l.

SYLVETTE. Good-bye then, my dearest.

PERCINET. Good-bye, my darling.

SYLVETTE. I shall dream of you, my heart.

PERCINET. And I of you.

SYLVETTE. Good-night. [She goes out.]

PERCINET. So this is how I have been treated!-- But who is this?
See the long moustaches--I don't know him--

[STRAFOREL enters and walks majestically toward PERCINET.]

STRAFOREL. [With a profound bow] I have come to collect a small
bill.

PERCINET. Are you an upholsterer?

STRAFOREL. Run along, young man, and tell your papa I am waiting
for him.

PERCINET. What is your name?

STRAFOREL. My name is Straforel.

PERCINET. [With a start] He?! This is too much!

STRAFOREL. [Smiling] Then you know, young man?

PERCINET. [Throwing the bill in STRAFOREL's face] Wretch! It
was you!

STRAFOREL. It was, Per Bacco!

PERCINET. I have you at last.

STRAFOREL. The people you kill, you see, are in the best of health.

PERCINET. [Drawing his sword and making a pass at STRAFOREL]
You will see!

STRAFOREL. [Parrying with his arm, like a fencing-master giving a
lesson] Hand high! Foot out! Monsieur, at your age, you should
know better than that! [He takes the sword from PERCINET with his
naked hand, and returns it as he bows.] What, are you stopping
your fencing-lesson so soon?

PERCINET. [Exasperated, as he takes back the sword] I'm going
away. Here I am treated like a child. I shall have my revenge.
I am going to seek my romance--true romance: love-affairs, duels,
and--Ah, Don Juan, I will scandalize your ghost! I will elope with
actresses! [He dashes out, brandishing his sword.]

STRAFOREL. Very well, but who is going to pay me? [Looking in
the distance] Stop there! Here's someone else.

[Enter BERGAMIN and PASQUINOT, their hair and clothes ruffled, as
if they had been fighting.]

PASQUINOT. [Readjusting his clothes and holding BERGAMIN's wig]
Here's your wig!

BERGAMIN. And here's yours!

PASQUINOT. After this, you can't imagine I'll--?

BERGAMIN. I would no more live with you now than--

[Enter SYLVETTE.]

PASQUINOT. My daughter!--Say nothing about this!

SYLVETTE. [Throwing her arms about her father's neck] Papa, I
can't marry Percinet!

[Enter the NOTARY and four WITNESSES.]

BERGAMIN. The witnesses! The devil!

WITNESSES. What--?

STRAFOREL. [In the midst of the tumult] My bill! Who is going
to pay me? Ninety pistoles!

[Enter the GUESTS and thre