I beg your pardon!
[Françoise gives an exclamation of surprise and escapes through the door to the right without looking again at the visitor.]
Marcel [surprised]. Madeleine!
[A pause.]
Madeleine [stylishly dressed. With an air of bravura]. So this is the way you deceive me!
Marcel [gayly]. My dear, if you think that during these three years—
Madeleine. I beg your pardon for interrupting your little tête-à-tête, Marcel, but your door was open, and there was no servant to announce me.
Marcel. You know you are always welcome here.
Madeleine. Your wife is very attractive.
Marcel. Isn't she? Shall I introduce you?
Madeleine. Later—I've come to see you.
Marcel. I must confess your visit is a little surprising.
Madeleine. Especially after my sending that note this morning. I thought I should prefer not to trouble you.
Marcel [uncertain]. Ah!
Madeleine. Yes.
Marcel. Well?
Madeleine. Well, no!
Marcel. I'm sorry. [Kissing her hand.] Glad to see you, at any rate.
Madeleine. Same studio as always, eh?
Marcel. You are still as charming as ever.
Madeleine. You are as handsome as ever.
Marcel. I can say no less for you.
Madeleine. I'm only twenty-eight.
Marcel. But your husband is fifty: that keeps you young. How long have you been back?
Madeleine. A week.
Marcel. And I haven't seen Guérin yet!
Madeleine. There's no hurry.
Marcel. What's the matter?
Madeleine. He's a bit worried: you know how jealous he is! Well, yesterday, when I was out, he went through all my private papers—
Marcel. Naturally he came across some letters.
Madeleine. The letters, my dear!
Marcel. Mine?
Madeleine. Yes. [Gesture from Marcel.] Old letters.
Marcel. You kept them?
Madeleine. From a celebrity? Of course!
Marcel. The devil!
Madeleine. Ungrateful!
Marcel. I beg your pardon.
Madeleine. You can imagine my explanation following the discovery. My dear Marcel, there's going to be a divorce.
Marcel. A—! A divorce?
Madeleine. Don't feel too sorry for me. After all, I shall be free and almost happy.
Marcel. What resignation!
Madeleine. Only—
Marcel. Only what?
Madeleine. He is going to send you his seconds.
Marcel [gayly]. A duel? To-day? You're not serious?
Madeleine. I think he wants to kill you.
Marcel. But that affair was three years ago! Why, to begin with, he hasn't the right!
Madeleine. Because it was so long ago?
Marcel. Three years is three years.
Madeleine. You're right: now you are not in love with his wife: you love your own. Time has changed everything. Now your own happiness is all-sufficient. I can easily understand your indignation against my husband.
Marcel. Oh, I—
Madeleine. My husband is slow, but he's sure, isn't he?
Marcel. You're cruel, Madeleine.
Madeleine. If it's ancient history for you, it's only too recent for him!
Marcel. Let's not speak about him!
Madeleine. But he ought to be a very interesting topic of conversation just now!
Marcel. I hadn't foreseen his feeling so keenly.
Madeleine. You must tell him how sorry you are when you see him.
Marcel. At the duel?
Madeleine. Elsewhere!
Marcel. Where? Here, in my house?
Madeleine. My dear, he may want to tell you how he feels.
[A pause.]
Marcel [aside, troubled]. The devil! And Françoise? [Another pause.] Oh, a duel! Well, I ought to risk my life for you; you have done the same thing for me many times.
Madeleine. Oh, I was not so careful as you were then.
Marcel. You are not telling me everything, Madeleine. What put it into your husband's head to look through your papers?
Madeleine. Ah!
Marcel. Well, evidently I couldn't have excited his jealousy. For a long time he has had no reason to suspect me! Were they my letters he was looking for?
Madeleine. That is my affair!
Marcel. Then I am expiating for some one else?
Madeleine. I'm afraid so.
Marcel. Perfect!
Madeleine. Forgive me!
Marcel [reproachfully]. So you are deceiving him?
Madeleine. You are a perfect friend to-day!
Marcel. Then you really have a lover?
Madeleine. A second lover! That would be disgraceful, wouldn't it?
Marcel. The first step always brings the worst consequences.
Madeleine.
