"In the first place," said Desroches, when the matter was all explained, "a civil suit is not to be thought of.Your Romilly peasant-woman might have her hands full of proofs, but she has no ground herself to stand upon; she has no legal interest in contesting the rights of this recognized natural son.""Yes, that is what Vinet said just now."
"As for the criminal case, you could, no doubt, compel it by giving information to the police authorities of this alleged imposture--""Vinet," interrupted Maxime, "inclined to the criminal proceeding.""Yes, but there are a great many objections to it.In the first place, in order that the complaint be received at all, you must produce a certain amount of proof; then, supposing it is received, and the authorities are determined to pursue the case, you must have more evidence of criminality than you have now; and, moreover, supposing that you can show that the so-called Marquis de Sallenauve committed a fraud, how will you prove that the so-called son was privy to it? He might have been the dupe of some political schemer.""But what interest could such a schemer have in giving Dorlange the many advantages he has derived from the recognition?""Ah! my dear fellow, in political manners all queer proceedings are possible; there is no such fertile source for compilers of causes celebres and novelists.In the eyes of the law, you must remember, the counterfeiting of a person is not always a crime.""How so?" asked Maxime.
"Here," said Desroches, taking up the Five Codes; "do me the favor to read Article 5 of the Penal Code, the only one which gives an opening to the case you have in mind."Maxime read aloud the article, which was as follows:--"'Any functionary or public officer who, in the exercise of his function, shall commit forgery--either by false signatures, by alterations of deeds, writings, or signatures, or by counterfeiting persons--' There, you see," said Maxime, interrupting himself,--"'by counterfeiting persons--'""Go on," insisted Desroches.
"'--by counterfeiting persons,'" resumed de Trailles, "'either by writings made or intercalated in the public records or other documents, shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for life.'"Maxime lingered lovingly over the last words, which gave his revenge a foretaste of the fate that awaited Sallenauve.
"My dear count," said Desroches, "you do as the barristers do; they read to the jury only so much of a legal document as suits their point of view.You pay no attention to the fact that the only persons affected by this article are functionaries or public officers."Maxime re-read the article, and convinced himself of the truth of that remark.
"But," he objected, "there must be something elsewhere about such a crime when committed by private individuals.""No, there is not; you can trust my knowledge of jurisprudence,--the Code is absolutely silent in that direction.""Then the crime we wish to denounce can be committed with impunity?""Its repression is always doubtful," replied Desroches."Judges do sometimes make up for the deficiency of the Code in this respect.
Here," he added, turning over the leaves of a book of reference,--"here are two decisions of the court of assizes, reported in Carnot's Commentary on the Penal Code: one of July 7, 1814, the other April 24, 1818,--both confirmed by the court of appeals, which condemn for forgery, by 'counterfeiting persons,' individuals who were neither functionaries nor public officers: but these decisions, unique in law, rest on the authority of an article in which the crime they punish is not even mentioned; and it is only by elaborate reasoning that they contrived to make this irregular application of it.You can understand, therefore, how very doubtful the issue of such a case would be, because in the absence of a positive rule you can never tell how the magistrates might decide.""Consequently, your opinion, like Rastignac's, is that we had better send our peasant-woman back to Romilly and drop the whole matter?""There is always something to be done if one knows how to set about it," replied Desroches."There is a point that neither you nor Rastignac nor Vinet seems to have thought of; and that is, to proceed in a criminal case against a member of the national representation, except for flagrant crime, requires the consent and authority of the Chamber.""True," said Maxime, "but I don't see how a new difficulty is going to help us.""You wouldn't be sorry to send your adversary with the galleys," said Desroches, laughing.
"A villain," added Maxime, "who may make me lose a rich marriage; a fellow who poses for stern virtue, and then proceeds to trickery of this kind!""Well, you must resign yourself to a less glorious result; but you can make a pretty scandal, and destroy the reputation of your man; and that ought, it seems to me, to serve your ends.""Of course,--better that than nothing."