DE RONCHARD [_aside_]
Which is altogether very _bourgeois_!
MARTINEL [_sits_ R. _upon the sofa beside_ Mme. de Ronchard]
As to newly married couples--instead of going on that absurd and traditional thing you call a honeymoon, it is far better for them to go at once to the apartment or house prepared for them. I dare say you will think my plan lacking in fashion and display, but I cannot help that. For myself, I must say that I like absence of all ostentation.
MME. DE RONCHARD
Your plan is not according to the customs of polite society, Monsieur.
MARTINEL
Polite society, indeed! Why, there are thirty-six different kinds of polite society. For instance, take Havre.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_interrupts_]
I know only ours. [_Corrects herself._] That is, I mean to say, mine, which is the correct one.
MARTINEL
Oh, naturally, naturally! Nevertheless, simple as it may be, this marriage is an acknowledged fact, and I hope that you have taken into your good books my dear nephew, who, until now--
MME. DE RONCHARD
I can hardly help doing so since he is my brother's son-in-law, and my niece's husband.
MARTINEL
Well, that is not the only thing, is it? I am very happy that the affair is over--although my life has been spent in the midst of difficulties.
MME. DE RONCHARD
What! Your life?
MARTINEL
I mean commercial difficulties, not matrimonial.
MME. DE RONCHARD
What commercial difficulties can you have--you, a Croesus who has just given five hundred thousand francs in dowry to his nephew. [_With a sigh._] Five hundred thousand francs! Just what my late husband squandered.
MARTINEL
Oh! Yes, I know that, Madame de Ronchard.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_sighs again_]
I was ruined and deserted after just one year of married life, Monsieur--one year. I just had time to realize how happy I could be, for the scoundrel, the wretch, knew how to make me love him.
MARTINEL
Then he was a scoundrel?
MME. DE RONCHARD
Oh! Monsieur, he was a man of fashion.
MARTINEL
Well, that did not prevent him from--
MME. DE RONCHARD
Oh, don't let us talk any more about my misfortunes. It would be too long and too sad, and everybody else is so happy here just now.
MARTINEL
And I am happier than anybody else, I assure you. My nephew is such a good fellow. I love him as I would a son. Now, as for myself, I made my fortune in trade--
MME. DE RONCHARD [_aside_]
That is very evident.
MARTINEL [_resumes_]
In the sea-going trade. But my nephew will gain fame for our name by his renown as an artist; the only difference between us is that he makes his fortune with his brushes, and I have made mine with ships. Art, to-day, Madame, may be as important as trade, but it is less profitable. Take my nephew. Although he has made a very early success, it is I who have enabled him to. When my poor brother died, his wife following him almost immediately, I found myself, while quite a young man, left alone with this baby. Well, I made him learn everything that I could. He studied chemistry, music, and literature, but he had a leaning toward art more than to the other things. I assure you that I encouraged him in it, and you see how he has succeeded. He is only just thirty, is well known, and has just been decorated.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_dryly_]
Thirty years old, and only just decorated; that is slow for an artist.
MARTINEL
Pshaw! He will make up for lost time. [_Rises_] But I am afraid I am getting boastful. You must pardon me, I am a plain man, and just now a little exhilarated by dining. It is all Petitpr?'s fault. His Burgundy is excellent. It is a wine that you may say is a friend to wisdom. And we are accustomed to drink a good deal at Havre. [_Takes up his glass of brandy and finishes it._]
MME. DE RONCHARD [_aside_]
Surely that is enough about Havre.
MARTINEL [_turns to_ Mme. de Ronchard]
Well, there is a treaty between us--a treaty which will last--which no foolishness can break, such as that which has failed to break this marriage.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_rises and crosses_ L.]
Foolishness! You speak very lightly about it. But now that the marriage is a thing accomplished, it is all right. I had destined my niece for another sphere than a painter's world. However, when you can't get a thrush, eat a blackbird, as the proverb says.
MARTINEL
But a white blackbird, Madame, for your niece is a pearl. Let me tell you, the happiness of these children will be the happiness of my declining years.
MME. DE RONCHARD
I wish that it may be, Monsieur, without daring to hope for it.
MARTINEL
Never mind. There are two things on which I am an expert--the merits of women and of wine.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_aside_]
Especially upon the latter.
MARTINEL
They are the only two things worth knowing in life.
SCENE II.
(_The same characters and_ Petitpr? _who enters_ C, _with_ L?on.)
PETITPR?
Now that this red-letter day has gone by as any other day goes, will you play a game of billiards with me, Monsieur Martinel?
MARTINEL
Most certainly, I am very fond of billiards.
L?ON
