The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts. Honore de Balzac
without a struggle.
Pauline
Do you still continue in this strain? I must leave you, sir.
Godard
Thank you, mademoiselle. (Aside) So much for your sarcasm.
Pauline Come sir, you are rich, and nature has given you a fine person; you are so well educated and so witty that you will have no difficulty in finding some young person richer and prettier than I am.
Godard
How can that be when one is in love?
Pauline
Well sir, that is the very point.
Godard (aside)
She is in love with someone; I must find out who it is. (Aloud)
Mademoiselle, will you at least permit me to feel that I am not in disgrace and that I may stay here a few days?
Pauline
My father will answer you on that score.
Gertrude (coming forward to Godard)
Well, how are things going?
Godard A blunt refusal, without even a hope of her relenting; her heart is evidently already occupied.
Gertrude (to Godard) Her heart occupied? This child has been brought up by me, and I know to the contrary; and besides that, no one ever comes here. (Aside) This youth has roused in me suspicions which pierce my heart like a dagger. (To Godard) Why don't you ask her if such is the case?
Godard How could I ask her anything? At my first word of jealous suspicion, she resented my curiosity.
Gertrude
Well, I shall have no hesitation in questioning her.
The General Ah, here comes the doctor! We shall now learn the truth concerning the death of Champagne's wife.
SCENE FIFTH
The same persons and Dr. Vernon.
The General
Well, how are you?
Vernon I was quite sure of it. Ladies (he bows to them), as a general rule when a man beats his wife, he takes care not to poison her; he would lose too much by that. He doesn't want to be without a victim.
The General (to Godard)
He is a charming fellow!
Godard
Charming!
The General (to the doctor, presenting Godard to him)
M. Godard.
Godard
De Rimonville.
Vernon (looking at Godard) If he kills her, it is by mistake from having hit her a little too hard; and he is overwhelmed with grief; while Champagne is innocently delighted to have been made a widower by natural causes. As a matter of fact, his wife died of cholera. It was a very rare case, but he who has once seen Asiatic cholera cannot forget it, and I am glad that I had that opportunity; for, since the campaign in Egypt, I have never met with a case. If I had been called in time I could have saved her.
Gertrude How fortunate we are, for if a crime had been committed in this establishment, which for twelve years has been so free from disturbance, I should have been horrified.
The General Here you see the effect of all this tittle-tattle. But are you quite sure, Vernon?
Vernon Am I certain? That's a fine question to put to a retired surgeon-in-chief who has attended twelve French armies, from 1793 to 1815, and has practiced in Germany, in Spain, in Italy, in Russia, in Poland, and in Egypt!
The General (poking him in the ribs) Away, you charlatan! I reckon you have killed more people than I have in those countries.
Godard
What is this talk that you are alluding to?
Gertrude This poor Champagne, our foreman, was supposed to have poisoned his wife.
Vernon Unhappily, the night before she died, they had had an altercation which ended in blows. Ah! they don't take example from their masters.
Godard Such happiness as reigns here ought to be contagious, but the virtues which are exemplified in the countess are very rare.
Gertrude Is there any merit in loving an excellent husband and a daughter such as these?
The General Come, Gertrude, say no more! Such words ought not to be spoken in public.
Vernon (aside) Such things are always said in this way, when it is necessary to make people believe them.
The General (to Vernon)
What are you muttering about?
Vernon I was saying that I was sixty-seven years old, and that I was younger than you are, and that I should wish to be loved like that. (Aside) If only I could be sure that it was love.
The General (to the doctor) I see you are dubious! (to his wife) My dear child, there is no need for me to bless the power of God on your behalf, but I think He must have lent it me, in order that I might love you sufficiently.
Vernon
You forget that I am a doctor, my dear friend. What you are saying to
Madame is only good for the burden of a ballad.
Gertrude
The burdens of some ballads, doctor, are exceedingly true.
The General Doctor, if you continue teasing my wife, we shall quarrel; to doubt on such a subject as that is an insult.
Vernon I have no doubt about it. (to the General) I would merely say, that you have loved so many women with the powers of God, that I am in an ecstasy as a doctor to see you still so good a Christian at seventy!
(Gertrude glides softly towards the sofa, where the doctor is seated.)
The General
Pshaw! The last passions, my friend, are always the strongest.
Vernon You are right. In youth, we love with all our strength which grows weaker with age, while in age we love with all our weakness which is ever on the increase.
The General
Oh, vile philosophy!
Gertrude (to Vernon) Doctor, how is it that you, who are so good, try to infuse doubts into the heart of Grandchamp? You know that he is so jealous that he would kill a man on suspicion. I have such respect for his feelings that I have concluded upon seeing no one, but you, the mayor and the cure. Do you want me also to forego your society which is so pleasant, so agreeable to us? Ah! Here is Napoleon.
Vernon (aside) I take this for a declaration of war. She has sent away everyone else, she intends to dismiss me.
Godard (to Vernon) Doctor, you are an intimate friend of the house, tell me, pray, what do you think of Mlle. Pauline?
(The doctor rises from his seat, looks at the speaker, blows his nose, and goes to the middle of the stage. The dinner bells sounds.)
SCENE SIXTH
The same persons, Napoleon and Felix.
Napoleon
Papa, papa, didn't you say I could ride Coco?
The General
Certainly.
Napoleon (to Felix)
Do you hear that?
Gertrude (wiping her son's forehead)
He is quite warm!
The General
But only on the condition that some one goes with you.
Felix You see I was right, Master Napoleon. General, the little rascal wished to go on his pony alone into the country.
Napoleon
He was frightened for me! Do you think I am afraid of anything?
(Exit Felix. Dinner bell