.

All
Paid!

Mercadet
Paid? How--how have you been paid?

Goulard
In full. Fifty thousand in drafts.

Mercadet (aside)
That I can understand.

Goulard
And eight thousand francs net, in notes.

Mercadet
In bank-notes?

Goulard
Bank-notes.

Mercadet (aside)
It is past my understanding. Ah! Eight thousand! Minard might have
given them, so that now he'll bring me only twenty-two thousand.

Violette
And I--I, who would have been willing to make some reduction--I have
been paid in full!

Mercadet
All! (in a low voice to him) I suppose in drafts?

Violette
In first-class drafts to the amount of eighteen thousand francs.

Mercadet (aside)
What a fellow this De la Brive is!

Violette
And the balance, the other twelve thousand--

Verdelin
Yes--the balance?

Violette
In cash. Here it is. (He shows the bank-notes.)

Mercadet (aside)
Minard won't bring me more than ten.

Goulard (taking a seat at the table)
And this very moment he is paying in the same way all your creditors.

Mercadet
In the same way?

Violette (taking a seat at the table)
Yes, in drafts, in specie, and in bank-notes.

Mercadet (forgetting himself)
Lord, have mercy upon me! (Aside) Minard will bring me nothing at all.

Verdelin
What is the matter with you?

Mercadet
Me! Nothing--I--

SCENE THIRTEENTH

The same persons and Minard, followed by creditors.

Minard
I have done your errand.

Mercadet (trembling)
And you--have brought me--a few--bank-notes?

Minard
A few bank-notes? Of course. M. Godeau wouldn't let me even mention
the thirty thousand francs.

(Goulard and Violette rise. Minard stands before the table, surrounded
by creditors.)

Mercadet
I can quite understand that.

Minard
"You mean," he said, "a hundred thousand crowns; here are a hundred
thousand crowns, with my compliments!" (He pulls out a large roll of
bank-notes, which he places on the table.)

Mercadet (rushing to the table)
What the devil! (Looking at the notes) What is all this about?

Minard
The three hundred thousand francs.

Pierquin
My three hundred thousand francs!

Verdelin
The truth for once!

Mercadet (astounded)
Three hundred thousand francs! I see them! I touch them! I grasp them!
Three hundred thousand--where did you get them?

Minard
I told you he gave them to me.

Mercadet (with vehemence)
He!-- He--! Who is he?

Minard
Did not I say, M. Godeau?

Mercadet
What Gode