LITMIR.BIZ

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won't forget the trumpets?

      Madame Guéret. No, no. All the same, you'd better help me.

      René. I will, I will.

      He goes out with Madame Nérisse.

      Féliat. You know, if she wants one, she'll find a husband at Evreux.

      Madame Guéret. Without a penny!

      Féliat. Without a penny! She made a sensation at the ball at the sous-préfecture. She's extremely pretty.

      Madame Guéret. She's young.

      Féliat. Monsieur Gambard sounded me about her.

      Madame Guéret. Monsieur Gambard! The Monsieur Gambard who has the house with the big garden?

      Féliat. Yes.

      Madame Guéret. But he's very rich.

      Féliat. He's forty-nine.

      Madame Guéret. She'll have to take what she can get now.

      Féliat. And I think that Monsieur Beaudoin——

      Guéret. But he's almost a cripple!

      Madame Guéret. She wouldn't do so well in Paris.

      Guéret. She wouldn't look at either of them.

      Féliat. We must try and make her see reason.

      René enters busily. Lucienne follows him. Féliat is standing across the guichet through which Barberine is to speak. René pulls him away without ceremony.

      René. Excuse me, Uncle; don't stand there before the little window.

      Féliat. Beg pardon. I didn't know.

      René. I haven't a moment.

      Féliat. I've never seen you so busy. At your office they say you're a lazy dog.

      Madame Guéret. Probably René has more taste for the stage than for business.

      René [laughing] Rather! [To Lucienne] Now, it's time. Come. Lift it. Not yet! There! Now!

      Lucienne [speaking through the guichet] "If you want food and drink, you must do like those old women you despise—you must spin."

      René. Capital!

      Lucienne [to Féliat] Please forgive me, Monsieur, I've not had time to speak to you.

      Féliat. Why, it's Mademoiselle Lucienne, Thérèse's friend, who came and stayed in the holidays! Fancy my not recognizing you!

      Lucienne. It's my dress. I do like playing this part. I have to say that lovely bit—you know—the bit that describes the day of the ideal wife. [She recites, sentimentally] "I rise and go to prayers, to the farmyard, to the kitchen. I prepare your meal; I go with you to church; I read a page or two; I sew a while; and then I fall asleep happy upon your breast."

      Féliat. That's good, oh, that's very good! Barberine—now, who wrote that?

      Lucienne. Alfred de Musset.

      Féliat. Ah, yes; to be sure, Alfred de Musset. I read him when I was young. You often find his works lying about in pretty bindings.

      René. Uncle, Uncle; I beg your pardon, but don't speak so loud. We can hardly hear what they're saying on the stage.

      Féliat [very politely] Sorry, I'm sure.

      René [to Lucienne] You. Now.

      Lucienne [speaking through the guichet] "My lord, these cries are useless. It grows late. If you wish to sup—you must spin." [turning to the others] There! Now I must go over the rest with Ulric.

      She runs out, with a little wave of adieu to Féliat.

      René [to Madame Guéret] The trumpets, Madame. Don't forget.

      Madame Guéret. No, no. Don't worry.

      René goes out.

      Féliat. You blow trumpets?

      Madame Guéret. Yes; on the piano.

      Féliat. I don't know what to do with myself. I don't want to be in the way. I'm not accustomed to being behind the scenes.

      Madame Guéret. Nor am I.

      Thérèse comes in in the Kalekairi dress, followed by René.

      Thérèse. It's time for me now.

      Féliat [to Madame Guéret] She really looks like a professional actress.

      René [to Thérèse] Now!

      Thérèse [speaking through the little window] "My lady says, as you will not spin, you cannot sup. She thinks you are not hungry, and I wish you good-night." [She closes the little window and says gayly] Good-evening, Monsieur Féliat.

      René. Now then, come along. You go on in one minute.

      Thérèse [to Féliat] I'll come back soon.

      She goes out.

      René [to Madame Guéret] Now, Madame, you, Quick, Madame!

      Madame Guéret. Yes, yes. All right.

      She plays a flourish of trumpets on the piano.

      René. Splendid!

      Madame Guéret. Ouf! It's over. At last we can have peace! If she's such a fool as to refuse both these men—

      Guéret [interrupting] She won't refuse, you may be sure.

      Madame Guéret [continuing]—we shall have to keep her with us. But I shall insist upon certain conditions.

      Guéret. What conditions?

      Madame Guéret. I won't have any scandals at Evreux.

      Guéret. There won't be any scandals.

      Madame Guéret. No; because she'll have to behave very differently, I can tell you. She'll have to leave all these fine airs of independence behind her in Paris.

      Guéret. What airs?

      Madame Guéret. Well, for instance, getting letters and answering them without any sort of supervision! [To her brother] She manages in such a way that I don't even see the envelopes! [To her husband] I object very much, too, to her student ways.

      Guéret. She goes to classes and lectures with her girl friends.

      Madame Guéret. Well, she won't go to any more. And she will have to give up going out alone.

      Guéret. She's of age.

      Madame Guéret. A properly brought up young lady is never of age.

      Féliat. Perfectly true.

      Madame Guéret. And there must be a change in her way of dressing.

      Guéret. There will. She'll have to dress simply, for she won't have a rap.

      Madame Guéret. That has nothing to do with it. I shall make her understand that she will have to behave like the other girls in good society.

      Féliat. Of course.

      Madame Guéret. I shall also put a veto on certain books she reads. [To her brother] It's really dreadful, Etienne. You've no idea! One day I found a shocking book upon her table—a horror! What do you suppose she said when I remonstrated? That that disgraceful book was necessary in preparing for her examination. And the worst of it is, it was true. She showed me the syllabus.

      Féliat. I'm afraid they're bringing up our girls in a way that'll make unhappy women of them.

      Madame Guéret. Don't let's talk about it; you'll start on politics, and then you and Henri will begin to argue. All the same I mean

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