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Pamela Giraud: A Play in Five Acts, a play by Honore de Balzac |
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Act 5 - Scene 2 |
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_ ACT V - SCENE SECOND Pamela, Dupre and Jules.
PAMELA. (stopping at the door) Jules! JULES. Good heavens! You here? DUPRE. And you, sir, I thought you were at Brussels? JULES. Yes, they sent me away against my will, and I yielded to them! Reared as I have been in obedience, I still tremble before my family! But I carried away with me the memory of what I had left behind! It has taken me six months to realize the situation, and I now acknowledge that I risked my life in order to obtain the hand of Mlle. de Verby, that I might gratify the ambition of my family, or, if you like, might honor my own vanity. I hoped some day to be a man of title, I, the son of a rich stock-broker! Then I met Pamela, and I fell in love with her! The rest you know! What was a mere sentiment has now become a duty, and every hour that has kept me from her I have felt that obedience to my family was rank cowardice; and while they believe I am far away, I have returned! You told me she had been arrested--and to think that I should run away (to both of them) without coming to see you, who had been my deliverer, and will be hers also. DUPRE. (looking at them) Good! Very good! He is an honorable fellow after all. PAMELA. (aside, drying her tears) Thank God for that! DUPRE. What do you expect to do? What are your plans? JULES. What are my plans? To unite my fortune with hers. If necessary, to forfeit everything for her, and under God's protection to say to her, "Pamela, will you be mine?" DUPRE. The deuce you say! But there is a slight difficulty in the way--for I am going to marry her myself. JULES. (in great astonishment) You? DUPRE. Yes, I! (Pamela casts down her eyes.) I have no family to oppose my wishes. JULES. I will win over mine. DUPRE. They will send you off to Brussels again. JULES. I must run and find my mother; my courage has returned! Were I to forfeit the favor of my father, were my aunt to cut me off with a sou, I would stand my ground. If I did otherwise, I should be destitute of self-respect, I should prove myself a soulless coward.--After that, is there any hope for me? DUPRE. Do you ask such a question of me? JULES. Pamela, answer, I implore you! PAMELA. (to Dupre) I have given you my word, sir. _ |
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