"
Everybody agreed with him. Paulsberg nodded; this phenomenon from the
country might not be entirely impossible, after all. But he would say no
more; he preserved an obstinate silence. At last the Attorney got him
started again; he asked:
"When I met you at the Grand recently you insisted that it was wrong ever
to forget, ever to forgive. Is that a principle, or how--"
"Yes, you who are young should remember, should always remember, the
disappointment you have suffered to-day. You have put your faith in a man,
and the man has betrayed your confidence; this you should never forget.
One should never forgive, never; such wrongs should be avenged. Once I saw
two truck-horses maltreated; it was in a Catholic country, in France. The
driver sat high in his seat and swung his enormous whip; it was of no use,
the horses slipped and could not budge the heavy load, even though they,
so to speak, dug their hoofs into the asphalt. The driver got down; he
turned his whip around and used the handle; he beat the horses across
their backs; they tried again, stumbled and fell, got up and made another
effort. The driver became more and more enraged as people gathered around
and witnessed his dilemma; he went forward and beat the horses across the
eyes; he went back and struck them on the tender spots beneath the flanks,
and the horses squirmed and stumbled, and fell to their knees again, as if
they begged for mercy--Three times I tried to get at that brute, and every
time I was pushed back by the railing mob who wanted no interference.
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