“Possibly.”

“Have you come here to-day with the intention of submitting to them?”

“I have come to see that you respect them.”

“I warn you that, if you do not change your tone, I shall have you taken off to prison.”

“And I warn you that, if you love justice and serve God, you will listen to me and suspend the execution of this sentence.  It is not for him who brings truth to humble himself before those who should be seeking it.  But you who are listening to me now, you men of the people, whom I will not accuse the great of wishing to dupe, you whose voice is called ’the voice of God,’ side with me; embrace the cause of truth, that truth which is in danger of being stifled under false outward shows, or else is about to triumph by unfair means.  Go down on your knees, you men of the people, my brothers, my children; pray, implore, require that justice be done and anger repressed.  It is your duty, it is your right, and to your own interest; for it is you who are insulted and threatened when laws are violated.”

Patience spoke with so much warmth, and his sincerity was so strikingly manifest, that a thrill of sympathy ran through the whole audience.  At that time, philosophy was too fashionable with the young men of quality for these not to be among the first to respond to an appeal, though addressed to others than themselves.  They rose with chivalrous enthusiasm and turned round to the people, who, carried away by their noble example, rose likewise.  There was a wild uproar, and one and all, conscious of their dignity and power, cast away personal prejudices in order to combine for their common rights.  Thus, a noble impetuosity and a true word are sometimes sufficient to bring back the masses who have long been led astray by sophism.

A respite was granted, and I was led back to my prison amid the applause of the people.  Marcasse followed me.  Patience disappeared without giving me a chance to thank him.

The revision of the sentence could not be made without an order from the high court.  For my own part, before the verdict was given I had resolved to make no appeal to this court of cassation of the old jurisprudence.  But Patience’s bearing and words had had as much effect on my mind as on the minds of the spectators.  The spirit of resistance and the sense of human dignity, dulled in me and paralyzed, as it were, by grief, suddenly awoke again, and in this hour I realized that man is not made for that selfish concentration of despair which is known as resignation or stoicism.  No man can cease to have a regard for his own honour without at the same time ceasing to feel the respect due to the principle of honour.  If it is grand to sacrifice personal glory and life to the mysterious decrees of conscience, it is cowardly to abandon both to the fury of an unjust persecution.  I felt that I had risen in my own estimation, and I passed the rest of this momentous night in devising means of vindicating myself, with as much persistence as I had previously displayed in abandoning myself to fate.  With this feeling of energy I could feel hope springing up anew.  Edmee, perhaps, was neither mad nor mortally wounded.  She might acquit me; she might recover.