Mercadet Part 2

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 G.o.deau, 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.

Mme. Mercadet They take rather too much! To owe and to pay is well enough--but to borrow without any prospect of returning--

Mercadet You feel a great deal of compa.s.sion 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 a.s.sistance.

Mme. Mercadet What, my daughter!

Mercadet My creditors are pressing me, and hara.s.sing 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 circ.u.mstances 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 c.r.a.pe disappears at the end of a year, but the account which is unpaid is ineffaceable, and the void remains eternally unfilled.

Mme. Mercadet My dear, I know the people to whom you are indebted, and I am quite certain that you will obtain nothing from them.

Mercadet I shall obtain both time and money from them, rest a.s.sured of that.

(Mme. Mercadet is perturbed.) Don't you see, my dear, that creditors when once they have opened their purses are like gamblers who continue to stake their money in order to recover their first losses? (Growing excited.) Yes! they are inexhaustible gold mines! If a man has no father to leave him a fortune, he finds his creditors are so many indefatigable uncles.

Justin (entering) M. Goulard wishes to know if it is true that you desire to see him?

Mercadet (to his wife) My message astounded him. (To Justin) Beg him to come in. (Justin goes out.) Goulard! The most intractable of them all!--who has three bailiffs in his employ. But fortunately he is a greedy though timid speculator who engages in the most risky affairs and trembles all the time they are being conducted.

Justin (announcing) M. Goulard!

(Exit Justin.)

SCENE SIXTH

The same persons and Goulard.

Goulard (in anger) Ah! you can be found, sir, when you want to be!

Mme. Mercadet (aside to her husband) My dear, how angry he seems!

Mercadet (making a sign that she should be calm) This is one of my creditors, my dear.

Goulard Yes, and I sha'n't leave this house until you pay me.

Mercadet (aside) You sha'n't leave this house until you give me some money--(Aloud) Ah!

you have persecuted me most unkindly--me, a man with whom you have had such extensive dealings!

Goulard Dealings which have not always been to my advantage.

Mercadet All the more credit to you, for if advantage were the sole results of business, everybody would become a money-lender.

Goulard I hope you haven't asked me to come here, in order to show me how clever you are! I know that you are cleverer than I am, for you have got over me in money matters.

Mercadet Well, money matters have some importance. (To his wife) Yes, yes, you see in this man one who has hunted me as if I were a hare. Come, come, Goulard, admit it, you have behaved badly. Anybody but myself would have taken vengeance on you--for of course I could cause you to lose a considerable sum of money.

Goulard So you could, if you didn't pay me; but you shall pay me--your obligations are now in the hands of the law.

Mme. Mercadet Of the law?

Mercadet Of the law! You are losing your senses, you don't know what you are doing, you are ruining us both--yourself and me--at the same time.

Goulard (anxiously) How?--You--that of course is possible--but--but--me?

Mercadet Both of us, I tell you! Quick, sit down there--write--write--!

Goulard (mechanically taking his pen) Write--write what?

Mercadet Write to Delannoy that he must make them stay the proceedings, and give me the thousand crowns which I absolutely need.

Goulard (throwing down the pen) That is very likely, indeed!

Mercadet You hesitate, and, when I am on the eve of marrying my daughter to a man immensely wealthy--that is the time you choose to cause my arrest.

And by that means you are killing both your capital and interest!