Mercadet | Page 7

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