al of compassion for my creditors, but our
indebtedness to them springs from--

Mme. Mercadet
Their confidence in us, sir.

Mercadet
No, but from their greed of gain! The speculator and the broker are
one and the same--each of them aims at sudden wealth. I have done a
favor to all my creditors, and they all expect to get something out of
me! I should be most unhappy but for the secret consciousness I have
that they are selfish and avaricious--so that you will see in a few
moments how I will make each of them play out his little comedy. (He
sits down.)

Mme. Mercadet
You have actually ordered them to be admitted?

Mercadet
That I may meet them as I ought to!--(taking her hand.) I am at the
end of my resources; the time has come for a master-stroke, and Julie
must come to our assistance.

Mme. Mercadet
What, my daughter!

Mercadet
My creditors are pressing me, and harassing me. I must manage to make
a brilliant match for Julie. This will dazzle them; they will give me
more time. But in order that this brilliant marriage may take place,
these gentlemen must give me more money.

Mme. Mercadet
They give you more money!

Mercadet
Isn't there need of it for the dresses which they are sending to you,
and for the trousseau which I am giving? And a suitable trousseau to
go with the dowry of two hundred thousand francs, will cost fifteen
thousand.

Mme. Mercadet
But you are utterly unable to give such a dowry.

Mercadet (rising)
All the more reason why I should give the trousseau. Now this is what
we stand in need of: twelve or fifteen thousand francs for the
trousseau, and a thousand crowns to pay the tradesmen and to prevent
any appearance of straitened circumstances in our house, when M. de la
Brive arrives.

Mme. Mercadet
How can you count on your creditors for that?

Mercadet
Don't they now belong to the family? Can you find any relation who is
as anxious as they are to see me wealthy and rich? Relations are
always a little envious of the happiness of the wealth which comes to
us; the creditor's joy alone is sincere. If I were to die, I should
have at my funeral more creditors than relations, and while the latter
carried their mourning in their hearts or on their heads, the former
would carry it in their ledgers and purses. It is here that my
departure would leave a genuine void! The heart forgets, and crape
disappears at the end of a year, but the account which is unpaid is
ineffaceable, and the vo