The Honest Women A One Act Comedy

By Henri Becque

EText by Dagny
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http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/personnage.asp?key=130

                    
                     1880


                     Translated and adapted by

                     Frank J. Morlock
                     C 2001


CHARACTERS:

Lambert

Madame Chevalier
Genevieve
Louise


The stage represents a room giving on a park. In the back two French doors separated by a table over which is a mirror decorated with flowers. Side doors. On the left, near the audience, a table between two armchairs facing each other. On the table and neighboring chairs, dresses, children's clothes, linen of all sorts. To the right a sofa. Near the sofa a round table. On the round table a serving platter with a bottle, two cups and a pastry tray. Luxurious furniture and objects representing an elegant and well-regulated apartment.


AT RISE, Madame Chevalier is seated by the table in the armchair to the left, feet on a chaise, working.


Louise (entering) Mr. Lambert, madame.

Madame Chevalier
Show him in. (calling) Louise!

Louise
Madame?

Madame Chevalier
Are the children okay?

Louise
Yes, madame.

Madame Chevalier
What are they doing?

Louise
They are playing.

Madame Chevalier
You aren't losing sight of them?

Louise
No, madame.

Madame Chevalier
Show him in.

(Louise goes out and Lambert enters. He goes to Madame Chevalier who gives him her hand.)

Lambert
How are you, madame?

Madame Chevalier
Peaceful, you see.

Lambert
I am not disturbing you?

Madame Chevalier
You are giving me pleasure. (pointing to the armchair to the right of the table) What's on that armchair?

Lambert
Napkins.

Madame Chevalier
Indeed? Monogrammed?

Lambert
Yes, monogrammed.

Madame Chevalier
Place them there, there—there—and sit down. You are looking at me. I am fine, aren't I, in the midst of all my clothes?

Lambert
So you work, sometimes?

Madame Chevalier
Sometimes? Always, I sew, I monogram, I patch, I do everything in my home—except dishcloths. Why not the dishcloths, like the rest, is indeed due to prejudice. If I didn't have this virtue, my house would be a pretty place with two children who keep the maid busy morning to night. And they wear everything out, these brats, they wear everything out! When my arms fall, when my head goes numb and I feel I'm going to go to sleep, I soak the end of a biscuit (pointing to the table) in this little white wine—the only liquor that does me any good. You'll have a drop with me?

Lambert
Yes, thank you.

Madame Chevalier
Help yourself.

Lambert
Later.

Madame Chevalier
It's there when you want it.

(Pause.)

Lambert
I am happy, madame.

Madame Chevalier
About what?

Lambert
To find myself where I am. Everything is nice at your place. One can breathe.

Madame Chevalier
Come whenever you wish. I don't shut my door.

Lambert
What luck I had, coming to spend the summer here and to meet a woman like you. It's really nice here, you agree? (Madame Chevalier does not reply) It's certain that you alone have kept me here.

Madame Chevalier
I congratulate myself on it. You mustn't leave us.

Lambert
You do nothing to please and you only please more.

Madame Chevalier
I am natural. There are still some good folks, not many, who like that note.

Lambert
You are not lacking in adoring admirers.

Madame Chevalier
I have one, I know it. (gesture by Lambert) The general. We are very good friends together and we understand each other perfectly. Sometimes the general tells me some scandals which he should keep to himself. But he's old; he sees I am listening to him and, if I have the misfortune to laugh, he runs on and on—no one can stop him. Have you come from the Langous after their party?

Lambert
I was bored by it.

Madame Chevalier
Ah! And the Rousselins? Did you see them?

Lambert
The Rousselins bore me to death.

Madame Chevalier
Oh! Madame Papillon?

Lambert
I no longer greet her.

Madame Chevalier
Very nice. What does your aunt say to all this?

Lambert
We aren't speaking at the moment.

Madame Chevalier
That's all you need. Take care, Mr. Lambert, take care or you'll remain a bachelor.

Lambert
So be it! I will remain a bachelor! You can't live much worse.

Madame Chevalier
Nor better. As for me, I say you're wrong, you know. What do you have against our little society at Fontainbleu? It's simple, gay, happy—it was perfect for you—perfect. But there, you see, when one gets used to a certain world, one finds oneself bewildered and in poor spirits in the other.

Lambert
No.

Madame Chevalier
Yes. One repulses even agreeable duties after having accepted elsewhere the most revolting engagements.

Lambert
No.

Madame Chevalier
Yes. Elsewhere you were friendly, gallant, prodigal. It seems that with us you can only close your mouth and be economical.

Lambert
No.

Madame Chevalier
Yes. Look, Mr. Lambert, a little frankness. I won't betray you. Are all your lady friends really extraordinary?

Lambert
Extraordinary? Yes, madame.

Madame Chevalier
Last winter, my husband took me to the Palais Royal. Well, in a seat beside us—I don't lie—a gaggle of young fools came to see her. The young folks today appear in public with these women. One brought her flowers, another bonbons, another a fan, and she received them, their persons and their gifts, with the airs of an empress. They called her Esther. Do you know her?

Lambert
Esther! Very thin and painted—with magnificent hair. She doesn't count.

Madame Chevalier
What do you mean she doesn't count? It seems you make differences between them. Why doesn't Miss Esther count? Speak, tell me it doesn't matter. (Lambert rises and whispers in her ear) Really! Everybody? Then I pity her, the poor child!

Lambert
So, you've talked with my aunt?

Madame Chevalier
Yes.

Lambert
What did she tell you?

Madame Chevalier
Does that intrigue you?

Lambert
She jokes about me and bad mouths me everywhere.

Madame Chevalier
Not so. That would be very clumsy, admit it, for a woman who thinks only of marrying you.

Lambert
You approve of it?

Madame Chevalier
Assuredly. Why don't you give this pleasure to your aunt by accomplishing for yourself the wisest of all deeds?

Lambert
I hesitate. I feel my way. (looking at her) Perhaps I have a reason.

Madame Chevalier
Which is?

Lambert
You don't suspect it, not even a little?

Madame Chevalier
Not the least in the world.

Lambert
I might meet a real woman who's worth more than her existence and her entourage—and who would create an affection—

Madame Chevalier
Always fast women! You never get away from them.

Lambert
My God, madame, what sort of opinion do you have of me? I am not an extremist. I have had some follies when I was very young, and they cost me very dear, so I have no wish to continue them. I know a little of the Parisian world, through my friends, through the papers, through my uncle. A very modest club where I dine more often than not, and where I never grumble. I go to the theatre. I see the pictures. I buy some books. I couldn't be more reasonably behaved. This existence, perhaps, has its sunny days and its days of storm.

Madame Chevalier (interrupting him)
Be quiet a moment.

Lambert
What's the matter?

Madame Chevalier
You don't hear anything?

Lambert
Nothing.

Madame Chevalier
I was mistaken. I thought my children were calling me.

Lambert
I was telling you that this existence, perhaps, has its sunny days.

(Two children can be heard weeping and crying: “Mama, mama!”)

Madame Chevalier
You see. I knew quite well these children were demanding their mother. (rising) You'll excuse me? I'm going to see what's going on and then I'll return.

(Exit Madame Chevalier.)

Lambert
Is she honest? It's likely. Is she not? It's possible. You meet so many women these days—disheveled in the kitchen—who so perfectly well deceive their world. I mark time in place. I say enough so she can guess and not enough to enable her to declare herself. Take a chance with a person like that. She receives you—it's not in the midst of her silks that she receives you—it's between two piles of napkins—to the right those that are monogrammed, to the left, not. With good grace, yes, very good grace, but no coquetry. Friendship, but no overtures. She either doesn't want or she doesn't know how to make a real overture. Suddenly one is interrupted by the little midges who are bawling, just when the psychological moment would perhaps have come to press a charge hell for leather. Here she is. (reenter Madame Chevalier) Well, madame, these children?

Madame Chevalier
Don't talk to me about them. I think they do it purposely to disturb me. They're so young, you cannot punish them. When you scold them it ends worse. The maid just put them to bed. It's a moment of rest for everybody. (as she speaks, she opens the bottle and fills two glasses. This time, Mr. Lambert, you cannot refuse me.

Lambert (going to her)
Since you wish it, madame.

Madame Chevalier (as she gives him a glass)
It's nice, isn't it, my little wine?

Lambert
Especially when you serve it.

Madame Chevalier
Thanks. (offering him the plate of pastries) A cake?

Lambert
No, no cake.

Madame Chevalier
Then, let's clink glasses a bit in the old fashioned way.

(They clink their glasses.)

Madame Chevalier
They often tell me that I take after my grandmother. And, indeed, I follow her good customs most of the time.

(Pause.)

Lambert
You are grace personified.

Madame Chevalier
What a joke.

Lambert
Oh, yes, yes. I know a bit about it.

Madame Chevalier (to herself)
He's a real flatterer, indeed.

Lambert
What nice things. The ensemble, the details—everything is exquisite.

Madame Chevalier
Halt! You cannot be around a woman for three-quarters of an your without making compliments.

Lambert
I am not making any, and anyway, I'm stopping.

Madame Chevalier
That's enough now. And then, it's not the time for it. Wait till your aunt makes us dance in her home. Then I will listen to whatever you like—between two dances.

(Madame Chevalier turns to the table and arranges things.)

Lambert (who has come to himself, behind her)
Has someone seen us drinking together?

Madame Chevalier (after a moment of surprise)
They could have, quite easily.

Lambert
What might they have thought?

Madame Chevalier
Probably they could have laughed. They would have said: “Here are folks who don't fret and who clink glasses in the middle of the day.”

Lambert
Do you think so? A woman, so young and so pretty.

Madame Chevalier
I am a housewife.

Lambert
Who receives, so genteelly, a man.

Madame Chevalier
You are a friend.

Lambert
They wouldn't suspect between us, then, a romance?

Madame Chevalier (coldly)
They would be mistaken, that's all.

(Leaving her, Lambert walks impatiently. Then, making a decision, returns to her.)

Lambert
I ask myself if I must fall at your feet to make you realize something.

Madame Chevalier
It's needless. I understand you perfectly. What are you thinking? I am married. I have managed for the last six years without anyone yet having constrained me to repeat it to him. You covet the wife of another and you are dreaming of an intrigue with the mother of a family! I was wrong not to foresee what would happen to me with you. I should have only received you half as much and at a distance. I ought to have kept an account of your visits and not deceived myself about all your compliments which only seemed to me pretentious and vapid. Our relations will stop here, Mr. Lambert. I cling to living with all those who approach me in perfect innocence and I intend that in their conduct as in mine there shall be no equivocation, no mental reservation, not even the least uncertainty.

(Lambert, very disconcerted, doesn't know what to say. He takes a step towards her. She invites him to withdraw. Lambert goes to the table and takes his hat.)

Lambert (aside)
Is she honest?

Louise (entering)
Miss Dupont, madame.

Madame Chevalier
Genevieve?

Louise
Yes, madame.

Madame Chevalier
With her mother?

Louise
No, madame, with her governess.

Madame Chevalier (pointing to the door to the right)
She is there?

Louise
Yes, madame.

Madame Chevalier (going to the door)
Come in, my child, come in.

Genevieve (in traveling costume, bag in hand)
Hello, madame.

Madame Chevalier
It's you! Why, let me embrace you.

Genevieve
You are surprised?

Madame Chevalier
A little.

Genevieve
For nothing in the world was I going to let this year go by without seeing Madame Chevalier of Fontainbleu.

Madame Chevalier
You are really sweet, really sweet. Your mother should have decided to accompany you.

Genevieve
She couldn't. Her husband, her house, and then two people who would fall suddenly on you. I have a letter from her—if I haven't lost it— which asks you to give me hospitality.

Madame Chevalier
She didn't need to write me.

Genevieve (giving her the letter)
Read it! Louise!

Louise
Miss?

Genevieve
Are the children well?

Louise
Yes, Miss.

Genevieve
What are they doing?

Louise
They are sleeping.

Genevieve
You won't tell them I'm here. I want to surprise them myself.

Madame Chevalier (reading the letter)
“My good friend, my daughter's been tormenting me for a long while to go spend several days with you and I haven't dared to refuse her this distraction—she has so few—despite the trouble this big child is going to cause you. I've, indeed, cautioned her to be peaceable, to hold her tongue as much as possible, and to put her visit to profit by impregnating herself with your admirable reason. My Genevieve, dear and good friend, is entered into her twenty-first year, and although I, indeed, weep often in secret, when thinking of the need to separate from her—the time has come to think of marrying her. To a good listener, greetings.”

(Madame Chevalier folds the letter and as she returns it she notices Lambert and Genevieve are exchanging greetings.)

Madame Chevalier (aside)
Well! That's the thing. They will suit each other perfectly.

Genevieve
Will you keep me, madame?

Madame Chevalier
Certainly I plan to keep you. One month, two months, for as long as you are not bored with us.

Genevieve
Thanks. Who is this gentleman?

Madame Chevalier
A neighbor.

Genevieve
Married?

Madame Chevalier
Yes, married. How do you like him?

Genevieve
Ordinary.

Madame Chevalier
Ordinary! Look again, Miss. I deceived you. He's a bachelor. Look at him carefully.

Genevieve
He's nice.

Madame Chevalier
Give me your bag. Take off your hat. (she takes the hat from her and readjusts her hair) You are going to rest a minute while I go with Louise to prepare your room. (smiling, going to Lambert, who is embarrassed by her approach) Stay. (astonishment by Lambert) I've changed my mind. I want you to remain now.

Lambert
Heavens! Heavens! She's humanizing.

(Exit Madame Chevalier with Louise.)

Genevieve
Do you know Madame Chevalier well?

Lambert
I've seen her frequently, Miss, since my visit here.

Genevieve
Charming woman, isn't she?

Lambert
Completely charming.

Genevieve
And happy.

Lambert
Is she really so?

Genevieve
Happy? Yes, happy. Happy!

Lambert
I thought that Madame Chevalier allowed herself to live without much regretting what she lacks.

Genevieve
What does she lack? Everything that a woman can desire, she's got. An honorable and solid position, a husband that she leads about by the nose, two children, a boy and a girl. You know the children, you've played with them, the loves.

Lambert
Yes, I noticed lately Miss Berthe who was giving a drubbing to her brother.

Genevieve
She beats him to a jelly. Two loves .

Lambert
These little kids are going to be very happy, Miss, seeing you arrive, a good friend of theirs.

Genevieve
Oh, a very good friend! I really love Madame Chevalier a lot, a lot. She's a second mother to me; it seems to me still that I love even more Gaston and his sister. I didn't see much of them since the came into the world and I think about them constantly. If one gets so attached to other people's children, how one must love one's own. I am really curious to know.

Lambert
You'll learn about that much later.

Genevieve
Certainly.

Lambert
And, you will be, it's easy to see, an excellent mother.

Genevieve
It's easy to see, isn't it? What a pleasure you do me in telling me that! Will I be an excellent wife? That's another matter. Naturally, I think a lot about getting married, as all young girls do, but how I'll behave in my private life, I don't really know. I don't know at all what kind of husband I want. One day, I want him to be dark, thin, serious, and he will be the master of his home, that's decided. The next day, I envision a blond, a little fat, a bon vivant who will give me the high hand in everything. In the end, I'll marry the one they present to me. It's such a little thing—a husband in a household! He comes, he goes—he's absent, he has occupations—meetings—one never has any. Look at Madame Chevalier with hers—she never sees him to speak of.

Lambert
Her great happiness, perhaps, is due to that.

Genevieve
Perhaps. That's very nasty, what you are saying to me, very nasty.

Lambert
Bah! Husbands have such good character.

Genevieve
Not always! Not always! I've observed them around me. Husbands young and old. There are a lot of sulkers who perpetually complain at home and when one sees them outside, they no longer resemble themselves. Do you approve of that? Some of them are secretive, who keep to themselves, and never speak of their affairs. We are not servants, we are companions. There are also those who look at other women when theirs are present. That's very hurtful. And if the poor little one isn't pretty, pretty, pretty, she makes reflections that are not rose- colored.

Lambert
They console themselves with children.

Genevieve
You are right. Children for a woman, that's the most of her life. She loves her parents first, she loves her children second—what is there remaining?

Lambert
There's her toilette, which also interests her quite a bit.

Genevieve
Her toilette! Yes, they think of it, at the beginning of a season.

Lambert
And then, and then—(imitating with his mouth a person who talks and talks and talks)

Genevieve
Indeed, that counts more. A woman couldn't live if she couldn't talk. We all have a need to speak—all of us. Madame Chevalier herself who, with mama, reproaches me for being a chatterer, also loves to have a conversation. It's true she brings so much judgement to it. What a charming woman. Isn't she?

Lambert
Completely charming.

Genevieve
And happy! (Lambert smiles) That's fair. I've already said it. Here's the peril when one talks a lot one repeats oneself. A young girl especially. Important subjects are forbidden to her.

Madame Chevalier (returning)
Come on, Genevieve, Louise is waiting for you to escort you to your room. If you want to freshen up, child, and change your dress, there's no time to lose. You'll take the children, bring down the umbrellas, straw hats, all that's necessary and we will go pay a visit to this gentleman's aunt. (Lambert smiles, Genevieve leaves) I was stupid just now. I was riding my high horse. One doesn't get angry with oneself because one has pleased a likeable bachelor who appreciates herself.

Lambert (aside)
Now it's working.

Madame chevalier
My husband has a great liking for you.

Lambert (aside)
Perfect—perfect.

Madame Chevalier
Everybody likes you. That's what prejudices me so much in your favor, although I don't know you sufficiently yet.

Lambert (aside)
She's lost.

Madame Chevalier
Sit down. (Lambert sits on the sofa, she goes to him) Move a little to make a place for me.

(Lambert doesn't move much.)

Madame Chevalier
Move further.

Lambert (aside)
I am going too fast.

(Pause.)

Madame Chevalier
How old are you?

Lambert (astonished, after a little smile)
Thirty.

Madame Chevalier
Not more?

Lambert
Not more.

Madame Chevalier
Thirty. The age is right. Your health is good?

Lambert
Excellent.

Madame Chevalier
You aren't deceiving me?

Lambert
I am very robust.

Madame Chevalier
You possess?

(An astonishment by Lambert, with a nuance of fright. He doesn't answer.)

Madame Chevalier
I ask you what you possess. An exact figure.

Lambert
A half million francs—and a few little things.

Madame Chevalier
Let's say a half million francs. In properties that are safe and negotiable?

Lambert
In properties that are safe and negotiable.

Madame Chevalier
That's fine. I wasn't speaking of your aunt. That will come when it comes. (she approaches him with friendship; he retreats in a comical way) Mr. Lambert, I've found a wife for you.

Lambert (stupefied and overwhelmed)
What, madame, you kept me—

Madame Chevalier
To marry you, yes. It seems my interrogatories were very clear.

Lambert
Oh! Very clear, assuredly.

Madame Chevalier
And I will add, quite natural, after your interview with this young girl.

Lambert
But, madame—

Madame Chevalier
Listen to me. Aren't you weary and ashamed at your age to be running to and fro like a real kid? When seeing all your friends with wives, children, a house well-furnished, don't you make a painful comparison between their existence and yours? Doesn't one always come to that necessity, to marriage, under the penalty of falling into some unadmittable liaison which has a thousand times the inconveniences and none of the advantages.

Lambert
At this moment you have my aunt's voice.

Madame Chevalier
What a conglomeration of security for a man when the person he marries is indeed of his world, and all the conveniences of age, family, and money find themselves united.

Lambert
Aunt's voice again.

Madame Chevalier
Presently it's no longer a matter of a young girl in the air who dwells in Bordeaux or Amsterdam—and that destiny five hundred leagues away from you. You know your intended, you've just seen her, you've spoken to her. It's impossible that you could have an unfavorable judgement of her. Reply.

Lambert
My God, madame. This young girl neither pleased nor displeased me.

Madame Chevalier
That's enormous, indeed enormous.

Lambert
As for the impression I could have made on her—

Madame Chevalier
She was struck by you.

Lambert
Ah!

Madame Chevalier
Struck.

Lambert
She told you that?

Madame Chevalier
No, a young girl never says things like that. But, either I am much deceived or she was vividly struck by you. You won't repeat that, will you?

Lambert
Oh, madame.

Madame Chevalier
Notice carefully, Mr. Lambert, that by proposing to my little Genevieve—Genevieve, what a pretty name!—I am working for you—and not for her. She's not a nightingale that I'm trying to place at a distance from here. Genevieve is very refined. She's refused several matches. Matches, allow me to tell you, much more brilliant than yours.

Lambert
In what way?

Madame Chevalier
In every way. I won't hide it from you.

(Pause.)

Lambert
She brings?

Madame Chevalier
You will enter into an honorable family.

Lambert
Yes, that's something. She brings?

Madame Chevalier
And what an education. The best, a provincial education.

Lambert
Yes, that's most advantageous. She brings?

Madame Chevalier
She brings two hundred thousand francs. Didn't I tell you?

Lambert
Two hundred thousand francs?

Madame Chevalier
Two hundred thousand francs.

Lambert
In properties safe and negotiable?

Madame Chevalier
In properties safe and negotiable. That's a dowry.

Lambert
That's a dowry.

(Lambert rises like a man undecided and violent. Pause.)

Madame Chevalier (rising)
Well, Mr. Lambert, is this marriage concluded?

Lambert
Not yet, madame.

Madame Chevalier
Really, this is taking a long while! Why?

Lambert
I am thinking it over.

Madame Chevalier
You can't think it over forever.

Lambert
The young girl is charming. I see her better, now. She has many things going for her, but if I marry her I will be married, right?

Madame Chevalier
That's indeed certain. A marriage of two hundred thousand francs is not usually refused. I didn't wish to speak to you of expectations.

Lambert
I am thinking of it. I've already evaluated them—approximately.

Madame Chevalier
Let's conclude then.

Lambert
Let's conclude. Let's conclude. Indeed, I see the reasons that could decide me, but I also see those which could hold me back.

Madame Chevalier
Which are?

Lambert
It seems to me that I am still young.

Madame Chevalier
All men think that until they are sixty.

Lambert
I have an aunt, you know—and to charge myself additionally with a mother-in-law.

Madame Chevalier
Oh, not that, not that!

Lambert
Hardly have Miss Genevieve and I found ourselves together.

Madame Chevalier
Bah! You'll have plenty of time to get acquainted.

Lambert
Are you certain that a frivolous, superficial young woman, without a serious mind, is, at her age, likely to get along with a man of my age?

Madame Chevalier
The equilibrium comes quickly. Go on.

Lambert
And then, a provincial education. With my habits, a little passionate.

Madame Chevalier
Marriage will calm you down. It seems that's its office.

Lambert
This young girl herself made me understand that her husband won't count for her.

Madame Chevalier
She's a child who doesn't know anything yet. You will always have her hanging about your neck.

Lambert
Why, madame, be careful. You are saying white, you are saying black.

Madame Chevalier
Yes, sir, I say black, I say white. I pay no more attention to what I reply to you than to what you ask me. Do you want to know why? Because it's all in the marriage—and without the marriage there's nothing. Are you satisfied? (pause) You will marry Miss Genevieve?

Lambert
No, madame.

Madame Chevalier
You will marry Miss Genevieve.

Lambert
No, madame.

Madame Chevalier
You will marry Miss Genevieve.

Lambert
No, madame, no.

(Pause.)

Madame Chevalier (going to him with volubility)
I am speaking to a judicious man, right?

Lambert
For certain.

Madame Chevalier
Who appreciates an orderly existence?

Lambert
Evidently.

Madame Chevalier
That marriage alone can give him?

Lambert
Undeniably.

Madame Chevalier
What I propose to you is reasonable?

Lambert
Certainly.

Madame Chevalier
Advantageous?

Lambert
Advantageous.

Madame Chevalier
And very agreeable in every respect?

Lambert
It is.

Madame Chevalier
Then, you say yes?

Lambert
I don't say yes.

Madame Chevalier
But, you aren't saying no?

Lambert
I am not saying no. I am going to see. I am considering.

Madame Chevalier
How much time do you need? Twenty-four hours? Do you want more? Do you want two days? So be it! Take two full days. That would be better. In that way, there will be no surprise on your part and no rush on mine.

(Pause.)

Lambert
I am, indeed, not very successful, madame, you must admit.

Madame Chevalier
Why?

Lambert
Why? I would really like for marriage to be preferable to love—but to present oneself for love and to be sent off with the other—nothing could be more disagreeable.

Madame Chevalier
You're going back to that!

Lambert
Only in passing.

Madame Chevalier
That's already too much.

Lambert
They often speak of women's imagination—one mustn't judge theirs by yours.

Madame Chevalier
Who knows.

Lambert
I haven't succeeded, then, in inflaming you?

Madame Chevalier
That's very probable. Perhaps you please me a lot in your household, but I've never seen you in mine.

Lambert
I found you perfect.

Madame Chevalier
Why not?

Lambert
You had conquered me completely.

Madame Chevalier
What good is that to one?

Lambert
Perhaps I'd have loved you forever.

Madame Chevalier
Don't regret a thing, believe me. Rather, congratulate yourself on having met a brave and wise friend who pushed you, a bit roughly perhaps, on your way. I know what you need better than you do yourself. Isn't it true, that a time comes when pleasure becomes boredom? When one no longer is passionate over woman hunting and the villainous world has lost its allure and shows its ugly side? On that day, well- born men, and you are among that number, turn instinctively towards honest houses. By entering mine, you asked something it could not contain for you. Make yourself another, in it's image. Madame Chevalier won't be there. Madame Lambert will be there. It's the same thing. We resemble each other completely. You will possess with her, and much more legitimately, all that you were hoping from me. This woman that you love here, that you find simple, frank, good, who seems to you so desirable in her home where no one breathes. Don't you see that it's yours?

(At this moment, at one of the French doors one sees Genevieve carrying Madame Chevalier's boy on her right arm and holding the little girl with her left. Louise is behind, holding an umbrella over them. Dresses are light and frilly to complete a seductive pose. Madame Chevalier continues.)

Madame Chevalier
Turn and look at this little group coming to find us so conveniently. There she is, this young girl who will be your wife tomorrow. She's fresh and rosy and candid! What a good little heart sleeps under that twenty year old breast. They'll give you two hundred thousand francs with this child. It's a shame you must refuse them. See a bit, she's already making her apprenticeship as a mother. Suppose that these two children, instead of being mine were yours, and then you will grasp all of the tenderness and joy as well as the dignity and good sense in the future I am leading you to. Come on, you are convinced. You no longer are asking me for forty-eight hours or even twenty-four hours because it only takes a minute to choose happiness for all one's life.

(Genevieve enters with the children and Louise.)

Genevieve
We are here.

Madame Chevalier
Put the children with their maid and come a little closer. I present to you Mr. Lambert, one of our good friends that you'll have as a neighbor at dinner tonight. (Lambert bows and Genevieve curtsies.) Is your governess still here?

Genevieve
Yes, madame. She's waiting for the hour to return.

Madame Chevalier
I am going to give her a letter for your mother.

(Madame Chevalier goes to the table. She writes as Lambert and Genevieve talk in low voices. The children are near them.)

Madame Chevalier (writing)
“My dear friend, Just two lines to announce to you Genevieve's arrival, and to make you share her approaching marriage if you complete what my admirable reason has begun. I happened to have in my home a young man, uncertain of his vocation, who was hesitating between the roles of lover and the occupation of marriage. He is sympathetic.” (interrupting herself, looking at Lambert) No charm. (resuming her letter) “Very suitable.” (interrupting herself again) No style. (resuming her letter) “Full of good qualities that marriage will develop.” (interrupting herself again) So much for that one who hoped to make me forget my duties! (resuming her letter) “And he'll make his wife very happy!”


CURTAIN