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Mercadet: A Comedy In Three Acts, a play by Honore de Balzac |
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_ ACT I SCENE FIRST (A drawing-room. A door in the centre. Side doors. At the front, to the left, a mantel-piece with a mirror. To the right, a window, and next it a writing-table. Armchairs.) [JUSTIN, VIRGINIE and THERESE.]
VIRGINIE (her basket on her arm) Honestly, do you think that? JUSTIN. He is ruined! And although there is much fat to be stewed from a master while he is financially embarrassed, you must not forget that he owes us a year's wages, and we had better get ourselves discharged. THERESE. Some masters are so frightfully stubborn! I spoke to the mistress disrespectfully two or three times, and she pretended not to hear me. VIRGINIE. Ah! I have been at service in many middle-class houses; but I have never seen one like this! I am going to leave my stove, and become an actress in some theatre. JUSTIN. All of us here are nothing but actors in a theatre. VIRGINIE. Yes, indeed, sometimes one has to put on an air of astonishment, as if just fallen from the moon, when a creditor appears: "Didn't you know it, sir?"--"No."--"M. Mercadet has gone to Lyons."--"Ah! He is away?" --"Yes, his prospects are most brilliant; he has discovered some coal- mines."--"Ah! So much the better! When does he return?"--"I do not know." Sometimes I put on an expression as if I had lost the dearest friend I had in the world. JUSTIN (aside) That would be her money. VIRGINIE (pretending to cry) "Monsieur and mademoiselle are in the greatest distress. It seems that we are going to lose poor Madame Mercadet. They have taken her away to the waters! Ah!" THERESE. And then, there are some creditors who are actual brutes! They speak to you as if you were the masters! VIRGINIE. There's an end of it. I ask them for their bill and tell them I am going to settle. But now, the tradesmen refuse to give anything without the money! And you may be sure that I am not going to lend any of mine. JUSTIN. Let us demand our wages. VIRGINIE and THERESE. Yes, let us demand our wages. VIRGINIE. Who are middle-class people? Middle-class people are those who spend a great deal on their kitchen-- JUSTIN. Who are devoted to their servants-- VIRGINIE. And who leave them a pension. That is how middle-class people ought to behave to their servants. THERESE. The lady of Picardy speaks well. But all the same, I pity mademoiselle and young Minard, her suitor. JUSTIN. M. Mercadet is not going to give his daughter to a miserable bookkeeper who earns no more than eighteen hundred francs a year; he has better views for her than that. THERESE and VIRGINIE. Who is the man he thinks of? JUSTIN. Yesterday two fine young gentlemen came here in a carriage, and their groom told old Gruneau that one of them was going to marry Mlle. Mercadet VIRGINIE. You don't mean to say so! Are those gentlemen in yellow gloves, with fine flowered waistcoats, going to marry mademoiselle? JUSTIN. Not both of them, lady of Picardy. VIRGINIE. The panels of their carriage shone like satin. Their horse had rosettes here. (She points to her ears.) It was held by a boy of eight, fair, with frizzed hair and top boots. He looked as sly as a mouse--a very Cupid, though he swore like a trooper. His master is as fine as a picture, with a big diamond in his scarf. It ain't possible that a handsome young man who owns such a turnout as that is going to be the husband of Mlle. Mercadet? I can't believe it. JUSTIN. You don't know M. Mercadet! I, who have been in his house for the last six years, and have seen him since his troubles fighting with his creditors, can believe him capable of anything, even of growing rich; sometimes I say to myself he is utterly ruined! Yellow auction placards flame at his door. He receives reams of stamped creditor's notices, which I sell by the pound for waste paper without being noticed. But presto! Up he bobs again. He is triumphant. And what devices he has! There is a new one every day! First of all, it is a scheme for wooden pavements--then it is dukedoms, ponds, mills. I don't know where the leakage is in his cash box; he finds it so hard to fill; for it empties itself as easily as a drained wine-glass! And always crowds of creditors! How well he turns them away! Sometimes I have seen them come with the intention of carrying off everything and throwing him into prison. But when he talks to them they end by being the best of friends, and part with cordial handshakes! There are some men who can tame jackals and lions. That's not a circumstance; M. Mercadet can tame creditors! THERESE. One of them is not quite so easily managed; and that is M. Pierquin. JUSTIN. He is a tiger who feeds on bankrupts. And to think of poor old Violette! VIRGINIE. He is both creditor and beggar--I always feel inclined to give him a plate of soup. JUSTIN. And Goulard! THERESE. A bill discounter who would like very much to--to discount me. VIRGINIE. (amid a general laugh) I hear madame coming. JUSTIN. Let us keep a civil tongue in our heads, and we shall learn something about the marriage.
[The same persons and MME. Mercadet]
JUSTIN. Yes, madame, but they refused to deliver the dresses, the hats, and indeed all the things you ordered until-- VIRGINIE. And I also have to inform madame that the tradesmen are no longer willing-- MME. MERCADET. I understand. JUSTIN. The creditors are the cause of the whole trouble. I wish I knew how to get even with them. MME. MERCADET. The best way to do so would be to pay them. JUSTIN. They would be mightily surprised. MME. MERCADET. It is useless to conceal from you the excessive anxiety which I suffer over the condition of my husband's affairs. We shall doubtless be in need of your discretion--for we can depend upon you, can we not? ALL. You need not mention it, madame. VIRGINIE. We were just saying, what excellent employers we had. THERESE. And that we would go through fire and water for you! JUSTIN. We were saying-- (MERCADET appears unnoticed.) MME. MERCADET. Thank you all, you are good creatures. (MERCADET shrugs his shoulders.) Your master needs only time, he has so many schemes in his head!--a rich suitor has offered himself for Mlle. JULIE, and if--
[The same persons and Mercadet.]
JUSTIN. These--these people?-- THERESE and VIRGINIE. These people? Eh! MERCADET. Yes, these people--these creditors of mine!-- MME. MERCADET. How is this, my dear? MERCADET (taking a seat opposite his wife) I am weary of solitude--I want their society. (To JUSTIN and THERESE) That will do. (JUSTIN and THERESE leave the room.)
VIRGINIE. No, sir, and besides the tradespeople-- MERCADET. I hope you will do yourself credit to-day. We are going to have four people to dinner--Verdelin and his wife, M. de Mericourt and M. de la Brive--so there will be seven of us. Such dinners are the glory of great cooks! You must have a fine fish after the soup, then two entrees, very delicately cooked-- VIRGINIE. But, sir, the trades-- MERCADET. For the second course--ah, the second course ought to be at once rich and brilliant, yet solid. The second course-- VIRGINIE. But the tradespeople-- MERCADET. Nonsense! You annoy me--To talk about tradespeople on the day when my daughter and her intended are to meet! VIRGINIE. They won't supply anything. MERCADET. What have we got to do with tradespeople that won't take our trade? We must get others. You must go to their competitors, you must give them my custom, and they will tip you for it. VIRGINIE. And how shall I pay those that I am giving up? MERCADET. Don't worry yourself about that,--it is my business. VIRGINIE. But if they ask me to pay them-- MERCADET. (aside, rising to his feet) That girl has money of her own. (Aloud) VIRGINIE, in these days, credit is the sole wealth of the government. My tradespeople misunderstand the laws of their country, they will show themselves unconstitutional and utter radicals, unless they leave me alone.-- Don't you trouble your head about people who raise an insurrection against the vital principles of all rightly constituted states! What you have got to attend to, is dinner,--that is your duty, and I hope that on this occasion you will show yourself to be what you are, a first-class cook! And if MME. Mercadet, when she settles with you on the day after my daughter's wedding, finds that she owes you anything, I will hold myself liable for it all. VIRGINIE. (hesitating) Sir-- MERCADET. Now go about your business. I give you here an opportunity of gaining an interest of ten per cent every six months!--and that is better than the savings banks will do for you. VIRGINIE. That it is; they only give four per cent a year! MERCADET (whispering to his wife) What did I tell you!--(To VIRGINIE) How can you run the risk of putting your money into the hands of strangers--You are quite clever enough to invest it yourself, and here your little nest-egg will remain in your own possession. VIRGINIE. Ten per cent every six months!--I suppose that madame will give me the particulars with regard to the second course. I must start to work on it. (Exit.)
[MERCADET and MME. Mercadet.]
MME. MERCADET. Ah! sir, how can you stoop to such a thing as this? MERCADET. Madame, these are mere petty details; don't bother about the means to an end. You, a little time ago, were trying to control your servants by kindness, but it is necessary to command and compel them, and to do it briefly, like Napoleon. MME. MERCADET. How can you order them when you don't pay them? MERCADET. You must pay them by a bluff. MME. MERCADET. Sometimes you can obtain by affection what is not attainable by-- MERCADET. By affection! Ah! Little do you know the age in which we live--To-day, madame, wealth is everything, family is nothing; there are no families, but only individuals! The future of each one is to be determined by the public funds. A young girl when she needs a dowry no longer appeals to her family, but to a syndicate. The income of the King of England comes from an insurance company. The wife depends for funds, not upon her husband, but upon the savings bank!--Debts are paid, not to creditors, but to the country, through an agency, which manages a sort of slave-trade in white people! All our duties are arranged by coupons--The servants which we exchange for them are no longer attached to their masters, but if you hold their money they will be devoted to you. MME. MERCADET. Oh, sir, you who are so honorable, so upright, sometimes say things to me which-- MERCADET. And what is said may also be done, that is what you mean, isn't it? Undoubtedly I would do anything to save myself, for (he pulls out a five-franc piece) this represents modern honor. Do you know why the dramas that have criminals for their heroes are so popular? It is because all the audience flatter themselves and say, "at any rate, I am much better than that fellow!" MME. MERCADET. My dear! MERCADET. For my part I have an excuse, for I am bearing the burden of my partner's crime--of that fellow Godeau, who absconded, carrying with him the cash box of our house!--And besides that, what disgrace is it to be in debt? What man is there who does not owe his father his existence? He can never repay that debt. The 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.)
[The same persons and GOULARD.]
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 unkindly--me, a man with whom you have had such extensive dealings! GOULARD. Dealings which have not always been to my advantage. MERCADET. All the more credit to you, for if advantage were the sole results of business, everybody would become a money-lender. GOULARD. I hope you haven't asked me to come here, in order to show me how clever you are! I know that you are cleverer than I am, for you have got over me in money matters. MERCADET. Well, money matters have some importance. (To his wife) Yes, yes, you see in this man one who has hunted me as if I were a hare. Come, come, GOULARD., admit it, you have behaved badly. Anybody but myself would have taken vengeance on you--for of course I could cause you to lose a considerable sum of money. GOULARD. So you could, if you didn't pay me; but you shall pay me--your obligations are now in the hands of the law. MME. MERCADET. Of the law? MERCADET. Of the law! You are losing your senses, you don't know what you are doing, you are ruining us both--yourself and me--at the same time. GOULARD (anxiously) How?--You--that of course is possible--but--but--me? MERCADET. Both of us, I tell you! Quick, sit down there--write--write--! GOULARD (mechanically taking his pen) Write--write what? MERCADET. Write to Delannoy that he must make them stay the proceedings, and give me the thousand crowns which I absolutely need. GOULARD (throwing down the pen) That is very likely, indeed! MERCADET. You hesitate, and, when I am on the eve of marrying my daughter to a man immensely wealthy--that is the time you choose to cause my arrest. And by that means you are killing both your capital and interest! GOULARD. Ah! you are going to marry your daughter-- MERCADET. To the Comte de la Brive; he possesses as many thousand francs as he is years old! GOULARD. Then if he is up in years, there is reason for giving you some delay. But the thousand crowns--the thousand crowns--never.--I am quite decided on that point. I will give you nothing, neither delay nor--I must go now-- MERCADET (with energy) Very well! You can go if you like, you ungrateful fellow!--But don't forget that I have done my best to save you. GOULARD (turning back) Me?--To save me--from what? MERCADET (aside) I have him now. (Aloud) From what?--From the most complete ruin. GOULARD. Ruin? It is impossible. MERCADET. (taking a seat) What is the matter with you? You, a man of intelligence, of ability--a strong man, and yet you cause me all this trouble! You came here and I felt absolutely enraged against you--not because I was your friend, I confess it, but through selfishness. I look upon our interests as identical. I said to myself: I owe him so much that he is sure to give me his assistance when I have such a grand chance--like the one at this moment! And you are going to let out the whole business and to lose everything for the sake of a paltry sum! Everything! You are perhaps right in refusing me the thousand crowns--It is better, perhaps, to bury them in your coffers with the rest. All right! Send me to prison! Then, when all is gone, you'll have to look somewhere else for a friend! GOULARD (in a tone of self-reproach) Mercadet!--my dear Mercadet!--But is it actually true? MERCADET. (rising from his seat) Is it true? (to his wife) You would not believe he was so stupid. (To GOULARD) She has ended by becoming a daring speculator. (To his wife) I may tell you, my dear, that GOULARD is going to invest a large sum in our great enterprise. MME. Mercadet (ashamed) Sir! MERCADET. What a misfortune it will be if it does not turn out well. GOULARD. Mercadet!--Are you talking about the Basse-Indre mines? MERCADET. Of course I am. (Aside) Ah! You have some of the Basse-Indre stock, I see. GOULARD. But the investment seems to me first-class. MERCADET. First-class--Yes, for those who sold out yesterday. GOULARD. Have any stockholders sold out? MERCADET. Yes, privately. GOULARD. Good-bye. Thanks, Mercadet; madame, accept my respects. MERCADET. (stopping him) GOULARD! GOULARD. Eh? MERCADET. What about this note to Delannoy? GOULARD. I will speak to him about the postponement-- MERCADET. No; write to him; and in the meantime I will find some one who will buy your stock. GOULARD (sitting down) All my Basse-Indre? (He takes up a pen.) MERCADET (aside) Here you see the honest man, ever ready to rob his neighbor. (Aloud) Very well, write--ordering a postponement of three months. GOULARD (writing) Three months! There you have it. MERCADET. The man I allude to, who buys in secret for fear of causing a rise, wants to get three hundred shares; do you happen to have three hundred? GOULARD. I have three hundred and fifty. MERCADET. Fifty more! Never mind! He'll take them all. (Examining what Goulard has written.) Have you mentioned the thousand crowns? GOULARD. And what is your friend's name? MERCADET. His name? You haven't mentioned?-- GOULARD. His name! MERCADET. The thousand crowns. GOULARD. What a devil of a man he is! (He writes.) There, you have it! MERCADET. His name is PIERQUIN. GOULARD. (rising) PIERQUIN. MERCADET. He at least is the nominal buyer.--Go to your house and I will send him to you; it is never a good thing to run after a purchaser. GOULARD. Never!--You have saved my life. Good-bye, my friend. Madame, accept my prayers for the happiness of your daughter. (Exit.) MERCADET. One of them captured! Now watch me get the others!
[MME. Mercadet, Mercadet., then JULIE.]
MERCADET. It is to the interest of my friend Verdelin to cause a panic in Basse- Indre stock; this stock has been for a long time very risky and has suddenly become of first-class value, through the discovery of certain beds of mineral, which are known only to those on the inside.--Ah! If I could but invest a thousand crowns in it my fortune would be made. But, of course, our main object at present is the marriage of JULIE. MME. MERCADET. You are well acquainted with M. de la Brive, are you not? MERCADET. I have dined with him. He has a charming apartment, fine plate, a silver dessert service, bearing his arms, so that it could not have been borrowed. Our daughter is going to make a fine match, and he-- when either one of a married couple is happy, it is all right. (Julie enters.) MME. MERCADET. Here comes our daughter. Julie, your father and I have something to say to you on a subject which is always agreeable to a young girl. JULIE. M. MINARD has then spoken to you, father? MERCADET. M. MINARD! Did you expect, madame, to find a M. MINARD reigning in the heart of your daughter? Is not this M. MINARD that under clerk of mine? JULIE. Yes, papa. MERCADET. Do you love him? JULIE. Yes, papa. MERCADET. But besides loving, it is necessary for a person to be loved. MME. MERCADET. Does he love you? JULIE. Yes, mamma! MERCADET. Yes, papa; yes, mamma; why don't you say mammy and daddy?--As soon as daughters have passed their majority they begin to talk as if they were just weaned. Be polite enough to address your mother as madame. JULIE. Yes, monsieur. MERCADET. Oh! you may address me as papa. I sha'n't be annoyed at that. What proof have you that he loves you? JULIE. The best proof of all; he wishes to marry me. MERCADET. It is quite true, as has been said, that young girls, like little children, have answers ready enough to knock one silly. Let me tell you, mademoiselle, that a clerk with a salary of eighteen hundred francs does not know how to love. He hasn't got the time, he has to work too hard-- MME. MERCADET. But, unhappy child-- MERCADET. Ah! A lucky thought strikes me! Let me talk to her. Julie, listen to me. I will marry you to MINARD. (Julie smiles with delight.) Now, look here, you haven't got a single sou, and you know it; what is going to become of you a week after your marriage? Have you thought about that? JULIE. Yes, papa-- MME. Mercadet (with sympathy, to her husband) The poor child is mad. MERCADET. Yes, she is in love. (To Julie) Tell me all about it, Julie. I am not now your father, but your confidant; I am listening. JULIE. After our marriage we will still love each other. MERCADET. But will Cupid shoot you bank coupons at the end of his arrows? JULIE. Father, we shall lodge in a small apartment, at the extremity of the Faubourg, on the fourth story, if necessary!--And if it can't be helped, I will be his house-maid. Oh! I will take an immense delight in the care of the household, for I shall know that it will all be done for him. I will work for him, while he is working for me. I will spare him every anxiety, and he will never know how straitened we are. Our home will be spotlessly clean, even elegant--You shall see! Elegance depends upon such little things; it springs from the soul, and happiness is at once the cause and the effect of it. I can earn enough from my painting to cost him nothing and even to contribute to the expenses of our living. Moreover, love will help us to pass through 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.
[The same persons and PIERQUIN.]
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 shall soon be so rich that I will not endure to be twitted by any one--not even by a creditor. PIERQUIN. But-- MERCADET. Not a word--or I will pay you! Come into my private room and we will settle the business about which I asked you to come. PIERQUIN. I am at your service, sir. (Aside) What a devil of a man! (PIERQUIN and Mercadet bow to the ladies and enter Mercadet's room.) MERCADET (following PIERQUIN; aside to his wife) The wild beast is tamed. I'll get this one, too.
[MME. Mercadet, JULIE, and later, Servants.]
MME. MERCADET. But he is rich, you know. JULIE. But I prefer happiness and poverty, to unhappiness and wealth. MME. MERCADET. My child, happiness is impossible in poverty, while there is no misfortune that wealth cannot alleviate. JULIE. How can you say such sad words to me? MME. MERCADET. Children should learn a lesson from the experience of parents. We are at present having a very bitter taste of life's vicissitudes. Take my advice, daughter, and marry wealth. JUSTIN (entering, followed by THERESE and VIRGINIE) Madame, we have carried out the master's orders. VIRGINIE. My dinner will be ready. THERESE. And the tradesmen have consented. JUSTIN. As far as concerns M. Verdelin--
[The same persons and Mercadet. (carrying a bundle of papers).]
JUSTIN. He will be here in a moment. He was just on his way here to bring some money to M. Bredif, the owner of this house. MERCADET. Bredif is a millionaire. Take care that Verdelin speaks to me before going up to him. How did you get on, THERESE, with the milliners and dressmakers? THERESE. Sir, as soon as I gave them a promise of payment, every one greeted me with smiles. MERCADET. Very good. And shall we have a fine dinner, VIRGINIE? VIRGINIE. You will compliment it, sir, when you eat it. MERCADET. And the tradespeople? VIRGINIE. They will wait your time. MERCADET. I shall settle with you all to-morrow. You can go now. (They go out.) A man who has his servants with him is like a minister who has the press on his side! MME. MERCADET. And what of PIERQUIN? MERCADET (showing the papers) All that I could extort from him is as follows.--He will give me time, and this negotiable paper in exchange for stock.--Also notes for forty-seven thousand francs, to be collected from a man named Michonnin, a gentleman broker, not considered very solvent, who may be a crook but has a very rich aunt at Bordeaux; M. de la Brive is from that district and I can learn from him if there is anything to be got out of it. MME. MERCADET. But the tradesmen will soon arrive. MERCADET. I shall be here to receive them. Now leave me, leave me, my dears. (Exeunt the two ladies.)
[MERCADET, then VIOLETTE.]
JUSTIN (without) Yes, he is in. MERCADET. It is he. (VIOLETTE appears.) Ah! my friend! It is dear old VIOLETTE! VIOLETTE. This is the eleventh call within a week, my dear M. Mercadet, and my actual necessity has driven me to wait for you three hours in the street; I thought the truth was told me when I was assured that you were in the country. But I came to-day-- MERCADET. Ah! Violette, old fellow, we are both hard up! VIOLETTE. Humph! I don't think so. For my part, I've pledged everything I could put in the pawn-shop. MERCADET. So have we. VIOLETTE. I have never reproached you with my ruin, for I believe it is your intention to enrich me, as well as yourself; but still, fine words butter no parsnips, and I am come to implore you to give me a small sum on account, and by so doing you will save the lives of a whole family. MERCADET. My dear old VIOLETTE, you grieve me deeply! Be reasonable and I will share with you. (In a low voice) We have scarcely a hundred francs in the house, and even that is my daughter's money. VIOLETTE. Is it possible! You, Mercadet, whom I have known so rich? MERCADET. I conceal nothing from you. VIOLETTE. Unfortunate people owe it to each other to speak the truth. MERCADET. Ah! If that were the only thing they owed how prompt would be the payment! But keep this as a secret, for I am on the point of making a good match for my daughter. VIOLETTE. I have two daughters, sir, and they work without hope of being married! In your present circumstances I cannot press you, but my wife and my daughters await my return in the deepest anxiety. MERCADET. Stay a moment. I will give you sixty francs. VIOLETTE. Ah! my wife and my girls will bless you. (Aside, while Mercadet leaves the room for a moment.) The others who abuse him get nothing out of him, but by appealing to his pity, little by little I get back my money. (Chuckles and slaps his pocket.) MERCADET (on the point of re-entering sees this action) The beggarly old miser! Sixty francs on account paid ten times makes six hundred francs. Come now, I have sown enough, it is time to reap the harvest. (Aloud) Take this. VIOLETTE. Sixty francs in gold! It is a long time since I have seen such a sum. Good-bye, we sha'n't forget to pray for the speedy marriage of Mlle. Mercadet. MERCADET. Good-bye, dear old VIOLETTE. (Holding him by the hand.) Poor old man, when I look at you, I think myself rich--your misfortunes touch me deeply. And yesterday I thought I would soon be on the point of paying back to you not only the interest but the principal of what I owe you. VIOLETTE (turning back) Paying me back! In full! MERCADET. It was a close shave. VIOLETTE. What was? MERCADET. Imagine, my dear fellow, that there exists a most brilliant opportunity, a most magnificent speculation, the most sublime discovery--an affair which appeals to the interest of every one, which will draw upon all the exchanges, and for the realization of which a stupid banker has refused me the miserable sum of a thousand crowns-- when there is more than a million in sight. VIOLETTE. A million! MERCADET. Yes, a million, from the start. Afterwards no one can calculate where the rage for protective pavement will stop. VIOLETTE. Pavement? MERCADET. Protective pavement. A pavement on which no barricade can be raised. VIOLETTE. Really? MERCADET. You see, that from henceforth all governments interested in the preservation of order will become our chief shareholders--Ministers, princes and kings will be our chief partners. Next come the gods of finance, the great bankers, those of independent income in commerce and speculation; even the socialists, seeing that their industry is ruined, will be forced to buy stocks for a living from me! VIOLETTE. Yes, it is fine! It is grand! MERCADET. It is sublime and philanthropic! And to think I have been refused four thousand francs, wherewith to send out advertisements and launch my prospectus! VIOLETTE. Four thousand francs! I thought it was only-- MERCADET. Four thousand francs, no more! And I was to give away for the loan a half interest in the enterprise--that is to say a fortune! Ten fortunes! VIOLETTE. Listen--I will see--I will speak to some one-- MERCADET. Speak to no one! Keep it to yourself! The idea would at once be snatched up--or perhaps they wouldn't understand it so well as you have immediately done. These money dealers are so stupid. Besides, I am expecting Verdelin here-- VIOLETTE. Verdelin--but--we might perhaps-- MERCADET. 'Twill be lucky for Verdelin, if he has the brains to risk six thousand francs in it. VIOLETTE. But you said four thousand just now. MERCADET. It was four thousand that they refused me, but I need six thousand! Six thousand francs, and Verdelin, whom I have already made a millionaire once, is likely to become so three, four, five times over! But he will deserve it, for he is a clever fellow, is Verdelin. VIOLETTE. Mercadet, I will find you the money. MERCADET. No, no, don't think of it. Besides, he will be here in a moment, and if I am to send him away without concluding the business with him, it will be necessary to have it settled with some one else before Verdelin comes--and, as that is impossible--good-bye--and good luck--I shall certainly be able to pay you your thirty thousand francs. VIOLETTE. But say--why couldn't I--? MME. MERCADET. (entering) M. Verdelin has come, my dear. MERCADET (aside) Good, good! (Aloud) Just detain him a minute. (MME. Mercadet goes out.) Well, good-bye, dear old VIOLETTE-- VIOLETTE (pulling out a greasy pocketbook) Wait a moment--here, I have the money with me--and will give it you beforehand. MERCADET. You! Six thousand francs! VIOLETTE. A friend asked me to invest it for him, and-- MERCADET. And you couldn't find a better opening. We'll sign the contract presently! (He takes the bills.) This closes the deal--and so much the worse for Verdelin--he has missed a gold mine! VIOLETTE. Well, I'll see you later. MERCADET. Yes--see you later! You can get out through my study. (MERCADET shows VIOLETTE the way out. MME. Mercadet enters.) MME. MERCADET. Mercadet! MERCADET (reappearing) Ah! my dear! I am an unfortunate man! I ought to blow my brains out. MME. MERCADET. Good heavens! What is the matter? MERCADET. The matter is that a moment ago I asked this sham bankrupt VIOLETTE for six thousand francs. MME. MERCADET. And he refused to give them to you? MERCADET. On the contrary, he handed them over. MME. MERCADET. What, then, do you mean? MERCADET. I am an unlucky man, as I told you, because he gave them so quickly that I could have gotten ten thousand if I had only known it. MME. MERCADET. What a man you are! I suppose you know that Verdelin is waiting for you. MERCADET. Beg him to come in. At last I have Julie's trousseau; and we now need only enough money for your dresses and for household expenses until the marriage. Send in Verdelin. MME. MERCADET. Yes, he is your friend, and of course you will gain your end with him. (Exit Mme. Mercadet.) MERCADET (alone) Yes, he is my friend! And he has all the pride that comes with fortune; but he has never had a Godeau (looking round to see if he is alone). After all, Godeau! I really believe that Godeau has brought me in more money than he has taken from me.
[Mercadet and Verdelin.]
MERCADET. Oh, he can wait! How is it that you are going to see a man like Bredif? VERDELIN (laughing) My dear friend, if people only visited those they esteem they would make no visits at all. MERCADET. (laughing and taking his hand) A man wouldn't go even into his own house. VERDELIN. But tell me what you want with me? MERCADET. Your question is so sudden that it hasn't left me time to gild the pill. VERDELIN. Oh! my old comrade. I have nothing, and I am frank to say that even if I had I could give you nothing. I have already lent you all that my means permit me to dispose of; I have never asked you for payment, for I am your friend as well as your creditor, and indeed, if my heart did not overflow in gratitude towards you, if I had not been a man different from ordinary men, the creditor would long ago have killed the man. I tell you everything has a limit in this world. MERCADET. Friendship has a limit, that's certain; but not misfortune. VERDELIN. If I were rich enough to save you altogether, to cancel your debt entirely, I would do so with all my heart, for I admire your courage. But you are bound to go under. Your last schemes, although cleverly projected, have collapsed. You have ruined your reputation, you are looked upon as a dangerous man. You have not known how to take advantage of the momentary success of your operations. When you are utterly beggared, you will always find bread at my house; but it is the duty of a friend to speak these plain truths. MERCADET. What would be the advantage of friendship unless it gave us the pleasure of finding ourselves in the right, and seeing a friend in the wrong--of being comfortable ourselves and seeing our friend in difficulties and of paying compliment to ourselves by saying disagreeable things to him? Is it true then that I am little thought of on 'Change? VERDELIN. I do not say so much as that. No; you still pass for an honest man, but necessity is forcing you to adopt expedients-- MERCADET. Which are not justified by the success which luckier men enjoy! Ah, success! How many outrageous things go to make up success. You'll learn that soon enough. Now, for instance, this morning I began to bear the market on the mines of Basse-Indre, in order that you may gain control of that enterprise before the favorable report of the engineers is published. VERDELIN. Hush, Mercadet, can this be true? Ah! I see your genius there! (Puts his arm around him.) MERCADET. I say this in order that you may understand that I have no need of advice, or of moralizing,--merely of money. Alas! I do not ask any thing of you for myself, my dear friend, but I am about to make a marriage for my daughter, and here we are actually, although secretly, fallen into absolute destitution. We are in a house where poverty reigns under the appearance of luxury. The power of promises, and of credit, all is exhausted! And if I cannot pay in cash for certain necessary expenses, this marriage must be broken off. All I went here is a fortnight of opulence, just as all that you want is twenty-four hours of lying on the Exchange. Verdelin, this request will never be repeated, for I have only one daughter. Must I confess it to you? My wife and daughter are absolutely destitute of clothes! (Aside) He is hesitating. VERDELIN (aside) He has played me so many tricks that I really do not know whether his daughter is doing to be married or not. How can she marry? MERCADET. This very day I have to give a dinner to my future son-in-law, whom a mutual friend is introducing to us, and I haven't even my plate remaining in the house. It is--you know where it is--I not only need a thousand crowns, but I also hope that you will lend me your dinner service and come and dine here with your wife. VERDELIN. A thousand crowns! Mercadet! No one has a thousand crowns to lend. One scarcely has them for himself; if he were to lend them whenever he was asked, he would never have them. (He retires to the fire-place.) MERCADET (following him, aside) He will yet come to the scratch. (Aloud) Now look here, Verdelin, I love my wife and my daughter; these sentiments, my friend, are my sole consolation in the midst of my recent disasters; these women have been so gentle, so patient! I should like to see them placed beyond the reach of distress. Oh! It is on this point that my sufferings are most real! (They walk to the front of the stage arm in arm.) I have recently drunk the cup of bitterness, I have slipped upon my wooden pavement,--I organized a monopoly and others drained me of everything! But, believe me, this is nothing in comparison with the pain of seeing you refuse me help in this extremity! Nevertheless, I am not going to dwell upon the consequences--for I do not wish to owe anything to your pity. VERDELIN. (taking a seat) A thousand crowns! But what purpose would you apply them to? MERCADET (aside) I shall get them. (Aloud) My dear fellow, a son-in-law is a bird who is easily frightened away. The absence of one piece of lace on a dress reveals everything to them. The ladies' costumes are ordered, the merchants are on the point of delivering them--yes, I was rash enough to say that I would pay for everything, for I counted on you! Verdelin, a thousand crowns won't kill you, for you have sixty thousand francs a year. And the life of a young girl of whom you are fond is now at stake--for you are fond of Julie! She has a sincere attachment for your little girl, they play together like the happiest of creatures. Would you let the companion of your daughter pine away with despair? Misfortune is contagious! It brings evil on all around! VERDELIN. My dear fellow, I have not a thousand crowns. I can lend you my plate; but I have not-- MERCADET. You can give me your note on the bank. It is soon signed-- VERDELIN. (rising) I--no-- MERCADET. Ah! my poor daughter! It is all over. (Falls back overcome in an armchair near the table.) God forgive me, if I put an end to the painful dream of life, and let me awaken in Thy bosom! VERDELIN (after a short silence) But-- Have you really found a son-in-law? MERCADET (rising abruptly to his feet) You ask if I have found a son-in-law! You actually throw a doubt upon this! You may refuse me, if you like, the means of effecting the happiness of my daughter, but do not insult me! I am fallen low indeed! O Verdelin! I would not for a thousand crowns have had such an idea of you, and you can never win absolution from me excepting by giving them. VERDELIN (wishing to leave) I must go and see if I can-- MERCADET. No! This is only another way of refusing me! Can I believe it? Will not you whom I have seen spend the same sum upon some such trifle as a passing love affair--will you not apply the thousand crowns to the performance of a good action? VERDELIN (laughing) At the present time there are very few good actions, or transactions. MERCADET. Ha! Ha! Ha! How witty! You are laughing, I see there is a reaction! VERDELIN. Ha! Ha! Ha! (He drops his hat.) MERCADET (picking up the hat and dusting it with his sleeve) Come now, old fellow. Haven't we seen life! We two began it together. What a lot of things we have said and done! Don't you recollect the good old time when we swore to be friends always through thick and thin? VERDELIN. Indeed, I do. And don't you recollect our party at Rambouillet, where I fought an officer of the Guard on your account? MERCADET. I thought it was for the lovely Clarissa! Ah! But we were gay! We were young! And to-day we have our daughters, daughters old enough to marry! If Clarissa were alive now, she would blame your hesitation! VERDELIN. If she had lived, I should never have married. MERCADET. Because you know what love is, that you do! So I may count upon you for dinner, and you give me your word of honor that you will send me-- VERDELIN. The plate? MERCADET. And the thousand crowns-- VERDELIN. Ah! You still harp upon that! I have told you I cannot do it. MERCADET (aside) It is certain that this fellow will never die of heart failure. (Aloud) And so it seems I am to be murdered by my best friend? Alas! It is always thus! You are actually untouched by the memory of Clarissa--and by the despair of a father! (He cries out towards the chamber of his wife.) Ah! it is all over! I am in despair! I am going to blow my brains out!
[The same persons, MME. Mercadet and JULIE.]
JULIE. How your voice frightened us, papa! MERCADET. They heard us! See how they come, like two guardian angels! (He takes them by the hand.) Ah! you melt my heart! (To Verdelin) Verdelin! Do you wish to slay a whole family? This proof of their tenderness gives me courage to fall at your feet. JULIE. Oh, sir! (She checks her father.) It is I who will implore you for him. Whatever may be his demand, do not refuse my father; he must, indeed, be in the most terrible anguish! MERCADET. Dear child! (Aside) In what accents does she speak! I couldn't speak so naturally as that. MME. MERCADET. M. Verdelin, listen to us-- VERDELIN. (to Julie) You don't know what he is asking, do you? JULIE. No. VERDELIN. He is asking for a thousand crowns, in order to arrange your marriage. JULIE. Then, forget, sir, all that I said to you; I do not wish for a marriage which has been purchased by the humiliation of my father. MERCADET (aside) She is magnificent! VERDELIN. Julie! I will go at once and get the money for you. (Exit.)
[The same persons, except Verdelin; then the servants.]
MERCADET (kissing her) You have saved us all! Ah! when shall I be so rich and powerful that I may make him repent of a favor done so grudgingly? MME. MERCADET. Do not be unjust; Verdelin yielded to your request. MERCADET. He yielded to the cry of Julie, not to my request. Ah! my dear, he has extorted from me more than a thousand crowns' worth of humiliation! JUSTIN. (coming in with Therese and Virginie) The tradespeople. VIRGINIE. The milliner and the dressmaker-- THERESE. And the dry-goods merchants. MERCADET. That is all right! I have succeeded in my scheme! My daughter shall be Comtesse de la Brive! (To the servants) Show them in! I am waiting, and the money is ready. (He goes proudly towards his study, while the servants look at him with surprise.)
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