Mercadet | Page 4

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