-you who deserted!

DURAND. Mother said that, too. I can't fight the dead, but I can fight
the living.

[Lifts his walking-stick and goes toward Antonio. Therese and Annette
throw themselves between the men.]

ANNETTE. Think what you are doing!

THERESE. This will end on the scaffold!

ANTONIO [Backing away]. Good-bye, Monsieur Durand. Keep my contempt--and
my ten francs.

DURAND [Takes a gold piece from his vest pocket and throws it toward
Antonio]. My curses follow your gold, scamp!

[Therese and Annette following Antonio.]

THERESE and ANNETTE. Don't go, don't leave us! Father will kill us!

DURAND [Breaks his stick in two]. He who cannot kill must die.

ANTONIO. Good-bye, and I hope you'll miss the last rat from your sinking
ship. [He goes.]

THERESE [To Durand]. That's the way you treat your guests! Is it any
wonder the house has gone to pieces!

DURAND. Yes--that's the way--such guests! But tell me, Therese, my
child--[Takes her head between his hands] tell me, my beloved child,
tell me if I saw wrong just now, or if you told a falsehood.

THERESE [Peevishly]. What?

DURAND. You know what I mean. It isn't the thing itself, which can be
quite innocent--but it is a matter of whether I can trust my senses that
interests me.

THERESE. Oh, talk about something else.--Tell us rather what we are
going to eat and drink today. For that matter, it's a lie; he didn't
kiss me.

DURAND. It isn't a lie. In Heaven's name, didn't I see it happen?

THERESE. Prove it.

DURAND. Prove it? With two witnesses or--a policeman! [To Annette.]
Annette, my child, will you tell me the truth?

ANNETTE. I didn't see anything.

DURAND. That's a proper answer. For one should never accuse one's
sister. How like your mother you are today, Annette!

ANNETTE. Don't you say anything about mother! She should be living such
a day as this!

[Adele comes in with a glass of milk, which she puts on table.]

ADELE [To Durand]. There's your milk. What happened to the bread?

DURAND. Nothing, my children. It will continue to come as it always has
up to the present.

THERESE [Grabs the glass of milk from her father]. You shall not have
anything, you who throw away money, so that your children are compelled
to starve.

ADELE. Did he throw away money, the wretch? He should have been put in
the lunatic asylum the time mother said he was ripe for it. See, here's
another bill that came by way of the kitchen.

[Durand takes the b