such bad things about her that it scare me. And if all the bad things are true, Madame du Barry must be very beautiful.
FAT JOHN (outside)
Ah, fine, for goodness sake! So this is the way they receive me. Ah, nice! It’s real nice!
ADELAIDE
Why isn’t that the voice of Fat John?
ROSINE
Yes, it’s really him, Miss—the milk-brother of the Marquis. He’s coming from Brunoy.
FAT JOHN
Ah—this is the way my milk-brother shows me friendship.
ADELAIDE
Hello, Fat John, hello, my friend.
FAT JOHN
I’m indeed your servant, Miss Adelaide—very good day, Miss Rosine, if I’d known—heck, I wouldn’t have come to Versailles.
ROSINE
What’s wrong with you Fat John, you’re all ruffled up?
FAT JOHN
What’s wrong with me? You see, they were saying in the village that the Marquis was going to see the King. In the country they call me imbecile, they say I’ll never amount to anything. Right, I said to myself—you will see. So I got all dressed up to come see your cousin, that my mother nursed when I was young—he’ll refuse me nothing. Hey, a man with the same milk as me.
ADELAIDE
And what do you want with him?
FAT JOHN
So as to make my fortune, I wanted him to bring me with him to the court.
ADELAIDE
Ha, ha, ha. That’s a great idea.
FAT JOHN
No so great. Not at all. I arrived downstairs, I found him with the Countess, his aunt—who was climbing into the carriage. Would you believe he didn’t want to let me go with him? To make my fortune—he refused my hand saying I was going to soil his cuffs.
ADELAIDE and ROSINE (laughing)
Ha, ha, ha.
FAT JOHN
Why, it’s nothing to laugh about. It’s all very sad. It’s the height of ingratitude—because, once again, my mother nursed him—to my detriment—because I would easily have consumed all, and by relation to him, I remained famished.
Not that I reproach him—But when small I was his brother. The Marquis, I feel, was my equal on my mother’s breast. Now that wine is our thing, we can, after a meal, drink from the same bottle without shame, because, when we were nursing, we drank from the same source.
ADELAIDE
Console yourself, my poor lad—he’s going to see you at Brunoy, and make peace with you.
FAT JOHN
I don’t care if he stays here or goes there. So long as you be near us, Miss Adelaide—you are our angel of all trades.
ADELAIDE
Don’t worry Fat John, we will leave together.
(loud noise)
ROSINE
What’s that uproar?
ADELAIDE
It’s my aunt! How agitated she seems.
FAT JOHN
I would also have done well to stay home.
(The Countess comes in and collapses on a sofa.)
ADELAIDE
Auntie, my dear auntie!
COUNTESS
Isn’t it a frightful dream that pursues me?
FAT JOHN (aside)
She thinks she’s dreaming.
ADELAIDE
Auntie, what’s happened?
COUNTESS
A terrible event! A scene that may annihilate all my hopes.
(The Baron enters)
Ah, Baron you are our friend, our relative—The Marquis?
BARON
His action has put the palace into an uproar—one would say a riot of courtiers.
COUNTESS
What’s he done?
BARON
I don’t know. Surrounded by a group of young lords he left the Château.
COUNTESS
Ah—our family is ruined.
(The Baroness enters)
COUNTESS
Well, Madame?
BARONESS
The King doesn’t know yet, and maybe we will succeed in stifling the scandal, but the nephew of d’Aigueville disappeared at the same time as the Marquis. They’re talking of a duel—and if they are not met in time by our friends, we must expect the greatest misfortune.
FAT JOHN
Here he is! It’s him! He looks furious—
(The Marquis enters and lets himself fall into an armchair. His right hand is wrapped in a kerchief soaked in blood.)
MARQUIS
The wretches! The proud ones!
COUNTESS
Nephew!
ADELAIDE
Cousin!
MARQUIS
Well, Auntie, here it is—this court you were on fire to lead me to. What deception! What deception! As for me, who dreamed only of their glory! I arrived in their midst. Jealous of the favor that was accorded me by the sovereign, they rushed to humiliate me. They reproached me for the birth of my father. And I heard buzzing in my ear in a humiliating manner, the name Nicholas Tuyau! And who outraged me? A Duke d’Aigueville, a kin of ours. My hand, ready before my sword, avenged the insult he gave me.
COUNTESS
