Gertrude
Ought I to keep silence? — Ought I to speak?
Ramel
General, be kind enough to retire. The law commands.
The General
The law? You represent the justice of men, I represent the justice of
God, and am higher than you all! I am at once accuser, tribunal,
sentence and executioner — Come, madame, tell us what you have to say?
Gertrude (at the General’s feet)
Forgive me, sir — Yes — I am —
Ramel
Oh, poor wretch!
Gertrude (aside) I cannot say it! Oh! for his honor’s sake, may he never know the truth. (Aloud) I am guilty before all the world, but to you I say, and will repeat it to my last breath, I am innocent! And some future day the truth shall speak from out two tombs, the cruel truth, which will show to you that you also are not free from reproach, but from the very blindness of your hate are culpable in all.
The General
I? I? Am I losing my senses? Do you dare to accuse me? (Perceiving
Pauline.) Ah! Ah! My God!
SCENE ELEVENTH
The same persons, and Pauline (supported by Ferdinand).
Pauline They have told me all! This woman is innocent of the crime whereof she is accused. Religion has at last taught me that pardon cannot be obtained on high except by those who leave it behind them here below. I took from Madame the key of her desk, I myself sought the poison. I myself tore off the paper to wrap it up, for I wished to die.
Gertrude
O Pauline! Take my life, take all I love — Oh, doctor, save her!
The Magistrate
Is this the truth, mademoiselle?
Pauline
The truth, yes, for the dying alone speak it —
The Magistrate
We know then actually nothing about this business.
Pauline (to Gertrude) Do you know why I came to draw you from the abyss which had engulfed you? It is because Ferdinand spoke to me a word which brought me back from the tomb. He has so great a horror of being left with you in life that he follows me, and will follow me to the grave, where we shall rest together, wedded in death.
Gertrude
Ferdinand! Ah, my God! At what a price have I been saved!
The General But unhappy child, wherefore must you die? Am I not, have I ceased for one moment to be a good father? And yet they say that I am culpable.
Ferdinand Yes, General, I alone can give the answer to the riddle, and can explain to you your guilt.
The General
You, Ferdinand, you to whom I offered my daughter, you who loved her —
Ferdinand My name is Ferdinand Comte de Marcandal, son of General Marcandal. Do you understand?
The General Ah! son of a traitor! What could you bring to my home but death and treachery! Defend yourself!
Ferdinand
Would you fight, General, with the dead?
(Ferdinand falls.)
Gertrude (rushes to Ferdinand with a cry) Oh! (She recoils before the General, and approaches his daughter, then draws forth a phial, but immediately flings it away.) I will condemn myself to live for this old man! (The General kneels beside his dying daughter.) Doctor, what will become of him? Is he likely to lose his reason?
The General (stammering like a man who has lost his speech)
I — I — I —
Vernon
General, what is it?
The General
I — I am trying — to pray — for my daughter!
Final curtain.
MERCADET
Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
Presented for the First Time in Paris
At the Theatre du Gymnase-Dramatique
August 24, 1851
CONTENTS
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
Mercadet, a speculator
Madame Mercadet, his wife
Julie, their daughter
Minard, clerk of Mercadet
Verdelin, friend of Mercadet
Goulard, creditor of Mercadet
Pierquin, creditor of Mercadet
Violette, creditor of Mercadet
Mericourt, acquaintance of Mercadet
De la Brive, suitor to Julie
Justin, valet
Therese, lady’s maid
Virginie, cook
Various other creditors of Mercadet
SCENE: Paris, in the house of Mercadet
TIME: About 1845
ACT I
SCENE FIRST
(A drawing-room. A door in the centre. Side doors. At the front, to the left, a mantel-piece with a mirror. To the right, a window, and next it a writing-table. Armchairs.)
Justin, Virginie and Therese
Justin (finishing dusting the room) Yes, my dears, he finds it very hard to swim; he is certain to drown, poor M. Mercadet.
Virginie (her basket on her arm)
Honestly, do you think that?
Justin He is ruined! And although there is much fat to be stewed from a master while he is financially embarrassed, you must not forget that he owes us a year’s wages, and we had better get ourselves discharged.
Therese Some masters are so frightfully stubborn! I spoke to the mistress disrespectfully two or three times, and she pretended not to hear me.
Virginie Ah! I have been at service in many middle-class houses; but I have never seen one like this! I am going to leave my stove, and become an actress in some theatre.
Justin
All of us here are nothing but actors in a theatre.
Virginie Yes, indeed, sometimes one has to put on an air of astonishment, as if just fallen from the moon, when a creditor appears: “Didn’t you know it, sir?” — “No.” — “M. Mercadet has gone to Lyons.” — “Ah! He is away?” — “Yes, his prospects are most brilliant; he has discovered some coal- mines.” — “Ah! So much the better! When does he return?” — “I do not know.” Sometimes I put on an expression as if I had lost the dearest friend I had in the world.
Justin (aside)
That would be her money.
Virginie (pretending to cry) “Monsieur and mademoiselle are in the greatest distress. It seems that we are going to lose poor Madame Mercadet. They have taken her away to the waters! Ah!”
Therese And then, there are some creditors who are actual brutes! They speak to you as if you were the masters!
Virginie There’s an end of it. I ask them for their bill and tell them I am going to settle. But now, the tradesmen refuse to give anything without the money! And you may be sure that I am not going to lend any of mine.
Justin
Let us demand our wages.
Virginie and Therese
Yes, let us demand our wages.
Virginie Who are middle-class people? Middle-class people are those who spend a great deal on their kitchen —
Justin
Who are devoted to their servants —
Virginie And who leave them a pension. That is how middle-class people ought to behave to their servants.
Therese The lady of Picardy speaks well. But all the same, I pity mademoiselle and young Minard, her suitor.
Justin M. Mercadet is not going to give his daughter to a miserable bookkeeper who earns no more than eighteen hundred francs a year; he has better views for her than that.
Therese and Virginie
Who is the man he thinks of?
Justin
Yesterday two fine young gentlemen came here in a carriage, and their
groom told old Gruneau that one of them was going to marry Mlle.
Mercadet.
Virginie You don’t mean to say so! Are those gentlemen in yellow gloves, with fine flowered waistcoats, going to marry mademoiselle?
Justin
Not both of them, lady of Picardy.
Virginie The panels of their ca
rriage shone like satin. Their horse had rosettes here. (She points to her ears.) It was held by a boy of eight, fair, with frizzed hair and top boots. He looked as sly as a mouse — a very Cupid, though he swore like a trooper. His master is as fine as a picture, with a big diamond in his scarf. It ain’t possible that a handsome young man who owns such a turnout as that is going to be the husband of Mlle. Mercadet? I can’t believe it.
Justin You don’t know M. Mercadet! I, who have been in his house for the last six years, and have seen him since his troubles fighting with his creditors, can believe him capable of anything, even of growing rich; sometimes I say to myself he is utterly ruined! Yellow auction placards flame at his door. He receives reams of stamped creditor’s notices, which I sell by the pound for waste paper without being noticed. But presto! Up he bobs again. He is triumphant. And what devices he has! There is a new one every day! First of all, it is a scheme for wooden pavements — then it is dukedoms, ponds, mills. I don’t know where the leakage is in his cash box; he finds it so hard to fill; for it empties itself as easily as a drained wine-glass! And always crowds of creditors! How well he turns them away! Sometimes I have seen them come with the intention of carrying off everything and throwing him into prison. But when he talks to them they end by being the best of friends, and part with cordial handshakes! There are some men who can tame jackals and lions. That’s not a circumstance; M. Mercadet can tame creditors!
Therese
One of them is not quite so easily managed; and that is M. Pierquin.
Justin
He is a tiger who feeds on bankrupts. And to think of poor old
Violette!
Virginie He is both creditor and beggar — I always feel inclined to give him a plate of soup.
Justin
And Goulard!
Therese
A bill discounter who would like very much to — to discount me.
Virginie (amid a general laugh)
I hear madame coming.
Justin Let us keep a civil tongue in our heads, and we shall learn something about the marriage.
SCENE SECOND
The same persons and Mme. Mercadet.
Mme. Mercadet
Justin, have you executed the commissions I gave you?
Justin Yes, madame, but they refused to deliver the dresses, the hats, and indeed all the things you ordered until —
Virginie And I also have to inform madame that the tradesmen are no longer willing —
Mme. Mercadet
I understand.
Justin The creditors are the cause of the whole trouble. I wish I knew how to get even with them.
Mme. Mercadet
The best way to do so would be to pay them.
Justin
They would be mightily surprised.
Mme. Mercadet It is useless to conceal from you the excessive anxiety which I suffer over the condition of my husband’s affairs. We shall doubtless be in need of your discretion — for we can depend upon you, can we not?
All
You need not mention it, madame.
Virginie
We were just saying, what excellent employers we had.
Therese
And that we would go through fire and water for you!
Justin
We were saying —
(Mercadet appears unnoticed.)
Mme. Mercadet Thank you all, you are good creatures. (Mercadet shrugs his shoulders.) Your master needs only time, he has so many schemes in his head! — a rich suitor has offered himself for Mlle. Julie, and if —
SCENE THIRD
The same persons and Mercadet.
Mercadet (interrupting his wife) My dearest! (The servants draw back a little. In a low voice to madame) And so this is how you speak to the servants! To-morrow they laugh at us. (To Justin) Justin, go at once to M. Verdelin’s house, and ask him to come here, as I want to speak to him about a piece of business that will not admit of delay. Assume an air of mystery, for I must have him come. You, Therese, go to the tradesmen of Madame de Mercadet, and tell them, sharply, that they must send the things that have been ordered. — They will be paid for — yes — and cash, too — go at once. (Justin and Therese start.) Ah! — (They stop.) If — these people come to the house again, ask them to enter. (Mme. Mercadet takes a seat.)
Justin
These — these people? —
Therese and Virginie
These people? Eh!
Mercadet
Yes, these people — these creditors of mine! —
Mme. Mercadet
How is this, my dear?
Mercadet (taking a seat opposite his wife)
I am weary of solitude — I want their society. (To Justin and Therese)
That will do.
(Justin and Therese leave the room.)
SCENE FOURTH
Mercadet, Mme. Mercadet and Virginie.
Mercadet (to Virginie)
Has madame given you any orders?
Virginie
No, sir, and besides the tradespeople —
Mercadet I hope you will do yourself credit to-day. We are going to have four people to dinner — Verdelin and his wife, M. de Mericourt and M. de la Brive — so there will be seven of us. Such dinners are the glory of great cooks! You must have a fine fish after the soup, then two entrees, very delicately cooked —
Virginie
But, sir, the trades —
Mercadet For the second course — ah, the second course ought to be at once rich and brilliant, yet solid. The second course —
Virginie
But the tradespeople —
Mercadet Nonsense! You annoy me — To talk about tradespeople on the day when my daughter and her intended are to meet!
Virginie
They won’t supply anything.
Mercadet What have we got to do with tradespeople that won’t take our trade? We must get others. You must go to their competitors, you must give them my custom, and they will tip you for it.
Virginie
And how shall I pay those that I am giving up?
Mercadet
Don’t worry yourself about that, — it is my business.
Virginie
But if they ask me to pay them —
Mercadet (aside, rising to his feet) That girl has money of her own. (Aloud) Virginie, in these days, credit is the sole wealth of the government. My tradespeople misunderstand the laws of their country, they will show themselves unconstitutional and utter radicals, unless they leave me alone. — Don’t you trouble your head about people who raise an insurrection against the vital principles of all rightly constituted states! What you have got to attend to, is dinner, — that is your duty, and I hope that on this occasion you will show yourself to be what you are, a first-class cook! And if Mme. Mercadet, when she settles with you on the day after my daughter’s wedding, finds that she owes you anything, I will hold myself liable for it all.
Virginie (hesitating)
Sir —
Mercadet Now go about your business. I give you here an opportunity of gaining an interest of ten per cent every six months! — and that is better than the savings banks will do for you.
Virginie
That it is; they only give four per cent a year!
Mercadet (whispering to his wife) What did I tell you! — (To Virginie) How can you run the risk of putting your money into the hands of strangers — You are quite clever enough to invest it yourself, and here your little nest-egg will remain in your own possession.
Virginie Ten per cent every six months! — I suppose that madame will give me the particulars with regard to the second course. I must start to work on it. (Exit.)
SCENE FIFTH
Mercadet and Mme. Mercadet
Mercadet (watching Virginie as she goes out) That girl has a thousand crowns of our good money in the savings bank, so that we needn’t worry about the kitchen for awhile.
Mme. Mercadet
Ah! sir, how can you stoop to suc
h a thing as this?
Mercadet Madame, these are mere petty details; don’t bother about the means to an end. You, a little time ago, were trying to control your servants by kindness, but it is necessary to command and compel them, and to do it briefly, like Napoleon.
Mme. Mercadet
How can you order them when you don’t pay them?
Mercadet
You must pay them by a bluff.
Mme. Mercadet
Sometimes you can obtain by affection what is not attainable by —
Mercadet By affection! Ah! Little do you know the age in which we live — To-day, madame, wealth is everything, family is nothing; there are no families, but only individuals! The future of each one is to be determined by the public funds. A young girl when she needs a dowry no longer appeals to her family, but to a syndicate. The income of the King of England comes from an insurance company. The wife depends for funds, not upon her husband, but upon the savings bank! — Debts are paid, not to creditors, but to the country, through an agency, which manages a sort of slave-trade in white people! All our duties are arranged by coupons — The servants which we exchange for them are no longer attached to their masters, but if you hold their money they will be devoted to you.
Mme. Mercadet Oh, sir, you who are so honorable, so upright, sometimes say things to me which —
Mercadet And what is said may also be done, that is what you mean, isn’t it? Undoubtedly I would do anything to save myself, for (he pulls out a five-franc piece) this represents modern honor. Do you know why the dramas that have criminals for their heroes are so popular? It is because all the audience flatter themselves and say, “at any rate, I am much better than that fellow!”
Mme. Mercadet
My dear!
Mercadet For my part I have an excuse, for I am bearing the burden of my partner’s crime — of that fellow Godeau, who absconded, carrying with him the cash box of our house! — And besides that, what disgrace is it to be in debt? What man is there who does not owe his father his existence? He can never repay that debt. The earth is constantly bankrupt to the sun. Life, madame, is a perpetual loan! Am I not superior to my creditors? I have their money, when they can only expect mine. I do not ask anything of them, and yet they are constantly importuning me. — A man who does not owe anything is not thought about by any one, while my creditors take a keen interest in me.
Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1429