stove, and become an
actress in some theatre.

Justin
All of us here are nothing but actors in a theatre.

Virginie
Yes, indeed, sometimes one has to put on an air of astonishment, as if
just fallen from the moon, when a creditor appears: "Didn't you know
it, sir?"--"No."--"M. Mercadet has gone to Lyons."--"Ah! He is away?"
--"Yes, his prospects are most brilliant; he has discovered some coal-
mines."--"Ah! So much the better! When does he return?"--"I do not
know." Sometimes I put on an expression as if I had lost the dearest
friend I had in the world.

Justin (aside)
That would be her money.

Virginie (pretending to cry)
"Monsieur and mademoiselle are in the greatest distress. It seems that
we are going to lose poor Madame Mercadet. They have taken her away to
the waters! Ah!"

Therese
And then, there are some creditors who are actual brutes! They speak
to you as if you were the masters!

Virginie
There's an end of it. I ask them for their bill and tell them I am
going to settle. But now, the tradesmen refuse to give anything
without the money! And you may be sure that I am not going to lend any
of mine.

Justin
Let us demand our wages.

Virginie and Therese
Yes, let us demand our wages.

Virginie
Who are middle-class people? Middle-class people are those who spend a
great deal on their kitchen--

Justin
Who are devoted to their servants--

Virginie
And who leave them a pension. That is how middle-class people ought to
behave to their servants.

Therese
The lady of Picardy speaks well. But all the same, I pity mademoiselle
and young Minard, her suitor.

Justin
M. Mercadet is not going to give his daughter to a miserable
bookkeeper who earns no more than eighteen hundred francs a year; he
has better views for her than that.

Therese and Virginie
Who is the man he thinks of?

Justin
Yesterday two fine young gentlemen came here in a carriage, and their
groom told old Gruneau that one of them was going to marry Mlle.
Mercadet.

Virginie
You don't mean to say so! Are those gentlemen in yellow gloves, with
fine flowered waistcoats, going to marry mademoiselle?

Justin
Not both of them, lady of Picardy.

Virginie
The panels of their carriage shone like satin. Their horse had
rosettes here. (She points to her ears.) It was held by a boy of
eight, fair, with frizzed hair and top boots. He looked as sly as a
mouse--a very Cupid, though he swore like a trooper. His master is as
fine as