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diff --git a/old/14296.txt b/old/14296.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d21cac5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14296.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5402 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mercadet, by Honore De Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mercadet + A Comedy In Three Acts + +Author: Honore De Balzac + +Release Date: November 26, 2005 [EBook #14296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MERCADET *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + + + + + + MERCADET + A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS + + BY + + HONORE DE BALZAC + + + + Presented for the First Time in Paris + At the Theatre du Gymnase-Dramatique + August 24, 1851 + + + + PERSONS OF THE PLAY + +Mercadet, a speculator +Madame Mercadet, his wife +Julie, their daughter +Minard, clerk of Mercadet +Verdelin, friend of Mercadet +Goulard, creditor of Mercadet +Pierquin, creditor of Mercadet +Violette, creditor of Mercadet +Mericourt, acquaintance of Mercadet +De la Brive, suitor to Julie +Justin, valet +Therese, lady's maid +Virginie, cook +Various other creditors of Mercadet + + + +SCENE: Paris, in the house of Mercadet + +TIME: About 1845 + + + + + + MERCADET + + + + + ACT I + + + + SCENE FIRST + + +(A drawing-room. A door in the centre. Side doors. At the front, to +the left, a mantel-piece with a mirror. To the right, a window, and +next it a writing-table. Armchairs.) + +Justin, Virginie and Therese + + +Justin (finishing dusting the room) +Yes, my dears, he finds it very hard to swim; he is certain to drown, +poor M. Mercadet. + +Virginie (her basket on her arm) +Honestly, do you think that? + +Justin +He is ruined! And although there is much fat to be stewed from a +master while he is financially embarrassed, you must not forget that +he owes us a year's wages, and we had better get ourselves discharged. + +Therese +Some masters are so frightfully stubborn! I spoke to the mistress +disrespectfully two or three times, and she pretended not to hear me. + +Virginie +Ah! I have been at service in many middle-class houses; but I have +never seen one like this! I am going to leave my stove, and become an +actress in some theatre. + +Justin +All of us here are nothing but actors in a theatre. + +Virginie +Yes, indeed, sometimes one has to put on an air of astonishment, as if +just fallen from the moon, when a creditor appears: "Didn't you know +it, sir?"--"No."--"M. Mercadet has gone to Lyons."--"Ah! He is away?" +--"Yes, his prospects are most brilliant; he has discovered some +coal-mines."--"Ah! So much the better! When does he return?"--"I do not +know." Sometimes I put on an expression as if I had lost the dearest +friend I had in the world. + +Justin (aside) +That would be her money. + +Virginie (pretending to cry) +"Monsieur and mademoiselle are in the greatest distress. It seems that +we are going to lose poor Madame Mercadet. They have taken her away to +the waters! Ah!" + +Therese +And then, there are some creditors who are actual brutes! They speak +to you as if you were the masters! + +Virginie +There's an end of it. I ask them for their bill and tell them I am +going to settle. But now, the tradesmen refuse to give anything +without the money! And you may be sure that I am not going to lend any +of mine. + +Justin +Let us demand our wages. + +Virginie and Therese +Yes, let us demand our wages. + +Virginie +Who are middle-class people? Middle-class people are those who spend a +great deal on their kitchen-- + +Justin +Who are devoted to their servants-- + +Virginie +And who leave them a pension. That is how middle-class people ought to +behave to their servants. + +Therese +The lady of Picardy speaks well. But all the same, I pity mademoiselle +and young Minard, her suitor. + +Justin +M. Mercadet is not going to give his daughter to a miserable +bookkeeper who earns no more than eighteen hundred francs a year; he +has better views for her than that. + +Therese and Virginie +Who is the man he thinks of? + +Justin +Yesterday two fine young gentlemen came here in a carriage, and their +groom told old Gruneau that one of them was going to marry Mlle. +Mercadet. + +Virginie +You don't mean to say so! Are those gentlemen in yellow gloves, with +fine flowered waistcoats, going to marry mademoiselle? + +Justin +Not both of them, lady of Picardy. + +Virginie +The panels of their carriage shone like satin. Their horse had +rosettes here. (She points to her ears.) It was held by a boy of +eight, fair, with frizzed hair and top boots. He looked as sly as a +mouse--a very Cupid, though he swore like a trooper. His master is as +fine as a picture, with a big diamond in his scarf. It ain't possible +that a handsome young man who owns such a turnout as that is going to +be the husband of Mlle. Mercadet? I can't believe it. + +Justin +You don't know M. Mercadet! I, who have been in his house for the last +six years, and have seen him since his troubles fighting with his +creditors, can believe him capable of anything, even of growing rich; +sometimes I say to myself he is utterly ruined! Yellow auction +placards flame at his door. He receives reams of stamped creditor's +notices, which I sell by the pound for waste paper without being +noticed. But presto! Up he bobs again. He is triumphant. And what +devices he has! There is a new one every day! First of all, it is a +scheme for wooden pavements--then it is dukedoms, ponds, mills. I +don't know where the leakage is in his cash box; he finds it so hard +to fill; for it empties itself as easily as a drained wine-glass! And +always crowds of creditors! How well he turns them away! Sometimes I +have seen them come with the intention of carrying off everything and +throwing him into prison. But when he talks to them they end by being +the best of friends, and part with cordial handshakes! There are some +men who can tame jackals and lions. That's not a circumstance; M. +Mercadet can tame creditors! + +Therese +One of them is not quite so easily managed; and that is M. Pierquin. + +Justin +He is a tiger who feeds on bankrupts. And to think of poor old +Violette! + +Virginie +He is both creditor and beggar--I always feel inclined to give him a +plate of soup. + +Justin +And Goulard! + +Therese +A bill discounter who would like very much to--to discount me. + +Virginie (amid a general laugh) +I hear madame coming. + +Justin +Let us keep a civil tongue in our heads, and we shall learn something +about the marriage. + + + + SCENE SECOND + + +The same persons and Mme. Mercadet. + + +Mme. Mercadet +Justin, have you executed the commissions I gave you? + +Justin +Yes, madame, but they refused to deliver the dresses, the hats, and +indeed all the things you ordered until-- + +Virginie +And I also have to inform madame that the tradesmen are no longer +willing-- + +Mme. Mercadet +I understand. + +Justin +The creditors are the cause of the whole trouble. I wish I knew how to +get even with them. + +Mme. Mercadet +The best way to do so would be to pay them. + +Justin +They would be mightily surprised. + +Mme. Mercadet +It is useless to conceal from you the excessive anxiety which I suffer +over the condition of my husband's affairs. We shall doubtless be in +need of your discretion--for we can depend upon you, can we not? + +All +You need not mention it, madame. + +Virginie +We were just saying, what excellent employers we had. + +Therese +And that we would go through fire and water for you! + +Justin +We were saying-- + +(Mercadet appears unnoticed.) + +Mme. Mercadet +Thank you all, you are good creatures. (Mercadet shrugs his +shoulders.) Your master needs only time, he has so many schemes in his +head!--a rich suitor has offered himself for Mlle. Julie, and if-- + + + + SCENE THIRD + + +The same persons and Mercadet. + + +Mercadet (interrupting his wife) +My dearest! (The servants draw back a little. In a low voice to +madame) And so this is how you speak to the servants! To-morrow they +laugh at us. (To Justin) Justin, go at once to M. Verdelin's house, +and ask him to come here, as I want to speak to him about a piece of +business that will not admit of delay. Assume an air of mystery, for I +must have him come. You, Therese, go to the tradesmen of Madame de +Mercadet, and tell them, sharply, that they must send the things that +have been ordered.--They will be paid for--yes--and cash, too--go at +once. (Justin and Therese start.) Ah!--(They stop.) If--these people +come to the house again, ask them to enter. (Mme. Mercadet takes a +seat.) + +Justin +These--these people?-- + +Therese and Virginie +These people? Eh! + +Mercadet +Yes, these people--these creditors of mine!-- + +Mme. Mercadet +How is this, my dear? + +Mercadet (taking a seat opposite his wife) +I am weary of solitude--I want their society. (To Justin and Therese) +That will do. + +(Justin and Therese leave the room.) + + + + SCENE FOURTH + + +Mercadet, Mme. Mercadet and Virginie. + + +Mercadet (to Virginie) +Has madame given you any orders? + +Virginie +No, sir, and besides the tradespeople-- + +Mercadet +I hope you will do yourself credit to-day. We are going to have four +people to dinner--Verdelin and his wife, M. de Mericourt and M. de la +Brive--so there will be seven of us. Such dinners are the glory of +great cooks! You must have a fine fish after the soup, then two +entrees, very delicately cooked-- + +Virginie +But, sir, the trades-- + +Mercadet +For the second course--ah, the second course ought to be at once rich +and brilliant, yet solid. The second course-- + +Virginie +But the tradespeople-- + +Mercadet +Nonsense! You annoy me--To talk about tradespeople on the day when my +daughter and her intended are to meet! + +Virginie +They won't supply anything. + +Mercadet +What have we got to do with tradespeople that won't take our trade? We +must get others. You must go to their competitors, you must give them +my custom, and they will tip you for it. + +Virginie +And how shall I pay those that I am giving up? + +Mercadet +Don't worry yourself about that,--it is my business. + +Virginie +But if they ask me to pay them-- + +Mercadet (aside, rising to his feet) +That girl has money of her own. (Aloud) Virginie, in these days, +credit is the sole wealth of the government. My tradespeople +misunderstand the laws of their country, they will show themselves +unconstitutional and utter radicals, unless they leave me alone. +--Don't you trouble your head about people who raise an insurrection +against the vital principles of all rightly constituted states! What +you have got to attend to, is dinner,--that is your duty, and I hope +that on this occasion you will show yourself to be what you are, a +first-class cook! And if Mme. Mercadet, when she settles with you on +the day after my daughter's wedding, finds that she owes you anything, +I will hold myself liable for it all. + +Virginie (hesitating) +Sir-- + +Mercadet +Now go about your business. I give you here an opportunity of gaining +an interest of ten per cent every six months!--and that is better than +the savings banks will do for you. + +Virginie +That it is; they only give four per cent a year! + +Mercadet (whispering to his wife) +What did I tell you!--(To Virginie) How can you run the risk of +putting your money into the hands of strangers--You are quite clever +enough to invest it yourself, and here your little nest-egg will +remain in your own possession. + +Virginie +Ten per cent every six months!--I suppose that madame will give me the +particulars with regard to the second course. I must start to work on +it. (Exit.) + + + + SCENE FIFTH + + +Mercadet and Mme. Mercadet + + +Mercadet (watching Virginie as she goes out) +That girl has a thousand crowns of our good money in the savings bank, +so that we needn't worry about the kitchen for awhile. + +Mme. Mercadet +Ah! sir, how can you stoop to such a thing as this? + +Mercadet +Madame, these are mere petty details; don't bother about the means to +an end. You, a little time ago, were trying to control your servants +by kindness, but it is necessary to command and compel them, and to do +it briefly, like Napoleon. + +Mme. Mercadet +How can you order them when you don't pay them? + +Mercadet +You must pay them by a bluff. + +Mme. Mercadet +Sometimes you can obtain by affection what is not attainable by-- + +Mercadet +By affection! Ah! Little do you know the age in which we live--To-day, +madame, wealth is everything, family is nothing; there are no +families, but only individuals! The future of each one is to be +determined by the public funds. A young girl when she needs a dowry no +longer appeals to her family, but to a syndicate. The income of the +King of England comes from an insurance company. The wife depends for +funds, not upon her husband, but upon the savings bank!--Debts are +paid, not to creditors, but to the country, through an agency, which +manages a sort of slave-trade in white people! All our duties are +arranged by coupons--The servants which we exchange for them are no +longer attached to their masters, but if you hold their money they +will be devoted to you. + +Mme. Mercadet +Oh, sir, you who are so honorable, so upright, sometimes say things to +me which-- + +Mercadet +And what is said may also be done, that is what you mean, isn't it? +Undoubtedly I would do anything to save myself, for (he pulls out a +five-franc piece) this represents modern honor. Do you know why the +dramas that have criminals for their heroes are so popular? It is +because all the audience flatter themselves and say, "at any rate, I +am much better than that fellow!" + +Mme. Mercadet +My dear! + +Mercadet +For my part I have an excuse, for I am bearing the burden of my +partner's crime--of that fellow Godeau, who absconded, carrying with +him the cash box of our house!--And besides that, what disgrace is it +to be in debt? What man is there who does not owe his father his +existence? He can never repay that debt. The earth is constantly +bankrupt to the sun. Life, madame, is a perpetual loan! Am I not +superior to my creditors? I have their money, when they can only +expect mine. I do not ask anything of them, and yet they are +constantly importuning me.--A man who does not owe anything is not +thought about by any one, while my creditors take a keen interest in +me. + +Mme. Mercadet +They take rather too much! To owe and to pay is well enough--but to +borrow without any prospect of returning-- + +Mercadet +You feel a great deal of compassion for my creditors, but our +indebtedness to them springs from-- + +Mme. Mercadet +Their confidence in us, sir. + +Mercadet +No, but from their greed of gain! The speculator and the broker are +one and the same--each of them aims at sudden wealth. I have done a +favor to all my creditors, and they all expect to get something out of +me! I should be most unhappy but for the secret consciousness I have +that they are selfish and avaricious--so that you will see in a few +moments how I will make each of them play out his little comedy. (He +sits down.) + +Mme. Mercadet +You have actually ordered them to be admitted? + +Mercadet +That I may meet them as I ought to!--(taking her hand.) I am at the +end of my resources; the time has come for a master-stroke, and Julie +must come to our assistance. + +Mme. Mercadet +What, my daughter! + +Mercadet +My creditors are pressing me, and harassing me. I must manage to make +a brilliant match for Julie. This will dazzle them; they will give me +more time. But in order that this brilliant marriage may take place, +these gentlemen must give me more money. + +Mme. Mercadet +They give you more money! + +Mercadet +Isn't there need of it for the dresses which they are sending to you, +and for the trousseau which I am giving? And a suitable trousseau to +go with the dowry of two hundred thousand francs, will cost fifteen +thousand. + +Mme. Mercadet +But you are utterly unable to give such a dowry. + +Mercadet (rising) +All the more reason why I should give the trousseau. Now this is what +we stand in need of: twelve or fifteen thousand francs for the +trousseau, and a thousand crowns to pay the tradesmen and to prevent +any appearance of straitened circumstances in our house, when M. de la +Brive arrives. + +Mme. Mercadet +How can you count on your creditors for that? + +Mercadet +Don't they now belong to the family? Can you find any relation who is +as anxious as they are to see me wealthy and rich? Relations are +always a little envious of the happiness of the wealth which comes to +us; the creditor's joy alone is sincere. If I were to die, I should +have at my funeral more creditors than relations, and while the latter +carried their mourning in their hearts or on their heads, the former +would carry it in their ledgers and purses. It is here that my +departure would leave a genuine void! The heart forgets, and crape +disappears at the end of a year, but the account which is unpaid is +ineffaceable, and the void remains eternally unfilled. + +Mme. Mercadet +My dear, I know the people to whom you are indebted, and I am quite +certain that you will obtain nothing from them. + +Mercadet +I shall obtain both time and money from them, rest assured of that. +(Mme. Mercadet is perturbed.) Don't you see, my dear, that creditors +when once they have opened their purses are like gamblers who continue +to stake their money in order to recover their first losses? (Growing +excited.) Yes! they are inexhaustible gold mines! If a man has no +father to leave him a fortune, he finds his creditors are so many +indefatigable uncles. + +Justin (entering) +M. Goulard wishes to know if it is true that you desire to see him? + +Mercadet (to his wife) +My message astounded him. (To Justin) Beg him to come in. (Justin goes +out.) Goulard! The most intractable of them all!--who has three +bailiffs in his employ. But fortunately he is a greedy though timid +speculator who engages in the most risky affairs and trembles all the +time they are being conducted. + +Justin (announcing) +M. Goulard! + +(Exit Justin.) + + + + SCENE SIXTH + + +The same persons and Goulard. + + +Goulard (in anger) +Ah! you can be found, sir, when you want to be! + +Mme. Mercadet (aside to her husband) +My dear, how angry he seems! + +Mercadet (making a sign that she should be calm) +This is one of my creditors, my dear. + +Goulard +Yes, and I sha'n't leave this house until you pay me. + +Mercadet (aside) +You sha'n't leave this house until you give me some money--(Aloud) Ah! +you have persecuted me most unkindly--me, a man with whom you have had +such extensive dealings! + +Goulard +Dealings which have not always been to my advantage. + +Mercadet +All the more credit to you, for if advantage were the sole results of +business, everybody would become a money-lender. + +Goulard +I hope you haven't asked me to come here, in order to show me how +clever you are! I know that you are cleverer than I am, for you have +got over me in money matters. + +Mercadet +Well, money matters have some importance. (To his wife) Yes, yes, you +see in this man one who has hunted me as if I were a hare. Come, come, +Goulard, admit it, you have behaved badly. Anybody but myself would +have taken vengeance on you--for of course I could cause you to lose a +considerable sum of money. + +Goulard +So you could, if you didn't pay me; but you shall pay me--your +obligations are now in the hands of the law. + +Mme. Mercadet +Of the law? + +Mercadet +Of the law! You are losing your senses, you don't know what you are +doing, you are ruining us both--yourself and me--at the same time. + +Goulard (anxiously) +How?--You--that of course is possible--but--but--me? + +Mercadet +Both of us, I tell you! Quick, sit down there--write--write--! + +Goulard (mechanically taking his pen) +Write--write what? + +Mercadet +Write to Delannoy that he must make them stay the proceedings, and +give me the thousand crowns which I absolutely need. + +Goulard (throwing down the pen) +That is very likely, indeed! + +Mercadet +You hesitate, and, when I am on the eve of marrying my daughter to a +man immensely wealthy--that is the time you choose to cause my arrest. +And by that means you are killing both your capital and interest! + +Goulard +Ah! you are going to marry your daughter-- + +Mercadet +To the Comte de la Brive; he possesses as many thousand francs as he +is years old! + +Goulard +Then if he is up in years, there is reason for giving you some delay. +But the thousand crowns--the thousand crowns--never.--I am quite +decided on that point. I will give you nothing, neither delay nor--I +must go now-- + +Mercadet (with energy) +Very well! You can go if you like, you ungrateful fellow!--But don't +forget that I have done my best to save you. + +Goulard (turning back) +Me?--To save me--from what? + +Mercadet (aside) +I have him now. (Aloud) From what?--From the most complete ruin. + +Goulard +Ruin? It is impossible. + +Mercadet (taking a seat) +What is the matter with you? You, a man of intelligence, of ability--a +strong man, and yet you cause me all this trouble! You came here and I +felt absolutely enraged against you--not because I was your friend, I +confess it, but through selfishness. I look upon our interests as +identical. I said to myself: I owe him so much that he is sure to give +me his assistance when I have such a grand chance--like the one at +this moment! And you are going to let out the whole business and to +lose everything for the sake of a paltry sum! Everything! You are +perhaps right in refusing me the thousand crowns--It is better, +perhaps, to bury them in your coffers with the rest. All right! Send +me to prison! Then, when all is gone, you'll have to look somewhere +else for a friend! + +Goulard (in a tone of self-reproach) +Mercadet!--my dear Mercadet!--But is it actually true? + +Mercadet (rising from his seat) +Is it true? (to his wife) You would not believe he was so stupid. (To +Goulard) She has ended by becoming a daring speculator. (To his wife) +I may tell you, my dear, that Goulard is going to invest a large sum +in our great enterprise. + +Mme. Mercadet (ashamed) +Sir! + +Mercadet +What a misfortune it will be if it does not turn out well. + +Goulard +Mercadet!--Are you talking about the Basse-Indre mines? + +Mercadet +Of course I am. (Aside) Ah! You have some of the Basse-Indre stock, I +see. + +Goulard +But the investment seems to me first-class. + +Mercadet +First-class--Yes, for those who sold out yesterday. + +Goulard +Have any stockholders sold out? + +Mercadet +Yes, privately. + +Goulard +Good-bye. Thanks, Mercadet; madame, accept my respects. + +Mercadet (stopping him) +Goulard! + +Goulard +Eh? + +Mercadet +What about this note to Delannoy? + +Goulard +I will speak to him about the postponement-- + +Mercadet +No; write to him; and in the meantime I will find some one who will +buy your stock. + +Goulard (sitting down) +All my Basse-Indre? (He takes up a pen.) + +Mercadet (aside) +Here you see the honest man, ever ready to rob his neighbor. (Aloud) +Very well, write--ordering a postponement of three months. + +Goulard (writing) +Three months! There you have it. + +Mercadet +The man I allude to, who buys in secret for fear of causing a rise, +wants to get three hundred shares; do you happen to have three +hundred? + +Goulard +I have three hundred and fifty. + +Mercadet +Fifty more! Never mind! He'll take them all. (Examining what Goulard +has written.) Have you mentioned the thousand crowns? + +Goulard +And what is your friend's name? + +Mercadet +His name? You haven't mentioned?-- + +Goulard +His name! + +Mercadet +The thousand crowns. + +Goulard +What a devil of a man he is! (He writes.) There, you have it! + +Mercadet +His name is Pierquin. + +Goulard (rising) +Pierquin. + +Mercadet +He at least is the nominal buyer.--Go to your house and I will send +him to you; it is never a good thing to run after a purchaser. + +Goulard +Never!--You have saved my life. Good-bye, my friend. Madame, accept my +prayers for the happiness of your daughter. (Exit.) + +Mercadet +One of them captured! Now watch me get the others! + + + + SCENE SEVENTH + + +Mme. Mercadet, Mercadet, then Julie. + + +Mme. Mercadet +Is there any truth in what you just now said? I could not quite follow +you. + +Mercadet +It is to the interest of my friend Verdelin to cause a panic in +Basse-Indre stock; this stock has been for a long time very risky and +has suddenly become of first-class value, through the discovery of +certain beds of mineral, which are known only to those on the inside. +--Ah! If I could but invest a thousand crowns in it my fortune would +be made. But, of course, our main object at present is the marriage +of Julie. + +Mme. Mercadet +You are well acquainted with M. de la Brive, are you not? + +Mercadet +I have dined with him. He has a charming apartment, fine plate, a +silver dessert service, bearing his arms, so that it could not have +been borrowed. Our daughter is going to make a fine match, and he +--when either one of a married couple is happy, it is all right. + +(Julie enters.) + +Mme. Mercadet +Here comes our daughter. Julie, your father and I have something to +say to you on a subject which is always agreeable to a young girl. + +Julie +M. Minard has then spoken to you, father? + +Mercadet +M. Minard! Did you expect, madame, to find a M. Minard reigning in the +heart of your daughter? Is not this M. Minard that under clerk of +mine? + +Julie +Yes, papa. + +Mercadet +Do you love him? + +Julie +Yes, papa. + +Mercadet +But besides loving, it is necessary for a person to be loved. + +Mme. Mercadet +Does he love you? + +Julie +Yes, mamma! + +Mercadet +Yes, papa; yes, mamma; why don't you say mammy and daddy?--As soon as +daughters have passed their majority they begin to talk as if they +were just weaned. Be polite enough to address your mother as madame. + +Julie +Yes, monsieur. + +Mercadet +Oh! you may address me as papa. I sha'n't be annoyed at that. What +proof have you that he loves you? + +Julie +The best proof of all; he wishes to marry me. + +Mercadet +It is quite true, as has been said, that young girls, like little +children, have answers ready enough to knock one silly. Let me tell +you, mademoiselle, that a clerk with a salary of eighteen hundred +francs does not know how to love. He hasn't got the time, he has to +work too hard-- + +Mme. Mercadet +But, unhappy child-- + +Mercadet +Ah! A lucky thought strikes me! Let me talk to her. Julie, listen to +me. I will marry you to Minard. (Julie smiles with delight.) Now, look +here, you haven't got a single sou, and you know it; what is going to +become of you a week after your marriage? Have you thought about that? + +Julie +Yes, papa-- + +Mme. Mercadet (with sympathy, to her husband) +The poor child is mad. + +Mercadet +Yes, she is in love. (To Julie) Tell me all about it, Julie. I am not +now your father, but your confidant; I am listening. + +Julie +After our marriage we will still love each other. + +Mercadet +But will Cupid shoot you bank coupons at the end of his arrows? + +Julie +Father, we shall lodge in a small apartment, at the extremity of the +Faubourg, on the fourth story, if necessary!--And if it can't be +helped, I will be his house-maid. Oh! I will take an immense delight +in the care of the household, for I shall know that it will all be +done for him. I will work for him, while he is working for me. I will +spare him every anxiety, and he will never know how straitened we are. +Our home will be spotlessly clean, even elegant--You shall see! +Elegance depends upon such little things; it springs from the soul, +and happiness is at once the cause and the effect of it. I can earn +enough from my painting to cost him nothing and even to contribute to +the expenses of our living. Moreover, love will help us to pass +through the days of hardship. Adolphe has ambition, like all those who +are of lofty soul, and these are the successful men-- + +Mercadet +Success is within reach of the bachelor, but, when a man is married, +he exhausts himself in meeting his expenses, and runs after a thousand +franc bill as a dog runs after a carriage. + +Julie +But, papa, Adolphe has strength of will, united with such capacity +that I feel sure I shall see him some day a Minister, perhaps-- + +Mercadet +In these days, who is there that does not indulge more or less the +hope of being a minister? When a man leaves college he thinks himself +a great poet, or a great orator! Do you know what your Adolphe will +really become?--Why, the father of several children, who will utterly +disarrange your plans of work and economy, who will end by landing his +excellency in the debtor's prison, and who will plunge you into the +most frightful poverty. What you have related to me is the romance and +not the reality of life. + +Mme. Mercadet +Daughter, there can be nothing serious in this love of yours. + +Julie +It is a love to which both of us are willing to sacrifice everything. + +Mercadet +I suppose that your friend Adolphe thinks that we are rich? + +Julie +He has never spoken to me about money. + +Mercadet +Just so. I can quite understand it. (To Julie) Julie, write to him at +once, telling him to come to me. + +Julie (kissing him) +Dear papa! + +Mercadet +And you must marry M. de la Brive. Instead of living on a fourth floor +in a suburb, you will have a fine house in the Chaussee-d'Antin, and, +if you are not the wife of a Minister, you perhaps will be the wife of +a peer of France. I am sorry, my daughter, that I have no more to +offer you. Remember, you can have no choice in the matter, for M. +Minard is going to give you up. + +Julie +Oh! he will never do that, papa. He will win your heart-- + +Mme. Mercadet +My dear, suppose he loves her? + +Mercadet +He is deceiving her-- + +Julie +I shouldn't mind being always deceived in that way. + +(A bell is heard without.) + +Mme. Mercadet +Some one is ringing, and we have no one to open the door. + +Mercadet +That is all right. Let them ring. + +Mme. Mercadet +I am all the time thinking that Godeau may return. + +Mercadet +After eight years without any news, you are still expecting Godeau! +You seem to me like those old soldiers who are waiting for the return +of Napoleon. + +Mme. Mercadet +They are ringing again. + +Mercadet +Julie, go and see who it is, and tell them that your mother and I have +gone out. If any one is shameless enough to disbelieve a young girl +--it must be a creditor--let him come in. + +(Exit Julie.) + +Mme. Mercadet +This love she speaks of, and which, at least on her side, is sincere, +disturbs me greatly. + +Mercadet +You women are all too romantic. + +Julie (returning) +It is M. Pierquin, papa. + +Mercadet +A creditor and usurer--a vile and violent soul, who humors me because +he thinks me a man of resources; a wild beast only half-tamed yet +cowed by my audacity. If I showed fear he would devour me. (Going to +the door.) Come in, Pierquin, come in. + + + + SCENE EIGHTH + + +The same persons and Pierquin. + + +Pierquin +My congratulations to you all. I hear that you are making a grand +marriage for your daughter. Mademoiselle is to marry a millionaire; +the report has already gone abroad. + +Mercadet +A millionaire?--No, he has only nine hundred thousand francs, at the +most. + +Pierquin +This magnificent prospect will induce a lot of people to give you +time. They are becoming devilishly tired of your talk about Godeau's +return. And I myself-- + +Mercadet +Were you thinking about having me arrested? + +Julie +Arrested! + +Mme. Mercadet (to Pierquin) +Ah! sir. + +Pierquin +Now listen to me, you have had two years, and I never before let a +bond go over so long; but this marriage is a glorious invention and-- + +Mme. Mercadet +An invention! + +Mercadet +Sir, my future son-in-law, M. de la Brive, is a young man-- + +Pierquin +So that there is a real young man in the case? How much are you going +to pay the young man? + +Mme. Mercadet +Oh! + +Mercadet (checking his wife by a sign) +No more of this insolence! Otherwise, my dear sir, I shall be forced +to demand a settlement of our accounts--and, my dear M. Pierquin, you +will lose a good deal of the price at which you sold your money to me. +And at the rate of interest you charge, I shall cost you more than the +value of a farm in Bauce. + +Pierquin +Sir-- + +Mercadet (haughtily) +Sir, I shall soon be so rich that I will not endure to be twitted by +any one--not even by a creditor. + +Pierquin +But-- + +Mercadet +Not a word--or I will pay you! Come into my private room and we will +settle the business about which I asked you to come. + +Pierquin +I am at your service, sir. (Aside) What a devil of a man! + +(Pierquin and Mercadet bow to the ladies and enter Mercadet's room.) + +Mercadet (following Pierquin; aside to his wife) +The wild beast is tamed. I'll get this one, too. + + + + SCENE NINTH + + +Mme. Mercadet, Julie, and later, Servants. + + +Julie +O mamma! I cannot marry this M. de la Brive! + +Mme. Mercadet +But he is rich, you know. + +Julie +But I prefer happiness and poverty, to unhappiness and wealth. + +Mme. Mercadet +My child, happiness is impossible in poverty, while there is no +misfortune that wealth cannot alleviate. + +Julie +How can you say such sad words to me? + +Mme. Mercadet +Children should learn a lesson from the experience of parents. We are +at present having a very bitter taste of life's vicissitudes. Take my +advice, daughter, and marry wealth. + +Justin (entering, followed by Therese and Virginie) +Madame, we have carried out the master's orders. + +Virginie +My dinner will be ready. + +Therese +And the tradesmen have consented. + +Justin +As far as concerns M. Verdelin-- + + + + SCENE TENTH + + +The same persons and Mercadet (carrying a bundle of papers). + + +Mercadet +What did my friend Verdelin say? + +Justin +He will be here in a moment. He was just on his way here to bring some +money to M. Bredif, the owner of this house. + +Mercadet +Bredif is a millionaire. Take care that Verdelin speaks to me before +going up to him. How did you get on, Therese, with the milliners and +dressmakers? + +Therese +Sir, as soon as I gave them a promise of payment, every one greeted me +with smiles. + +Mercadet +Very good. And shall we have a fine dinner, Virginie? + +Virginie +You will compliment it, sir, when you eat it. + +Mercadet +And the tradespeople? + +Virginie +They will wait your time. + +Mercadet +I shall settle with you all to-morrow. You can go now. (They go out.) +A man who has his servants with him is like a minister who has the +press on his side! + +Mme. Mercadet +And what of Pierquin? + +Mercadet (showing the papers) +All that I could extort from him is as follows.--He will give me time, +and this negotiable paper in exchange for stock.--Also notes for +forty-seven thousand francs, to be collected from a man named +Michonnin, a gentleman broker, not considered very solvent, who may be +a crook but has a very rich aunt at Bordeaux; M. de la Brive is from +that district and I can learn from him if there is anything to be got +out of it. + +Mme. Mercadet +But the tradesmen will soon arrive. + +Mercadet +I shall be here to receive them. Now leave me, leave me, my dears. + +(Exeunt the two ladies.) + + + + SCENE ELEVENTH + + +Mercadet, then Violette. + + +Mercadet (walking up and down) +Yes, they will soon be here! And everything depends upon that somewhat +slippery friendship of Verdelin--a man whose fortune I made! Ah! when +a man has passed forty he learns that the world is peopled by the +ungrateful--I do not know where all the benefactors have gone to. +Verdelin and I have a high opinion of each other. He owes me +gratitude, I owe him money, and neither of us pays the other. And now, +in order to arrange the marriage of Julie, my business is to find a +thousand crowns in a pocket which pretends to be empty--to find +entrance into a heart in order to find entrance into a cash-box! What +an undertaking! Only women can do such things, and with men who are in +love with them. + +Justin (without) +Yes, he is in. + +Mercadet +It is he. (Violette appears.) Ah! my friend! It is dear old Violette! + +Violette +This is the eleventh call within a week, my dear M. Mercadet, and my +actual necessity has driven me to wait for you three hours in the +street; I thought the truth was told me when I was assured that you +were in the country. But I came to-day-- + +Mercadet +Ah! Violette, old fellow, we are both hard up! + +Violette +Humph! I don't think so. For my part, I've pledged everything I could +put in the pawn-shop. + +Mercadet +So have we. + +Violette +I have never reproached you with my ruin, for I believe it is your +intention to enrich me, as well as yourself; but still, fine words +butter no parsnips, and I am come to implore you to give me a small +sum on account, and by so doing you will save the lives of a whole +family. + +Mercadet +My dear old Violette, you grieve me deeply! Be reasonable and I will +share with you. (In a low voice) We have scarcely a hundred francs in +the house, and even that is my daughter's money. + +Violette +Is it possible! You, Mercadet, whom I have known so rich? + +Mercadet +I conceal nothing from you. + +Violette +Unfortunate people owe it to each other to speak the truth. + +Mercadet +Ah! If that were the only thing they owed how prompt would be the +payment! But keep this as a secret, for I am on the point of making a +good match for my daughter. + +Violette +I have two daughters, sir, and they work without hope of being +married! In your present circumstances I cannot press you, but my wife +and my daughters await my return in the deepest anxiety. + +Mercadet +Stay a moment. I will give you sixty francs. + +Violette +Ah! my wife and my girls will bless you. (Aside, while Mercadet leaves +the room for a moment.) The others who abuse him get nothing out of +him, but by appealing to his pity, little by little I get back my +money. (Chuckles and slaps his pocket.) + +Mercadet (on the point of re-entering sees this action) +The beggarly old miser! Sixty francs on account paid ten times makes +six hundred francs. Come now, I have sown enough, it is time to reap +the harvest. (Aloud) Take this. + +Violette +Sixty francs in gold! It is a long time since I have seen such a sum. +Good-bye, we sha'n't forget to pray for the speedy marriage of Mlle. +Mercadet. + +Mercadet +Good-bye, dear old Violette. (Holding him by the hand.) Poor old man, +when I look at you, I think myself rich--your misfortunes touch me +deeply. And yesterday I thought I would soon be on the point of paying +back to you not only the interest but the principal of what I owe you. + +Violette (turning back) +Paying me back! In full! + +Mercadet +It was a close shave. + +Violette +What was? + +Mercadet +Imagine, my dear fellow, that there exists a most brilliant +opportunity, a most magnificent speculation, the most sublime +discovery--an affair which appeals to the interest of every one, which +will draw upon all the exchanges, and for the realization of which a +stupid banker has refused me the miserable sum of a thousand crowns +--when there is more than a million in sight. + +Violette +A million! + +Mercadet +Yes, a million, from the start. Afterwards no one can calculate where +the rage for protective pavement will stop. + +Violette +Pavement? + +Mercadet +Protective pavement. A pavement on which no barricade can be raised. + +Violette +Really? + +Mercadet +You see, that from henceforth all governments interested in the +preservation of order will become our chief shareholders--Ministers, +princes and kings will be our chief partners. Next come the gods of +finance, the great bankers, those of independent income in commerce +and speculation; even the socialists, seeing that their industry is +ruined, will be forced to buy stocks for a living from me! + +Violette +Yes, it is fine! It is grand! + +Mercadet +It is sublime and philanthropic! And to think I have been refused four +thousand francs, wherewith to send out advertisements and launch my +prospectus! + +Violette +Four thousand francs! I thought it was only-- + +Mercadet +Four thousand francs, no more! And I was to give away for the loan a +half interest in the enterprise--that is to say a fortune! Ten +fortunes! + +Violette +Listen--I will see--I will speak to some one-- + +Mercadet +Speak to no one! Keep it to yourself! The idea would at once be +snatched up--or perhaps they wouldn't understand it so well as you +have immediately done. These money dealers are so stupid. Besides, I +am expecting Verdelin here-- + +Violette +Verdelin--but--we might perhaps-- + +Mercadet +'Twill be lucky for Verdelin, if he has the brains to risk six +thousand francs in it. + +Violette +But you said four thousand just now. + +Mercadet +It was four thousand that they refused me, but I need six thousand! +Six thousand francs, and Verdelin, whom I have already made a +millionaire once, is likely to become so three, four, five times over! +But he will deserve it, for he is a clever fellow, is Verdelin. + +Violette +Mercadet, I will find you the money. + +Mercadet +No, no, don't think of it. Besides, he will be here in a moment, and +if I am to send him away without concluding the business with him, it +will be necessary to have it settled with some one else before +Verdelin comes--and, as that is impossible--good-bye--and good luck--I +shall certainly be able to pay you your thirty thousand francs. + +Violette +But say--why couldn't I--? + +Mme. Mercadet (entering) +M. Verdelin has come, my dear. + +Mercadet (aside) +Good, good! (Aloud) Just detain him a minute. (Mme. Mercadet goes +out.) Well, good-bye, dear old Violette-- + +Violette (pulling out a greasy pocketbook) +Wait a moment--here, I have the money with me--and will give it you +beforehand. + +Mercadet +You! Six thousand francs! + +Violette +A friend asked me to invest it for him, and-- + +Mercadet +And you couldn't find a better opening. We'll sign the contract +presently! (He takes the bills.) This closes the deal--and so much the +worse for Verdelin--he has missed a gold mine! + +Violette +Well, I'll see you later. + +Mercadet +Yes--see you later! You can get out through my study. + +(Mercadet shows Violette the way out. Mme. Mercadet enters.) + +Mme. Mercadet +Mercadet! + +Mercadet (reappearing) +Ah! my dear! I am an unfortunate man! I ought to blow my brains out. + +Mme. Mercadet +Good heavens! What is the matter? + +Mercadet +The matter is that a moment ago I asked this sham bankrupt Violette +for six thousand francs. + +Mme. Mercadet +And he refused to give them to you? + +Mercadet +On the contrary, he handed them over. + +Mme. Mercadet +What, then, do you mean? + +Mercadet +I am an unlucky man, as I told you, because he gave them so quickly +that I could have gotten ten thousand if I had only known it. + +Mme. Mercadet +What a man you are! I suppose you know that Verdelin is waiting for +you. + +Mercadet +Beg him to come in. At last I have Julie's trousseau; and we now need +only enough money for your dresses and for household expenses until +the marriage. Send in Verdelin. + +Mme. Mercadet +Yes, he is your friend, and of course you will gain your end with him. + +(Exit Mme. Mercadet.) + +Mercadet (alone) +Yes, he is my friend! And he has all the pride that comes with +fortune; but he has never had a Godeau (looking round to see if he is +alone). After all, Godeau! I really believe that Godeau has brought me +in more money than he has taken from me. + + + + SCENE TWELFTH + + +Mercadet and Verdelin. + + +Verdelin +Good-day, Mercadet. What is doing now? Tell me quickly for I was +stopped here on my way up-stairs to Bredif's apartment. + +Mercadet +Oh, he can wait! How is it that you are going to see a man like +Bredif? + +Verdelin (laughing) +My dear friend, if people only visited those they esteem they would +make no visits at all. + +Mercadet (laughing and taking his hand) +A man wouldn't go even into his own house. + +Verdelin +But tell me what you want with me? + +Mercadet +Your question is so sudden that it hasn't left me time to gild the +pill. + +Verdelin +Oh! my old comrade. I have nothing, and I am frank to say that even if +I had I could give you nothing. I have already lent you all that my +means permit me to dispose of; I have never asked you for payment, for +I am your friend as well as your creditor, and indeed, if my heart did +not overflow in gratitude towards you, if I had not been a man +different from ordinary men, the creditor would long ago have killed +the man. I tell you everything has a limit in this world. + +Mercadet +Friendship has a limit, that's certain; but not misfortune. + +Verdelin +If I were rich enough to save you altogether, to cancel your debt +entirely, I would do so with all my heart, for I admire your courage. +But you are bound to go under. Your last schemes, although cleverly +projected, have collapsed. You have ruined your reputation, you are +looked upon as a dangerous man. You have not known how to take +advantage of the momentary success of your operations. When you are +utterly beggared, you will always find bread at my house; but it is +the duty of a friend to speak these plain truths. + +Mercadet +What would be the advantage of friendship unless it gave us the +pleasure of finding ourselves in the right, and seeing a friend in the +wrong--of being comfortable ourselves and seeing our friend in +difficulties and of paying compliment to ourselves by saying +disagreeable things to him? Is it true then that I am little thought +of on 'Change? + +Verdelin +I do not say so much as that. No; you still pass for an honest man, +but necessity is forcing you to adopt expedients-- + +Mercadet +Which are not justified by the success which luckier men enjoy! Ah, +success! How many outrageous things go to make up success. You'll +learn that soon enough. Now, for instance, this morning I began to +bear the market on the mines of Basse-Indre, in order that you may +gain control of that enterprise before the favorable report of the +engineers is published. + +Verdelin +Hush, Mercadet, can this be true? Ah! I see your genius there! (Puts +his arm around him.) + +Mercadet +I say this in order that you may understand that I have no need of +advice, or of moralizing,--merely of money. Alas! I do not ask any +thing of you for myself, my dear friend, but I am about to make a +marriage for my daughter, and here we are actually, although secretly, +fallen into absolute destitution. We are in a house where poverty +reigns under the appearance of luxury. The power of promises, and of +credit, all is exhausted! And if I cannot pay in cash for certain +necessary expenses, this marriage must be broken off. All I went here +is a fortnight of opulence, just as all that you want is twenty-four +hours of lying on the Exchange. Verdelin, this request will never be +repeated, for I have only one daughter. Must I confess it to you? My +wife and daughter are absolutely destitute of clothes! (Aside) He is +hesitating. + +Verdelin (aside) +He has played me so many tricks that I really do not know whether his +daughter is doing to be married or not. How can she marry? + +Mercadet +This very day I have to give a dinner to my future son-in-law, whom a +mutual friend is introducing to us, and I haven't even my plate +remaining in the house. It is--you know where it is--I not only need a +thousand crowns, but I also hope that you will lend me your dinner +service and come and dine here with your wife. + +Verdelin +A thousand crowns! Mercadet! No one has a thousand crowns to lend. One +scarcely has them for himself; if he were to lend them whenever he was +asked, he would never have them. (He retires to the fire-place.) + +Mercadet (following him, aside) +He will yet come to the scratch. (Aloud) Now look here, Verdelin, I +love my wife and my daughter; these sentiments, my friend, are my sole +consolation in the midst of my recent disasters; these women have been +so gentle, so patient! I should like to see them placed beyond the +reach of distress. Oh! It is on this point that my sufferings are most +real! (They walk to the front of the stage arm in arm.) I have +recently drunk the cup of bitterness, I have slipped upon my wooden +pavement,--I organized a monopoly and others drained me of everything! +But, believe me, this is nothing in comparison with the pain of seeing +you refuse me help in this extremity! Nevertheless, I am not going to +dwell upon the consequences--for I do not wish to owe anything to your +pity. + +Verdelin (taking a seat) +A thousand crowns! But what purpose would you apply them to? + +Mercadet (aside) +I shall get them. (Aloud) My dear fellow, a son-in-law is a bird who +is easily frightened away. The absence of one piece of lace on a dress +reveals everything to them. The ladies' costumes are ordered, the +merchants are on the point of delivering them--yes, I was rash enough +to say that I would pay for everything, for I counted on you! +Verdelin, a thousand crowns won't kill you, for you have sixty +thousand francs a year. And the life of a young girl of whom you are +fond is now at stake--for you are fond of Julie! She has a sincere +attachment for your little girl, they play together like the happiest +of creatures. Would you let the companion of your daughter pine away +with despair? Misfortune is contagious! It brings evil on all around! + +Verdelin +My dear fellow, I have not a thousand crowns. I can lend you my plate; +but I have not-- + +Mercadet +You can give me your note on the bank. It is soon signed-- + +Verdelin (rising) +I--no-- + +Mercadet +Ah! my poor daughter! It is all over. (Falls back overcome in an +armchair near the table.) God forgive me, if I put an end to the +painful dream of life, and let me awaken in Thy bosom! + +Verdelin (after a short silence) +But-- Have you really found a son-in-law? + +Mercadet (rising abruptly to his feet) +You ask if I have found a son-in-law! You actually throw a doubt upon +this! You may refuse me, if you like, the means of effecting the +happiness of my daughter, but do not insult me! I am fallen low +indeed! O Verdelin! I would not for a thousand crowns have had such an +idea of you, and you can never win absolution from me excepting by +giving them. + +Verdelin (wishing to leave) +I must go and see if I can-- + +Mercadet +No! This is only another way of refusing me! Can I believe it? Will +not you whom I have seen spend the same sum upon some such trifle as a +passing love affair--will you not apply the thousand crowns to the +performance of a good action? + +Verdelin (laughing) +At the present time there are very few good actions, or transactions. + +Mercadet +Ha! Ha! Ha! How witty! You are laughing, I see there is a reaction! + +Verdelin +Ha! Ha! Ha! (He drops his hat.) + +Mercadet (picking up the hat and dusting it with his sleeve) +Come now, old fellow. Haven't we seen life! We two began it together. +What a lot of things we have said and done! Don't you recollect the +good old time when we swore to be friends always through thick and +thin? + +Verdelin +Indeed, I do. And don't you recollect our party at Rambouillet, where +I fought an officer of the Guard on your account? + +Mercadet +I thought it was for the lovely Clarissa! Ah! But we were gay! We were +young! And to-day we have our daughters, daughters old enough to +marry! If Clarissa were alive now, she would blame your hesitation! + +Verdelin +If she had lived, I should never have married. + +Mercadet +Because you know what love is, that you do! So I may count upon you +for dinner, and you give me your word of honor that you will send me-- + +Verdelin +The plate? + +Mercadet +And the thousand crowns-- + +Verdelin +Ah! You still harp upon that! I have told you I cannot do it. + +Mercadet (aside) +It is certain that this fellow will never die of heart failure. +(Aloud) And so it seems I am to be murdered by my best friend? Alas! +It is always thus! You are actually untouched by the memory of +Clarissa--and by the despair of a father! (He cries out towards the +chamber of his wife.) Ah! it is all over! I am in despair! I am going +to blow my brains out! + + + + SCENE THIRTEENTH + + +The same persons, Mme. Mercadet and Julie. + + +Mme. Mercadet +What on earth is the matter with you, my dear? + +Julie +How your voice frightened us, papa! + +Mercadet +They heard us! See how they come, like two guardian angels! (He takes +them by the hand.) Ah! you melt my heart! (To Verdelin) Verdelin! Do +you wish to slay a whole family? This proof of their tenderness gives +me courage to fall at your feet. + +Julie +Oh, sir! (She checks her father.) It is I who will implore you for +him. Whatever may be his demand, do not refuse my father; he must, +indeed, be in the most terrible anguish! + +Mercadet +Dear child! (Aside) In what accents does she speak! I couldn't speak +so naturally as that. + +Mme. Mercadet +M. Verdelin, listen to us-- + +Verdelin (to Julie) +You don't know what he is asking, do you? + +Julie +No. + +Verdelin +He is asking for a thousand crowns, in order to arrange your marriage. + +Julie +Then, forget, sir, all that I said to you; I do not wish for a +marriage which has been purchased by the humiliation of my father. + +Mercadet (aside) +She is magnificent! + +Verdelin +Julie! I will go at once and get the money for you. (Exit.) + + + + SCENE FOURTEENTH + + +The same persons, except Verdelin; then the servants. + + +Julie +Oh, father! Why did you not tell me? + +Mercadet (kissing her) +You have saved us all! Ah! when shall I be so rich and powerful that I +may make him repent of a favor done so grudgingly? + +Mme. Mercadet +Do not be unjust; Verdelin yielded to your request. + +Mercadet +He yielded to the cry of Julie, not to my request. Ah! my dear, he has +extorted from me more than a thousand crowns' worth of humiliation! + +Justin (coming in with Therese and Virginie) +The tradespeople. + +Virginie +The milliner and the dressmaker-- + +Therese +And the dry-goods merchants. + +Mercadet +That is all right! I have succeeded in my scheme! My daughter shall be +Comtesse de la Brive! (To the servants) Show them in! I am waiting, +and the money is ready. (He goes proudly towards his study, while the +servants look at him with surprise.) + + + +Curtain to the First Act. + + + + + ACT II + + + + SCENE FIRST + + +(Mercadet's study, containing book-shelves, a safe, a desk, an +armchair and a sofa.) + +Minard and Justin, then Julie. + + +Minard +Did you say that M. Mercadet wished to speak with me? + +Justin +Yes, sir. But mademoiselle has requested that you await her here. + +Minard (aside) +Her father asks to see me. She wishes to speak to me before the +interview. Something extraordinary must have happened. + +Justin +Mademoiselle is here. + +(Enter Julie.) + +Minard (going towards her) +Mlle. Julie! + +Julie +Justin, inform my father that the gentleman has arrived. (Exit +Justin.) If you wish, Adolphe, that our love should shine as bright in +the sight of all as it does in our hearts, be as courageous as I have +already been. + +Minard +What has taken place? + +Julie +A rich young suitor has presented himself, and my father is acting +without any pity for us. + +Minard +A rival! And you ask me if I have any courage! Tell me his name, +Julie, and you will soon know whether I have any courage. + +Julie +Adolphe! You make me shudder! Is this the way in which you are going +to act with the hope of bending my father? + +Minard (seeing Mercadet approach) +Here he comes. + + + + SCENE SECOND + + +The same persons and Mercadet. + + +Mercadet +Sir, are you in love with my daughter? + +Minard +Yes, sir. + +Mercadet +That is, at least, what she believes, and you seem to have had the +talent to persuade her that it is so. + +Minard +Your manner of expressing yourself implies a doubt on your part, which +in any one else would have been offensive to me. Why should I not love +mademoiselle? Abandoned by my parents, it was from your daughter, sir, +that I have learned for the first time the happiness of affection. +Mlle. Julie is at the same time a sister and a friend to me. She is my +whole family. She alone has smiled upon me and has encouraged me; and +my love for her is beyond what language can express! + +Julie +Must I remain here, father? + +Mercadet (to his daughter) +Swallow it all! (To Minard) Sir, with regard to the love of young +people I have those positive ideas which are considered peculiar to +old men. My distrust of such love is all the more permissible because +I am not the father blinded by paternal affection. I see Julie exactly +as she is; without being absolutely plain, she has none of that beauty +that makes people cry out, "See!" She is quite mediocre. + +Minard +You are mistaken, sir; I venture to say that you do not know your +daughter. + +Mercadet +Permit me-- + +Minard +You do not know her, sir. + +Mercadet +But I know her perfectly well--as if--in a word, I know her-- + +Minard +No, sir, you do not. + +Mercadet +Do you mean to contradict me again, sir? + +Minard +You know the Julie that all the world sees; but love has transfigured +her! Tenderness and devotion lend to her a transporting beauty that I +alone have called up in her. + +Julie +Father, I feel ashamed-- + +Mercadet +You mean you feel happy. And if you, sir, repeat these things-- + +Minard +I shall repeat them a hundred times, a thousand times, and even then I +couldn't repeat them often enough. There is no crime in repeating them +before a father! + +Mercadet +You flatter me! I did believe myself her father; but you are the +father of a Julie whose acquaintance I should very much like to make. + +Minard +You have never been in love, I suppose? + +Mercadet +I have been very much in love! And felt the galling chain of gold like +everybody else. + +Minard +That was long ago. In these days we love in a better way. + +Mercadet +How do you do that? + +Minard +We cling to the soul, to the idea! + +Mercadet +What we used to call under the Empire, having our eyes bandaged. + +Minard +It is love, pure and holy, which can lend a charm to all the hours of +life. + +Mercadet +Yes all!--except the dinner hour. + +Julie +Father, do not ridicule two children who love each other with a +passion which is true and pure, because it is founded upon a knowledge +of each other's character; on the certitude of their mutual ardor in +conquering the difficulties of life; in a word, of two children who +will also cherish sincere affection for you. + +Minard (to Mercadet) +What an angel, sir! + +Mercadet (aside) +I'll angel you! (Putting an arm around each.) Happy children!--You are +absolutely in love? What a fine romance! (To Minard) You desire her +for your wife? + +Minard +Yes, sir. + +Mercadet +In spite of all obstacles? + +Minard +It is mine to overcome them! + +Julie +Father, ought you not to be grateful to me in that by my choice I am +giving you a son full of lofty sentiments, endowed with a courageous +soul, and-- + +Minard +Mademoiselle--Julie. + +Julie +Let me finish; I must have my say. + +Mercadet +My daughter, go and see your mother, and let me speak of matters which +are a great deal more material than these. + +Julie +I will go, father-- + +Mercadet +Come back presently with your mother, my child. + +(Mercadet kisses Julie and leads her to the door.) + +Minard (aside) +I feel my hopes revive. + +Mercadet (returning) +Sir, I am a ruined man. + +Minard +What does that mean? + +Mercadet +Totally ruined. And if you wish to have my Julie, you are welcome to +her. She will be much better off at your house, poor as you are, than +in her paternal home. Not only is she without dowry, but she is +burdened with poor parents--parents who are more than poor. + +Minard +More than poor! There is nothing beyond that. + +Mercadet +Yes, sir, we are in debt, deeply in debt, and some of these debts +clamor for payment. + +Minard +No, no, it is impossible! + +Mercadet +Don't you believe it? (Aside) He is getting frightened. (Taking up a +pile of papers from his desk. Aloud) Here, my would-be son-in-law, are +the family papers which will show you our fortune-- + +Minard +Sir-- + +Mercadet +Or rather our lack of fortune! Read-- Here is a writ of attachment on +our furniture. + +Minard +Can it be possible? + +Mercadet +It is perfectly possible! Here are judgments by the score! Here is a +writ of my arrest. You see in what straits we are! Here you see all my +sales, the protests on my notes and the judgments classed in order +--for, young man, understand well in a disordered condition of things, +order is above all things necessary. When disorder is well arranged it +can be relieved and controlled-- What can a debtor say when he sees +his debt entered up under his number? I make the government my model. +All payments are made in alphabetic order. I have not yet touched the +letter A. (He replaces the papers.) + +Minard +You haven't yet paid anything? + +Mercadet +Scarcely anything. You know the condition of my expenses. You know, +because you are a book-keeper. See, (picking up the papers again) the +total debit is three hundred and eighty thousand. + +Minard +Yes, sir. The balance is entered here. + +Mercadet +You can understand then how you must make me shudder when you come +before my daughter with your fine protestations! Since to marry a poor +girl with nothing but an income of eighteen hundred francs, is like +inviting in wedlock a protested note with a writ of execution. + +Minard (lost in thought) +Ruined, ruined! And without resources! + +Mercadet (aside) +I thought that would upset him. (Aloud) Come, now, young man, what are +you going to do? + +Minard +First, I thank you, sir, for the frankness of your admissions. + +Mercadet +That is good! And what of the ideal, and your love for my daughter? + +Minard +You have opened my eyes, sir. + +Mercadet (aside) +I am glad to hear it. + +Minard +I thought that I already loved her with a love that was boundless, and +now I love her a hundred times more. + +Mercadet +The deuce you do! + +Minard +Have you not led me to understand that she will have need of all my +courage, of all my devotion! I will render her happy by other means +than my tenderness; she shall feel grateful for all my efforts, she +shall love me for my vigils, and for my toils. + +Mercadet +You mean to tell me that you still wish to marry her? + +Minard +Do I wish! When I believed that you were rich, I would not ask her of +you without trembling, without feeling ashamed of my poverty; but now, +sir, it is with assurance and with tranquillity of mind that I ask for +her. + +Mercadet (to himself) +I must admit that this is a love exceedingly true, sincere and noble! +And such as I had believed it impossible to find in the whole world! +(To Minard) Forgive me, young man, for the opinion I had of you +--forgive me, above all, for the disappointment I am about to cause +you. + +Minard +What do you mean? + +Mercadet +M. Minard--Julie--cannot be your wife. + +Minard +What is this, sir? Not be my wife? In spite of our love, in spite of +all you have confided to me? + +Mercadet +Yes, and just because of all I have confided to you. I have shown you +Mercadet the rich man in his true colors. I am going to show you him +as the skeptical man of business. I have frankly opened my books to +you. I am now going to open my heart to you as frankly. + +Minard +Speak out, sir, but remember how great my devotion to Mlle. Julie is. +Remember that my self-sacrifice and unselfishness are equal to my love +for her. + +Mercadet +Let it be granted that by means of night-long vigils and toils you +will make a living for Julie! But who will make a living for us, her +father and mother? + +Minard +Ah! sir--believe in me! + +Mercadet +What! Are you going to work for four, instead of working for only two? +The task will be too much for you! And the bread which you give to us, +you will have to snatch out of the hands of your children-- + +Minard +How wildly you talk! + +Mercadet +And I, in spite of your generous efforts, shall fall, crushed under +the weight of disgraceful ruin. A brilliant marriage for my daughter +is the only means by which I would be enabled to discharge the +enormous sums I owe. It is only thus that in time I could regain +confidence and credit. With the aid of a rich son-in-law I can +reconquer my position, and recuperate my fortune! Why, the marriage of +my daughter is our last anchor of salvation! This marriage is our +hope, our wealth, the prop of our honor, sir! And since you love my +daughter, it is to this very love that I make my appeal. My friend, do +not condemn her to poverty; do not condemn her to a life of regret +over the loss and disgrace which she has brought upon her father! + +Minard (in great distress) +But what do you ask me to do? + +Mercadet (taking him by the hand) +I wish that this noble affection which you have for her, may arm you +with more courage than I myself possess. + +Minard +I will show such courage-- + +Mercadet +Then listen to me. If I refuse Julie to you, Julie will refuse the man +I destine for her. It will be best, therefore, that I grant your +request for her hand, and that you be the one-- + +Minard +I!-- She will not believe it, sir-- + +Mercadet +She will believe you, if you tell her that you fear poverty for her. + +Minard +She will accuse me of being a fortune hunter. + +Mercadet +She will be indebted to you for having secured her happiness. + +Minard (despairingly) +She will despise me, sir! + +Mercadet +That is probable! But if I have read your heart aright, your love for +her is such that you will sacrifice yourself completely to the +happiness of her life. But here she comes, sir, and her mother is with +her. It is on their account that I make this request to you, sir; can +I count on you? + +Minard +You--can. + +Mercadet +Very good--I thank you. + + + + SCENE THIRD + + +The preceding, Julie and Mme. Mercadet. + + +Julie +Come, mother, I am sure that Adolphe has triumphed over all obstacles. + +Mme. Mercadet +My dear, M. Minard has asked of you the hand of Julie. What answer +have you given him? + +Mercadet (going to the desk) +It is for him to say. + +Mercadet (aside) +How can I tell her? My heart is breaking. + +Julie +What have you got to say, Adolphe? + +Minard +Mademoiselle-- + +Julie +Mademoiselle! Am I no longer Julie to you? Oh, tell me quickly. You +have settled everything with my father, have you not? + +Minard +Your father has shown great confidence in me. He has revealed to me +his situation; he has told me-- + +Julie +Go on, please go on-- + +Mercadet +I have told him that we are ruined-- + +Julie +And this avowal has not changed your plans--your love--has it, +Adolphe? + +Minard (ardently) +My love! (Mercadet, without being noticed, seizes his hand.) I should +be deceiving you--mademoiselle--(speaking with great effort)--if I +were to say that my intentions are unaltered. + +Julie +Oh! It is impossible! Can it be you who speak to me in this strain? + +Mme. Mercadet +Julie-- + +Minard (rousing himself) +There are some men to whom poverty adds energy; men capable of daily +self-sacrifice, of hourly toil; men who think themselves sufficiently +recompensed by a smile from a companion that they love--(checking +himself). I, mademoiselle am not one of these. The thought of poverty +dismays me. I--I could not endure the sight of your unhappiness. + +Julie (bursting into tears and flinging herself into the arms of her +mother) +Oh! Mother! Mother! Mother! + +Mme. Mercadet +My daughter--my poor Julie! + +Minard (in a low voice to Mercadet) +Is this sufficient, sir? + +Julie (without looking at Minard) +I should have had courage for both of us. I should always have greeted +you with a smile, I should have toiled without regret, and happiness +would always have reigned in our home. You could never have meant +this, Adolphe. You do not mean it. + +Minard (in a low voice) +Let me go--let me leave the house, sir. + +Mercadet +Come, then. (He retires to the back of the stage.) + +Minard +Good-bye--Julie. A love that would have flung you into poverty is a +thoughtless love. I have preferred to show the love that sacrifices +itself to your happiness-- + +Julie +No, I trust you no longer. (In a low voice to her mother) My only +happiness would have been to be his. + +Justin (announcing visitors) +M. de la Brive! M. de Mericourt! + +Mercadet +Take your daughter away, madame. M. Minard, follow me. (To Justin) Ask +them to wait here for a while. (To Minard) I am well satisfied with +you. + +(Mme. Mercadet and Julie, Mercadet and Minard go out in opposite +directions, while Justin admits Mericourt and De la Brive.) + + + + SCENE FOURTH + + +De la Brive and Mericourt. + + +Justin +M. Mercadet begs that the gentlemen will wait for him here. (Exit.) + +Mericourt +At last, my dear friend, you are on the ground, and you will be very +soon officially recognized as Mlle. Mercadet's intended! Steer your +bark well, for the father is a deep one. + +De la Brive +That is what frightens me, for difficulties loom ahead. + +Mericourt +I do not believe so; Mercadet is a speculator, rich to-day, to-morrow +possibly a beggar. With the little I know of his affairs from his +wife, I am led to believe that he is enchanted with the prospect of +depositing a part of his fortune in the name of his daughter, and of +obtaining a son-in-law capable of assisting him in carrying out his +financial schemes. + +De la Brive +That is a good idea, and suits me exactly; but suppose he wishes to +find out too much about me. + +Mericourt +I have given M. Mercadet an excellent account of you. + +De la Brive +I have fallen upon my feet truly. + +Mericourt +But you are not going to lose the dandy's self-possession? I quite +understand that your position is risky. A man would not marry, +excepting from utter despair. Marriage is suicide for the man of the +world. (In a low voice) Come, tell me--can you hold out much longer? + +De la Brive +If I had not two names, one for the bailiffs and one for the +fashionable world, I should be banished from the Boulevard. Woman and +I, as you know, have wrought each the ruin of the other, and, as +fashion now goes, to find a rich Englishwoman, an amiable dowager, an +amorous gold mine, would be as impossible as to find an extinct +animal. + +Mericourt +What of the gaming table? + +De la Brive +Oh! Gambling is an unreliable resource excepting for certain crooks, +and I am not such a fool as to run the risk of disgrace for the sake +of winnings which always have their limit. Publicity, my dear friend, +has been the abolition of all those shady careers in which fortune +once was to be found. So, that for a hundred thousand francs of +accepted bills, the usurer gives me but ten thousand. Pierquin sent me +to one of his agents, a sort of sub-Pierquin, a little old man called +Violette, who said to my broker that he could not give me money on +such paper at any rate! Meanwhile my tailor has refused to bank upon +my prospects. My horse is living on credit; as to my tiger, the little +wretch who wears such fine clothes, I do now know how he lives, or +where he feeds. I dare not peer into the mystery. Now, as we are not +so advanced in civilization as the Jews, who canceled all debts every +half-century, a man must pay by the sacrifice of personal liberty. +Horrible things will be said about me. Here is a young man of high +esteem in the world of fashion, pretty lucky at cards, of a passable +figure, less than twenty-eight years old, and he is going to marry the +daughter of a rich speculator! + +Mericourt +What difference does it make? + +De la Brive +It is slightly off color! But I am tired of a sham life. I have +learned at last that the only way to amass wealth is to work. But our +misfortune is that we find ourselves quick at everything, but not good +at anything! A man like me, capable of inspiring a passion and of +maintaining it, cannot become either a clerk or a soldier! Society has +provided no employment for us. Accordingly, I am going to set up +business with Mercadet. He is one of the greatest of schemers. You are +sure that he won't give less than a hundred and fifty thousand francs +to his daughter. + +Mericourt +Judge yourself, my dear friend, from the style which Mme. Mercadet +puts on; you see her at all the first nights, in her own box, at the +opera, and her conspicuous elegance-- + +De la Brive +I myself am elegant enough, but-- + +Mericourt +Look round you here--everything indicates opulence--Oh! they are well +off! + +De la Brive +Yet, it is a sort of middle-class splendor, something substantial +which promises well. + +Mericourt +And then the mother is a woman of principle, of irreproachable +behavior. Can you possibly conclude matters to-day? + +De la Brive +I have taken steps to do so. I won at the club yesterday sufficient to +go on with; I shall pay something on the wedding presents, and let the +balance stand. + +Mericourt +Without reckoning my account, what is the amount of your debts? + +De la Brive +A mere trifle! A hundred and fifty thousand francs, which my +father-in-law will cut down to fifty thousand. I shall have a hundred +thousand francs left to begin life on. I always said that I should +never become rich until I hadn't a sou left. + +Mericourt +Mercadet is an astute man; he will question you about your fortune; +are you prepared? + +De la Brive +Am I not the landed proprietor of La Brive? Three thousand acres in +the Landes, which are worth thirty thousand francs, mortgaged for +forty-five thousand and capable of being floated by a stock jobbing +company for some commercial purpose or other, say, as representing a +capital of a hundred thousand crowns! You cannot imagine how much this +property has brought me in. + +Mericourt +Your name, your horse, and your lands seem to me to be on their last +legs. + +De la Brive +Not so loud! + +Mericourt +So you have quite made up your mind? + +De la Brive +Yes, and all the more decidedly in that I am going into politics. + +Mericourt +Really--but you are too clever for that! + +De la Brive +As a preparation I shall take to journalism. + +Mericourt +And you have never written two lines in your life! + +De la Brive +There are journalists who write and journalists who do not write. The +former are editors--and horses that drag the car; the latter, the +proprietors, who furnish the funds; these give oats to their horses +and keep the capital for themselves. I shall be a proprietor. You +merely have to put on a lofty air and exclaim: "The Eastern question +is a question of great importance and of wide influence, one about +which there cannot be two opinions!" You sum up a discussion by +declaiming: "England, sir, will always get the better of us!" or you +make an answer to some one whom you have heard speak for a long time +without paying attention to him: "We are advancing towards an abyss, +we have not yet passed through all the evolutions of the evolutionary +phase!" You say to a representative of labor: "Sir, I think there is +something to be done in this matter." A proprietor of a journal speaks +very little, rushes about and makes himself useful by doing for a man +in power what the latter cannot do himself. He is supposed to inspire +the articles, those I mean, which attract any notice! And then, if it +is absolutely necessary he undertakes to publish a yellow-backed +volume on some Utopian topic, so well written, so strong, that no one +opens it, although every one declares that he has read it! Then he is +looked upon as an earnest man, and ends by finding himself +acknowledged as somebody, instead of something. + +Mericourt +Alas! What you say is too true, in these times! + +De la Brive +And we ourselves are a startling proof of this! In order to claim a +part in political power you must not show what good but what harm you +can do. You must not alone possess talents, you must be able also to +inspire fear. Accordingly, the very day after my marriage, I shall +assume an air of seriousness, of profundity, of high principles! I can +take my choice, for we have in France a list of principles which is as +varied as a bill of fare. I elect to be a socialist! The word pleases +me! At every epoch, my dear friend, there are adjectives which form +the pass-words of ambition! Before 1789 a man called himself an +economist; in 1815 he was a liberal; the next party will call itself +the social party--perhaps because it is so unsocial. For in France you +must always take the opposite sense of a word to understand its +meaning. + +Mericourt +Let me tell you privately, that you are now talking nothing but the +nonsense of masked ball chatter, which passes for wit among those who +do not indulge in it. What are you going to do when a certain definite +knowledge becomes necessary? + +De la Brive +My dear friend! In every profession, whether of art, science or +literature, a man needs intellectual capital, special knowledge and +capacity. But in politics, my dear fellow, a man wins everything and +attains to everything by means of a single phrase-- + +Mericourt +What is that? + +De la Brive +"The principles of my friends, the party for which I stand, look +for--" + +Mericourt +Hush! Here comes the father-in-law! + + + + SCENE FIFTH + + +The same persons and Mercadet. + + +Mercadet +Good-day, my dear Mericourt! (To De la Brive) The ladies have kept you +waiting, sir. Ah! They are putting on their finery. For myself, I was +just on the point of dismissing--whom do you think?--an aspirant to +the hand of Mlle. Julie. Poor young man! I was perhaps hard on him, +and yet I felt for him. He worships my daughter; but what could I do? +He has only ten thousand francs' income. + +De la Brive +That wouldn't go very far! + +Mercadet +A mere subsistence! + +De la Brive +You're not the man to give a rich and clever girl to the first comer-- + +Mericourt +Certainly not. + +Mercadet +Before the ladies come in, gentlemen, we must talk a little serious +business. + +De la Brive (to Mericourt) +Now comes the tug of war! + +(They all sit down.) + +Mercadet (on the sofa) +Are you seriously in love with my daughter? + +De la Brive +I love her passionately! + +Mercadet +Passionately? + +Mericourt (to his friend) +You are over-doing it. + +De la Brive (to Mericourt) +Wait a moment. (Aloud) Sir, I am ambitious--and I saw in Mlle. Julie a +lady at once distinguished, full of intellect, possessed of charming +manners, who would never be out of place in the position in which my +fortune puts me; and such a wife is essential to the success of a +politician. + +Mercadet +I understand! It is easy to find a woman, but it is very rare that a +man who wishes to be a minister or ambassador finds a wife. You are a +man of wit, sir. May I ask your political leaning? + +De la Brive +Sir, I am a socialist. + +Mercadet +That is a new move! But now let us talk of money matters. + +Mericourt +It seems to me that the notary might attend to that. + +De la Brive +No! M. Mercadet is right; it is best that we should attend to these +things ourselves. + +Mercadet +True, sir. + +De la Brive +Sir, my whole fortune consists in the estate which bears my name; it +has been in my family for a hundred and fifty years, and I hope will +never pass from us. + +Mercadet +The possession of capital is perhaps more valuable in these days. +Capital is in your own hand. If a revolution breaks out, and we have +had many revolutions lately, capital follows us everywhere. Landed +property, on the contrary, must furnish funds for every one. There it +stands stock still like a fool to pay the taxes, while capital dodges +out of the way. But this is not real obstacle. What is the amount of +your land? + +De la Brive +Three thousand acres, without a break. + +Mercadet +Without a break? + +Mericourt +Did I not tell you as much? + +Mercadet +I never doubted it. + +De la Brive +A chateau-- + +Mercadet +Good-- + +De la Brive +And salt marshes, which can be worked as soon as the administration +gives permission. They would yield enormous returns! + +Mercadet +Ah, sir, why have we been so late in becoming acquainted! Your land, +then, must be on the seashore. + +De la Brive +Without half a league of it. + +Mercadet +And it is situated? + +De la Brive +Near Bordeaux. + +Mercadet +You have vineyards, then? + +De la Brive +No! fortunately not, for the disposal of wines is a troublesome +matter, and, moreover, the cultivation of the vine is exceedingly +expensive. My estate was planted with pine trees by my grandfather, a +man of genius, who was wise enough to sacrifice himself to the welfare +of his descendants. Besides, I have furniture, which you know-- + +Mercadet +Sir, one moment, a man of business is always careful to dot his i's. + +De la Brive (under his voice) +Now we're in for it! + +Mercadet +With regard to your estate and your marshes,--I see all that can be +got out of these marshes. The best way of utilizing them would be to +form a company for the exploitation of the marshes of the Brive! There +is more than a million in it! + +De la Brive +I quite understand that, sir. They need only to be thrown upon the +market. + +Mercadet (aside) +These words indicate a certain intelligence in this young man. (Aloud) +Have you any debts? Is your estate mortgaged? + +Mericourt +You would not think much of my friend if he had not debts. + +De la Brive +I will be frank, sir, there is a mortgage of forty-five thousand +francs on my estate. + +Mercadet (aside) +An innocent young man! he might easily-- (Rising from his seat. Aloud) +You have my consent; you shall be my son-in-law, and are the very man +I would choose for my daughter's husband. You do not realize what a +fortune you possess. + +De la Brive (to Mericourt) +This is almost too good to be true. + +Mericourt (to De la Brive) +He is dazzled by the good speculation which he sees ahead. + +Mercadet (aside) +With government protection, which can be purchased, salt pits may be +established. I am saved! (Aloud) Allow me to shake hands with you, +after the English fashion. You fulfill all that I expected in a +son-in-law. I plainly see you have none of the narrowness of +provincial land-holders; we shall understand each other thoroughly. + +De la Brive +You must not take it in bad part, sir, if I, on my part, ask you-- + +Mercadet +The amount of my daughter's fortune? I should have distrusted you if +you hadn't asked! My daughter has independent means; her mother +settles on her her own fortune, consisting of a small property--a farm +of two hundred acres, but in the very heart of Brie, and provided with +good buildings. Besides this, I shall give her two hundred thousand +francs, the interest of which will be for your use, until you find a +suitable investment for it. So you see, young man, we do not wish to +deceive you, we wish to keep the money moving; I like you, you please +me, for I see you have ambition. + +De la Brive +Yes, sir. + +Mercadet +You love luxury, extravagance; you wish to shine at Paris-- + +De la Brive +Yes, sir. + +Mercadet +You see that I am already an old man, obliged to lay the load of my +ambition upon some congenial co-operator, and you shall be the one to +play the brilliant part. + +De la Brive +Sir, had I been obliged to take my choice of all the fathers-in-law in +Paris, I should have given the preference to you. You are a man after +my own heart! Allow me to shake hands, after the English fashion! +(They shake hands for the second time.) + +Mercadet (aside) +It seems too good to be true. + +De la Brive (aside) +He fell head-first into my salt marshes! + +Mercadet (aside) +He accepts an income from me! + +(Mercadet retires towards the door on the left side.) + +Mericourt (to De la Brive) +Are you satisfied? + +De la Brive (to Mericourt) +I don't see the money for my debts. + +Mericourt (to De la Brive) +Wait a moment. (To Mercadet) My friend does not dare to tell you of +it, but he is too honest for concealment. He has a few debts. + +Mercadet +Oh, please tell me. I understand perfectly--I suppose it is about +fifty thousand you owe? + +Mericourt +Very nearly-- + +De la Brive +Very nearly-- + +Mercadet +A mere trifle. + +De la Brive (laughing) +Yes, a mere trifle! + +Mercadet +They will serve as a subject of discussion between your wife and you; +yes, let her have the pleasure of-- But, we will pay them all. (Aside) +In shares of the La Brive salt pits. (Aloud) It is so small an amount. +(Aside) We will put up the capital of the salt marsh a hundred +thousand francs more. (Aloud) The matter is settled, son-in-law. + +De la Brive +We will consider it settled, father-in-law. + +Mercadet (aside) +I am saved! + +De la Brive (aside) +I am saved! + + + + SCENE SIXTH + + +The same persons, Mme. Mercadet and Julie. + + +Mercadet +Here are my wife and daughter. + +Mericourt +Madame, allow me to present to you my friend, M. de la Brive, who +regards your daughter with-- + +De la Brive +With passionate admiration. + +Mercadet +My daughter is exactly the woman to suit a politician. + +De la Brive (to Mericourt. Gazing at Julie through his eyeglass) +A fine girl. (To Madame Mercadet) Like mother, like daughter. Madame, +I place my hopes under your protection. + +Mme. Mercadet +Anyone introduced by M. Mericourt would be welcome here. + +Julie (to her father) +What a coxcomb! + +Mercadet (to his daughter) +He is enormously rich. We shall all be millionaires! He is an +excessively clever fellow. Now, do try and be amiable, as you ought to +be. + +Julie (answering him) +What would you wish me to say to a dandy whom I have just seen for the +first time, and whom you destine for my husband? + +De la Brive +May I be permitted to hope, mademoiselle, that you will look favorably +upon me? + +Julie +My duty is to obey my father. + +De la Brive +Young people are not always aware of the feelings which they inspire. +For two months I have been longing for the happiness of paying my +respects to you. + +Julie +Who can be more flattered than I am, sir, to find that I have +attracted your attention? + +Mme. Mercadet (to Mericourt) +He is a fine fellow. (Aloud) We hope that you and your friend M. de la +Brive will do us the pleasure of accepting our invitation to dine +without ceremony? + +Mercadet +To take pot-luck with us. (To De la Brive) You must excuse our +simplicity. + +Justin (entering, in a low voice to Mercadet) +M. Pierquin wishes to speak to you, monsieur. + +Mercadet (low) +Pierquin? + +Justin +He says it is concerning an important and urgent matter. + +Mercadet +What can he want with me? Let him come in. (Justin goes out. Aloud) My +dear, these gentlemen must be tired. Won't you take them into the +drawing-room? M. de la Brive, give my daughter you arm. + +De la Brive +Mademoiselle-- (offers her his arm) + +Julie (aside) +He is handsome, he is rich--why does he choose me? + +Mme. Mercadet +M. de Mericourt, will you come and see the picture which we are going +to raffle off for the benefit of the poor orphans? + +Mericourt +With pleasure, madame. + +Mercadet +Go on. I shall be with you in a moment. + + + + SCENE SEVENTH + + +Mercadet (alone) +Well, after all, this time I have really secured fortune and the +happiness of Julie and the rest of us. For a son-in-law like this is a +veritable gold mine! Three thousand acres! A chateau! Salt marshes! +(He sits down at his desk.) + +Pierquin (entering) +Good-day, Mercadet. I have come-- + +Mercadet +Rather inopportunely. But what do you wish? + +Pierquin +I sha'n't detain you long. The bills of exchange I gave you this +morning, signed by a man called Michonnin, are absolutely valueless. I +told you this beforehand. + +Mercadet +I know that. + +Pierquin +I now offer you a thousand crowns for them. + +Mercadet +That is either too much or too little! Anything for which you will +give that sum must be worth infinitely more. Some one is waiting for +me in the other room. I will bid you good-evening. + +Pierquin +I will give you four thousand francs. + +Mercadet +No! + +Pierquin +Five--six thousand. + +Mercadet +If you wish to play cards, keep to the gambling table. Why do you wish +to recover this paper? + +Pierquin +Michonnin has insulted me. I wish to take vengeance on him; to send +him to jail. + +Mercadet (rising) +Six thousand francs worth of vengeance! You are not a man to indulge +in luxuries of that kind. + +Pierquin +I assure you-- + +Mercadet +Come, now, my friend, consider that for a satisfactory defamation of +character the code won't charge you more than five or six hundred +francs, and the tax on a blow is only fifty francs-- + +Pierquin +I swear to you-- + +Mercadet +Has this Michonnin come into a legacy? And are the forty-seven +thousand francs of these vouchers actually worth forty-seven thousand +francs? You should post me on this subject and then we'll cry halves! + +Pierquin +Very well, I agree. The fact of it is, Michonnin is to be married. + +Mercadet +What next! And with whom, pray? + +Pierquin +With the daughter of some nabob--an idiot who is giving her an +enormous dowry. + +Mercadet +Where does Michonnin live? + +Pierquin +Do you want to issue a writ? He is without a fixed abode in Paris. His +furniture is held under the name of a friend; but his legal domicile +must be in the neighborhood of Bordeaux, in the village of Ermont. + +Mercadet +Stay a while. I have some one here from that region. I can get exact +information in a moment--and then we can begin proceedings. + +Pierquin +Send me the paper, and leave the business to me-- + +Mercadet +I shall be very glad to do so. They shall be put into your hands in +return for a signed agreement as to the sharing of the money. I am at +present altogether taken up with the marriage of my daughter. + +Pierquin +I hope everything is going on well. + +Mercadet +Wonderfully well. My son-in-law is a gentleman and, in spite of that, +he is rich. And, although both rich and a gentleman, he is clever into +the bargain. + +Pierquin +I congratulate you. + +Mercadet +One word with you before you go. You said, Michonnin, of Ermont, in +the neighborhood of Bordeaux? + +Pierquin +Yes, he has an old aunt somewhere about there! A good woman called +Bourdillac, who scrapes along on some six hundred francs a year, but +to whom he gives the title of Marchioness of Bourdillac. He pretends +that her health is delicate and that she has a yearly income of forty +thousand francs. + +Mercadet +Thank you. Good-evening-- + +Pierquin +Good-evening. (goes out) + +Mercadet (ringing) +Justin! + +Justin +Did you call, sir? + +Mercadet +Ask M. de la Brive to speak with me for a moment. (Justin goes out.) + +Mercadet +Here is a windfall of twenty-three thousand francs! We shall be able +to arrange things famously for Julie's marriage. + + + + SCENE EIGHTH + + +Mercadet, De la Brive and Justin. + + +De la Brive (to Justin, handing him a letter) +Here, deliver this letter. And this is for yourself. + +Justin (aside) +A louis! Mademoiselle will be sure to have a happy home. (Exit.) + +De la Brive +You wish to speak with me, my dear father-in-law? + +Mercadet +Yes. You see I already treat you without ceremony. Please to take a +seat. + +De la Brive (sitting on a sofa) +I am grateful for your confidence. + +Mercadet +I am seeking information with regard to a debtor, who, like you, lives +in the neighborhood of Bordeaux. + +De la Brive +I know every one in that district. + +Mercadet +It is said he has relations there. + +De la Brive +Relations! I have none but an old aunt. + +Mercadet (pricking up his ears) +An--old aunt--? + +De la Brive +Whose health-- + +Mercadet (trembling) +Is--is--delicate? + +De la Brive +And her income is forty thousand francs. + +Mercadet (quite overcome) +Good Lord! The very figure! + +De la Brive +The Marchioness, you see, will be a good woman to have on hand. I mean +the Marchioness-- + +Mercadet (vehemently rushing at him) +Of Bourdillac, sir! + +De la Brive +How is this? Do you know her name? + +Mercadet +Yes, and yours too! + +De la Brive +The devil you do! + +Mercadet +You are head over ears in debt; your furniture is held in another +man's name; your old aunt has a pittance of six hundred francs; +Pierquin, who is one of your smallest creditors, has forty-seven +thousand francs in notes of hand from you. You are Michonnin, and I am +the idiotic nabob! + +De la Brive (stretching himself at full length on the sofa) +By heavens! You know just as much about it as I do! + +Mercadet +Well--I see that once more the devil has taken a hand in my game. + +De la Brive (aside, rising to his feet) +The marriage is over! I am no longer a socialist; I shall become a +communist. + +Mercadet +And I have been just as easily deceived, as if I had been on the +Exchange. + +De la Brive +Show yourself worthy of your reputation. + +Mercadet +M. Michonnin, your conduct is more than blameworthy! + +De la Brive +In what particular? Did I not say that I had debts? + +Mercadet +We'll let that pass, for any one may have debts; but where is your +estate situated. + +De la Brive +In the Landes. + +Mercadet +And of what does it consist? + +De la Brive +Of sand wastes, planted with firs. + +Mercadet +Good to make toothpicks. + +De la Brive +That's about it. + +Mercadet +And it is worth? + +De la Brive +Thirty thousand francs. + +Mercadet +And mortgaged for-- + +De la Brive +Forty-five thousand! + +Mercadet +And you had the skill to effect that? + +De la Brive +Why, yes-- + +Mercadet +Damnation! But that was pretty clever! And your marshes, sir? + +De la Brive +They border on the sea-- + +Mercadet +They are part of the ocean! + +De la Brive +The people of that country are evil-minded enough to say so. That is +what hinders my loans! + +Mercadet +It would be very difficult to issue ocean shares! Sir, I may tell you, +between ourselves, that your morality seems to me-- + +De la Brive +Somewhat-- + +Mercadet +Risky. + +De la Brive (in anger) +Sir! (calming himself) Let this be merely between ourselves! + +Mercadet +You gave a friend a bill of sale of your furniture, you sign your +notes of hand with the name of Michonnin, and you call yourself merely +De la Brive-- + +De la Brive +Well, sir, what are you going to do about it? + +Mercadet +Do about it? I am going to lead you a pretty dance-- + +De la Brive +Sir, I am your guest! Moreover, I may deny everything-- What proofs +have you? + +Mercadet +What proofs! I have in my hands forty-seven thousand francs' worth of +your notes. + +De la Brive +Are they signed to the order of Pierquin? + +Mercadet +Precisely so. + +De la Brive +And you have had them since this morning? + +Mercadet +Since this morning. + +De la Brive +I see. You have given worthless stock in exchange for valueless notes. + +Mercadet +Sir! + +De la Brive +And, in order to seal the bargain, Pierquin, one of the least +important of your creditors, has given you a delay of three months. + +Mercadet +Who told you that? + +De la Brive +Who? Who? Pierquin himself, of course, as soon as he learned I was +going to make an arrangement-- + +Mercadet +The devil he did! + +De la Brive +Ah! You were going to give two hundred thousand francs as a dowry to +your daughter, and you had debts to the amount of three hundred and +fifty thousand! Between ourselves it looks like you who had been +trying to swindle the son-in-law, sir-- + +Mercadet (angrily) +Sir! (calming himself) This is merely between ourselves, sir. + +De la Brive +You took advantage of my inexperience! + +Mercadet +Of course I did! The inexperience of a man who raises a loan on his +sand wastes fifty per cent above their value. + +De la Brive +Glass can be made out of sand! + +Mercadet +That's a good idea! + +De la Brive +Therefore, sir-- + +Mercadet +Silence! Promise me that this broken marriage-contract shall be kept +secret. + +De la Brive +I swear it shall-- Ah! excepting to Pierquin. I have just written to +him to set his mind at rest. + +Mercadet +Is that the letter you sent by Justin? + +De la Brive +The very one. + +Mercadet +And what have you told him? + +De la Brive +The name of my father-in-law. Confound it!--I thought you were rich. + +Mercadet (despairingly) +And you have written that to Pierquin? It's all up! This fresh defeat +will be known on the Exchange! But, any way, I am ruined! Suppose I +write to him-- Suppose I ask him-- (He goes to the table to write.) + + + + SCENE NINTH + + +The same persons, Mme. Mercadet, Julie and Verdelin. + + +Mme. Mercadet +My friend, M. Verdelin. + +Julie (to Verdelin) +Here is my father, sir. + +Mercadet +Ah! It is you, is it, Verdelin--and you are come to dinner? + +Verdelin +No, I am not come to dinner. + +Mercadet (aside) +He knows all. He is furious! + +Verdelin +And this gentleman is your son-in-law? (Verdelin bows to De la Brive.) +This is a fine marriage you are going to make! + +Mercadet +The marriage, my dear sir, is not going to take place. + +Julie +How happy I feel! + +(De la Brive bows to Julie. She casts down her eyes.) + +Mme. Mercadet (seizing her hand) +My dear daughter! + +Mercadet +I have been deceived by Mericourt. + +Verdelin +And you have played on me one of your tricks this morning, for the +purpose of getting a thousand crowns; but the whole incident has been +made public on the Exchange, and they think it a huge joke! + +Mercadet +They have been informed, I suppose-- + +Verdelin +That your pocket-book is full of the notes of hand signed by your +son-in-law. And Pierquin tells me that your creditors are exasperated, +and are to meet to-night at the house of Goulard to conclude measures +for united action against you to-morrow! + +Mercadet +To-night! To-morrow! Ah! I hear the knell of bankruptcy sound! + +Verdelin +Yes, to-morrow they are going to send a prison cab for you. + +Mme. Mercadet and Julie +God help us! + +Mercadet +I see the carriage, the hearse of the speculator, carrying me to +Clichy! + +Verdelin +They wish, as far as possible, to rid the Exchange of all sharpers! + +Mercadet +They are fools, for in that case they will turn it into a desert! And +so I am ruined! Expelled from the Exchange with all the sequelae of +bankruptcy,--shame, beggary! I cannot believe it--it is impossible! + +De la Brive +Believe me, sir, that I regret having been in some degree-- + +Mercadet (looking him in the face) +You! (in a low voice to him) Listen to me: you have hurried on my +destruction, but you have it in your power to help me to escape. + +De la Brive +On what conditions? + +Mercadet +I will make you a good offer! (Aloud, as they start toward opposite +doors) True, the idea is a bold one! But to-morrow, the 'Change will +recognize in me one of its master spirits. + +Verdelin +What is he talking about? + +Mercadet +To-morrow, all my debts will be paid, and the house of Mercadet will +be turning over millions! I shall be acknowledged as the Napoleon of +finance. + +Verdelin +What a man he is! + +Mercadet +And a Napoleon who meets no Waterloo! + +Verdelin +But where are your troops? + +Mercadet +My army is cash in hand! What answer can be made to a business man who +says, "Take your money!" Come let us dine now. + +Verdelin +Certainly. I shall be delighted to dine with you. + +Mercadet (while they all move towards the dining-room, aside) +They are all glad of it! To-morrow I will either command millions, or +rest in the damp winding-sheet of the Seine! + + + +Curtain to the Second Act. + + + + + ACT III + + + + SCENE FIRST + + +(Another apartment in Mercadet's house, well furnished. At the back +and in the centre is a mantel-piece, having instead of a mirror a +clear plate of glass; side doors; a large table, surrounded by chairs, +in the middle of the stage; sofa and armchairs.) + +Justin, Therese and Virginie, then Mercadet. + + +(Justin enters first and beckons to Therese. Virginie, carrying +papers, sits insolently on the sofa. Justin looks through the keyhole +of the door on the left side and listens.) + +Therese +Is it possible that they could pretend to conceal from us the +condition of their affairs? + +Virginie +Old Gruneau tells me that the master is soon to be arrested; I hope +that what I have spent will be taken account of, for he owes me the +money for these bills, besides my wages! + +Therese +Oh! set your mind at rest. We are likely to lose everything, for the +master is bankrupt. + +Justin +I can't hear anything. They speak too low! They don't trust us. + +Virginie +It is frightful! + +Justin (with his ear to the half-open door) +Wait, I think I hear something. + +(The door bursts open and Mercadet appears.) + +Mercadet (to Justin) +Don't let me disturb you. + +Justin +Sir, I--I--was just putting-- + +Mercadet +Really! (To Virginie, who jumps up suddenly from the sofa) Keep your +seat, Mlle. Virginie, and you, M. Justin, why didn't you come in? We +were talking about my business. + +Justin +You amuse me, sir. + +Mercadet +I am heartily glad of it. + +Justin +You take trouble easy, sir. + +Mercadet (severely) +That will do, all of you. And remember that from this time forth I see +all who call. Treat no one either with insolence or too much humility, +for you will meet here no creditors, but such as have been paid. + +Justin +Oh, bosh! + +Mercadet +Go! + +(The central door opens. Mme. Mercadet, Julie and Minard appear. The +servants leave the room.) + + + + SCENE SECOND + + +Mercadet, Mme. Mercadet, Julie and Minard. + + +Mercadet (aside) +I am annoyed to see my wife and daughter here. In my present +circumstances, women are likely to spoil everything, for they have +nerves. (Aloud) What is it, Mme. Mercadet? + +Mme. Mercadet +Sir, you were counting on the marriage of Julie to establish your +credit and reassure your creditors, but the event of yesterday has put +you at their mercy-- + +Mercadet +Do you think so? Well, you are quite mistaken. I beg your pardon, M. +Minard, but what brings you here? + +Minard +Sir--I-- + +Julie +Father--it is-- + +Mercadet +Are you come to ask again for my daughter? + +Minard +Yes, sir. + +Mercadet +But everybody says that I am going to fail-- + +Minard +I know it, sir. + +Mercadet +And would you marry the daughter of a bankrupt? + +Minard +Yes, for I would work to re-establish him. + +Julie +That's good, Adolphe. + +Mercadet (aside) +A fine young fellow. I will give him an interest in the first big +business I do. + +Minard +I have made known my attachment to the man I look upon as a father. He +has informed me--that I am the possessor of a small fortune-- + +Mercadet +A fortune! + +Minard +When I was confided to his care, a sum of money was entrusted to him, +which has increased by interest, and I now possess thirty thousand +francs. + +Mercadet +Thirty thousand francs! + +Minard +On learning of the disaster that had befallen you, I realized this +sum, and I bring it to you, sir; for sometimes in these cases an +arrangement can be made by paying something on account-- + +Mme. Mercadet +He has an excellent heart! + +Julie (with pride) +Yes, indeed, papa! + +Mercadet +Thirty thousand francs. (Aside) They might be tripled by buying some +of Verdelin's stock and then doubled with-- No, no. (To Minard) My +boy, you are at the age of self-sacrifice. If I could pay two hundred +francs with thirty thousand, the fortune of France, of myself and of +most people would be made. No, keep your money! + +Minard +What! You refuse it? + +Mercadet (aside) +If with this I could keep them quiet for a month, if by some bold +stoke I could revive the depression in my property, it might be all +right. But the money of these poor children, it cuts me to the heart +to think of it, for when they are in tears people calculate amiss; it +is not well to risk the money of any but fellow-brokers--no--no +(Aloud) Adolphe, you may marry my daughter. + +Minard +Oh! Sir--Julie--my own Julie-- + +Mercadet +That is, of course, as soon as she has three hundred thousand francs +as dowry. + +Mme. Mercadet +My dear! + +Julie +Papa! + +Minard +Ah, sir! How long are you going to put me off? + +Mercadet +Put you off? She will have it in a month! Perhaps sooner-- + +All +How is that? + +Mercadet +Yes, by the use of my brains--and a little money. (Minard holds out +his pocket-book.) But lock up those bills! And come, take away my wife +and daughter. I want to be alone. + +Mme. Mercadet (aside) +Is he going to hatch some plot against his creditors? I must find out. +Come, Julie. + +Julie +Papa, how good you are! + +Mercadet +Nonsense! + +Julie +I love you so much. + +Mercadet +Nonsense! + +Julie +Adolphe, I do not thank you, I shall have all my life for that. + +Minard +Dearest Julie! + +Mercadet (leading them out) +Come, now, you had better breathe out your idyls in some more retired +spot. + +(They go out.) + + + + SCENE THIRD + + +Mercadet, then De la Brive. + + +Mercadet +I have resisted--it was a good impulse! But I was wrong to obey it. If +I finally yield to the temptation, I can make their little capital +worth very much more. I shall manage this fortune for them. My poor +daughter has indeed a good lover. What hearts of gold are theirs! Dear +children! (Goes towards the door at the right.) I must make their +fortune. De la Brive is here awaiting me. (Looking through the open +door) I believe he is asleep. I gave him a little too much wine, so as +to handle him more easily. (Shouting) Michonnin! The constable! The +constable! + +De la Brive (coming out, rubbing his eyes) +Hello! What are you saying? + +Mercadet +Don't be frightened, I only wanted to wake you up. (Takes his seat at +the table.) + +De la Brive (sitting at the other side of the table) +Sir, an orgie acts on the mind like a storm on the country. It brings +on refreshment, it clothes with verdure! And ideas spring forth and +bloom! _In vino varietas_! + +Mercadet +Yesterday, our conversation on business matters was interrupted. + +De la Brive +Father-in-law, I recall it distinctly--we recognized the fact that our +houses could not keep their engagements. We were on the point of +bankruptcy, and you are unfortunate enough to be my creditor, while I +am fortunate enough to be your debtor by the amount of forty-seven +thousand, two hundred and thirty-three francs and some centimes. + +Mercadet +Your head is level enough. + +De la Brive +But my pocket and my conscience are a little out. Yet who can reproach +me? By squandering my fortune I have brought profit to every trade in +Paris, and even to those who do not know me. We, the useless ones! We, +the idlers! Upon my soul! It is we who keep up the circulation of +money-- + +Mercadet +By means of the money in circulation. Ah! you have all your wits about +you! + +De la Brive +But I have nothing else. + +Mercadet +Our wits are our mint. Is it not so? But, considering your present +situation, I shall be brief. + +De la Brive +That is why I take a seat. + +Mercadet +Listen to me. I see that you are going down the steep way which leads +to that daring cleverness for which fools blame successful operators. +You have tasted the piquant intoxicating fruits of Parisian pleasure. +You have made luxury the inseparable companion of your life. Paris +begins at the Place de l'Etoile, and ends at the Jockey Club. That is +your Paris, which is the world of women who are talked about too much, +or not at all. + +De la Brive +That is true. + +Mercadet +You breathe the cynical atmosphere of wits and journalists, the +atmosphere of the theatre and of the ministry. It is a vast sea in +which thousands are casting their nets! You must either continue this +existence, or blow your brains out! + +De la Brive +No! For it is impossible to think that it can continue without me. + +Mercadet +Do you feel that you have the genius to maintain yourself in style at +the height to which you aspire? To dominate men of mind by the power +of capital and superiority of intellect? Do you think that you will +always have skill enough to keep afloat between the two capes, which +have seen the life of elegance so often founder between the cheap +restaurant and the debtors' prison? + +De la Brive +Why! You are breaking into my conscience like a burglar--you echo my +very thought! What do you want with me? + +Mercadet +I wish to rescue you, by launching you into the world of business. + +De la Brive +By what entrance? + +Mercadet +Let me choose the door. + +De la Brive +The devil! + +Mercadet +Show yourself a man who will compromise himself for me-- + +De la Brive +But men of straw may be burnt. + +Mercadet +You must be incombustible. + +De la Brive +What are the terms of our copartnership? + +Mercadet +You try to serve me in the desperate circumstances in which I am at +present, and I will make you a present of your forty-seven thousand, +two hundred and thirty-three francs, to say nothing of the centimes. +Between ourselves, I may say that only address is needed. + +De la Brive +In the use of the pistol or the sword? + +Mercadet +No one is to be killed; on the contrary-- + +De la Brive +That will suit me. + +Mercadet +A man is to be brought to life again. + +De la Brive +That doesn't suit me at all, my dear fellow. The legacy, the chest of +Harpagon, the little mule of Scapin and, indeed, all the farces which +have made us laugh on the ancient stage are not well received nowadays +in real life. The police have a way of getting mixed up with them, and +since the abolition of privileges, no one can administer a drubbing +with impunity. + +Mercadet +Well, what do you think of five years in debtors' prison? Eh? What a +fate! + +De la Brive +As a matter of fact, my decision must depend upon what you want me to +do to any one, for my honor so far is intact and is worth-- + +Mercadet +You must invest it well, for we shall have dire need of all that it is +worth. I want you to assist me in sitting at the table which the +Exchange always keeps spread, and we will gorge ourselves with the +good things there offered us, for you must admit that while those who +seek for millions have great difficulty in finding them, they are +never found by those who do not seek. + +De la Brive +I think I can co-operate with you in this matter. You will return to +me my forty-seven thousand francs-- + +Mercadet +Yes, sir. + +De la Brive +I am not required to be anything but be--very clever? + +Mercadet +Nimble, but this nimbleness will be exercised, as the English say, on +the right side of the law. + +De la Brive +What is it you propose? + +Mercadet (giving him a paper) +Here are your written instructions. You are to represent something +like an uncle from America--in fact, my partner, who has just come +back from the West Indies. + +De la Brive +I understand. + +Mercadet +Go to the Champs-Elysees, secure a post-chaise that has been much +battered, have horses harnessed to it, and make your arrival here +wrapped in a great pelisse, your head enveloped in a huge cap, while +you shiver like a man who finds our summer icy cold. I will receive +you; I will conduct you in; you will speak to my creditors; not one of +them knows Godeau; you will make them give me more time. + +De la Brive +How much time? + +Mercadet +I need only two days--two days, in order that Pierquin may complete +certain purchases which we have ordered. Two days in order that the +stock which I know how to inflate may have time to rise. You will be +my backer, my security. And as no one will recognize you-- + +De la Brive +I shall cease to be this personage as soon as I have paid you +forty-seven thousand, two hundred and thirty-three francs and some +centimes. + +Mercadet +That is so. But I hear some one--my wife-- + +Mme. Mercadet (enters) +My dear, there are some letters for you, and the bearer requires an +answer. + +(Mme. Mercadet withdraws to the fireplace.) + +Mercadet +I suppose I must go. Good-day, my dear De la Brive. (In a low voice) +Not a word to my wife; she would not understand the operation, and +would misconstrue it. (Aloud) Go quickly, and forget nothing. + +De la Brive +You need have no fear. + +(Mercadet goes out by the left; De la Brive starts to go out by the +centre, but Mme. Mercadet intercepts him.) + + + + SCENE FOURTH + + +Mme. Mercadet and De la Brive. + + +De la Brive +Madame? + +Mme. Mercadet +Forgive me, sir! + +De la Brive +Kindly excuse me, madame, I must be going-- + +Mme. Mercadet +You must not go. + +De la Brive +But you are not aware-- + +Mme. Mercadet +I know all. + +De la Brive +How is that? + +Mme. Mercadet +You and my husband are bent upon resorting to some very ancient +expedients proper to the comic drama, and I have employed one which is +more ancient still. And as I told you, I know all-- + +De la Brive (aside) +She must have been listening. + +Mme. Mercadet +Sir, the part which you have been induced to undertake is blameworthy +and shameful, and you must give it up-- + +De la Brive +But after all, madame-- + +Mme. Mercadet +Oh! I know to whom I am speaking, sir; it was only a few hours ago +that I saw you for the first time, and yet--I think I know you. + +De la Brive +Really? I am sure I do not know what opinion you have of me. + +Mme. Mercadet +One day has given me time to form a correct judgment of you--and at +the very time that my husband was trying to discover some foible in +you he might make use of, or what evil passions he might rouse in you, +I looked in your heart and discerned that it still contained good +feelings which eventually may prove your salvation. + +De la Brive +Prove my salvation? Excuse me, madame. + +Mme. Mercadet +Yes, sir, prove your salvation and that of my husband; for both of you +are on the way to ruin. For you must understand that debts are no +disgrace to any one who admits them and toils for their payment. You +have your whole life before you, and you have too much good sense to +wish that it should be blighted through engaging in a business which +justice is sure to punish. + +De la Brive +Justice! Ah! You are right, madame, and I certainly would not lend +myself to this dangerous comedy, unless your husband had some notes of +hand of mine-- + +Mme. Mercadet +Which he will surrender to you, sir, I'll promise you that. + +De la Brive +But, madame, I cannot pay them-- + +Mme. Mercadet +We will be satisfied with your word, and you will discharge your +obligation as soon as you have honestly made your fortune. + +De la Brive +Honestly! That will be perhaps a long time to wait. + +Mme. Mercadet +We will be patient. And now, sir, go and inform my husband that he +must give up this attempt because he will not have your co-operation. +(She goes towards the door on the left.) + +De la Brive +I should be rather afraid to face him-- I should prefer to write to +him. + +Mme. Mercadet (pointing out to him the door by which he entered) +You will find the necessary writing materials in that room. Remain +there until I come for your letter. I will hand it to him myself. + +De la Brive +I will do so, madame. After all I am not so worthless as I thought I +was. It is you who have taught me this; you have a right to the whole +credit of it. (He respectfully kisses her hand.) Thank you, madame, +thank you! (He goes out.) + +Mme. Mercadet +I have succeeded--if only I could now persuade Mercadet. + +Justin (entering from the center) +Madame--madame--here they are--all of them. + +Mme. Mercadet +Who? + +Justin +The creditors. + +Mme. Mercadet +Already? + +Justin +There are a great many of them, madame. + +Mme. Mercadet +Let them come in here. I will go and inform my husband. + +(Mme. Mercadet goes out by one door. Justin opens the other.) + + + + SCENE FIFTH + + +Pierquin, Goulard, Violette and several other creditors. + + +Goulard +Gentlemen, we have quite made up our minds, have we not? + +All +We have, we have-- + +Pierquin +No more deluding promises. + +Goulard +No more prayers and expostulations. + +Violette +No more pretended payments on account, thrown out as a bait to get +deeper into our pockets. + + + + SCENE SIXTH + + +The same persons and Mercadet. + + +Mercadet +And do you mean to tell me that you gentlemen are come to force me +into bankruptcy? + +Goulard +We shall do so, unless you find means to pay us in full this very day. + +Mercadet +To-day! + +Pierquin +This very day. + +Mercadet (standing before the fireplace) +Do you think that I possess the plates for striking off Bank of France +notes? + +Violette +You mean that you have no offer to make? + +Mercadet +Absolutely none! And you are going to lock me up? I warn him who is +going to pay for the cab that he won't be reimbursed from any assets +of mine. + +Goulard +I shall add that along with all that you owe me to the debit of your +account-- + +Mercadet +Thank you. You've all made up your mind, I suppose? + +The Creditors +We have. + +Mercadet +I am touched by your unanimity! (pulling out his watch) Two o'clock. +(Aside) De la Brive has had quite time enough--he ought to be on his +way here. (Aloud) Gentlemen, you compel me to admit that you are men +of inspiration and have chosen your time well! + +Pierquin +What does he mean? + +Mercadet +For months, for years, you have allowed yourselves to be humbugged by +fine promises, and deceived--yes, deceived by preposterous stories; +and to-day is the day you choose for showing yourselves inexorable! +Upon my word and honor, it is positively amusing! By all means let us +start for Clichy. + +Goulard +But, sir-- + +Pierquin +He is laughing. + +Violette (rising from his chair) +There is something in the wind. Gentlemen, there is something in the +wind! + +Pierquin +Please explain to us-- + +Goulard +We desire to know-- + +Violette (rising to his feet) +M. Mercadet, if there is anything--tell us about it. + +Mercadet (coming to the table) +Nothing! I shall say nothing, not I--I wish to be put behind the +bars!--I would like to see the figure you all will cut to-morrow or +this evening, when you find he has returned. + +Goulard (rising to his feet) +He has returned? + +Pierquin +Returned from where? + +Violette +Who has returned? + +Mercadet (coming forward) +Nobody has returned. Let us start for Clichy, gentlemen. + +Goulard +But listen, if you are expecting any assistance-- + +Pierquin +If you have any hope that-- + +Violette +Or if even some considerable legacy-- + +Goulard +Come, now! + +Pierquin +Answer-- + +Violette +Tell us-- + +Mercadet +Now, take care, I beg you. You are giving way, you are giving way, +gentlemen, and if I wished to take the trouble, I could win you over +again. Come now, act like genuine creditors! Ridicule the past, forget +the brilliant strokes of business I put within the power of each of +you before the sudden departure of my faithful Godeau-- + +Goulard +His faithful Godeau! + +Pierquin +Ah! If there were only-- + +Mercadet +Forget all that preposterous past, take no account of what might +induce him to return--after being waited for so long--and--let us +start for Clichy, gentlemen, let us start for Clichy! + +Violette +Mercadet, you are expecting Godeau, aren't you? + +Mercadet +No! + +Violette (as with a sudden inspiration) +Gentlemen, he is expecting Godeau! + +Goulard +Can it be true? + +Pierquin +Speak. + +All +Speak! Speak! + +Mercadet (with feeble deprecations) +Why, no, no--yet I do not know--I-- Certainly, it is possible +that some day or other he may return form the Indies with some +--considerable fortune-- (In a decided tone) But I give you my +word of honor that I don't expect Godeau here to-day. + +Violette (excitedly) +Then it must be to-morrow! Gentlemen, he expects him to-morrow! + +Goulard (in a low voice to the others) +Unless this is some fresh trick to gain time and ridicule us-- + +Pierquin (aloud) +Do you think it might be? + +Goulard +It is quite possible. + +Violette (in a loud tone) +Gentlemen, he is fooling us. + +Mercadet (aside) +The devil he is! (Aloud) Come, gentlemen, we had better be starting. + +Goulard +I swear that-- + +(The rumbling of carriage wheels is heard.) + +Mercadet (aside) +At last! (Aloud) Oh, heavens! (He lays his hand upon his heart.) + +A Postillion (outside) +A carriage at the door. + +Mercadet +Ah! (Falls back on a chair near the table.) + +Goulard (looking through the pane of glass above the mantel) +A carriage! + +Pierquin (doing the same) +A post-chaise! + +Violette (doing the same) +Gentlemen, a post-chaise is at the door. + +Mercadet (aside) +My dear De la Brive could not have arrived at a better moment! + +Goulard +See how dusty it is! + +Violette +And battered to the very hood! It must have come from the heart of the +Indies, to be as battered as that. + +Mercadet (mildly) +You don't know what you are talking about, Violette! Why, my good +fellow, people don't arrive from the Indies by land. + +Goulard +But come and see for yourself, Mercadet; a man has stepped out-- + +Pierquin +Enveloped in a large pelisse--do come-- + +Mercadet +No--pardon me. The joy--the excitement--I-- + +Violette +He carries a chest. Oh! what a huge chest! Gentlemen, it is Godeau! I +recognize him by the chest. + +Mercadet +Yes--I was expecting Godeau. + +Goulard +He has come back from Calcutta. + +Pierquin +With a fortune. + +Mercadet +Of incalculable extent! + +Violette +What have I been saying? + +(Violette goes in silence to Mercadet and grasps his hand. The two +others follow his example, and then all the creditors form a ring +round Mercadet.) + +Mercadet (with seeming emotion) +Oh! Gentlemen--my friends--my dear comrades--my children! + + + + SCENE SEVENTH + + +The same persons and Mme. Mercadet. + + +Mme. Mercadet (entering from the left) +Mercadet! My dear! + +Mercadet (aside) +It is my wife. I thought that she had gone out. She is going to ruin +everything! + +Mme. Mercadet +My dear! I see that you don't know what has happened? + +Mercadet +I? No, I don't--if I-- + +Mme. Mercadet +Godeau is returned. + +Mercadet +Ah! You say? (Aside) I wonder if she suspects-- + +Mme. Mercadet +I have seen him--I have spoken to him. It was I who saw him first. + +Mercadet (aside) +De la Brive has won her over! What a man he is! (To Mme. Mercadet, +low) Good, my dear wife, good! You will be our salvation. + +Mme. Mercadet +But you don't understand me, it is really he, it is-- + +Mercadet (in a low voice) +Hush! (Aloud) I must--gentlemen--I must go and welcome him. + +Mme. Mercadet +No--wait, wait a little, my dear; poor Godeau has overtaxed his +strength--scarcely had he reached my apartment when fatigue, +excitement and a nervous attack overcame him-- + +Mercadet +Really! (Aside) How well she does it! + +Violette +Poor Godeau! + +Mme. Mercadet +"Madame," he said to me, "go and see your husband. Bring me back his +pardon; I do not wish to see him face to face, until I have repaired +the past." + +Goulard +That was fine. + +Pierquin +It was sublime. + +Violette +It melts me to tears, gentlemen, it melts me to tears. + +Mercadet (aside) +Look at that! Well! There's a woman worth calling a wife! (Taking her +by the hand) My darling-- Excuse me, gentlemen. (He kisses her on both +cheeks. In a low voice) Things are going on finely. + +Mme. Mercadet (in a low voice) +How lucky this is, my dear! Better than anything you could have +fancied. + +Mercadet +I should think so. (Aside) It is very much better. (Aloud) Go and look +after him, my dear. And you, gentlemen, be good enough to pass into my +office. (He points to the left.) Wait there till we settle our +accounts. + +(Mme. Mercadet goes out.) + +Goulard +I am at your service, my friend-- + +Pierquin +Our excellent friend. + +Violette +Friend, we are at your service. + +Mercadet (supporting himself half-dazed against the table) +What do you think? And people said that I was nothing but a sharper! + +Goulard +You! You are one of the most capable men in Paris. + +Pierquin +Who is bound to make a million--as soon as he has a-- + +Violette +Dear M. Mercadet, we will give you as much time as you want. + +All +Certainly. + +Mercadet +This is a little late--but gentlemen, I thank you as heartily as if +you had said it yesterday morning. Good-day. (In a low voice to +Goulard) Within an hour your stock shall be sold-- + +Goulard +Good! + +Mercadet (in a low voice to Pierquin) +Stay where you are. + +(All the others enter the office.) + +Pierquin +What can I do for you? + + + + SCENE EIGHTH + + +Mercadet and Pierquin. + + +Mercadet +We are now alone. There is no time to lose. The stock of Basse-Indre +went down yesterday. Go to the Exchange, buy up two hundred, three +hundred, four hundred--Goulard will deliver them to you-- + +Pierquin +And for what date, and on what collateral? + +Mercadet +Collateral? Nonsense! This is a cash deal; bring them to me to-day, +and I will pay to-morrow. + +Pierquin +To-morrow? + +Mercadet +To-morrow the stock will have risen. + +Pierquin +I suppose, considering your situation, that you are buying for Godeau. + +Mercadet +Do you think so? + +Pierquin +I presume he gave his orders in the letter which announced his return. + +Mercadet +Possibly so. Ah! Master Pierquin, we are going to take a hand in +business again, and I guess that you will gain from this to the end of +the year something like a hundred thousand francs in brokerage from +us. + +Pierquin +A hundred thousand francs! + +Mercadet +Let the stock be depressed below par, and then buy it in, and +--(handing him a letter) see that this letter appears in the evening +paper. This evening, at Tortoni's, you will see an immediate rise in +the quotations. Now be quick about this. + +Pierquin +I will fly. Good-bye. (Exit.) + + + + SCENE NINTH + + +Mercadet, then Justin. + + +Mercadet +How well everything is going on, when we consider our recent +complications! When Mahomet had three reliable friends (and it was +hard to find them) the whole world was his! I have now won over as my +allies all my creditors, thanks to the pretended arrival of Godeau. +And I gain eight days, which means fifteen, with regard to actual +payment. I shall buy three hundred thousand francs' worth of +Basse-Indre before Verdelin. And when Verdelin asks for some of that +stock, he will find it has risen, for a demand will have raised it +above the current quotation, and I shall make at one stroke six hundred +thousand francs. With three hundred thousand I will pay my creditors +and show myself a Napoleon of finance. (He struts up and down.) + +Justin (from the back of the stage) +Sir-- + +Mercadet +What is it--what do you want, Justin? + +Justin +Sir-- + +Mercadet +Go on! Tell me. + +Justin +M. Violette has offered me sixty francs if I will let him speak with +M. Godeau. + +Mercadet +Sixty francs. (Aside) He fleeced me out of them. + +Justin +I am sure, sir, that you wouldn't like me to lose such a present. + +Mercadet +Let him have his way with you. + +Justin +Ah! sir, but--M. Goulard also--and the others-- + +Mercadet +Do as you like--I give them over into your hands. Fleece them well! + +Justin +I'll do my best. Thank you, sir. + +Mercadet +Let them all see Godeau. (Aside) De la Brive is well able to look +after himself. (Aloud) But, between ourselves, keep Pierquin away. +(Aside) He would recognize his dear friend, Michonnin. + +Justin +I understand, sir. Ah! here is M. Minard. (Exit.) + + + + SCENE TENTH + + +Mercadet and Minard. + + +Minard (coming forward) +Ah, sir! + +Mercadet +Well, M. Minard, and what brings you here? + +Minard +Despair. + +Mercadet +Despair? + +Minard +M. Godeau has come back; and they say that you are now a millionaire! + +Mercadet +Is that the cause of your despair? + +Minard +Yes, sir. + +Mercadet +Well, you are a strange fellow! I disclose to you the fact of my ruin +and you are delighted. You learn that good fortune has returned to me +and you are overwhelmed with despair! And all the while you wish to +enter into my family! Yet you act like my enemy-- + +Minard +It is just my love that makes your good fortune so alarming to me; I +fear all the while that you will now refuse me the hand-- + +Mercadet +Of Julie? My dear Adolphe, all men of business have not put their +heart in their money-bags. Our sentiments are not always to be +reckoned by debit and credit. You offered me the thirty thousand +francs that you possessed--I certainly have no right to reject you on +account of certain millions. (Aside) Which I do not possess! + +Minard +You bring back life to me. + +Mercadet +Well, I suppose that is true, but so much the better, for I am very +fond of you. You are simple, honorable. I am touched, I am delighted. +I am even charmed. Ah! Let me once get hold of my six hundred thousand +francs and--(Sees Pierquin enter) Here they come-- + + + + SCENE ELEVENTH + + +The same persons, Pierquin and Verdelin. + + +Mercadet (leading Pierquin to the front of the stage without perceiving +Verdelin) +Is it all right? + +Pierquin (in some embarrassment) +It is all right. The stock is ours. + +Mercadet (joyfully) +Bravo! + +Verdelin (approaching Mercadet) +Good-day! + +Mercadet +What! Verdelin-- + +Verdelin +I find out that you have bought the stock before me, and that now I +shall have to pay very much higher than I expected; but it is all +right, it was well managed, and I am compelled to cry, "Hail to the +King of the Exchange, Hail to the Napoleon of Finance!" (He laughs +derisively.) + +Mercadet (somewhat abashed) +What does he mean? + +Verdelin +I'm only repeating what you said yesterday-- + +Mercadet +What I said? + +Pierquin +The fact of it is, Verdelin does not believe in the return of Godeau-- + +Minard +Ah, sir! + +Mercadet +Is there any doubt about it? + +Verdelin (ironically) +Doubt about it! There is more than doubt about it. I at once concluded +that this so-called return was the bold stroke that you spoke of +yesterday. + +Mercadet +I--(Aside) Stupid of me! + +Verdelin +I concluded that, relying upon the presence of this fictitious Godeau, +you made purchases with the idea of paying on the rise, which would +follow to-morrow, and that to-day you have actually not a single sou-- + +Mercadet +You had imagined all that? + +Verdelin (approaching the fireplace) +Yes, but when I saw outside that triumphal post-chaise--that model of +Indian manufacture, and I realized that it was impossible to find such +a vehicle in the Champs-Elysees, all my doubts disappeared and-- But +hand him over the bonds, M. Pierquin! + +Pierquin +The--bonds--it happens that-- + +Mercadet (aside) +I must bluff, or I am lost! (Aloud) Certainly, produce the bonds. + +Pierquin +One moment--if what this gentleman has said is true-- + +Mercadet (haughtily) +M. Pierquin! + +Minard +But, gentlemen--M. Godeau is here--I have seen him--I have talked with +him. + +Mercadet (to Pierquin) +He has talked with him, sir. + +Pierquin (to Verdelin) +The fact of it is, I have seen him myself. + +Verdelin +I don't doubt it! By the bye, on what vessel did our friend Godeau say +he arrived? + +Mercadet +By what vessel? It was by the--by the _Triton_-- + +Verdelin +How careless the English newspapers are. They have published the +arrival of no other English mail packet but the _Halcyon_. + +Pierquin +Really! + +Mercadet +Let us end this discussion. M. Pierquin--those bonds-- + +Pierquin +Pardon me, but as you have offered no collateral, I would wish--I do +wish to speak with Godeau. + +Mercadet +You shall not speak with him, sir. I cannot permit you to doubt my +word. + +Verdelin +This is superb. + +Mercadet +M. Minard, go to Godeau-- Tell him that I have obtained an option on +three hundred thousand francs' worth of stock, and ask him to send me +--(with emphasis)--thirty thousand francs for use as a margin. A man +in his position always has such a sum about him. (In a low voice) Do +not fail to bring me the thirty thousand. + +Minard +Yes, sir. (Goes out, through the right.) + +Mercadet (haughtily) +Will that satisfy you, M. Pierquin? + +Pierquin +Certainly, certainly. (To Verdelin) It will be all right when he comes +back. + +Verdelin (rising from his seat) +And you expect that he will bring thirty thousand francs? + +Mercadet +I have a perfect right to be offended by your insulting doubt; but I +am still your debtor-- + +Verdelin +Bosh! You have enough in Godeau's pocket-book wherewith to liquidate; +besides, to-morrow the Basse-Indre will rise above par. It will go up, +up, till you don't know how far it will go. Your letter worked +wonders, and we were obliged to publish on the Exchange the results of +our explorations by boring. The mines will become as valuable as those +of Mons--and--your fortune is made--when I thought I was going to make +mine. + +Mercadet +I now understand your rage. (To Pierquin) And this is the origin of +all the doubtful rumors. + +Verdelin +Rumors which can only vanish before the appearance of Godeau's cash. + + + + SCENE TWELFTH + + +The same persons, Violette and Goulard. + + +Goulard +Ah! my friend! + +Violette (following him) +My dear Mercadet! + +Goulard +What a man this Godeau is! + +Mercadet (aside) +Fine! + +Violette +What high sense of honor he has! + +Mercadet (aside) +That's pretty good! + +Goulard +What magnanimity! + +Mercadet (aside) +Prodigious! + +Verdelin +Have you seen him? + +Violette +Of course, I have! + +Pierquin +Have you spoken to him? + +Goulard +Just as I speak to you. And I have been paid. + +All +Paid! + +Mercadet +Paid? How--how have you been paid? + +Goulard +In full. Fifty thousand in drafts. + +Mercadet (aside) +That I can understand. + +Goulard +And eight thousand francs net, in notes. + +Mercadet +In bank-notes? + +Goulard +Bank-notes. + +Mercadet (aside) +It is past my understanding. Ah! Eight thousand! Minard might have +given them, so that now he'll bring me only twenty-two thousand. + +Violette +And I--I, who would have been willing to make some reduction--I have +been paid in full! + +Mercadet +All! (in a low voice to him) I suppose in drafts? + +Violette +In first-class drafts to the amount of eighteen thousand francs. + +Mercadet (aside) +What a fellow this De la Brive is! + +Violette +And the balance, the other twelve thousand-- + +Verdelin +Yes--the balance? + +Violette +In cash. Here it is. (He shows the bank-notes.) + +Mercadet (aside) +Minard won't bring me more than ten. + +Goulard (taking a seat at the table) +And this very moment he is paying in the same way all your creditors. + +Mercadet +In the same way? + +Violette (taking a seat at the table) +Yes, in drafts, in specie, and in bank-notes. + +Mercadet (forgetting himself) +Lord, have mercy upon me! (Aside) Minard will bring me nothing at all. + +Verdelin +What is the matter with you? + +Mercadet +Me! Nothing--I-- + + + + SCENE THIRTEENTH + + +The same persons and Minard, followed by creditors. + + +Minard +I have done your errand. + +Mercadet (trembling) +And you--have brought me--a few--bank-notes? + +Minard +A few bank-notes? Of course. M. Godeau wouldn't let me even mention +the thirty thousand francs. + +(Goulard and Violette rise. Minard stands before the table, surrounded +by creditors.) + +Mercadet +I can quite understand that. + +Minard +"You mean," he said, "a hundred thousand crowns; here are a hundred +thousand crowns, with my compliments!" (He pulls out a large roll of +bank-notes, which he places on the table.) + +Mercadet (rushing to the table) +What the devil! (Looking at the notes) What is all this about? + +Minard +The three hundred thousand francs. + +Pierquin +My three hundred thousand francs! + +Verdelin +The truth for once! + +Mercadet (astounded) +Three hundred thousand francs! I see them! I touch them! I grasp them! +Three hundred thousand--where did you get them? + +Minard +I told you he gave them to me. + +Mercadet (with vehemence) +He!-- He--! Who is he? + +Minard +Did not I say, M. Godeau? + +Mercadet +What Godeau? Which Godeau? + +Minard +Why the Godeau who has come back from the Indies. + +Mercadet +From the Indies? + +Violette +And who is paying all your debts. + +Mercadet +What is this? I never expected to strike a Godeau of this kind. + +Pierquin +He has gone crazy! + +(All the other creditors gather at the back of the stage. Verdelin +approaches them, and speaks in a low voice.) + +Verdelin (returning to Mercadet) +It's true enough! All are paid in full! + +Mercadet +Paid? Every one of them? (Goes from one to the other and looks at the +bank-notes and the drafts they have.) Yes, all settled with--settled +in full! Ah! I see blue, red, violet! A rainbow seems to surround me. + + + + SCENE FOURTEENTH + + +The same persons, Mme. Mercadet, Julie (entering at one side) and De +la Brive (entering at the other side). + + +Mme. Mercadet +My friend, M. Godeau, feels himself strong enough to see you all. + +Mercadet +Come, daughter, wife, Adolphe, and my other friends, gather round me, +look at me. I know you would not deceive me. + +Julie +What is the matter, father? + +Mercadet +Tell me (seeing De la Brive come in) Michonnin, tell me frankly-- + +De la Brive +Luckily for me, sir, I followed the advice of madame--otherwise you +would have had two Godeaus at a time, for heaven has brought back to +you the genuine man. + +Mercadet +You mean to say then--that he has really returned! + +Verdelin +Do you mean to say that you didn't know it after all? + +Mercadet (recovering himself, standing before the table and touching +the notes) +I--of course I did. Oh, fortune, all hail to thee, queen of monarchs, +archduchess of loans, princess of stocks and mother of credit! All +hail! Thou long sought for, and now for the thousandth time come home +to us from the Indies! Oh! I've always said that Godeau had a mind of +tireless energy and an honest heart! (Going up to his wife and +daughter) Kiss me! + +Mme. Mercadet (in tears) +Ah! dear, dear husband! + +Mercadet (supporting her) +And you, what courage you have shown in adversity! + +Mme. Mercadet +But I am overcome by the happiness of seeing you saved--wealthy! + +Mercadet +But honest! And yet I must tell you my wife, my children--I could not +have held out much longer--I was about to succumb--my mind always on +the rack--always on the defensive--a giant might have yielded. There +were moments when I longed to flee away-- Oh! For some place of +repose! Henceforth let us live in the country. + +Mme. Mercadet +But you will soon grow weary of it. + +Mercadet +No, for I shall be a witness in their happiness. (Pointing to Minard +and Julie.) And after all this financial traffic I shall devote myself +to agriculture; the study of agriculture will never prove tedious. (To +the creditors) Gentlemen, we will continue to be good friends, but +will have no more business transactions. (To De la Brive) M. de la +Brive, let me pay back to you your forty-eight thousand francs. + +De la Brive +Ah! sir-- + +Mercadet +And I will lend you ten thousand more. + +De la Brive +Ten thousand francs? But I don't know when I shall be able-- + +Mercadet +You need have no scruples; take them--for I have a scheme-- + +De la Brive +I accept them. + +Mercadet +Ah! It is one of my dreams. Gentlemen (to the creditors who are +standing in a row) I am a--creditor! + +Mme. Mercadet (pointing to the door) +My dear, he is waiting for us. + +Mercadet +Yes, let us go in. I have so many times drawn your attention to +Godeau, that I certainly have the right to see him. Let us go in and +see Godeau! + + + +Final curtain. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mercadet, by Honore De Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MERCADET *** + +***** This file should be named 14296.txt or 14296.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/2/9/14296/ + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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