewell and surrendered me to you, I have
never seen him again.

The Duke
You purchased the life of your son by making an exactly contrary
declaration.

The Duchess
Can a compact dictated by terror be looked upon as an avowal of guilt?

The Duke
Do you intend to give that certificate of birth?