Page:The Makropoulos Secret (1925).pdf/20

THE MAKROPOULOS SECRET ''are full of these ancient papers which he is busily rearranging. At last they are all put away except one large group, tied together. He pauses in his work and turns round.'']

Gregor vs. Prus.—The case of Gregor vs. Prus—you’re finished. [He sighs] Ah, well. [Thumbing the briefs] Eighteen twenty-seven—eighteen thirty-two—thirty-two—eighteen forty—forty—forty—forty-seven—and so on. Why, in three years we could have had a centennial jubilee! Finished. Such a good case, too! [He pushes them into one of the pigeonholes] Here lies Gregor vs. Prus. Oh, nothing lives forever—vanitas. Dust and ashes! Baron Prus—the old nobility! The old scoundrel! [He rises, inflamed by his thoughts, and orates in his best revolutionary manner] Citoyen—citizens. Will you tolerate forever these privileged ones, this old nobility protected by the kings of France? This class whose rights spring from neither nature nor reason but from tyranny—this class of courtiers—these usurpers of free lands by might, not right. Oh.

Good day, Citizen Marat.