THERESE RAQUIN BY EMILE ZOLA

TRANSLATED AND ADAPTED BY FRANK J. MORLOCK

Etext by Dagny
  • Act I
  • Act II
  • Act III
  • Act IV
  • This Etext is for private use only. No republication for profit in 
    print or other media may be made without the express consent of the 
    Copyright Holder. The Copyright Holder is especially concerned about 
    performance rights in any media on stage, cinema, or television, or 
    audio or any other media, including readings for which an entrance fee 
    or the like is charge. Permissions should be addressed to: Frank 
    Morlock, 6006 Greenbelt Rd, #312, Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA or 
    frankmorlock@msn.com. Other works by this author may be found at 
    http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/personnage.asp?key=130

    C 2002


    Character List:

    Laurent

    Camille
    Grivet
    Michaud
    Madame Raquin
    Therese Raquin
    Suzanne

    Four men, three women.


    Scene:

    A large bedroom, by the Pont Neuf, serving at the same time as a
    living room and dining room. It is high, dark, dilapidated, hung with grey wallpaper that is losing its tint, furnished with poor furniture, cluttered with boxes of merchandise.

    At the back, a door flanked by a buffet to the left and an armoire to
    the right. Midstage to the left in cutaway, a bed in an alcove and a window giving on a wretched wall. Closer to the audience a small door and on the forestage a work table.

    To the right midstage, the entrance to a twisting stairway that
    descends into a shop. Closer to the audience a chimney decorated with a clock with columns and two bouquets of artificial flowers under glass. Photographs are hung on both sides of the mirror. In the middle of the room, a round table covered with an oil cloth. Two armchairs, one blue and the other green. Some other chairs.

    The decor remains the same during all four acts.


    Act I

    Eight o'clock. A summer evening after supper. The table is still set. The window is half open. A great bourgeoise calm and peace.

    Camille rests, seated in an armchair. He's dressed in the manner of a bourgeois. Laurent paints, standing at his easel by the window. On a low chair beside Laurent, Therese is doubled over, dreaming with her head resting on her hands. Madame Raquin is clearing the table.

    Camille (after a silence)
    Can I speak? It won't disturb you?

    Laurent
    Not at all, so long as you remain calm.

    Camille
    After supper, if I don't speak, I fall asleep. You are lucky to be in such good health. You can eat everything. I wouldn't have been able to take more cream. It makes me ill. I have a cheap stomach. You like cream a lot?

    Laurent
    Why, yes. It's sweet and very good.

    Camille
    They know your tastes here. They make the cream expressly for you. Indeed, it is just the opposite for me. Mama spoils you. Right, Therese? That Mama spoils Laurent?

    Therese (without raising her head)
    Yes.

    Madame Raquin (taking away a pile of place settings)
    Don't listen to them, Laurent. It was Camille who revealed to me that you prefer cream to vanilla. And it was Therese who wanted to lace it with powdered sugar.

    Camille
    You are an egoist, Mama.

    Madame Raquin
    What do you mean I am an egoist?

    Camille (to Madame Raquin who leaves, smiling)
    Yes, yes. (to Laurent) She loves you because you are from Vernon like she is. You remember when we were little—the coins that she gave us?

    Laurent
    You bought a bag of apples.

    Camille
    And you bought some little knives. It's a piece of luck that we bumped into each other again in Paris. It prevents me from dying of boredom. Oh! I bore myself. I bore myself to death. Evenings, when I came home from the office, it was real sad here! Can you still see clearly?

    Laurent
    Not much, but I intend to finish.

    Camille
    It's nearly eight o'clock. These summer evenings are so long! I would have wanted to be pictured with the sun. That would have been much prettier. In place of this deep grey which you are copying, you could have put in a pasture. But it's difficult in the morning if we want time to drink our coffee before going to our work. Say, this can't be good for the digestion to remain seated like this after dinner, motionless?

    Laurent
    You are going to be delivered. It's the last sitting.

    (Madame Raquin returns and clears the table completely and wipes it.)

    Camille
    Then, in the morning you would have had a much better day. We haven't any sun, but it gives on the wall facing us. That lights the room. Mama had a strange idea to come rent in the passageway of the Pont Neuf. It's dark. On rainy days you'd say it's a cellar.

    Laurent
    Bah! For a small business, everywhere is fine.

    Camille
    I can't say. Below, there are the shops of mercers which distract them. Only, as for me, I'm not comfortable in the shop.

    Laurent
    The apartment is comfortable.

    Camille
    Not at all. We have only a room for Mama besides this place where we cut and where we sleep. I'm not talking about the kitchen, a black hole. Nothing closes there and it freezes. At night, there's an abominable current of air coming through this little door giving on the stairway. (pointing to the door at the left)

    Madame Raquin (who has finished cleaning the table)
    My poor Camille, you are never satisfied. I acted for the best. It's you who wanted to come to work in Paris. I would have resumed my business as mercer in Vernon. When you married your cousin Therese, it was really necessary to get to work for the children that might arrive.

    Camille
    Ah, as for me, I was counting on living in a street where many folks passed by. I'd put myself in the window. I would have watched the carriages. It's very amusing. Meanwhile, when I open the window here, I see only the big wall facing me and the covering of the passage above me. The wall is blank and the roof is dirty with dust and with spider webs. I still prefer our windows in Vernon from which one sees the Seine which always flows.

    Madame Raquin
    I offered to return there.

    Camille
    My word, no! After I'd found Laurent in Paris. I only return at night, so it's all the same to me that the place is dreary if you are pleased with it.

    Madame Raquin
    Then, don't scold me any more about this lodging. (the tinkling of a bell is heard) There are people in the shop. Therese, aren't you going down? (Therese appears not to hear and remains motionless) Wait, I'll go see.

    (Madame Raquin goes down the twisting stairway.)

    Camille
    I don't want to aggravate you, but the passage is very unhealthy. I am afraid it will bring me a nasty affliction of the chest. As for me, I am not strong like the rest of you. (silence) Say, can I relax? I no longer have feeling in my left arm.

    Laurent
    If you like. I've only a few strokes more to make.

    Camille
    So much the worse! I can't keep it up any longer, I'm going to walk a bit. (rising and going to Therese) I've never understood how my wife can remain so calm, without budging even a finger, for hours. It's exhausting—someone who is always in the moon. As for you, that doesn't bother you, Laurent, to feel her like that beside you? Look, Therese, are you amusing yourself there?

    Therese (without budging)
    Yes.

    Camille
    I wish you great pleasure. It's only animals that can amuse themselves like that. When her father, Captain Degans, left her with Mama, she already had two black eyes, quite large and open, that frightened me. And the Captain! He was a terrible man. He died in Africa without ever having set foot in Vernon. Right, Therese?

    Therese (without budging)
    Yes.

    Camille
    If you think she's going to burn her tongue— (kissing Therese) She's a good wife all the same. Since Mama married us, we haven't had a quarrel. You're not mad at me?

    Therese
    No.

    Laurent (rapping Camille on the shoulder)
    Come on, Camille. I'm not asking you for more than ten minutes. (Camille sits back down) Turn your head to the left. Fine, don't move any more.

    Camille (after a silence)
    And your father, no news?

    Laurent
    No, he's forgotten me. Besides, I never write him.

    Camille
    It's odd all the same, between a father and a son. As for me, I couldn't—

    Laurent
    Bah! Father Laurent had his own ideas; he wanted for me to be a lawyer, to plead the continual cases he had with his neighbors. When he learned I was devouring the money for law school so as to run to the art workshops, he cut my support. It's not my idea to be an attorney.

    Camille
    Still, it's a fine position, and they pay you very well.

    Laurent
    I met one of my former comrades from college who is a painter. I was made to be a painter like him.

    Camille
    You should have continued. Perhaps you'd have a decoration today.

    Laurent
    I couldn't. I was croaking of hunger. So, I sent painting to the devil and I looked for employment.

    Camille
    Yet, you still know how to paint.

    Laurent
    I'm not very good at it. What pleased me about painting is that the job is fun and not tiring. Ah, how I regret that devilish attic workshop—the first times I went to my office. There was a divan where I slept. We had some nice weddings!

    Camille
    Did you use models?

    Laurent
    Certainly. A superb blonde came. (Therese rises and goes down to the shop) We have shocked your wife.

    Camille
    Ah, indeed, if you can imagine that she heard! She's got a bad head. But, she cares for me to perfection when I am ill. Mama, tonight, taught her how to make—

    Laurent
    I think she doesn't like me.

    Camille
    Oh! You know women! Haven't you finished?

    Laurent
    Yes, you can get up.

    Camille (rising and going to look at the portrait)
    Finished, completely finished?

    Laurent
    Nothing more than the framing to do.

    Camille
    Very successful, isn't it? (going to lean over the twisting stairway) Mama! Therese! Come see. Laurent is finished!

    (Madame Raquin enters, followed by Therese.)

    Madame Raquin
    What, he's finished?

    Camille (holding the portrait in front of himself)
    Yes, indeed. Come on.

    Madame Raquin (looking at the portrait)
    Ah, that's it! The mouth especially. The mouth is striking. Don't you think so, Therese?

    Therese (without coming closer)
    Yes.

    (Therese goes to the window where she forgets herself. She leans her face against the sill.)

    Camille
    And my suit! And my wedding suit, which I've only worn four times.

    Madame Raquin
    And the corner of the armchair!

    Camille
    Amazing! Like true wood! It's my armchair that we brought from Vernon. I'm the only one that uses it. (pointing to the other armchair) Mother's is blue.

    (Laurent is arranging his easel and his box of colors and moving to the right.)

    Madame Raquin (to Laurent)
    Why did you put black under the left eye?

    Laurent
    It's the shadow.

    (Camille places the portrait on the easel leaning against the wall between the alcove and the window.)

    Camille
    Perhaps it would be prettier without the shadow, but I don't care. I have a distinguished look. You'd say I'm on a visit.

    Madame Raquin
    My dear Laurent, how to thank you. You wouldn't even let Camille pay for the paints.

    Laurent
    Ah! It's I who thank him for having been willing to pose.

    Camille
    No, no. This cannot happen like that. I'm going to find a bottle of something. What the devil. We will celebrate your work.

    Laurent
    Oh, as to that, if you like. As for me, I am going to take the portrait for framing. Today is Tuesday. Grivet and the Michauds must find the portrait hanging in its place.

    (Laurent leaves. Camille takes off his suit, changes and puts on an overcoat that his mother hands him, and starts to follow Laurent.)

    Camille (turning back)
    What liquor would I be able to get?

    Madame Raquin
    It ought to be something that Laurent would like. The dear child is so good. It seems to me he is one of the family now.

    Camille
    Yes, he's a brother. Suppose I were to get a bottle of anisette?

    Madame Raquin
    Do you think he likes anisette? A fine wine would probably be better— with cakes.

    Camille (to Therese)
    You don't say anything. Do you remember if Laurent likes Malaga?

    (Therese leaves the window and comes forward.)

    Therese
    No, but I know he likes everything. He eats and drinks like an ogre.

    Madame Raquin
    My child!

    Camille
    Scold her! She can't abide him. He's already noticed it, he told me so. It's disagreeable. (to Therese) I don't understand why you thwart my friendship. What have you to reproach him with?

    Therese
    Nothing. He's always here. He lunches, he dines. You pass him the best cuts. Laurent here, Laurent there. That aggravates me, that's all. He isn't so funny. He's a gourmand and a lazybones.

    Madame Raquin
    Be nice, Therese. Laurent is not happy. He lives in an attic, he eats very badly on his own. I am gratified when I see him eat well and really warm up with us. He relaxes, he smokes, and that pleases me. The poor boy is alone in the world.

    Therese
    Do what you wish, after all. Pamper him, cajole him. You know that I am always content.

    Camille
    I have an idea. I'm going to get a bottle of champagne. That will do the trick.

    Madame Raquin
    Yes, a bottle of champagne will suitably pay for the portrait. Don't forget the cakes.

    Camille
    It's not yet eight-thirty. We only have until nine o'clock. They will jolly well be surprised to find champagne. (leaves)

    Madame Raquin (to Therese)
    You are going to light the lamp, right? I'm going down to the shop.

    (Exit Madame Raquin. After a moment, Laurent returns.)

    Laurent
    Therese

    Therese
    You, my Laurent. I felt you were going to come, my dear love. (she takes her hands and leads him to the front of the stage) It's been a week since I saw you. I expected you every afternoon. I hoped that you would escape from your office. If you hadn't come, I would have committed some stupidity. Tell me, why were you gone for a week? I don't want that any more. Our clasped hands, these evenings—and, in front of the others, so cold.

    Laurent
    I will explain to you.

    Therese
    You are afraid here. You are really childish, again! There's no other place where we will be so well hidden. (she raises her voice and takes a few steps) Can anyone suspect we love each other? Would anyone ever come to find us in this room?

    Laurent (pulling her back and taking her in his arms)
    Be reasonable. No, I am not afraid of coming here.

    Therese
    Then, you are afraid of me. Admit it. You're afraid that I love you too much and that I may upset your life.

    Laurent
    Why do you think that? Don't you know that you've got me, even in my sleep? I am going mad. Me, who used to mock women. What worries me, Therese, is that you've awakened, in the depths of my being, a man I didn't know. Then, sometimes, it's true, I am not calm. I think that it is not natural to love the way I love—and I am afraid that we will be led further than we would wish.

    Therese (head leaning on Laurent's shoulder)
    That will be a joy without end, a long promenade in the sun.

    Laurent (disengaging excitedly)
    Didn't you hear a step on the stairway?

    (Laurent and Therese listen, standing apart.)

    Therese
    It's the humidity making the steps crack. (they come close again) Go. Let us love each other without fear, without remorse. If you knew— Ah! what childishness. I was raised in the dark shadows of the room of a sick person.

    Laurent
    My poor Therese

    Therese
    Oh, yes. I was unfortunate. I remained for whole hours crouched before the fire, to watch stupidly as tea boiled. If I budged, my aunt scolded me. You understand, I mustn't wake Camille. I had the quiet tone of voice and trembling gestures of a little old lady. I seemed so clumsy that Camille laughed at me. And I felt myself robust, my child's fists were tight sometimes, I wanted to break everything. They told me that my mother was the daughter of a tribal chief in Africa. That must be true, I've dreamed so often of going on the roads, of escaping and of running on the highways with naked feet in the dirt. I would have begged for alms like a gypsy. Do you see? I would prefer wildness to this hospitality.

    (Therese has raised her voice. Laurent crosses the stage and listens anew.)

    Laurent
    Speak much lower. You are going to make your aunt come up.

    Therese
    Well, come up! So much the worse for them if I lie. (half sits on the table, arms crossed) I don't know why I ever consented to marry Camille. It was a planned marriage. My aunt waited until we were of age. I was twelve when she was already saying to me: “You will love him dearly, you will take good care of him, your cousin.” She wanted to give him a nurse, a mother. She adores this child that she has twenty times disputed death over, and she's raised me to be his serving girl. As for me, I didn't protest. They made me cowardly. The child, I pitied. When I played with him, my fingers squeezed his hands as if they were potters clay. I pitied him. The evening of our marriage, instead of going into my room which was to the left of the stairs, I went into Camille's room on the right. And that was all. But you, you, my Laurent—

    Laurent
    You love me?

    (Laurent takes Therese in his arms and slowly makes her sit to the right of the table.)

    Therese
    I love you. I've loved you since the day Camille pushed you into the shop. You remember, when you first came. I don't know how it happened. I was proud, I was carried away. I don't know in what way I loved you, I'd rather hate you. Seeing you insulted me, made me suffer. As soon as you entered, my nerves started to break and I sought this suffering. I awaited your coming. When you were painting, despite my revolted dumbness, I was nailed there, at your feet, on this stool.

    Laurent (kneeling before her)
    I adore you.

    Therese
    For all pleasure, Tuesday, this innocent of a Grivet comes regularly, followed by Old Michaud. You know them, these Tuesday soirees—with their eternal domino games. They nearly drive me mad. And Tuesdays succeed each other with their imbecilic regularity. But now, I am proud and avenged. I taste bad joys, when we are around this table, after the meal, exchanging friendly words. While you play dominoes, and in the midst of this bourgeoise peace, I evoke my dear memories. It's an additional voluptuary pleasure, my Laurent.

    Laurent (thinking he hears a noise and rising)
    I assure you, you are talking too loud. You will get us found out. I tell you, your aunt is going to come up. (listening at the top of the staircase and crossing the stage) Where is my hat?

    Therese (rising calmly)
    Bah! You think she's going to come up? (going to the staircase, then returning, lowering her voice) Yes, you are right, it's prudent for you to go. But, I want to talk with you tomorrow. You'll come, won't you? At two o'clock.

    Laurent
    No. Don't expect me. It's not possible.

    Therese
    Not possible? Why?

    Laurent
    My supervisor has noticed my continual leavings. He's threatened to fire me if I absent myself further.

    Therese
    Then, we won't see each other any more. You are breaking with me. That's your prudence. Ah, misery! You're a coward, you see.

    Laurent (taking her in his arms)
    No, we can make a calm life for ourselves. It's only a question of looking for, awaiting opportunities. Often, I've dreamed of having you all to myself for a whole day. Then, my desire increases. I want a month of you, a year, a complete lifetime. Listen, a complete lifetime for us to love; a complete lifetime for us to be together. I will quit my job. I will go back to doing painting. We will adore each other forever, forever. Would you be happy?

    Therese (smiling, catching her breath)
    Oh, yes. Quite happy.

    Laurent (separating from her, in a much lower voice)
    If you were finally a widow—

    Therese (dreamily)
    We should have money. We would fear nothing. We would realize our dream.

    Laurent
    I no longer see in the shadow anything but your shining eyes, your eyes which would drive me mad if I wasn't wise enough for both of us. We must say goodbye, Therese.

    Therese
    You won't come back tomorrow?

    Laurent
    No, but be confident. If we remain some time without seeing each other, tell yourself that we are working for our happiness.

    (Laurent embraces Therese and leaves by the small door.)

    Therese (after a moment of revery)
    Widow!

    Madame Raquin (entering)
    What, you are still without light? Ah, dreamer! Wait, the lamp is ready. I am going to light it.

    (Madame Raquin leaves by the door at the back. Camille arrives with a bottle of champagne and a box of cakes.)

    Camille
    Where are you then? Why don't you have lights?

    Therese
    My aunt went to get the lamp

    Camille (shivering)
    You are there. You frighten me. You could have spoken in a more natural voice. You know very well I don't like to joke in the dark.

    Therese
    I am not joking.

    Camille
    Exactly, I just noticed you, as pale as a ghost. These farces, they're stupid. Now, if I awaken tonight, I am going to believe that a woman in white is prowling around my bed to strangle me. No use laughing.

    Therese
    I am not laughing.

    Madame Raquin (entering with a lamp)
    What's wrong?

    (The stage lights up.)

    Camille
    It's Therese who's having fun frightening me. A bit more and I could have dropped the champagne bottle. That would have been three francs lost.

    Madame Raquin
    You paid only three francs?

    (Madame Raquin looks at the champagne bottle.)

    Camille
    Yes. I went as far as the Boulevard Saint Michel where I had seen that price posted at a grocer. It's as good as one for eight francs. You know quite well that these merchants are a bunch of thieves and that it's only the etiquette which changes.

    Madame Raquin
    Give it to me. I am going to put it on the table right away so Mr. Grivet and Mr. Michaud will be surprised by it when they enter. Pass me the plates, Therese.

    (They place the champagne between two plates with cakes. Then Therese goes to the work table and starts to knit.)

    Camille
    Mr. Grivet is exactitude itself. In a quarter of an hour, just as nine o'clock strikes, he will arrive. Be friendly to him, okay? He's only an assistant supervisor, but he can occasionally give me a good pat on the shoulder. He's a very strong fellow, no one doubts it. The senior employees affirm that for the last twenty years he's never been a minute late. Laurent was wrong to say that he didn't invent powder.

    Madame Raquin
    Our friend Michaud is also very punctual. At Vernon he was the Police Commissionaire, and he came at night. You remember? At eight o'clock precisely. We always complimented him on it.

    Camille
    Yes, but since his retirement and he retired to Paris with his niece, that little Suzanne leads him around by the nose. All the same, it's pleasant to have friends and receive them once a week. More often, that would cost too much. Ah, I wanted to tell you, before they arrive, I've made a plan on the train. You know, Mama, that I promised Therese to spend a Sunday at Saint Ouen, before the bad weather. She doesn't want to go out in the streets with me. She says it tires her, that I don't know how to walk. Still, I thought we might, perhaps, do well to go to Saint Ouen Sunday and to take Laurent with us.

    Madame Raquin
    That's it, children, go to Saint Ouen. I no longer have good enough legs to accompany you, but the idea is excellent. That will acquit you completely for Laurent's portrait.

    Camille
    Laurent is funny in the country. You remember, Therese, when he came with us to Suresnes? He's strong as a Turk, that comedian. He jumps ditches full of water, throws big stones to astonishing heights. At Suresnes, on wooden horses, imitating the postillion who gallops, the crackings of the whip, the blows of the spurs—so well that a whole crowd was there laughing till they wept. The mayor was sick of it, positively. Right, Therese?

    Therese
    He'd drunk enough at dinner to be funny.

    Camille
    Oh, you. You don't understand that one is having a good time. If there were only you to make me laugh, it would be a rough work day going to Saint Ouen. She sits on the ground, she looks at the water. After all, if I bring Laurent, it's because he distracts me. Where the devil has he— (a bell in the shop is heard) That's him! Mr. Grivet has seven minutes to go yet.

    Laurent (holding a scarf in his hand)
    They never finish in this shop. (looking at Camille and Madame Raquin who are speaking low) I bet that you are plotting something sweet again.

    Camille
    Guess.

    Laurent
    You are inviting me to dinner tomorrow and there will be a chicken with rice.

    Madame Raquin
    Gourmand!

    Camille
    Better than that. Sunday, I'm taking Therese to Saint Ouen and you are coming with us. Would you like to?

    Laurent (taking the portrait on the easel)
    Why, I should say I'd like to.

    Madame Raquin
    Above all, you will be prudent. Laurent, I am confiding Camille to you. You are strong. You are strong and I am more at ease when I know he's with you.

    Camille
    Mama bores me with her continual terrors. I cannot go to the end of the street without her imagining atrocious things. It's disagreeable to be always treated like a little boy. We'll go in a carriage to the fortifications. That way, we will only have one relay to pay. Then we will follow the road and spend the afternoon on the island. And in the evening, we will eat a picnic by the sea shore. Huh? Is it agreed?

    Laurent (fixing the scarf on the portrait)
    Yes. But they could complete the program.

    Camille
    What?

    Laurent (casting a glance at Therese)
    By adding a canoe ride.

    Madame Raquin
    No, no, no canoe. I wouldn't be easy.

    Therese
    If you think that Camille will take a chance on the water, he's really too afraid!

    Camille
    Me? Afraid?

    Laurent
    It's true. I was forgetting that you are afraid of the water. At Vernon when we boated on the Seine, you remained shivering on the shore. Come on, don't worry, we will suppress the canoe.

    Camille
    But, that's not true. I'm never afraid. We will go canoeing. What the devil? You will end by making me pass for an imbecile. We will see which of the three of us will be less fearful. It's Therese who's afraid.

    Therese
    Eh, my poor friend. You are already quite pale.

    Camille
    Make fun of me. We will see. We will see.

    Madame Raquin
    Camille, my good Camille, give up this idea. Do that for me.

    Camille
    Mama, I beg you. Don't torment me. You know quite well this will make me ill.

    Laurent
    Well! Your wife will decide.

    Therese
    Accidents happen everywhere.

    Laurent
    It's true. In the street, the foot can slip, a tile can fall.

    Therese
    Besides, you know, as for me, I adore the Seine.

    Laurent (to Camille)
    Then, it's agreed. You've won your case. We will go canoeing.

    Madame Raquin (aside to Laurent)
    My God, I cannot tell you to what degree this expedition worries me. Camille is so demanding, you see how carried away he gets.

    Laurent
    Don't be afraid. I will be there. Ah! I am going to hang that portrait.

    (Laurent hangs the portrait above the buffet.)

    Camille
    It will be a good day, won't it? (the shop bell rings, the clock strikes nine) Nine o'clock. There's Mr. Grivet.

    Grivet (entering)
    I am arriving first. Good evening, Madame, and everybody.

    Madame Raquin
    Good evening, Mr. Grivet. Would you like me to relieve you of your umbrella? (she takes the umbrella) Is it raining?

    Grivet
    The weather is threatening. (Madame Raquin places the umbrella to the left of the chimney) Not in that corner, not in that corner. You know my little customs. In the other corner. Thanks.

    Madame Raquin
    Give me your galoshes.

    Grivet
    No, no. I will fix them myself. (sitting on a chair which Madame Raquin pushes up for him) I do my little arranging, hey, hey. I like to have everything in its place, you understand. (placing his galoshes next to the umbrella) This way, I am not uneasy.

    Camille
    And you don't say anything about me, Mr. Grivet?

    Grivet (rising and coming into the middle)
    I left the office at 4:30. I ate at six at the Creamery of Orleans. I read my paper until seven o'clock at the Café Saturin. And, as today is Tuesday, instead of going to bed at nine as is my custom, I am here. (considering) That's all there is, I think.

    Laurent
    And you didn't see anything as you came here?

    Grivet
    Indeed, pardon, no. There were lots of people in the Rue Saint Andre des Arts. I had to change sidewalks. That irritated me. You understand, in the mornings, I go to the office by the sidewalk on the left and at night I return by the opposite sidewalk.

    Madame Raquin
    The sidewalk on the right.

    Grivet
    No, allow me. (miming the action) In the mornings, I go like this and in the evenings, when I return—

    Laurent
    Ah, very fine.

    Grivet
    Always the sidewalk on the left, right? I keep to my left, you know, like railroad trains. It's very useful so as not to be mistaken in the streets.

    Laurent
    But, what was everyone doing in the sidewalk?

    Grivet
    I don't know. How do you expect me to know?

    Madame Raquin
    Some accident, without a doubt.

    Grivet
    Heavens! It's true. There must have been an accident. That idea didn't come to me. My word, you calm me by telling me that it was an accident.

    (Grivet sits at the table.)

    Madame Raquin
    Ah, here's Mr. Michaud.

    (Suzanne and Michaud enter. Suzanne rids herself of her shawl, and goes to talk low with Therese who is still seated at her work table. Michaud shakes hands with everyone.)

    Michaud
    I think I'm late. (stops before Grivet who has drawn his watch and presents it to him with a triumphant air) I know—six after nine. It's the fault of this little one. (pointing to Suzanne) She has to stop at all the shops.

    (Michaud goes to put his cane beside Grivet's umbrella.)

    Grivet
    No, pardon me, that's the place for my umbrella. You know quite well that I don't like that. I left the other corner of the chimney for your cane.

    Michaud
    Right, right. We won't take offense.

    Camille (low to Laurent)
    Say, I think that Mr. Grivet is vexed because there is some champagne. He looked at the bottle three times and he's said nothing. It's astonishing that he's not more surprised than that.

    Michaud (turning and noticing the champagne)
    Ah, the deuce. You want to celebrate. Cakes and champagne.

    Grivet
    Heavens. There's champagne! I've only drunk that four times in my life.

    Madame Raquin
    We are celebrating the portrait of Camille that Laurent completed tonight. (she takes the lamp to light up the portrait) Look.

    (All follow her except Therese who remains at her work table and Laurent who leans on the chimney.)

    Camille
    It's striking, isn't it? I seem to be on a visit.

    Michaud
    Yes, yes.

    Madame Raquin
    It's still not dry. You can smell the paint.

    Grivet
    Indeed, so. I smelled an odor. There's an advantage of photography, no odor.

    Camille
    Yes, but once the painting is dry.

    Grivet
    Ah, certainly, once the painting is dry. It will dry soon enough. There's a shop in the Rue la Harpe that took five days to dry.

    Madame Raquin
    Then, Mr. Michaud, you find it good?

    Michaud
    It's very good. Completely good.

    (All come back and Madame Raquin puts the lamp back on the table.)

    Camille
    If you'd give us tea, Mama, we'll drink the champagne after the dominoes.

    Grivet (sitting back down)
    Fifteen past nine. We will hardly have time to do it right.

    Madame Raquin
    I ask only five minutes. Stay, Therese, since you are ill.

    Suzanne (airily)
    I am feeling well. I am going to help you, Madame Raquin. It amuses me to be lady of the house.

    (Suzanne and Madame Raquin leave by the door at the back.)

    Camille
    And you know nothing of news, Mr. Michaud?

    Michaud
    No, nothing. I took my niece to knit at the Luxembourg. Ah, yes, my word, there was something new. There was a drama in the Rue Saint Andre des Arts.

    Camille
    What drama? Mr. Grivet, as he was coming, saw lots of people in the street.

    Michaud
    That has been going on since this morning. (to Grivet) The crowd was looking up in the air, right?

    Grivet
    I couldn't say. I changed sidewalks. Then, indeed, it was an accident.

    Michaud
    Yes, in the trunk of a traveler who has vanished from the Hotel Bourgogne, a woman, cut into four pieces.

    Camille
    That is shocking.

    Grivet
    And there I was, passing by there. I recall now, they were looking into the air. Could they be looking at something in the air?

    Michaud
    They were looking at the window of the room where the crowd pretends they found the trunk. But the fact is certain, the window of the room in question gives on the court.

    Laurent
    The murderer has been arrested?

    Michaud
    No. One of my former associates who is leading the investigation told me that he's groping in the dark. (Grivet sneers, nodding his head) Justice has a great deal of trouble.

    Laurent
    But, the identity of the victim has been established?

    Michaud
    No. The cadaver was naked and the head wasn't found in the trunk.

    Grivet
    Doubtless it was carried away.

    Camille
    Mercy, dear sir! This gives me gooseflesh. Poor woman, chopped into four pieces.

    Grivet
    Eh! No, it's amusing to be frightened when one is perfectly sure one is in no danger. The stories of Mr. Michaud from the time when he was Police Commissionaire are very funny. You remember the cop who was buried with his hand full of carrot plants. He told us of that crime last autumn. That amused me greatly. What the devil! Here we know, quite well, there are no murderers behind our backs. This is the house of a good God. In a forest, I don't say. If I were crossing a forest with Mr. Michaud, I would beg him to be silent.

    Laurent (to Michaud)
    You think that many crimes remain unpunished?

    Michaud
    Yes, unfortunately. The disappearances, the slow deaths, chokings, sinister, without a scream, without a drop of blood. Justice passes and sees nothing. There's more than one murderer who's walking about calmly in the sun.

    Grivet (sneering more loudly)
    You want to laugh. And no one arrests them?

    Michaud
    If they are not arrested, my dear Mr. Grivet, it's because no one knows they've killed.

    Camille
    Then, the police don't do well?

    Michaud
    Eh! Yes, the police do well, but don't expect the impossible. I repeat to you, there are very happy murderers, living comfortably, loved and respected. You are wrong in your head, Mr. Grivet.

    Grivet
    I am wrong in my head. I am wrong in my head, leave me alone!

    Michaud
    Perhaps, you have one of those men amongst your acquaintances and he'll shake hands with you one day.

    Grivet
    Ah! No, for goodness sakes, don't say that. It's not true, you know. Indeed, it's not true. If I wanted to, I'd tell you a like story.

    Michaud
    Tell it, your story.

    Grivet
    Certainly. It's that of a magpie thief. (Michaud shrugs his shoulders) You know her, perhaps, you know everyone. There was once a serving girl imprisoned for having stolen a silver plate. Two months later, they found the plate in a magpie's nest when cutting down a poplar. It was a magpie that was the thief. The serving girl was released. You see, indeed, that the guilty are always punished.

    Michaud (sneering)
    Then, they put the magpie in prison?

    Grivet (getting annoyed)
    The magpie in prison? The magpie in prison! Is he dumb, this Michaud?

    Camille
    Eh! No. That's not what Mr. Grivet meant. You are not understanding him.

    Grivet
    The police don't do well, that's all. It's immoral.

    Camille
    Do you think they kill like that, without anyone knowing it, Laurent?

    Laurent
    Me? (crossing the stage, heading slowly towards Therese) Don't you see, Mr. Michaud is making fun of you. He wants to terrify you with his stories. How could he know what he says is not known to anyone? And, if there are skillful folks, so much the better for them, after all. (near Therese) Heavens, Madame is less credulous than you.

    Therese
    Surely. What's not known, doesn't exist.

    Camille
    Never mind. I would have much preferred to speak of something else. Would you? Let's talk about something else.

    Grivet
    As for me, I'd like that very much. Let's talk of something else.

    Camille
    Heavens, we haven't brought up the chairs from the shop. Come, help me.

    (Camille goes down.)

    Grivet (rising, grumbling)
    He calls talking of something else—finding some chairs.

    Michaud
    Are you coming, Mr. Grivet?

    Grivet
    Go ahead first. Magpie in prison, magpie in prison! Whoever heard of it? For a former Commissionaire of Police you've just given yourself up to a great deal of ridicule, Mr. Michaud.

    (Grivet and Michaud go down.)

    Laurent (abruptly taking Therese's hands, lowering his voice)
    You swear to obey me?

    Therese (low)
    Yes, I belong to you. Do with me what you will.

    Camille (from the shop)
    Hey! Laurent, big faker, aren't you going to come find your chair instead of letting these gentlemen come down.

    Laurent (shrugging, changing his voice)
    I am staying to pay court to your wife. (to Therese, softly) Hope! We will live happily with each other.

    Camille (from below, laughing)
    Oh, indeed, I permit you. Try to please Therese.

    Laurent (to Therese)
    And remember what you said: What is not known, doesn't exist.

    (Steps are heard on the stairway.)

    Laurent
    Take care!

    (Laurent and Therese separate excitedly. Therese resumes her solemn attitude before her work table. Laurent passes to the right. The other characters come back up, each with a chair, laughing in loud bursts.)

    Camille (to Laurent)
    Faker, go! Is he funny, this animal! All that, just so as not to give himself the trouble of coming down.

    Grivet
    At last, here's the tea.

    Madame Raquin (to whom Grivet shows his watch)
    Yes, I've taken a quarter of an hour. Sit down, we're going to recover the lost time.

    (Grivet sits to the left. Behind him Laurent. Madame Raquin's armchair is to the right. Michaud puts himself behind her. Finally, in the back, Camille installs himself in his armchair. Therese doesn't leave her work table. Suzanne joins her after the tea is served.)

    Camille (sitting down)
    There, here I am, in my armchair. Give me the box of dominoes, Mama.

    Grivet
    It's a pleasure. Tuesdays, when I awake, I say to myself: “Heavens, this evening I will go to play dominoes with the Raquins.” Well, you wouldn't believe it.

    Suzanne (interrupting him)
    Would you like me to give you some sugar, Mr. Grivet?

    Grivet
    With pleasure, Miss. You are charming. Two lumps, right? (resuming) Well, you wouldn't believe it.

    Camille (interrupting him)
    Aren't you coming, Therese?

    Madame Raquin (giving him the box of dominoes)
    Leave her alone. You know she's ill. She doesn't like to play dominoes. If someone comes into the shop, she will go down.

    Camille
    That's very vexing, when everybody's having fun, to have someone before you who's not having fun. (to Madame Raquin) Look, would you sit in, Mama?

    Madame Raquin
    Yes, yes, here I am.

    Camille
    You are, indeed, all together?

    Michaud
    Certainly, and this evening, I am going to beat you hands down. Madame Raquin, your tea is a bit stronger than last Tuesday's. But, Mr. Grivet is saying something.

    Grivet
    Me? I was saying something?

    Michaud
    Yes, you began a phrase.

    Grivet
    A phrase, you think? That's quite surprising.

    Michaud
    I assure you, don't I? Madame Raquin, Mr. Grivet was saying: Well, you wouldn't believe it.

    Grivet
    “Well, you wouldn't believe it.” No, I don't remember, not at all. If you're making a joke, Mr. Michaud, you know, I find it trivial.

    Camille
    You are all together? Then, let's begin.

    (Camille noisily empties the box of dominoes. A silence during which players mix the dominoes and share them.)

    Grivet
    Mr. Laurent isn't in it and he is forbidden to give advice. There, they're got seven. Don't mess it up, don't mess it up, do you hear, Mr. Michaud? (a silence) Ah, here's mine. I have a double six.

    CURTAIN


    Act II

    Ten o'clock. A year has gone by without anything changing in the room. The same peace, the same intimacy. Therese and Madame Raquin are in mourning. The characters are seated as at the end of the last act. Therese is at her work table with an air of being distracted and ill. Only Camille's armchair is empty.

    A silence during which Madame Raquin and Suzanne serve the tea, repeating exactly their roles as in the scene of the first act.

    Laurent
    You must distract yourself, Madame Raquin. Give me the domino box.

    Suzanne
    Would you like me to give you sugar, Mr. Grivet?

    Grivet
    With pleasure, Miss. You are charming. Two lumps, right? Only you can give me sugar.

    Laurent (holding the box of dominoes)
    Ah, here are the dominoes. Sit down, Madame Raquin. (Madame Raquin sits) Are we all here?

    Michaud
    Certainly, and tonight I am going to beat you all hollow. Let me put a little rum in my tea.

    (Michaud pours some rum into his tea.)

    Laurent
    You are all ready? Then, let's begin.

    (Laurent noisily empties the domino box. The players mix in the game and share.)

    Grivet
    This is a pleasure. There, they go seven. Don't meddle, you hear, Mr. Michaud? (a silence) No, today is not my day.

    Madame Raquin (abruptly bursting into tears)
    I can't, I can't. (Laurent and Michaud get up and Suzanne comes to the back of Madame Raquin's armchair) When I see you all, like before, around this table, I remember and my heart breaks. My poor Camille was here then.

    Michaud
    By Jove, Madame Raquin, be reasonable.

    Madame Raquin
    Pardon me, my old friend, I cannot. You remember how he loved to play dominoes? It was he who turned the box over. Laurent has exactly his gesture. And when I didn't sit down quickly enough, he scolded me. As for me, I was afraid of vexing him—that made him ill. Ah, our nice evening parties. And now, his armchair is empty, you see!

    Michaud
    Dear lady, you lack courage. You will end by putting yourself to bed.

    Suzanne (embracing Madame Raquin)
    I beg you, don't cry. That causes us all so much pain.

    Madame Raquin (weeping)
    You are right, I must be strong.

    Grivet (pushing his domino back)
    Then, it would be better not to play. It's unfortunate that what you are doing has that effect. Your tears will not bring your son back.

    Michaud
    We are all mortal.

    Madame Raquin
    Alas.

    Grivet
    If we come to visit you, it's with the intention of providing you some distraction.

    Michaud
    You must forgive us, my poor friend.

    Grivet
    Certainly. What the devil. Don't let's make ourselves sad. We are playing at doubles, huh? Would you like?

    Laurent
    Later. Let Madame Raquin have time to pull herself together. We are all weeping for our dear Camille.

    Suzanne
    Do you hear, dear lady? We are all weeping, we are all weeping with you.

    (Suzanne sits at Madame Raquin's knees.)

    Madame Raquin
    Yes. You are good. Don't be angry with me if I've disturbed the party.

    Michaud
    No one's mad at you. Only, a year after the frightful accident took place you ought to be reasonable.

    Madame Raquin
    I haven't counted the days. I weep because the tears rise to my eyes. Excuse me. I still see my poor child, dead in the troubled waters of the Seine, and I see him when he was quite small, when I put him to bed between the sheets. What a frightful death! How he must have suffered. I had a sinister presentiment. I begged him to abandon the idea of going on the water. He wanted to be brave. If you knew how I cared for him in the cradle! To save him from a typhoid fever, I spent three weeks on my knees without sleep.

    Michaud
    Your niece remains to you. Don't desolate her, don't desolate the generous friend who saved her and who despairs eternally at not being able to equally pull Camille from the river. Our sorrow is selfish. You are putting tears in Laurent's eyes.

    Laurent
    These memories are cruel.

    Michaud
    Eh! You did what you were able to do. When the canoe overturned, against a pier, I think—one of those piers was used to hold nets, wasn't it?

    Laurent
    That's what I thought. The shock threw all three of us into the water.

    Michaud
    Then, when you fell in, you were able to save Therese.

    Laurent
    I pulled her, she was beside me. I had only to take her by her clothes. When I went back, Camille had disappeared. He was in the front of the canoe; he was wetting his hands in the river; he was joking—he said the soup was cold.

    Michaud
    Don't recount those memories which make you shiver. You acted like a hero. You dove back three times.

    Grivet
    I should say so. Next day there was a superb article in my paper. They said Mr. Laurent deserved a medal. That will give goosebumps—reading how three people were thrown in the river, while their dinner was awaiting them at a restaurant. And a week later, when they found this poor Camille—there was yet another article. (to Michaud) You remember it was Mr. Laurent who came looking for you to identify the body with him?

    (Madame Raquin bursts out in tears again.)

    Michaud (in an angry tone, lowering his voice)
    Truly, Mr. Grivet, you ought to be able to be quiet. Madame Raquin was just calming down. You are giving such details—

    Grivet (stung, lowering his voice)
    A thousand pardons. It was you who began to discuss the accident. Since one is not playing, it is necessary to say something.

    Michaud (raising his voice bit by bit)
    Eh, you've cited that article in your paper a hundred times. It's disagreeable, you understand? Now, Madame Raquin will weep for a good quarter of an hour more.

    Grivet (rising and shouting)
    It's you who began it.

    Michaud
    Eh, no, dammit, it's you, so—

    Grivet
    Why not say plainly that I am ridiculous?

    Madame Raquin
    My good friends, don't argue. (Grivet and Michaud walk about, muttering bitter words) I am going to be good, I am not crying any more. These conversations comfort me. I love to speak of my misfortune and my unfortunate son, and this reminds me of what I owe to all. My dear Laurent, give me your hand. Are you angry?

    Laurent (going to her)
    Yes, with myself, for being unable to save both.

    Madame Raquin (holding Laurent's hand)
    You are my child and I love you. Every night I pray for you, you who wanted to save my son. I ask heaven to watch over your cherished existence. Go on, my son is above, he will hear me, and it's to him that you owe your happiness. Each time that you experience some joy, tell yourself that I was I who prayed for it and that it was Camille who exacted it from me.

    Laurent
    Dear Madame Raquin.

    Michaud
    That's fair, indeed, that's very fair!

    Madame Raquin (to Suzanne)
    And now, little one, return to your place. See, I made it for you. I'm smiling.

    Suzanne
    Thanks.

    (Suzanne rises and kisses Madame Raquin.)

    Madame Raquin (slowly getting into the game again)
    Whose turn?

    Grivet
    You indeed want to—ah, that's nice. (Grivet, Laurent and Michaud sit back in their places) Whose turn?

    Michaud
    Mine. There. (moving a domino)

    Suzanne (going to Therese)
    Dear friend, do you want me to tell you about the Blue Prince?

    Therese
    The Blue Prince?

    Suzanne (taking a stool and sitting near Therese)
    It's quite a story. I'm going to tell it to you in secret. My uncle has no need to know. Imagine that this young man—he's a young man. He had a blue suit and very wonderful mustaches—catlike—which went very well with him.

    Therese
    Pay attention. You uncle is listening to you.

    (Suzanne half rises and looks at the players.)

    Michaud (angrily to Grivet)
    Why, you played a five, just now, and now you're putting five anywhere.

    Grivet
    I played a five? Apologize. You are mistaken.

    (Michaud protests. The game continues.)

    Suzanne (sitting down and resuming in a low voice)
    I really laugh at my uncle when he plays dominoes. That young man came every day to the Luxembourg. You know, my uncle has the habit of sitting on the terrace at the third tree to the left, near the kiosk for newspapers. The Blue Prince sat at the fourth tree. He put a book on his knees and he watched me, as he turned the pages.

    (Suzanne stops from time to time, casting furtive glances at the players.)

    Therese
    That's all?

    Suzanne
    Yes, that's all that happened at the Luxembourg. Ah, I was forgetting. One day he saved me from a hoop that a little girl threw at me from a train. He gave the hoop a big tap to direct it another way. That made me smile; I thought of lovers who tossed their heads with hair blowing in disarray. The Blue Prince must have had the same idea. He started to smile, too, as he bowed to me.

    Therese
    And the novel stops there?

    Suzanne
    Why, no, it begins there. Day before yesterday, my uncle went out. I was very bored because our maid is very stupid. To amuse myself, I went up to the big telescope, you know, the one my uncle had at Vernon. You can see more than two leagues. From our terrace, you know, you can see all around Paris. I looked over by Saint Sulpice. There are three handsome statues at the foot of the great tower.

    Michaud (angrily to Grivet)
    Well! What! Now it's six—

    Grivet
    It's six. It's six. I see that plainly, by Jove, but I have to calculate.

    (The game continues.)

    Therese
    And the Blue Prince?

    Suzanne
    Be patient! I saw the chimneys, oceans of chimneys! When I turned the telescope a bit, all the chimneys marched, rushing on top of each other, lining up in a row like soldiers. The telescope was full of them. Then I noticed, between two chimneys, guess what? The Blue Prince!

    Therese
    Your Prince is, then, a chimney sweep?

    Suzanne (rising)
    Eh, no! He was on a terrace like me, and the most comical thing was that he was looking through a telescope like me. I clearly recognized him, he had his blue suit, along with his moustaches.

    Therese
    And he lives?

    Suzanne
    Why, I don't know. I only saw him in the telescope, you understand. Doubtless it was a long, long way off, near Saint Sulpice. When I looked with my eyes, I could only distinguish grey with spots of blue. I'd even almost lost him. The telescope moved and I was unable to reserve a voyage on the sea of chimneys. Still, I have one point of reference, the gables of a house near ours.

    Therese
    You've seen him again?

    Suzanne
    Yes, yesterday, today. Every day. Am I doing wrong? If you knew how small and pretty he is in the telescope! He's hardly as big as that; you'd say an image. I'm not afraid of it at all. Then, as for me, I don't know where he is, I don't know even if it is really true what you perceive in a telescope. It's all down there—when he does like this— (gestures blowing a kiss) I get hold of myself and I see only grey. I can believe, can't I, that the Blue Prince didn't do that? (she repeats the gesture) Since he's no longer there, since I vainly strain my eyes.

    Therese (smiling)
    You make me feel good. (looking at Laurent) Love your Blue Prince, always, in your dreams.

    Suzanne
    Ah, why, no! Hush, the game is over.

    Michaud
    Come on, the tow of us, Mr. Grivet.

    Grivet
    At your orders, Mr. Michaud.

    (They begin another game.)

    Madame Raquin (pushing her armchair to the right)
    Laurent, since you are already on your feet, would you be so obliging as to go find my basket where I put my wool? It ought to be on the dresser in my room. Take a light.

    Laurent
    There's no need.

    (Laurent leaves by the door at the back.)

    Michaud
    You have a real son there. He is so obliging.

    Madame Raquin
    Yes, he's very good to us. I charge him with our little commissions and in the evenings he helps us shut up the shop.

    Grivet
    The other day, I saw him selling some of the notions like a sales girl in a department store. Eh! Eh! A sales girl with a beard.

    (Grivet laughs. Laurent returns excitedly, eyes haggard, as if he were being pursued. For a moment Laurent leans against the armoire.)

    Madame Raquin
    Well? What's wrong with you?

    Michaud (rising)
    Are you ill?

    Grivet
    You are—?

    Laurent
    No, nothing, thanks. A dizziness.

    (Laurent crosses the stage with an uncertain step.)

    Madame Raquin
    And the basket?

    Laurent
    The basket? I don't know. I don't have it.

    Suzanne
    What? You a man, you were afraid?

    Laurent (trying to laugh)
    Afraid? Afraid of what. I didn't find the basket, that's all.

    Suzanne
    Wait. I will find it. And if I meet your ghost, I'll bring him to you.

    (Suzanne leaves. Laurent comes to himself, bit by bit.)

    Laurent
    You see, it's passing off.

    Grivet
    Your health is too good. It's the blood which torments you.

    Laurent (shivering)
    Yes, the blood is tormenting me.

    Michaud (sitting back down)
    You need something refreshing to drink.

    Madame Raquin
    Indeed, I've seen you agitated for a while. I will make you a little red tea. (to Suzanne who returns and gives her the basket) Ah, you found it.

    Suzanne
    It was on the commode. (to Laurent who's slowly gone to the left) Mr. Laurent, I didn't see your ghost. I must have frightened him when I entered.

    Grivet
    She's witty, that little one.

    (A bell rings in the shop.)

    Suzanne
    Don't disturb yourself. I am going down to serve.

    (Suzanne goes down the stairway.)

    Grivet
    A treasure, a real treasure. (to Michaud) We were saying that I have thirty-two and you have twenty-eight.

    Madame Raquin (after having looked in the basket which she has placed
    by the chimney) No, I don't find the wool I need. I've got to go down.

    (Madame Raquin goes down the stairway.)

    Grivet (rising a bit, lowering his voice)
    Eh! The game was almost going just now. It's not as gay as it used to be here.

    Michaud (likewise)
    What do you expect? When death passes through a house. But, don't worry, I've found a way to bring back our good Tuesdays of before.

    (Grivet and Michaud play.)

    Therese (low to Laurent who comes near her)
    You were frightened, weren't you?

    Laurent
    Yes. Do you want me to come tonight?

    Therese
    Let's wait. Let's still wait. Be prudent until the end.

    Laurent
    It's been a year that we've been prudent. A year that I haven't seen you. It would be so easy. I will reenter through the little door. We are free now. We ought not to be afraid to be together in your room.

    Therese
    No. Let's not tempt the future. We need a lot of happiness. Will we ever get enough of it?

    Laurent
    Be confident! We will calm ourselves in each other's arms—when it will be two of us against terror. When shall I come?

    Therese
    The night of our wedding. And it won't be long delayed, you see? The denouement approaches. Take care. Here's my aunt.

    Madame Raquin (who has come back up)
    Therese, go down, my daughter. They need you down there.

    (Therese leaves, seemingly overwhelmed. All follow her with their eyes.)

    Michaud
    Did you observe Therese just now? She lowered her head; she was very pale.

    Madame Raquin
    I study her every day, her eyes, her hands, all are agitated with feverish trembling.

    Laurent
    Yes, she has in her cheeks that rosy flame of consumptives.

    Madame Raquin
    You have noticed these alarming symptoms, my dear Laurent, and now I see them increasing. No sorrow will be spared me.

    Michaud
    Bah! You make yourself worry wrongly. It's nerves. She will come to herself.

    Laurent
    No. She's been struck to the heart. There's something like a goodbye in her long silences, in her pale smiles. It will be a slow agony.

    Grivet
    You are consoling, my dear boy. You must make her gay, this dear Therese, instead of letting her wade in these funereal ideas.

    Madame Raquin
    Alas, my friend, Laurent is speaking the truth. The wound is to the heart. She doesn't want to be consoled. Each time that I try to make her hear reason, she becomes impatient, even angry. She seeks refuge in her sorrow like a wounded animal.

    Laurent
    We must resign ourselves.

    Madame Raquin
    It will be a last blow. I have only her; I was counting on her closing my eyes. If she were to go, I would remain alone at the bottom of this shop. I would die in a corner. Ah, heavens! I am really wretched. I don't know what ill wind entered our home.

    (Madame Raquin weeps.)

    Grivet (timidly)
    There, no one is playing anymore?

    Michaud
    Be patient. (rising) Look, I want to find a remedy. At Therese's age— what the devil! All is not inconsolable. Did she weep a lot, after the terrible catastrophe at Saint Ouen?

    Madame Raquin
    No. She wept with great difficulty. She had a dumb sorrow, an apathy of spirit and body, as if she'd walked a great deal. She seemed dumb. She became very fearful.

    Laurent (shivering)
    Very fearful?

    Madame Raquin
    Yes. One night I heard her uttering choked screams. I ran to her. She didn't recognize me. She stuttered.

    Laurent
    Some nightmare. And she spoke? What did she say?

    Madame Raquin
    I didn't understand a thing. She was calling Camille. At night, she no longer dares to go up without a light. In the mornings, she's very exhausted. She drags herself about, she has tired gestures, empty looks which terrify me. I know, indeed, that she's going, that she intends to join my other poor child.

    Michaud
    Well! Dear lady, my little investigation is complete. I will tell you plainly what I think. But, first let them leave us.

    Laurent
    You want to remain alone with Madame Raquin?

    Michaud
    Yes.

    Grivet (rising)
    Fine. We will leave you. (coming back) You know that you owe me, Mr. Michaud. You will call me. I am at your orders.

    (Laurent and Grivet leave by the door at the back.)

    Michaud
    Come, my old friend. I am going to be a bit brutal.

    Madame Raquin
    What do you advise me? If we could only save her!

    Michaud (lowering his voice)
    You must marry Therese.

    Madame Raquin
    Marry her! Ah, you are cruel. I would think I was losing my poor Camille a second time.

    Michaud
    Hell! I'm not being sentimental. I am a doctor, if you like.

    Madame Raquin
    No, it's impossible. You see her tears. She would repulse such an idea with indignation. My son is not forgotten. You are making me suspect your delicacy, Mr. Michaud. Therese cannot marry with Camille in her heart. That would be a profanation.

    Michaud
    If you take such a haughty tone! A woman who is afraid to go alone to her room at night needs a husband. What the devil!

    Madame Raquin
    And this stranger that we would be introducing into our bosoms and our home! All my waking hours would be terrible. We might make a bad choice, disturb what little peace remains to us. No, no. Let me alone to die with my mourning about me.

    (Madame Raquin sits in an armchair to the right.)

    Michaud
    Doubtless, we must find a brave heart who would make at the same time a good husband for Therese and a good son for you—who would, in a word, completely replace Camille. Wait! Hold on. Laurent!

    Madame Raquin
    Him!

    Michaud
    Ah, yes! What a pretty couple they would make. My old friend. Such is the advice I am giving you. You must marry them to each other.

    Madame Raquin
    Them!

    Michaud
    I was sure that you were going to protest. It's a plan I've nurtured for a long while. Consider, believe in my watchful experience. If, to put a lost joy in your old age, you were to resolve to marry Therese, to save her from the slow sorrow which is killing her, where would you find a better husband than Laurent?

    Madame Raquin
    It seems to me that they were brother and sister.

    Michaud
    Ah! Think of yourself! As for me, I wish you all the happiness. The good times will return. You will still have two children to close your eyes.

    Madame Raquin
    Don't tempt me. You are right. I need a little consolation. But, I am afraid we would be doing wrong. My poor Camille would punish us for forgetting him so soon.

    Michaud
    Who is talking about forgetting him? Laurent always has his name in his mouth. That doesn't leave the family. What the devil!

    Madame Raquin
    I am really old. My knees don't work any more. I would like to die peacefully.

    Michaud
    Come on, you are convinced. It's the only way to avoid introducing a stranger into your home. You are only tightening the links of friendship. And I want you to be a grandmother with kids who bounce on your knees. You are smiling. I know, indeed, I am making you smile.

    Madame Raquin
    Oh, but it's wrong. It's wrong to smile. My friend, my soul is full of trouble. But, as for them, they will never want it. They don't think of these things.

    Michaud
    Bah! We are going to bring the business off smoothly. They are too reasonable not to understand that their marriage is necessary to the happiness of this house. It's in that sense they must be spoken to. I will deal with Laurent. I will convince him while closing the shop. Meanwhile, you will tell the thing to Therese. And we will engage them tonight.

    Madame Raquin (rising)
    I am trembling already.

    Michaud
    Wait, here she is. I will leave you.

    (Michaud goes out as Therese comes in.)

    Madame Raquin (to Therese, who seems downbeaten)
    What's wrong with you, my child? All night, you haven't said a word. I beg you, try to be a little less sad. Do that for the gentlemen. (Therese makes a vague gesture) I know. One cannot command one's sadness. Are you ill?

    Therese
    No. I am just exhausted.

    Madame Raquin
    If you are ill, it would be better to say so. It would be wrong to let yourself go without wanting someone to take care of you. You have palpitations, perhaps? Heavings of the chest, right?

    Therese
    No. I don't know. I've got nothing. It seems to me that everything is going to sleep around me.

    Madame Raquin
    Dear child, you cause me a lot of pain with your silences, your tears. I have only you.

    Therese
    Is it you who are advising me to forget?

    Madame Raquin
    I haven't said that. I cannot say that. But I have a duty to question you, to not impose my mourning on you, to know if it's a consolation for you. Answer me frankly.

    Therese
    I am just exhausted.

    Madame Raquin
    I insist that you answer me. You live alone too much, you are loved, right? At your age, you cannot weep eternally.

    Therese
    I don't know what you want me to say.

    Madame Raquin
    I am not saying anything. I am questioning you. I am trying to find where your illness is. To live always with a woman in tears is not gay! I understand that. Then, this room is very large, very dark, and perhaps you desire—

    Therese
    I don't desire anything.

    Madame Raquin
    Listen, don't get angry. It's a villainous idea that came to us. We've thought of marrying you.

    Therese
    Me! Never! Never! Why do you doubt me?

    Madame Raquin (very moved)
    I told him, indeed, she cannot forget him, he is still in her heart. He's the one who urged me on. And he is right. You see, my child? The house is too sad. Everyone will flee from us. Go on, you would do well to listen to him.

    Therese
    Never.

    Madame Raquin
    Yes, remarry. I don't remember any more the convincing things he said to me, but he convinced me. I took charge of convincing you. I am going to call Michaud, if you like. He will speak better than I.

    Therese
    My heart is closed. It won't listen. Let him leave me alone, I beg you. (goes to the left) Me, remarry? Great God! And with whom?

    Madame Raquin
    He had a good idea. He found someone. Michaud is downstairs talking to Laurent about it now.

    Therese
    Laurent! It's Laurent that you thought of! But, I don't love him. I don't want to love him.

    Madame Raquin
    I assure you, he is right. I am of his opinion. Laurent is almost family. You know how good he is, how useful he is to us. At first, I was insulted, like you. It seemed to me it was bad. Then, on consideration, I thought you would be less unfaithful to the memory of the one who is no more by marrying his friend, your savior.

    Therese
    But, as for me who weep—me who wants to weep?

    Madame Raquin
    I am pleading against your tears—and mine. Look, He wants us to be happy. Still, he told me that I will have two children who will make the place sweet and gay—and who will help me to peacefully await death. I am selfish. I need to see you smile. Consent. Do this for me.

    Therese
    My dear, you know I have always been resigned, that I've never wanted anything but to satisfy you.

    Madame Raquin
    Yes, you are a good daughter. (trying to smile) This will be my last spring. We will arrange a life, and you will have less cold in our home. Laurent will love you well. You know that I will marry him a bit myself. You will lend him to me for my little errands, for my old woman's caprices.

    Therese
    Dear Aunt, I was really counting on your letting me live in peace.

    Madame Raquin
    You consent, right?

    Therese
    Yes.

    Madame Raquin (very moved)
    Thank you, my daughter. You are making me really happy. (falling into a chair at the right of the table) Oh, my poor child, my poor deceased. It's I who have betrayed you first.

    (Michaud enters. Then Suzanne, Grivet and finally Laurent enter.)

    Michaud (low to Madame Raquin)
    I convinced him, but it wasn't easy. He's doing it for you, you understand. I pleaded your case. He's coming up. He's putting up the shutters. And Therese?

    Madame Raquin (low)
    She consents, too.

    (Michaud goes to Therese at the back left and speaks to her very low.)

    Suzanne (arriving, followed by Grivet and continuing a conversation
    begun with him) No, no, Mr. Grivet, you are an egoist. I won't dance with you at the wedding. What? You didn't marry so as not to disturb your little habits?

    Grivet
    Certainly, Miss.

    Suzanne
    Fie! What a villainous man. You hear? Not a dance, not a step as big as this.

    (Suzanne goes to Therese and Michaud.)

    Grivet
    All these little girls think it's fun to get married. I tried five times. (to Madame Raquin) You recall the last time? It was with that large mademoiselle who gave lessons. The banns were published. Everything was going fine, when she admitted to me she drank coffee in the morning. As for me, I detest coffee in the morning. I've been taking chocolate for the last thirty years. That would have turned my life upside down—and I broke it off. I did right, didn't I?

    Madame Raquin (smiling)
    Doubtless.

    Grivet
    Ah! When one understands oneself, it's a pleasure. So Michaud saw right away that Therese and Laurent were made for each other.

    Madame Raquin (gravely)
    You are right, my friend.

    (Madame Raquin rises.)

    Grivet
    As they say in the song: It takes different kinds of spouses To make a marriage bond. (looking at his watch) The devil! Five minutes to eleven.

    (Grivet sits at the right, puts on his galoshes and takes his umbrella.)

    Laurent (entering and coming to Madame Raquin)
    I've just spoken of your happiness with Mr. Michaud. Your children want to make you happy, dear mother.

    Madame Raquin (very moved)
    Yes, call me your mother, my good Laurent.

    Laurent
    Does Therese want us to make a life for our mother that is sweet and peaceful?

    Therese (who comes up)
    I want it. We have a duty to fulfil.

    Madame Raquin
    O, my children! (taking their hands and holding them in hers) Marry her, Laurent, make her not be so sad—and my son will thank you. You will, indeed, give me joy. All I ask of heaven is that it not punish us.

    CURTAIN


    Act III

    Three o'clock in the morning. The room is quite white. A large clear fire. A lit lamp. White covers on the bed. Foot covers decorated with lace. Big bouquets of roses everywhere, on the chimney, on the table.

    Therese, Madame Raquin, and Suzanne, dressed for a wedding, enter by the door at the back. Madame Raquin and Suzanne no longer have their shawls nor their hats. Therese is in grey silk. She goes to sit at the left with an exhausted air. Suzanne remains at the door and argues for a moment with Grivet and Michaud, in black suits, who want to follow the ladies.

    Suzanne
    Indeed, no, uncle! Indeed, no, Mr. Grivet. You can't go into the married couple's room! What you are doing is unsuitable.

    (Michaud and Grivet enter anyway.)

    Michaud (low to Suzanne)
    Be quiet. This is farcical. (low to Grivet) You've got the package, Mr. Grivet?

    Grivet
    Certainly. Since this morning, in my coat pocket. Didn't bother me a lot in the church and the restaurant.

    (Grivet sarcastically approaches the bed.)

    Madame Raquin (with a smile)
    Come, gentlemen, you cannot be present at the dressing.

    Michaud
    The dressing! Ah, dear lady, what a charming thing. If you need us, we will help you. (joins Grivet)

    Suzanne (to Madame Raquin)
    I've never seen my uncle so gay. He was pink, pink at dessert.

    Madame Raquin
    Let them laugh. On the evening of a wedding anniversary it is permitted. At Vernon there were many like that. They couldn't close their eyes at night.

    Grivet (coming to the bed)
    This bed is soft. Touch it, Mr. Michaud.

    Michaud
    Ah! There are at least three mattresses. (low) Did you bury it in it?

    Grivet (low)
    Right in the middle!

    Michaud (bursting into laughter)
    Ha! Ha! You are very comical. Positively.

    Grivet (laughing as well)
    Ha! Ha! It succeeded, didn't it?

    Madame Raquin (smiling)
    Gentlemen. It is waiting on you.

    Suzanne
    Look, when are you going? You are irritating in the end!

    Michaud
    Right, right, we are leaving.

    Therese (rising, then sitting back down)
    Thank you, gentlemen.

    Grivet (shaking Madame Raquin's hand as he withdraws)
    You are not mad at us, dear lady?

    Madame Raquin
    What nonsense, my old friend, on a wedding night.

    (Michaud and Grivet slowly exit with laughter.)

    Suzanne (locking the door behind them)
    And don't come back! Only the husband has the right to come in, and, even then, only when we permit him.

    Madame Raquin
    You must undress, Therese. It's almost three o'clock.

    Therese
    I am broken with fatigue. This ceremony, this carriage ride, this meal which never ends. Let me alone for a minute, I beg you.

    Suzanne
    Yes, it was very hot in that restaurant. I had a headache, but it dissipated in the carriage. (to Madame Raquin) It's you who must be worn out with your bad legs! The doctor has even forbidden you to tire yourself so much.

    Madame Raquin
    Only a terrible shock could be fatal to me, and today I have only delicate emotions. Things went well, didn't they? It was suitable?

    Suzanne
    The Mayor did everything with style. When he started reading in the little red book, the husband lowered his head. Mr. Grivet placed a superb signature on the register.

    Madame Raquin
    At the church, the priest was very touching.

    Suzanne
    Oh, everybody wept. And in the afternoon, so many folks on the boulevards. Indeed, we went twice from the Madeleine to the Bastille. Folks watched us with a comic air. Half the wedding party was sleeping when we arrived at the restaurant—The Batignolles. (laughs)

    Madame Raquin
    Therese, you must undress, my child.

    Therese
    Another minute. Talk for a minute more.

    Suzanne
    Would you like me to serve as your chambermaid? Wait. Now, let me do it. That way, you won't tire yourself.

    Madame Raquin
    Give me her hat.

    (Suzanne removes Therese's hat and gives it to Madame Raquin who places it in the armoire.)

    Suzanne
    There, you see, you have no need to fret. Ah, still, you've got to stand up if you want me to remove your dress.

    Therese (rising)
    How you torture me!

    Madame Raquin
    Daughter, it's late.

    Suzanne (unhooking the dress, removing the pins)
    A husband! That must be terrible. One of my friends who is married weeps and weeps. You are almost shaking and your figure is very slim. You are right to wear corsages that are a bit long. Ah, here's a pin, for goodness sake, which hangs on mighty tight. I want to go find Mr. Grivet. (laughs)

    Therese
    The shivers are getting me. Hurry, my dear.

    Suzanne
    We are going to put you in front of the fire. (Suzanne and Therese go to the fireplace) Heavens, you have a tear. Your silk is magnificent, it clings. Ah, how nervous you are, my good friend! You are shaking like Thisbe under my hands. Thisbe is a pussycat my uncle gave me. I am taking great care not to prick you.

    Therese
    I am a little feverish.

    Suzanne
    I am at the last hook. There! (raises the dress and gives it to Madame Raquin) I'm done. I'm going to fix your hair for the night. Now, how would you like it?

    Madame Raquin
    That's that.

    (Madame Raquin leaves by the back, carrying the dress. Suzanne makes Therese sit before the fire.)

    Suzanne
    Now, there. You are all red. You were rather pale, like a corpse.

    Therese
    It's the fire which is grasping me.

    Suzanne (behind her, undoing her hair)
    Lower your head a bit. You have superb hair. Say, good friend, I would like to ask you, I am very curious. You know little girls like to be informed. Your heart is beating very hard and it's for that you are trembling, isn't it?

    Therese
    My heart isn't seventeen years old like yours, my darling.

    Suzanne
    I'm not annoying you, at least? All day, I as thinking that if I were in your place, I would be very stupid, and so, I promised myself to see how you would dress for the night, so as not to seem clumsy when my time comes. You are a little sad, but you are courageous. As for me, I'd be afraid of bawling like a dummy.

    Therese
    Blue Prince is then a terrible Prince?

    Suzanne
    Don't make fun. You are becoming, with your hair down. You resemble one of those queens one sees in pictures.

    Therese
    Do it simply, the hair.

    (Madame Raquin returns and takes a white peignoir from the armoire.)

    Suzanne (redoing Therese's hair)
    If you promise not to laugh, I will tell you what I would experience in your place. I would be content, oh, why content as I have never been. And with that, I would be atrociously frightened. He would appear to me to walk on clouds, to enter into something unknown, both sweet and terrifying—with very soft music, with very subtle perfumes. And I would come forward in a white light, thrust forward despite myself by a profound joy so that I would be afraid of dying. Isn't that what you feel?

    Therese
    Yes. (in a low tone) Music, perfume, a great light. The whole spring of youth and love.

    Suzanne
    But, you still—

    Therese
    I've caught cold. I can't warm up.

    Madame Raquin (coming to sit in the corner of the chimney)
    I'm going to warm up your peignoir.

    (Madame Raquin holds the peignoir to the fire.)

    Suzanne (resuming)
    And, if the Blue Prince were waiting, as Mr. Laurent is waiting, I would do something to make him impatient. Then, when he was at the door. Oh! Then I would become stupid, I would try to make myself small, quite small and I would try to prevent him from finding me.

    Madame Raquin (turning the peignoir and smiling)
    You mustn't think of it, Suzanne. Children have only dolls, flowers and husbands on their minds.

    Therese
    Life is rougher.

    Suzanne (to Therese)
    Is it not what you've experienced?

    Therese
    Yes. (in a lower tone) I would have preferred not to marry in winter, in this room. In Vernon, in May, the acacias are in flower, the nights are warm.

    Suzanne
    Your hair is all done. (Therese and Madame Raquin rise) You are going to put on your peignoir now. It is all warmed up.

    Madame (helping Therese to put on her peignoir)
    It almost burns my hands.

    Suzanne
    You aren't cold any more, I hope?

    Therese
    Thank you.

    Suzanne (looking at her)
    Ah! You are sweet. You seem like a true bride in all these laces.

    Madame Raquin
    Now, we are going to leave you alone, my child.

    Therese
    Only! Only! Wait! It seems to me I still have something to tell you.

    Madame Raquin
    No. Don't talk. As for me, I'm avoiding speaking—you see plainly. I don't want to put you in tears. If you knew what an effort I've had to make since this morning! My heart has been lacerated and yet I must be, I am, happy. Everything is finished. You've seen how gay our old friend Michaud is. You must be gay also.

    Therese
    You are right. I have a sick head. Goodbye.

    Madame Raquin
    Goodbye. (returning) Tell me, you don't have any shyness? You are not hiding some suffering from me? That's what keeps me going, it's the thought we have made your happiness. You will love your husband, who deserves both our tendernesses. You will love him as you loved— No, I have nothing to tell you, I don't want to tell you. We've done our best and I wish you much joy, my daughter, for all the comfort you have given me.

    Suzanne
    You'd think you were leaving her with a band of wolves, this poor Therese, in the depths of a cave. The cave smells nice. There are roses everywhere. It's nice and sweet, like in a nest.

    Therese
    These flowers are expensive. You've been foolish.

    Madame Raquin
    I know how you love spring. I wanted to put a little corner of it in your room on your wedding night. You might dream like Suzanne and think you are visiting the gardens of paradise. You are smiling, you see. Be happy, amidst your roses. Goodbye, my child. (kisses her)

    Suzanne
    And, as for me, aren't you going to kiss me, good friend? (Therese kisses her) Now, there, you've become quite pale again. It's the Blue Prince who's coming. (looking around before leaving) Oh, this is terrible—a room like this full of roses.

    (Suzanne and Madame Raquin leave. Therese remains alone, sitting near the fire. A silence. Laurent enters softly dressed for a wedding. He locks the door and comes forward with a triumphant air.)

    Laurent
    Therese, my love.

    Therese (pushing him away)
    No, wait. I'm cold.

    Laurent (after a silence)
    Still, here we are alone, my dear Therese, away from others, free to love each other. Life is ours. This room is ours and you are mine, dear wife, because I've conquered you and you, indeed, wanted to give yourself.

    (Laurent tries to kiss Therese. She pushes him away.)

    Therese
    Not now, I am quite shivering.

    Laurent
    Poor angel. Give me your feet so I can warm them in my hands. (kneeling before her, he tries to take her feet, but she pulls them away) It's because the hour has come, you see. Remember. We've been waiting a year. We've been working a year for this night of love. We need it, right? To pay ourselves for all our prudence and all that you know about—our suffering, our anguish.

    Therese
    I remember. Don't stay there. Sit for a moment. We will talk.

    Laurent (rising)
    Why are you trembling? I've locked the door and I'm your husband. Before, when I came to you, you didn't tremble. You laughed, you talked loud, at risk of getting us discovered. Now, you speak in a low voice, as if someone were listening behind these walls. Go on. We can raise our voices and laugh and love each other. This is our wedding night. No one will come.

    Therese (with emotion)
    Don't say that. Don't say that. You are paler than I am, Laurent, and your tongue stutters in saying these things. Don't pretend to be brave. Wait until we dare to embrace each other. You are afraid of seeming like an imbecile, aren't you? By not taking a kiss from me. You are a child. We aren't married like the rest. Sit down. Let's talk.

    (Laurent steps behind her and leans on the chimney while she resumes in another tone of voice, both familiar and indifferent.)

    Therese
    There was a lot of wind today.

    Laurent
    A very cold wind. It calmed down a little in the afternoon.

    Therese
    Yes. There was a lot of hair flying in the boulevards. No matter. The apricot trees will do well not to rush into flower.

    Laurent
    The freezing winds in March are very bad for the fruit trees. At Vernon, you must recall—

    (Laurent stops. Both dream for a moment.)

    Therese (in a hoarse voice)
    At Vernon. That was childhood. (resuming her familiar indifferent tone) Then, put a log on the fire. It's beginning to get nice here. Do you think it will soon be four o'clock?

    Laurent (looking at the clock)
    No, not yet.

    (Laurent steps to the left to sit at the end of the chimney.)

    Therese
    It's astonishing the night is so long. Are you like me? I don't like to go in carriages. Nothing is more stupid than to roll around for hours. It puts me to sleep. I also detest eating in restaurants.

    Laurent
    One is never as comfortable as at home.

    Therese
    In the country, I don't say—

    Laurent
    They eat excellent things in the country. You remember, by the sea shore— (rises)

    Therese (also rising, abruptly in a harsh voice)
    Shut up! Why are you unleashing memories. Despite myself, I hear them beating in your head and mine, and the cruel story unfolds. No—don't say anything further. Don't think any more. Under the words you are uttering, I hear others, I hear what you are thinking, and what you are not saying. Right? You were in the accident? Shut up!

    (A silence.)

    Laurent
    Therese, speak, I beg you. This silence is too heavy. Speak to me.

    Therese (going to the right, wringing her hands)
    Close your eyes, try to control yourself.

    Laurent
    No. I need to hear the sound of your voice. Tell me something. Whatever you like, like before, when the weather was bad and the nights were long.

    Therese
    I am thinking all the same; I can't not think. You are right, silence is bad, and the words are pouring from my lips. (trying to smile, in a gay voice) The Mayor's office was quite cold this morning. My feet were frozen. But I warmed them up on a footwarmer in church. Did you see it, the footwarmer? It was by the corner where we were on our knees.

    Laurent
    Exactly. Grivet remained planted over it during the whole ceremony. He had an air of jubilation, that devil of a Grivet! He was very comical, wasn't he?

    (They both force themselves to laugh.)

    Therese
    The church was a bit dark because of the weather. Did you notice the lace by the altar? That lace is ten francs a meter, at least. I don't have anything as fine in my shop. Odors of incense were so sweet that they made me ill. I thought, at first, that we were alone, in the depths of the big empty church, and that pleased me. (her voice becomes somber, little by little) Then, voices sang. You must have noticed, in a chapel on the opposite side of the nave?

    Laurent (hesitating)
    I noticed lots of folks with candles, I think.

    Therese (taken by another attack of terror)
    It was a burial. When I raised my eyes, I had facing me the black drape, with a large white cross. (rising and slowly recoiling) The coffin passed by us. I watched it. A poor coffin, some miserable dead man.

    (Therese has come close to Laurent and leans on his shoulder. They both shake together. Then she resumes, with a voice deep and ardent.)

    Therese
    You, you saw him in the morgue, Laurent?

    Laurent
    Yes.

    Therese
    Did it appear he'd suffered much?

    Laurent
    Horribly.

    Therese
    His eyes were open and he looked at you, right?

    Laurent
    Yes. He was atrocious and swollen with water. And he laughed, from the corner of his twisted mouth.

    Therese
    He laughed, you think? Tell me, tell me everything. Tell me how it was, for my nights of insomnia. I never saw him clearly, and I have a rage, a rage to see him.

    Laurent (in a terrible voice)
    Therese, shut up! Wake up! We are sleeping, both of us. What are you talking to me about? And if I answered, I cried. I saw nothing, nothing, nothing. What an imbecilic game we are playing, the rest of us.

    Therese
    Ah, I felt that, despite ourselves, words were mounting to our lips. All brought us to him, the apricot trees in flower, the coffins which passed. Go, for us there is no longer any indifferent conversation. He is at the bottom of all our thoughts.

    Laurent
    Kiss me.

    Therese
    I understand plainly that you no longer speak to me about him and that I don't reply to you about him. It's not our fault if the terrible story unfolds before us, and if we've finished it in a loud voice.

    Laurent (trying to take her in his arms)
    Kiss me, Therese. Our kisses will cure us. We married to calm ourselves in each other's arms. Kiss me and let's forget, dear wife.

    Therese (pushing him away)
    Don't torture me, I beg you. One moment more. Reassure me. Be good and gay like before.

    (Silence. Laurent takes a few steps, then he leaves excitedly by the door at the back as if taken by a sudden urgent idea.)

    Therese (alone)
    He's leaving me alone. Don't leave me, Laurent, I am yours. He's no longer there, and here I am, alone now. The lamp is getting low, I think. If it is going to go out, I am going to remain in the dark. I don't want to be alone; I don't want it to be night. Still, why did I refuse to kiss him? I know what I had—my lips were cold like ice, and it seemed to me this kiss would kill me. Where can he have got to? (knocking on the little door) Great God! Now, there's the other one returning now, returning for my wedding night? Did you hear him? He's knocking on the wood of the bed, he's calling me to the pillow. Go on away, I am afraid. (She remains shivering, hands on her eyes, and little by little she calms down and smiles) No, it's not the other one, it's my dear love, it's my dear departed. Thanks for your good thought, Laurent. I recognize your call.

    (Therese opens the door. Laurent enters. They repeat exactly the same game as in Act I.)

    Therese
    You, my Laurent. (she hangs from his neck) I felt you were coming, my dear love. I was thinking of you. It's a long while since I've been able to hold you like this, to have you to myself, alone.

    Laurent
    Remember, you took me from my sleep. I was dreaming how we were, never separating. Tonight that beautiful dream is realized, Therese. You are here, Therese, forever, on my breath.

    Therese
    That will be a joy without end, a long walk in the sun.

    Laurent
    Kiss me, then, dear wife.

    Therese (abruptly disengaging from Laurent's arms, bursting out)
    Well, no! Well, no! What's the use of playing this comedy? We no longer love each other, that's clear. We've killed love. Do you think that I don't feel ice in my arms? Let's try to be calm. It would be mad and ignoble.

    Laurent
    You are mine, I own you, and despite you, I will cure you of your nervous fears. What would be cruel, what would be no long loving each other, would be finding only a nightmare in the place of a dream of happiness. Come, once more, place your arms about my neck.

    Therese
    No. We mustn't tempt fate.

    Laurent
    Understand how ridiculous this is, after having loved each other so boldly here, to spend a night like this. No one will come.

    Therese (with terror)
    You already said that, don't repeat it, I beg you. Perhaps they will come.

    Laurent
    Do you intend to drive me crazy? (Therese steps to the left, he walks toward her) I bought you dearly enough, so you cannot refuse yourself.

    Therese (arguing)
    Mercy! The noise of our kisses will call him. I'm afraid, you see, I'm afraid.

    (Laurent goes to take her in his arms when he notices the portrait of Camille above the buffet.)

    Laurent (terrified, recoiling, pointing with his finger)
    There—there—Camille!

    Therese (jumping and getting behind Laurent)
    I told you so, indeed. I felt a breath of cold behind my back. Where do you see him?

    Laurent
    There, in the shadow.

    Therese
    Behind the bed?

    Laurent
    No, to the right. He's not moving. He's looking at us. He's just as I saw him at the morgue, with a smile at the corner of his mouth.

    Therese (looking)
    Why, that's his portrait you are looking at.

    Laurent
    His portrait?

    Therese
    Yes, the painting you made, you know?

    Laurent
    No, I don't know any more. It's his portrait, you think? I had seen his eyes moving. Heavens, I still see them moving. His portrait, well, go take it down. He's annoying us, staring at us so fixedly.

    Therese
    No, I don't dare.

    Laurent
    I beg you. Go.

    Therese
    No.

    Laurent
    We will turn him against the wall. We won't be afraid any longer. We can kiss each other, perhaps.

    Therese
    No. Why don't you go yourself?

    Laurent
    Because his eyes don't leave me. I tell you his eyes are moving. They are following me; they are destroying me. (slowly approaching the portrait) I will lower my head and when I no longer see him—

    (Laurent unhooks the portrait with a gesture of rage.)

    Madame Raquin (appearing in the doorway)
    What's wrong? I heard shouts.

    Laurent (coming forward, still holding the portrait, contemplating it
    despite himself) He is terrible. He's there, just like when we threw him in the water.

    Madame Raquin (coming forward)
    Just God! They've killed my child!

    (Therese, lost, utters a scream of terror. Laurent, shocked, throws the portrait on the bed and recoils before Madame Raquin.)

    Madame Raquin (babbling)
    Murderer! Murderer!

    (Madame Raquin is taken with spasms and staggering to the bed, tries to support herself with a curtain which rips. She remains for a moment pinned to the wall, breathless. Laurent, pursued by her terrible glance, steps to the right and seeks refuge by Therese.)

    Laurent
    This is the crisis with which she was threatened. Paralysis is mounting and taking her by the throat.

    Madame Raquin (coming forward again, making a supreme effort)
    My poor child! The wretches! The wretches!

    Therese
    Horrible thing! She's twisted, as if in a fit. I don't dare get help for her.

    Madame Raquin (thrown back, falling into a chair to the left)
    Mercy! I can't do anything any more.

    (Madame Raquin remains in the chair, staring with mute eyes ardently fixed on Therese and Laurent who shiver.)

    Therese
    She's dying.

    Laurent
    No, her eyes are living, her eyes are threatening us. Ah, may her lips and members be like stone.

    CURTAIN


    Act IV

    Five o'clock. The room has resumed it's dark humidity. Dirty curtains. The household abandoned. Items forgotten on the armchairs, vessels lying on the furniture. A rolled mattress has been thrown behind the bed.

    Therese and Suzanne are sitting, working at the work table at the right.

    Therese (gaily)
    Then, you finally learned where the Blue Prince dwells? Love doesn't make you as stupid as they say.

    Suzanne
    I don't know. As for me, I am very—you understand, at length this doesn't amuse me any more at all to see my Blue Prince from a half league off—always good like a picture. Between you and me, he's too good, much too good.

    Therese (laughing)
    Then, you like amorous bad actors?

    Suzanne
    I don't know. It seems to me, that a lover one's not afraid of is not a sensuous lover. When I observe my prince down there, I don't know where, in the sky, in the midst of chimneys. I thought I was seeing one of those angels from my Missal who have clouds under their feet. It's nice, but it winds up being very boring. Then, the day of my birthday, I made my uncle give me a map of Paris.

    Therese
    A map of Paris?

    Suzanne
    Yes. My uncle was astonished. When I had the map, oh, did I work, considerable work! I drew lines with a ruler. I measured distances with a compass. I added, I multiplied, and when I thought I'd found the Prince's terrace, I planted a pin on the map. Then, the next day, I forced my uncle to take the street where the house must be.

    Therese (gaily)
    My dear, it's charming, your story. (looking at the clock and abruptly, very somber) Five o'clock already. Laurent will be back.

    Suzanne
    What's the matter with you? You were so gay just now.

    Therese (resuming)
    Did your map give you the address of the Blue Prince?

    Suzanne
    Ah, indeed, it gave me nothing at all, my map. If you knew where my plan led me! One day it lead me to a big villainous house where they manufactured cider. Another day, to a photography workshop; another day, opposite a seminary or a prison, I don't know which. You aren't laughing. It's still funny. Are you ill?

    Therese
    No. My husband will be home, I was thinking. You, you will get married, you will have the lucky map.

    Suzanne (rising and going to the right, passing behind Therese)
    But, after I've told you, it's no use to me! You aren't listening to me at all? One afternoon, I went to the flower market at Saint Sulpice; I wanted some flowers for our terrace. Do you know who I saw in the midst of the market? The Blue Prince, covered with flowers, with pots in his pockets, pots under his arms, pots in his hands. He seemed very foolish, with his pots when he saw me. Then, he followed me; he didn't know how to rid himself of his pots. He told me that all these pots were for his terrace. Then he became the friend of my uncle. He asked for my hand and I will marry him. That's all. I played coquette with the map and I no longer look at the moon in the evening with the telescope. Did you listen to me, good friend?

    Therese
    Yes, and your tale is a fine tale. You are always in heaven, always in flowers, always in laughter. Ah, dear girl, with your beautiful blue bird, if you knew. (looking at the clock) Five o'clock. It's indeed five o'clock, isn't it? I must set the table.

    Suzanne
    I am going to help you.

    (Therese rises. Suzanne helps her to set the table. They set three places.)

    Suzanne
    I am heartless to be so gay at your place when I know that your happiness is saddened by the cruel situation of poor Madame Raquin. How is she doing today?

    Therese
    She's still mute, still motionless. But she doesn't appear to be in pain.

    Suzanne
    The doctor warned her. She wore herself out too much. The paralysis has been pitiless. It's like a thunderbolt which has changed her to stone, this dear lady. When she is here, still and quiet in her armchair, head to the right and pale hands on her knees, I think I'm seeing one of those statues of terror and mourning seated at the foot of tombs in churches—and my heart is quite upset. I don't know why. She cannot raise her hands, right?

    Therese
    Her hands are dead like her legs.

    Suzanne
    Ah, Lord, what a pity! My uncle thinks she cannot hear and cannot understand any more. He says it would be a great blessing for her to lose her intelligence.

    Therese
    He's mistaken. She hears and understands everything. Her intelligence has remained lucid, her eyes live.

    Suzanne
    Yes, it seems to me that her eyes have enlarged. They are enormous now. They've become dark and terrible, in this dead face. I am not fearful, and at night I get the willies thinking of this poor lady. You know, those stories of folks buried alive? I imagine they've buried her alive, and she is there at the bottom of a ditch, with a big mound of dirt on her breast which prevents her from screaming. What can she be thinking about all day? It's terrifying to be like that and to be thinking, always thinking. But you are so good to her.

    Therese
    We are only doing our duty.

    Suzanne
    And there's only you, right? Who can understand the language of her eyes? As for me, I don't understand a thing. Mr. Grivet, who prides himself on grasping her best wishes, replies every which way. Yet, it's happy that she has you beside her, she lacks nothing. Ah, my uncle often said: “The Raquins—why, it's God's house.” Joy will return, you will see. The doctor has some hope?

    Therese
    Quite little.

    Suzanne
    The last time I was here, he still said the poor woman might recover her voice and the use of her limbs.

    Therese
    We mustn't count on it. We don't dare count on it.

    Suzanne
    Yes. Yes, hope. (they've finished setting the table and come forward) And Mr. Laurent, he's never seen here any more?

    Therese
    Since he left his job and resumed painting, he leaves in the morning, and often only returns at night. He works a lot. He wants to send a big picture to the next Salon.

    Suzanne
    Mr. Laurent has, indeed, become fashionable. He no longer laughs so loud. He has a distinguished air. You won't get irritated, at least. Well, before, I wouldn't have wanted him for a husband, whereas now he would be very pleasing. If you promise to keep the secret, I will tell you something.

    Therese
    I'm not talkative.

    Suzanne
    Indeed, that's true. You keep everything inside. Well, know that yesterday, as we passed the Rue Mazarene, before the studio of your husband, my uncle had the idea of going up. You know, Mr. Laurent doesn't like to be disturbed. Still, he didn't receive us too badly. But you can't imagine what he was working on.

    Therese
    He's working on a big painting.

    Suzanne
    No, the canvas for the big painting is still quite blank. We found him surrounded by small canvases on which he painted. There were heads of children, heads of women, heads of old geezers. My uncle, who's knowledgeable about it, was struck with admiration. He pretends that you husband has suddenly become a great painter and he can't be flattering him, for in the past he was quite severe about his painting. As for me, what surprised me was that all the heads seemed to resemble each other. They resemble—

    Therese
    Who do they resemble?

    Suzanne (hesitating)
    I'm afraid of causing you pain. They resemble poor Camille.

    Therese (shaking)
    Ah, no. You are imagining that.

    Suzanne
    I assure you. The heads of children, the heads of women, the heads of old geezers. All have something which recall the person I just named. My uncle wanted them more colored. They are a bit dark, and they all have a laugh at the corner of the mouth. (Laurent is heard at the door) Here's your husband. Don't say anything. I think he wants to surprise you with all those heads.

    Laurent (entering)
    Good evening, Suzanne. The two of you have really been working?

    Therese
    Yes.

    Laurent
    I am harassed.

    (Laurent sits heavily in a chair to the left.)

    Suzanne
    It must be exhausting for you to paint standing up all the time.

    Laurent
    I didn't work today. I went as far as Saint Cloud on foot and I came back even. That does me good. Is dinner ready, Therese?

    Therese
    Yes.

    Suzanne
    I must be going.

    Therese
    Your uncle promised to come get you. You've got to wait for him. You are not disturbing us.

    Suzanne
    Well! I'll go down to the shop. I intend to steal some pins I need from you for a tapestry.

    (The moment Suzanne starts to go down, the shop bell rings.)

    Suzanne
    Heavens, a customer! Well, she is going to be waited on by me. (goes down)

    Laurent (pointing to the mattress left at the foot of the bed)
    Why didn't you hide that mattress in the small office? The imbeciles don't need to know we're sleeping in separate beds.

    Therese
    You could have hidden it this morning. I do what pleases me.

    Laurent (rudely)
    Wife, let's not start quarreling. Night hasn't come yet.

    Therese
    Well, if you distract yourself outside, if you get exhausted walking all day, so much the better! I am peaceful, you see, when you are not here. From the moment you arrive, hell reopens. At least let me sleep during the day, since nights no longer belong to us.

    Laurent
    Your voice is rougher than mine, Therese.

    Therese (in a softer voice)
    Are you going to bring my aunt in for dinner? You ought, indeed, to wait until the Michauds have left. I always tremble when she's there in front of them. For some time now, I've read in her eyes an implacable thought. You will see that she will find some way to talk.

    Laurent
    Bah! Michaud will want to see his old friend. I am less calm when he goes into her room. What do you think she can tell him? She can't lift her little finger.

    (Laurent leaves by the door at the back. Michaud and Suzanne enter. Laurent enters, pushing Madame Raquin in her armchair. Madame Raquin is rigid and mute, hair white, all dressed in black. He rolls her to the table by the place setting to the right.)

    Michaud
    Eh! Eh! The table is set! Ah, here she is, the dear lady.

    Therese
    Why, yes, Mr. Michaud.

    (Therese takes things from the buffet. She sits to the left, spreads the plates of food on her knees, and feeds Madame Raquin during the scene.)

    Michaud
    Are the rest of you still good here? Huh? These lovers have a hellish appetite. Put on your hat, Suzanne. (looking around him) And, this good Madame Raquin, how's she doing?

    Suzanne (embracing Madame Raquin)
    We all love you so much. You must take courage.

    Michaud
    Her eyes are shining. She is happy to see us. (to Madame Raquin) We are old acquaintances, the two of us, aren't we? You remember when I was Police Commissionaire? It was during the period of crime called the Wolf Cutthroats. I think that we got to know each other. You must remember that woman and that man who had murdered her husband and I went to arrest them myself in their home. By Jove, they got guillotined at Rouen.

    Grivet (entering and hearing Michaud's last words)
    Ah, ah! It's the story about the couple. I knew it. You told me about it and it interested me greatly. Mr. Michaud has a flair for ferreting out hidden crimes. Fine evening, ladies and everybody.

    Michaud
    What? You at this hour, Mr. Grivet?

    Grivet
    Yes, I was passing by and am permitting myself a little treat. I'm coming to finish a little conversation with this dear Madame Raquin. You are going to eat? I am not disturbing you?

    Laurent
    Not at all.

    Grivet
    It's just that the two of us understand each other so well. One single look and I understand all that she would like to say.

    Michaud
    Then, you must, indeed, tell me what she wants by looking at me so fixedly.

    Grivet
    Wait, I am reading it in her eyes, as if in a book. (sitting beside Madame Raquin, touching her arm and waiting, as she slowly turns her head) There! Let's talk like two good friends. You have something to ask of Mr. Michaud? No, that's not it? Nothing at all. That's what I thought. (to Michaud) You are giving importance to yourself! She doesn't need you, you understand. It's me she's addressing. (turning toward Madame Raquin) Huh? What are you saying? Right, right. You are hungry.

    Suzanne (leaning on the back of the armchair)
    Would you like us to withdraw, dear lady?

    Grivet
    By Jove, yes. She's hungry. And she's inviting me to share in the dinner. A thousand pardons, Madame Raquin, but I cannot accept. You know my little customs. That will be for Tuesday, I promise you.

    Michaud
    Eh! She hasn't told you anything, Mr. Grivet. Where do you get that she told you something? Let me question her in my turn.

    Laurent (to Therese who rises)
    Watch your aunt. You are right. She's got a terrible light shining in her eyes.

    (Laurent takes the salad bowl in which Therese has prepared the salad and places it on the buffet.)

    Michaud
    Look, my old friend, you know that I am at your disposal. What is wrong that you are looking at me that way? If only you could find a way to express what you wish.

    Suzanne
    You hear what my uncle says. Your wishes will be sacred for us.

    Grivet
    Well, I've explained what she wants. It's clear.

    Michaud (persisting)
    Then, you cannot make yourself understood? (to Laurent who comes up from the table) See, Laurent, in what a strange way she continues to look at me.

    Laurent
    No, I don't see anything extraordinary in her eyes.

    Suzanne
    And you, Therese, who grasp her least will?

    Michaud
    Yes, help her, Therese, I beg you. Question her for us.

    Therese
    You are mistaken. She doesn't want a thing. She's like this ordinarily. (Therese comes closer, leans on the table facing Madame Raquin and cannot bear the accusation of her eyes) Right? You don't want anything? No, nothing, I assure you.

    (Therese recoils and goes back to the left.)

    Michaud
    Come, perhaps, Mr. Grivet is right?

    Grivet
    By Jove, I am going to leave you. But I know what she says, she's hungry and she's inviting me to dinner.

    Laurent
    Why don't you accept? Mr. Michaud, you won't be too many either?

    Michaud
    Thanks, but I'm busy this evening.

    Therese (low to Laurent)
    Mercy, don't keep him a minute longer.

    Michaud
    Goodbye, my friends. (going to leave)

    Grivet (rising and following Michaud)
    Goodbye, goodbye.

    Suzanne (who has remained near Madame Raquin)
    Ah, look at this.

    Michaud (on the stairway)
    What?

    Suzanne
    See this! She's moving her fingers.

    (Michaud and Grivet let out a shout of astonishment and rush to the armchair.)

    Therese (low to Laurent)
    Bad luck to us. She's made a superhuman effort. It's punishment.

    (Therese and Laurent remain at the left, side by side, terrified.)

    Michaud (to Madame Raquin)
    Why, you are becoming a young girl. Now, there your fingers are dancing the gavotte.

    (A silence during which Madame Raquin continues to move her fingers while fixing a terrible look on Therese and Laurent.)

    Michaud
    Eh! Look, she's succeeded in raising her hand and placing it on the table.

    Grivet
    Oh, oh! So we are all vagabonds. We have hands walking everywhere.

    Therese (low)
    She's succeeding, great God! Life is returning to this stone statue.

    Laurent (low)
    Be strong, her hands can't speak.

    Suzanne
    One would say she's tracing signs with the end of her finger.

    Grivet
    Yes. What's she writing there on the cloth?

    Michaud
    She's writing, you can see clearly. She's just made a capital T.

    Therese (low)
    Her hands are speaking, Laurent!

    Grivet
    She's writing, by Jove, it's true. (to Madame Raquin) No, start over again, I didn't follow. (after another silence) It's astonishing. I'm reading: “Therese.” Doubtless, she means tea.

    Suzanne
    Why no, Mr. Grivet. She wrote the name of my good friend, Therese.

    Michaud
    Really, Mr. Grivet, you don't know how to read. (reading) “Therese and—” Continue, Madame Raquin.

    Laurent (low)
    Vengeful hand, hand already dead, which comes out of the shroud and whose every finger becomes a mouth. She will never finish. I will nail her there, before she finishes.

    (Laurent takes a knife from his pocket.)

    Therese (holding him back)
    From pity! You will ruin us!

    Michaud
    That's fine. I understand. Therese and Laurent. She's writing your names, my friends.

    Grivet
    Both your names, word of honor. It's surprising.

    Michaud (reading)
    “Therese and Laurent are—” What are they, these dear children?

    Grivet
    Well, she's stopping. Go on, go on.

    Michaud
    Finish the phrase. Just a bit more effort. (Madame Raquin looks for a long while at Therese and Laurent and then turns her head slowly) You are looking at us all. Yes, we want to know the end of the phrase. (Madame Raquin remains motionless for a minute, enjoying the terror of the two murderers, then she lets her hand fall) Ah, you let your hand fall back!

    Suzanne (touching her hand)
    It is once again pinned to her knee, like a hand of stone.

    (Suzanne, Grivet and Michaud form a group behind the armchair of Madame Raquin and talk excitedly.)

    Therese (low)
    I thought I was seeing punishment. Her hand has shut up now. We are saved, right?

    Laurent
    Be careful. Don't lean on my shoulder. We've escaped, haven't we?

    Grivet (continuing the conversation in a loud voice)
    It's annoying that she didn't finish the phrase.

    Michaud
    Yes. I was reading. What could she have wanted to say?

    Suzanne
    That she is happy with the attentions that Therese and her husband shower on her.

    Michaud
    This little girl has more wit than we do. “Therese and Laurent are good-hearted. Therese and Laurent are due my blessings.” By Jove, that's the whole phrase! Right, Madame Raquin? You were doing justice to your children. (to Therese and Laurent) You are two brave hearts, you deserve a proud reward in this world or the next.

    Laurent
    You would do as we are doing.

    Grivet
    They are completely rewarded. Do you know that they are called turtledoves in the neighborhood?

    Michaud
    Eh! It was we who got them married. Are you coming, Mr. Grivet? We must at last let them dine. (turning back to Madame Raquin) Have patience, dear lady, they will revive, those arms, and your legs, too. It's a good sign to have been able to move your fingers again. The cure is near. Goodbye!

    Suzanne (to Therese)
    Till tomorrow, good friend.

    Grivet (to Madame Raquin)
    There! Indeed, I was telling him that we understood each other wonderfully. Be of good courage. We will resume our Tuesday parties and we will beat Mr. Michaud, the two of us, we will beat him. (going to Therese and Laurent) Goodbye, turtledoves.

    (As Michaud, Suzanne and Grivet leave by the stairway, Therese goes out by the back for a moment and then returns.)

    (During this scene, the face of Madame Raquin reflects the feelings that agitate her horrified rage, horror, and implacable vengeance. She follows the murderers with her burning eyes. She is on to all their thoughts and all their terror.)

    Laurent
    She would have betrayed us.

    Therese
    Shut up. Leave her in peace.

    (Therese serves the soup for Laurent and herself.)

    Laurent (sitting at the table by the back)
    Would she spare us if she could speak? Michaud and Grivet were smiling in a singular manner while speaking of our happiness. You will see. They will end up knowing. Grivet had his hat on his ear, didn't he?

    (Therese goes to place the soup pot in front of the chimney.)

    Laurent
    He was buttoning his overcoat and he put a hand in his pocket as he left. At work, he buttoned his overcoat that way when he wanted to give himself an air of importance. And with what an air he said: “Goodbye, turtledoves.” That imbecile is terrible and sinister.

    Therese (coming back)
    Shut up. Don't make it so important. Don't put him in our nightmare.

    Laurent
    When he turns his head, you know, with his stupid air, that must have been to make fun of us. I scorn these people who are doing stupid things. I assure you, they know everything.

    Therese
    They are really very innocent. It would be ironic if they gave us away, but they won't see a thing. They will continue to cross through our atrocious life with their calm, satisfied bourgeoise steps. (sitting at the table to the left) Let's talk of something else. What rage do you have to always return to this subject when she is with us?

    Laurent
    I have no rage. (Therese goes to find a spoon on the buffet, gives it to him and sits back down) You aren't making her eat?

    Therese
    Yes, after I've finished my soup.

    Laurent (tasting the soup)
    It's no good, your soup; it's very salty. (pushing his plate away) It's one of your nasty tricks, you know I don't like salt.

    Therese
    Laurent, I beg you, don't seek a quarrel with me. I am very exhausted, you see. Just now, emotion destroyed me.

    Laurent
    Yes, make yourself languid. You are torturing me with needle pricks.

    Therese
    You want us to quarrel, right?

    Laurent
    I want you not to talk to me in that tone.

    Therese
    Ah, really. (in a rough voice, in her turn pushing her plate away) Well, at your head! We won't eat tonight, we'll tear each other apart, and my aunt will hear us. It's a party we're having for her every day, now.

    Laurent
    Don't you calculate your blows. You bore me when you try to touch me. And you are happy when sorrow drives me mad.

    Therese
    Perhaps it wasn't I who found the soup too salty. The most ridiculous pretext suffices for you, the least impatience in you is nourished with rage. Tell the truth. You are happy to wrangle all night, to wear out your nerves so as to be able to sleep at night.

    Laurent
    You don't sleep more than I do.

    Therese
    Oh, you are giving me a frightful life. As soon as the sun goes down, we shiver. The one, you know, is there, between us. What agonies in that room.

    Laurent
    It's your fault.

    Therese
    My fault! Is it my fault, if instead of the soft life you were dreaming of, you are not prepared for an intolerable life, full of shivers and disgusts.

    Laurent
    Yes, it's your fault.

    Therese
    Leave it! I am not an imbecile! Do you think that I don't know you? You're always speculated. When you took me for a mistress it was because I would cost you nothing. You don't dare say I'm lying. Oh, you see how I hate you!

    Laurent
    Is it I or you, at this moment, who is seeking a quarrel?

    Therese
    I hate you! You killed Camille!

    Laurent (rising and then sitting back down)
    Shut up! (pointing to Madame Raquin) Just now, you were telling me to shut up in front of her. Don't force me to remind you of the facts, to repeat one more time the truth in her presence.

    Therese
    Oh! Let her hear! Let her suffer. As for me, am I not suffering? The truth is that you killed Camille.

    Laurent
    You are lying. Admit that you are lying. If I threw him in the river, it was you who urged me into this murder.

    Therese
    Me! Me!

    Laurent
    Yes, you! Don't play ignorant. Don't make me make you confess things by force. I need for you to admit your crime, for you to accept your share in complicity. That will calm me and soothe me.

    Therese
    But, it wasn't I who killed Camille.

    Laurent
    A thousand times, yes! You were on the shore, and I said to you: “I am going to throw him in the river.” Then you consented. You got into the boat. You see plainly that you killed him with me.

    Therese
    That's not true. I was mad, I didn't know what I was doing. I never wanted to kill him.

    Laurent
    And, in the middle of the Seine, when I made the boat capsize, didn't I warn you? You hung on my neck, you left him to drown like a dog.

    Therese
    That's not true. It's you who killed him.

    Laurent
    And, in the carriage, when we returned, didn't you put your hand in mine? Your hand which burned me to my heart!

    Therese
    It's you who killed him.

    Laurent
    She no longer remembers. She makes certain not to remember any more. You intoxicated me with your caresses, here, in this room. You urged me against your husband, you wanted to rid yourself of him. He displeased you. As for me, for three years, did I think of all this? Was I a rogue? I lived like an honest man. I did not do harm to anyone. I wouldn't have swatted a fly.

    Therese
    It's you who killed him.

    Laurent
    Twice you made a cruel brute of me. I was prudent, I was peaceful. And see, now I tremble before a shadow, like a childish coward. I have nerves as weak as yours. You led me to adultery, to murder, without my noticing it, and today, again, when I turn back to it, I remain stupefied by what I did. I see with a shiver police passing before me in a dream; the criminal court, the guillotine. (rising) Go. No use defending yourself, at night your teeth chatter with terror. You know quite well if the ghost came he would strangle you first.

    Therese (rising)
    Don't say that! It's you who killed him.

    (Laurent and Therese both leave the table.)

    Laurent
    Listen. There's cowardice in refusing your share of the crime. You want to make my conscience heavier, right? Since you push me to the limits, I prefer to end it. I am completely calm, you see. (taking his hat) I'm going to go tell the whole thing to the local police.

    Therese (laughing)
    That's a fine idea.

    Laurent
    We will both be arrested, we will see what the judges think of your innocence.

    Therese (with venom)
    Do you think you can frighten me? I am more exhausted than you. It's I who will go to the police if you don't.

    Laurent
    I don't need you to accompany me. I know everything to say.

    Therese
    No, no. At every quarrel, when you run out of arguments, you have this threat in your mouth. Today, I mean for you to be serious. Ah, indeed, I don't have your cowardice. I am ready to follow you to the scaffold. Let's go. March. I'll accompany you.

    (Therese goes with Laurent to the small stairway.)

    Laurent (stuttering)
    As you wish. Let's go together to the cops.

    (Laurent goes down. Therese remains, leaning on the support, motionless, listening; she is gripped, little by little, by uncontrollable shaking. Madame Raquin turns her head, her face lit up by a triumphant smile.)

    Therese
    He's gone down. He's down there. Will he have the courage to give us up? I don't want that. I am going to run after him, grab him by the arm, bring him back here. And if he shouts in the street? If he tells all the passers-by? I was wrong, my God, to push him to the limits. I should have been more reasonable. (listening) He's stopped in the shop; the bell is silent. What can he be doing? Ah, he's coming back up. I hear him coming back. I knew quite well he was too cowardly. The coward! The coward!

    (Laurent comes up. He sits down in front of the work table, broken, face in hands.)

    Laurent
    I cannot. I cannot.

    Therese (coming to him, in a mocking voice)
    Ah. There you are, back already? What did they say to you? Heavens, you have no blood in your veins, you make me pity you.

    (Therese comes face to face with him, her fists leaning on the work table.)

    Laurent (in a lower voice)
    I cannot.

    Therese
    You ought to help me bear this horrible memory, and you are weaker than I am. How do you expect we'll be able to forget?

    Laurent
    Then, now you accept your role in the crime?

    Therese
    Eh, yes, I am guilty, if you like, I am more guilty than you. I ought to have saved my husband from your hands. Camille was good.

    Laurent
    Let's not start over again, I beg you. When the delirium gets me, you play with your work. Don't look at me, don't smile at me. I will escape from you whenever I like. (pulls a small bottle from his pocket) I've got my pardon here, peaceful sleep. Two drops of poison will suffice to clear me.

    Therese
    Poison! Ah, indeed, you are too cowardly. I dare you to drink it. Go on, drink it, Laurent, drink a little to see.

    Laurent
    Shut up! Don't push me any further!

    Therese
    I am calm. You won't drink. Camille was good, you hear? And I wish you were in his place in the ground. (moves left)

    Laurent
    Shut up!

    Therese
    Heavens, you don't know the heart of women. How can you expect me not to hate you now that you are covered with Camille's blood?

    Laurent (going and coming, as if gripped by a hallucination)
    Will you shut up? I am hearing hammer blows in my head. She's breaking me. What is this infernal invention to have remorse now, and to weep for the other aloud? I live eternally with the other at this time. He did this, he did that, he was good, he was generous. Ah, I am growing mad. The other one lives with us. He sits on my chair, he places his table near mine, he uses the furniture. He's eaten from my plate; he's still eating out of it. I don't know any more, I am him, I am Camille, I have his wife, his plate, his curtains. I am Camille, Camille, Camille.

    Therese
    You are really playing a cruel game painting him in your pictures.

    Laurent
    Ah, so you know that! (lowering his voice) Speak lower. It's a terrible thing. My hands are no longer mine. I can no longer paint, yet the other one is in my hands. No, these hands are no longer mine. They will end by betraying me if I don't cut them off. They are his, he grasps me with them.

    Therese
    It's punishment.

    Laurent
    Tell me, don't I have Camille's mouth? Heavens, did you hear? I said those words just the way Camille would have said them. Listen. “I've got his mouth, I've got his mouth.” Huh, that's really it. I am speaking like him. I'm laughing like him. And he's there, still there, in my head which he hammers with his closed fists.

    Therese
    It's punishment.

    Laurent
    Go away, woman. You're driving me mad! Get out or I'll—

    (Laurent throws Therese down onto her knees at the foot of the table and raises his fist.)

    Therese (kneeling)
    Kill me like the other one. Go right to the end. Camille never raised his hand to me. You, you are a monster. Why, kill me like the other one.

    (Laurent, maddened, recoils and goes to the back. He sits by the alcove, head in his hands. Meanwhile, Madame Raquin succeeds in making a knife slide off the table and fall before Therese. At this noise, Therese, who's been busy watching Laurent, slowly turns her head and looks from the knife to Madame Raquin and back several times.)

    Therese
    It was you who made it fall. Your eyes are lit up like two lanterns from hell. I know quite well what you want to say. You are right, this man is making my life intolerable. If he wasn't always there to remind me of what I want to forget, I would be at peace, I would arrange a comfortable life. (to Madame Raquin as she picks up the knife) You are looking at the knife, aren't you? Yes, I'm clinging to the knife, and I don't want this man to torture me any more. Indeed, he killed Camille who irritated him. As for me, he irritates me now.

    (Therese rises, keeping the knife in her fist. Laurent rises, hiding the little bottle of poison in his hand.)

    Laurent
    Let's make peace. Let's finish eating. Do you want to?

    Therese
    If you wish. (aside) Never will I have the patience to wait for night. This knife is burning in my hand.

    Laurent
    What are you thinking about? Sit down. Wait, I am going to get you something to drink.

    Therese (aside)
    I'd much prefer to end it right away. (approaches Laurent, knife raised, but sees him pouring in the glass and grabs his arm) What's that you're pouring there, Laurent?

    Laurent (in his turn seeing the knife)
    Why were you raising the knife? (silence) Coward, with a knife!

    Therese
    Coward first, with poison.

    (Therese and Laurent look at each other with a terrible air. Then they let the knife and the bottle of poison fall.)

    Laurent (fainting in a chair)
    At the same moment, the two of us. The same thought, the same horrible thought.

    Therese (also fainted)
    Remember, Laurent, with what burning kisses we parted. And here we are, face to face with poison and a knife. (casts her eyes on Madame Raquin and rises, uttering a scream) See there, Laurent!

    Laurent (rising and turning to Madame Raquin with shock)
    She was there, waiting to watch us die.

    Therese
    But, don't you see her moving her lips! She's smiling. Ah, what a terrible smile.

    Laurent
    And look what a shiver is animating her now.

    Therese
    She's going to speak. I assure you, she's going to speak.

    Laurent
    I'll know how to prevent that.

    (Laurent starts to rush toward Madame Raquin when she slowly stands up. Laurent recoils.)

    Therese
    Oh! Mercy! Don't deliver us to justice.

    Madame Raquin
    Deliver you! No. I've had the idea of doing it just now when my strength came back to me. I was beginning to write on this table your act of accusation, but I stopped myself. I thought human justice would be too precipitate. And I intend to be present at your slow expiation, here in this room, where you took all my happiness from me.

    Therese (bursting into tears, throwing herself at Madame Raquin's
    feet) Tears are choking me. I am a wretch. If you could raise your hand, I would deliver my head to you. There, right there, so you could crush it. Pity, have pity!

    Madame Raquin (leaning on the table, her voice as if shrugging)
    Pity? Did you have any pity for that poor child that I adored? Don't ask me for any from you. I have no more pity because you've torn out my heart.

    (Laurent falls to his knees at the right.)

    Madame Raquin
    No, I will not save you from yourselves. I will let remorse continue to set you against each other like maddened beasts. No, I won't give you up to justice. You are mine, mine alone, and I will keep you.

    Therese
    Impunity is too heave. We judge ourselves and we condemn ourselves.

    (Therese picks up the flask of prussic acid and drinks it avidly. She falls at the feet of Madame Raquin. Laurent, who has torn the flask from her, drinks in his turn, and falls at the right, behind the work table.

    Madame Raquin (sitting down slowly)
    They died very quickly!


    CURTAIN