[_turns to_ Gilberte]
Horrible, indeed!
L?ON [_after a pause, in light tone_]
Perhaps so, but they are good eating.
MME. DE RONCHARD
You are pitiless.
L?ON [_aside to his aunt_]
Pitiless, perhaps, toward animals, but not pitiless, like you, toward people.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_in the same tone_]
What do you mean by that?
L?ON [_in the same tone pointing to_ Jean _and_ Gilberte, _who are seated on a sofa_ R.]
Do you think that your presence here can be acceptable to those two lovers? [_Takes her arm_.] My father has certainly finished smoking; come into the billiard-room for a little while.
MME. DE RONCHARD
And what are you going to do?
L?ON
I am going down into my study on the ground floor, and I shall come up here after a little while.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_sarcastically_]
Your study, indeed--your studio--you mean, you rascal, where your clients are--models--
L?ON [_with mock modesty_]
Oh, Auntie. My clients, at least, don't unrobe--alas! [_Exit_ L?on R., _giving a mock benediction to the lovers_.] Children, receive my benediction!
[_Exit_ Madame de Ronchard C.]
SCENE V.
(Jean _and_ Gilberte _seated on the sofa at right_.)
JEAN
At last, you are my wife, Mademoiselle.
GILBERTE
Mademoiselle?
JEAN
Forgive me. I hardly know how to address you.
GILBERTE
Call me Gilberte. There is nothing shocking about that, is there?
JEAN
Gilberte, at last, at last, at last, you are my wife!
GILBERTE
And truly, not without a good deal of trouble.
JEAN
And what a dainty, energetic little creature you are! How you fought with your father, and with your aunt, for it is only through you, and thanks to you, that we are married, for which I thank you with all my heart--the heart which belongs to you.
GILBERTE
But it is only because I trusted you, and that is all.
JEAN
And have you only trust for me?
GILBERTE
Stupid boy! You know that you pleased me. If you had only pleased me, my confidence in you would have been useless. One must love first. Without that, Monsieur, nothing can come.
JEAN
Call me Jean, just as I have called you Gilberte.
GILBERTE [_hesitates_]
But that is not altogether the same thing. It seems to me--that--that--I cannot do it. [_Rises and crosses_ L.]
JEAN [_rises_]
But I love you. I am no trifler, believe me; I love you. I am the man who loves you because he has found in you qualities that are inestimable. You are one of those perfect creatures who have as much brains as sentiment; and the sentimentality that permeates you is not the sickly sentimentality of ordinary women. It is that gloriously beautiful faculty of tenderness which characterizes great souls, and which one never meets elsewhere in the world. And then, you are so beautiful, so graceful, with a grace that is all your own, and I, who am a painter, you know how I adore the beautiful. Then, above everything, you drew me to you, but not only that, you wiped out the traces of the world from my mind and eyes.
GILBERTE
I like to hear you say that. But, don't talk any more just now in that way, because it embarrasses me. However, I know, for I try to foresee everything, that to enjoy these things I must listen to them to-day, for your words breathe the passion of a lover. Perhaps in the future your words will be as sweet, for they could not help being so when a man speaks as you spoke and loves as you appear to love, but at the same time, they will be different.
JEAN
Oh!
GILBERTE [_sits on stool near the table_]
Tell me it over again.
JEAN
What drew me to you was the mysterious harmony between your natural form and the soul within it. Do you recollect my first visit to this house?
GILBERTE
Oh, yes, very well. My brother brought you to dinner, and I believe that you did not wish to come.
JEAN [_laughs_]
If that were true, it was very indiscreet of your brother to tell you. And he told you that? I am annoyed that he did so, and I confess I did hesitate somewhat, for you know I was an artist accustomed to the society of artists, which is lively, witty, and sometimes rather free, and I felt somewhat disturbed at the idea of entering a house so serious as yours--a house peopled by dignified lawyers and young ladies. But I was so fond of your brother, I found him so full of novelty, so gay, so wittily sarcastic and discerning, under his assumed levity, that not only did I go everywhere with him, but I followed him to the extent of meeting you. And I never cease to thank him for it. Do you remember when I entered the drawing-room where you and your family were sitting, you were arranging in a china vase some flowers that had just been sent to you?
GILBERTE
I do.
JEAN
Your father spoke to me of my Uncle Martinel, whom he had formerly known. This at once formed a link between us, for all the time that I was talking to him I was watching you arrange your flowers.
GILBERTE [_smiles_]
You looked far too long and too steadfastly for a first introduction.
JEAN
I
