Pamela Giraud

Pamela Giraud

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pamela Giraud, by Honore de Balzac
#106 in our series by Honore de Balzac
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Pamela Giraud
Author: Honore de Balzac
Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8079] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 12, 2003]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAMELA
GIRAUD ***

Produced by John Bickers and Dagny

PAMELA GIRAUD by Honore de Balzac
Etext prepared by Dagny, [email protected] and John Bickers,
[email protected]

PAMELA GIRAUD A PLAY IN FIVE ACTS
BY
HONORE DE BALZAC

Presented for the First Time at Paris at the Theatre de la Gaite,
September 26, 1843

PERSONS OF THE PLAY
General de Verby Dupre, a lawyer Rousseau, a wealthy merchant Jules
Rousseau, his son Joseph Binet Giraud, a porter Chief of Special Police
Antoine, servant to the Rousseaus
Pamela Giraud Madame du Brocard, a widow; aunt of Jules Rousseau
Madame Rousseau Madame Giraud Justine, chambermaid to Madame
Rousseau
Sheriff Magistrate Police Officers Gendarmes
SCENE: Paris
TIME: During the Napoleonic plots under Louis XVIII. (1815-1824)

PAMELA GIRAUD

ACT I
SCENE FIRST
(Setting is an attic and workshop of an artificial flower-maker. It is
poorly lighted by means of a candle placed on the work-table. The
ceiling slopes abruptly at the back allowing space to conceal a man. On
the right is a door, on the left a fireplace. Pamela is discovered at work,
and Joseph Binet is seated near her.)
Pamela, Joseph Binet and later Jules Rousseau.
Pamela Monsieur Joseph Binet!
Joseph Mademoiselle Pamela Giraud!
Pamela I plainly see that you wish me to hate you.
Joseph The idea! What? And this is the beginning of our love--Hate
me!
Pamela Oh, come! Let us talk sensibly.
Joseph You do not wish, then, that I should express how much I love
you?
Pamela Ah! I may as well tell you plainly, since you compel me to do
so, that I do not wish to become the wife of an upholsterer's apprentice.
Joseph Is it necessary to become an emperor, or something like that, in
order to marry a flower-maker?
Pamela No. But it is necessary to be loved, and I don't love you in any
way whatever.
Joseph In any way! I thought there was only one way of loving.
Pamela So there is, but there are many ways of not loving. You can be
my friend, without my loving you.
Joseph Oh!
Pamela I can look upon you with indifference--
Joseph Ah!
Pamela You can be odious to me! And at this moment you weary me,
which is worse!
Joseph I weary her! I who would cut myself into fine pieces to do all
that she wishes!
Pamela If you would do what I wish, you would not remain here.
Joseph And if I go away--Will you love me a little?
Pamela Yes, for the only time I like you is when you are away!
Joseph And if I never came back?
Pamela I should be delighted.

Joseph Zounds! Why should I, senior apprentice with M. Morel,
instead of aiming at setting up business for myself, fall in love with this
young lady? It is folly! It certainly hinders me in my career; and yet I
dream of her--I am infatuated with her. Suppose my uncle knew
it!--But she is not the only woman in Paris, and, after all, Mlle. Pamela
Giraud, who are you that you should be so high and mighty?
Pamela I am the daughter of a poor ruined tailor, now become a porter.
I gain my own living--if working night and day can be called
living--and it is with difficulty that I snatch a little holiday to gather
lilacs in the Pres-Saint-Gervais; and I certainly recognize that the senior
apprentice of M. Morel is altogether too good for me. I do not wish to
enter a family