Mercadet
You love luxury, extravagance; you wish to shine at Paris —
De la Brive
Yes, sir.
Mercadet You see that I am already an old man, obliged to lay the load of my ambition upon some congenial co-operator, and you shall be the one to play the brilliant part.
De la Brive
Sir, had I been obliged to take my choice of all the fathers-in-law in
Paris, I should have given the preference to you. You are a man after
my own heart! Allow me to shake hands, after the English fashion!
(They shake hands for the second time.)
Mercadet (aside)
It seems too good to be true.
De la Brive (aside)
He fell head-first into my salt marshes!
Mercadet (aside)
He accepts an income from me!
(Mercadet retires towards the door on the left side.)
Mericourt (to De la Brive)
Are you satisfied?
De la Brive (to Mericourt)
I don’t see the money for my debts.
Mericourt (to De la Brive) Wait a moment. (To Mercadet) My friend does not dare to tell you of it, but he is too honest for concealment. He has a few debts.
Mercadet Oh, please tell me. I understand perfectly — I suppose it is about fifty thousand you owe?
Mericourt
Very nearly —
De la Brive
Very nearly —
Mercadet
A mere trifle.
De la Brive (laughing)
Yes, a mere trifle!
Mercadet They will serve as a subject of discussion between your wife and you; yes, let her have the pleasure of — But, we will pay them all. (Aside) In shares of the La Brive salt pits. (Aloud) It is so small an amount. (Aside) We will put up the capital of the salt marsh a hundred thousand francs more. (Aloud) The matter is settled, son-in-law.
De la Brive
We will consider it settled, father-in-law.
Mercadet (aside)
I am saved!
De la Brive (aside)
I am saved!
SCENE SIXTH
The same persons, Mme. Mercadet and Julie.
Mercadet
Here are my wife and daughter.
Mericourt Madame, allow me to present to you my friend, M. de la Brive, who regards your daughter with —
De la Brive
With passionate admiration.
Mercadet
My daughter is exactly the woman to suit a politician.
De la Brive (to Mericourt. Gazing at Julie through his eyeglass)
A fine girl. (To Madame Mercadet) Like mother, like daughter. Madame,
I place my hopes under your protection.
Mme. Mercadet
Anyone introduced by M. Mericourt would be welcome here.
Julie (to her father)
What a coxcomb!
Mercadet (to his daughter) He is enormously rich. We shall all be millionaires! He is an excessively clever fellow. Now, do try and be amiable, as you ought to be.
Julie (answering him) What would you wish me to say to a dandy whom I have just seen for the first time, and whom you destine for my husband?
De la Brive May I be permitted to hope, mademoiselle, that you will look favorably upon me?
Julie
My duty is to obey my father.
De la Brive
Young people are not always aware of the feelings which they inspire.
For two months I have been longing for the happiness of paying my
respects to you.
Julie Who can be more flattered than I am, sir, to find that I have attracted your attention?
Mme. Mercadet (to Mericourt)
He is a fine fellow. (Aloud) We hope that you and your friend M. de la
Brive will do us the pleasure of accepting our invitation to dine
without ceremony?
Mercadet To take pot-luck with us. (To De la Brive) You must excuse our simplicity.
Justin (entering, in a low voice to Mercadet)
M. Pierquin wishes to speak to you, monsieur.
Mercadet (low)
Pierquin?
Justin
He says it is concerning an important and urgent matter.
Mercadet What can he want with me? Let him come in. (Justin goes out. Aloud) My dear, these gentlemen must be tired. Won’t you take them into the drawing-room? M. de la Brive, give my daughter you arm.
De la Brive
Mademoiselle — (offers her his arm)
Julie (aside)
He is handsome, he is rich — why does he choose me?
Mme. Mercadet M. de Mericourt, will you come and see the picture which we are going to raffle off for the benefit of the poor orphans?
Mericourt
With pleasure, madame.
Mercadet
Go on. I shall be with you in a moment.
SCENE SEVENTH
Mercadet (alone) Well, after all, this time I have really secured fortune and the happiness of Julie and the rest of us. For a son-in-law like this is a veritable gold mine! Three thousand acres! A chateau! Salt marshes! (He sits down at his desk.)
Pierquin (entering)
Good-day, Mercadet. I have come —
Mercadet
Rather inopportunely. But what do you wish?
Pierquin I sha’n’t detain you long. The bills of exchange I gave you this morning, signed by a man called Michonnin, are absolutely valueless. I told you this beforehand.
Mercadet
I know that.
Pierquin
I now offer you a thousand crowns for them.
Mercadet That is either too much or too little! Anything for which you will give that sum must be worth infinitely more. Some one is waiting for me in the other room. I will bid you good-evening.
Pierquin
I will give you four thousand francs.
Mercadet
No!
Pierquin
Five — six thousand.
Mercadet If you wish to play cards, keep to the gambling table. Why do you wish to recover this paper?
Pierquin Michonnin has insulted me. I wish to take vengeance on him; to send him to jail.
Mercadet (rising) Six thousand francs worth of vengeance! You are not a man to indulge in luxuries of that kind.
Pierquin
I assure you —
Mercadet Come, now, my friend, consider that for a satisfactory defamation of character the code won’t charge you more than five or six hundred francs, and the tax on a blow is only fifty francs —
Pierquin
I swear to you —
Mercadet Has this Michonnin come into a legacy? And are the forty-seven thousand francs of these vouchers actually worth forty-seven thousand francs? You should post me on this subject and then we’ll cry halves!
Pierquin
Very well, I agree. The fact of it is, Michonnin is to be married.
Mercadet
What next! And with whom, pray?
Pierquin With the daughter of some nabob — an idiot who is giving her an enormous dowry.
Mercadet
Where does Michonnin live?
Pierquin Do you want to issue a writ? He is without a fixed abode in Paris. His furniture is held under the name of a friend; but his legal domicile must be in the neighborhood of Bordeaux, in the village of Ermont.
Mercadet Stay a while. I have some one here from that region. I can get exact information in a moment — and then we can begin proceedings.
Pierquin
Send me the paper, and leave the business to me —
Mercadet I shall be very glad to do so. They shall be put into your hands in return for a signed agreement as to the sharing of the money. I am at present altogether taken up with the marriage of my daughter.
Pierquin
I hope everything is going on well.
Mercadet Wonderfully well. My son-in-law i
s a gentleman and, in spite of that, he is rich. And, although both rich and a gentleman, he is clever into the bargain.
Pierquin
I congratulate you.
Mercadet One word with you before you go. You said, Michonnin, of Ermont, in the neighborhood of Bordeaux?
Pierquin Yes, he has an old aunt somewhere about there! A good woman called Bourdillac, who scrapes along on some six hundred francs a year, but to whom he gives the title of Marchioness of Bourdillac. He pretends that her health is delicate and that she has a yearly income of forty thousand francs.
Mercadet
Thank you. Good-evening —
Pierquin
Good-evening. (goes out)
Mercadet (ringing)
Justin!
Justin
Did you call, sir?
Mercadet
Ask M. de la Brive to speak with me for a moment. (Justin goes out.)
Mercadet Here is a windfall of twenty-three thousand francs! We shall be able to arrange things famously for Julie’s marriage.
SCENE EIGHTH
Mercadet, De la Brive and Justin.
De la Brive (to Justin, handing him a letter)
Here, deliver this letter. And this is for yourself.
Justin (aside)
A louis! Mademoiselle will be sure to have a happy home. (Exit.)
De la Brive
You wish to speak with me, my dear father-in-law?
Mercadet Yes. You see I already treat you without ceremony. Please to take a seat.
De la Brive (sitting on a sofa)
I am grateful for your confidence.
Mercadet I am seeking information with regard to a debtor, who, like you, lives in the neighborhood of Bordeaux.
De la Brive
I know every one in that district.
Mercadet
It is said he has relations there.
De la Brive
Relations! I have none but an old aunt.
Mercadet (pricking up his ears)
An — old aunt — ?
De la Brive
Whose health —
Mercadet (trembling)
Is — is — delicate?
De la Brive
And her income is forty thousand francs.
Mercadet (quite overcome)
Good Lord! The very figure!
De la Brive The Marchioness, you see, will be a good woman to have on hand. I mean the Marchioness —
Mercadet (vehemently rushing at him)
Of Bourdillac, sir!
De la Brive
How is this? Do you know her name?
Mercadet
Yes, and yours too!
De la Brive
The devil you do!
Mercadet You are head over ears in debt; your furniture is held in another man’s name; your old aunt has a pittance of six hundred francs; Pierquin, who is one of your smallest creditors, has forty-seven thousand francs in notes of hand from you. You are Michonnin, and I am the idiotic nabob!
De la Brive (stretching himself at full length on the sofa)
By heavens! You know just as much about it as I do!
Mercadet
Well — I see that once more the devil has taken a hand in my game.
De la Brive (aside, rising to his feet) The marriage is over! I am no longer a socialist; I shall become a communist.
Mercadet
And I have been just as easily deceived, as if I had been on the
Exchange.
De la Brive
Show yourself worthy of your reputation.
Mercadet
M. Michonnin, your conduct is more than blameworthy!
De la Brive
In what particular? Did I not say that I had debts?
Mercadet We’ll let that pass, for any one may have debts; but where is your estate situated.
De la Brive
In the Landes.
Mercadet
And of what does it consist?
De la Brive
Of sand wastes, planted with firs.
Mercadet
Good to make toothpicks.
De la Brive
That’s about it.
Mercadet
And it is worth?
De la Brive
Thirty thousand francs.
Mercadet
And mortgaged for —
De la Brive
Forty-five thousand!
Mercadet
And you had the skill to effect that?
De la Brive
Why, yes —
Mercadet
Damnation! But that was pretty clever! And your marshes, sir?
De la Brive
They border on the sea —
Mercadet
They are part of the ocean!
De la Brive The people of that country are evil-minded enough to say so. That is what hinders my loans!
Mercadet It would be very difficult to issue ocean shares! Sir, I may tell you, between ourselves, that your morality seems to me —
De la Brive
Somewhat —
Mercadet
Risky.
De la Brive (in anger)
Sir! (calming himself) Let this be merely between ourselves!
Mercadet
You gave a friend a bill of sale of your furniture, you sign your
notes of hand with the name of Michonnin, and you call yourself merely
De la Brive —
De la Brive
Well, sir, what are you going to do about it?
Mercadet
Do about it? I am going to lead you a pretty dance —
De la Brive Sir, I am your guest! Moreover, I may deny everything — What proofs have you?
Mercadet What proofs! I have in my hands forty-seven thousand francs’ worth of your notes.
De la Brive
Are they signed to the order of Pierquin?
Mercadet
Precisely so.
De la Brive
And you have had them since this morning?
Mercadet
Since this morning.
De la Brive
I see. You have given worthless stock in exchange for valueless notes.
Mercadet
Sir!
De la Brive And, in order to seal the bargain, Pierquin, one of the least important of your creditors, has given you a delay of three months.
Mercadet
Who told you that?
De la Brive Who? Who? Pierquin himself, of course, as soon as he learned I was going to make an arrangement —
Mercadet
The devil he did!
De la Brive Ah! You were going to give two hundred thousand francs as a dowry to your daughter, and you had debts to the amount of three hundred and fifty thousand! Between ourselves it looks like you who had been trying to swindle the son-in-law, sir —
Mercadet (angrily)
Sir! (calming himself) This is merely between ourselves, sir.
De la Brive
You took advantage of my inexperience!
Mercadet Of course I did! The inexperience of a man who raises a loan on his sand wastes fifty per cent above their value.
De la Brive
Glass can be made out of sand!
Mercadet
That’s a good idea!
De la Brive
Therefore, sir —
Mercadet Silence! Promise me that this broken marriage-contract shall be kept secret.
De la Brive I swear it shall — Ah! excepting to Pierquin. I have just written to him to set his mind at rest.
Mercadet
Is that the letter you sent by Justin?
De la Brive
The very one.
Mercadet
And what have you told him?
De la Brive
The name of my father-in-law. Confound it! — I thought you were rich.
Mercadet (despairingly) And you have written that to Pierquin? It’s all up! Th
is fresh defeat will be known on the Exchange! But, any way, I am ruined! Suppose I write to him — Suppose I ask him — (He goes to the table to write.)
SCENE NINTH
The same persons, Mme. Mercadet, Julie and Verdelin.
Mme. Mercadet
My friend, M. Verdelin.
Julie (to Verdelin)
Here is my father, sir.
Mercadet
Ah! It is you, is it, Verdelin — and you are come to dinner?
Verdelin
No, I am not come to dinner.
Mercadet (aside)
He knows all. He is furious!
Verdelin
And this gentleman is your son-in-law? (Verdelin bows to De la Brive.)
This is a fine marriage you are going to make!
Mercadet
The marriage, my dear sir, is not going to take place.
Julie
How happy I feel!
(De la Brive bows to Julie. She casts down her eyes.)
Mme. Mercadet (seizing her hand)
My dear daughter!
Mercadet
I have been deceived by Mericourt.
Verdelin And you have played on me one of your tricks this morning, for the purpose of getting a thousand crowns; but the whole incident has been made public on the Exchange, and they think it a huge joke!
Mercadet
They have been informed, I suppose —
Verdelin That your pocket-book is full of the notes of hand signed by your son- in-law. And Pierquin tells me that your creditors are exasperated, and are to meet to-night at the house of Goulard to conclude measures for united action against you to-morrow!
Mercadet
To-night! To-morrow! Ah! I hear the knell of bankruptcy sound!
Verdelin
Yes, to-morrow they are going to send a prison cab for you.
Mme. Mercadet and Julie
God help us!
Mercadet
I see the carriage, the hearse of the speculator, carrying me to
Clichy!
Verdelin
They wish, as far as possible, to rid the Exchange of all sharpers!
Mercadet They are fools, for in that case they will turn it into a desert! And so I am ruined! Expelled from the Exchange with all the sequelae of bankruptcy, — shame, beggary! I cannot believe it — it is impossible!
De la Brive
Believe me, sir, that I regret having been in some degree —
Mercadet (looking him in the face) You! (in a low voice to him) Listen to me: you have hurried on my destruction, but you have it in your power to help me to escape.
De la Brive
On what conditions?
Mercadet I will make you a good offer! (Aloud, as they start toward opposite doors) True, the idea is a bold one! But to-morrow, the ‘Change will recognize in me one of its master spirits.
Verdelin
What is he talking about?
Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1434