On this account Simon ought to be removed
from the Temple, in order that his enemies may not be able to
circulate a report about this zealous and worthy servant of the
republic, that he is guilty of the death of little Capet--that
Simon's method of bringing him up killed him. And besides, in order
that the same charge should not be laid to the one and great
republic, and it be accused of cruelty to a poor sick child, kindly
attentions should be bestowed on him."
Petion's countenance clouded, and his eyes rested on the physician
with a sinister, searching expression.
"You have a great deal of sensibility, doctor, and you appear to
forget that the boy is a criminal by birth, and that the republic
can have no special sympathy with him."
"For me," answered Naudin, with simplicity, "every sick person at
whose bed I am called to stand, is a poor, pitiable Iranian being,
and I never stop to think whether be is a criminal or not, but
merely that he is a sufferer, and then I endeavor to discover the
means to assist him. The hallowed and indivisible republic, however,
is an altogether too magnanimous and exalted mother of all her
children not to have pity on those who are reduced to idiocy, and in
sore sickness. The republic is like the sun, which pours its beams
even into the dungeon of the criminal, and shines upon the just and
unjust alike.
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