LITMIR.BIZ

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I have seen the lawyer. Your goddaughter will have to sign this power of attorney so that it may get to Lyons to-morrow morning.

      Guéret [who has glanced at the paper] But we can't get her to sign that without telling her all about it.

      Madame Guéret. Well, goodness me, she'll have to know sometime! I must say I cannot understand the way you've kept this dreadful thing from her. It's pure sentimentality.

      Guéret. The poor child!

      Madame Guéret. You really are ridiculous. One would think that it was only her money the lawyer took. It's gone, of course; but so is ours.

      Guéret. We still have La Tremblaye.

      Madame Guéret. Yes, thank goodness, because La Tremblaye belongs to me.

      René comes in in great excitement.

      René. Where is Mademoiselle Thérèse? She'll keep the stage waiting! [Listening] No, she's coming, I hear her. Nice fright she's given me! [To Madame Guéret] Above all, Madame, don't forget the bell, almost the moment that Mademoiselle Thérèse comes off the stage.

      Madame Guéret. Yes, yes.

      René. And my properties! [He runs out]

      Féliat. Now we can talk for a minute.

      Madame Guéret. Yes.

      Féliat. You've quite made up your minds to come to Evreux?

      Guéret. Quite.

      Féliat. Are you sure you won't regret Paris?

      Madame Guéret. Oh, no.

      Guéret. For the last two years I've hated Paris.

      Madame Guéret. Since you began to play cards.

      Guéret. For the last two years we've had the greatest difficulty in keeping up appearances. This lawyer absconding is the last blow.

      Féliat. Aren't you afraid you will be horribly bored at La Tremblaye?

      Guéret [rising] What are we to do?

      Féliat. Well, now listen to me. I told you—

      René comes in and takes something off a table. Féliat stops suddenly.

      René. Good-morning, uncle. [He hurries out]

      Féliat. Good-morning, René.

      Guéret. He knows nothing about it yet?

      Féliat. No; and my sister-in-law asked me to tell him.

      Madame Guéret. Well, why shouldn't you? If they are engaged, we know nothing about it.

      Guéret. Oh!

      Madame Guéret. We know nothing officially, because in these days young people don't condescend to consult their parents.

      Féliat. René told his people and they gave their consent.

      Madame Guéret. Unwillingly.

      Féliat. Oh certainly, unwillingly. Then I'm to tell him?

      Madame Guéret. The sooner the better.

      Féliat. I'll tell him to-night.

      Guéret. I'm afraid it'll be an awful blow to the poor chap.

      Madame Guéret. Oh, he's young. He'll get over it.

      Féliat. What was I saying when he came in? Ah, yes; you know I've decided to add a bindery to my printing works at Evreux; you saw the building started when you were down there. If things go as I want them to, I shall try to do some cheap artistic binding. I want to get hold of a man who won't rob me to manage this new branch and look after it; a man who won't be too set in his ideas, because I want him to adopt mine; and, at the same time, I'd like him to be not altogether a stranger. I thought I'd found him; but I saw the man yesterday and I don't like him. Now will you take on the job? Would it suit you?

      Guéret. Would it suit me! Oh, my dear Féliat, how can I possibly thank you? To tell you the truth, I've been wondering what in the world I should do with myself now; and I was dreading the future. What you offer me is better than anything I could have dreamt of. What do you say, Marguerite?

      Madame Guéret. I am delighted.

      Féliat. Then that's all right.

      Guéret [to his brother-in-law] I think you won't regret having confidence in me.

      Féliat. And your goddaughter?

      Madame Guéret. Thérèse?

      Féliat. Yes; how is she going to face this double news of her ruin and the breaking off of her engagement?

      Madame Guéret. I think she ought to have sense enough to understand that one is the consequence of the other. She can hardly expect René's parents to give their son to a girl without money.

      Féliat. I suppose not. But what's to become of her?

      Guéret. She will live with us, of course.

      Madame Guéret. "Of course"! I like that.

      Guéret. She has no other relations, and her father left her in my care.

      Madame Guéret. He left her in your care, and it's I who have been rushed into all the trouble of a child who is nothing to me.

      Guéret. Child! She was nineteen when her father died.

      Féliat. To look after a young girl of nineteen is a very great responsibility.

      Madame Guéret [laughing bitterly] Ho! Ho! Look after! Look after Mademoiselle Thérèse! You think she's a person who allows herself to be looked after! And yet you've seen her more or less every holidays.

      Guéret. You've not had to look after her; she has been at the Lycée.

      Thérèse comes in dressed as Kalekairi from "Barberine." She is a pretty girl of twenty-three, healthy, and bright.

      Thérèse. The bell, the bell, godmother! You're forgetting the bell! Good-evening, Monsieur Féliat.

      Thérèse takes up the bell, which is on the table.

      Madame Guéret. I was going to forget it! Oh, what a nuisance! All this is so new to me.

      Féliat. Excuse me! I really didn't recognize you for the moment.

      Thérèse [laughing] Ah, my dress. Startling, isn't it?

      Madame Guéret [with meaning] Startling is the right word.

      René [appearing at the back, disappearing again immediately, and calling] The bell! And you, on the stage, Mademoiselle Thérèse!

      Thérèse. I'm coming. [She rings] Here I am!

      She goes out.

      Madame Guéret [with a sigh] And I had it let down!

      Féliat. What?

      Madame Guéret. Her dress. [To her husband] What I see most clearly in all this is that she must stay with us.

      René comes fussing in.

      René. Where's the queen? Where's Madame Nérisse?

      Madame Guéret. I've not seen her.

      René. But goodness gracious—! [He goes to the door on the left and calls] Madame Nérisse!

      Madame Nérisse [from outside] Yes, yes, I'm ready.

      Madame Nérisse comes in. She is about forty, flighty, and a little affected.

      René. I wanted to warn you that Ulric will be on your right, and if he plays the fool—

      Madame Nérisse. Very well.

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