words of ambition! Before 1789 a man called himself an
economist; in 1815 he was a liberal; the next party will call itself
the social party--perhaps because it is so unsocial. For in France you
must always take the opposite sense of a word to understand its
meaning.

Mericourt
Let me tell you privately, that you are now talking nothing but the
nonsense of masked ball chatter, which passes for wit among those who
do not indulge in it. What are you going to do when a certain definite
knowledge becomes necessary?

De la Brive
My dear friend! In every profession, whether of art, science or
literature, a man needs intellectual capital, special knowledge and
capacity. But in politics, my dear fellow, a man wins everything and
attains to everything by means of a single phrase--

Mericourt
What is that?

De la Brive
"The principles of my friends, the party for which I stand, look
for--"

Mericourt
Hush! Here comes the father-in-law!

SCENE FIFTH

The same persons and Mercadet.

Mercadet
Good-day, my dear Mericourt! (To De la Brive) The ladies have kept you
waiting, sir. Ah! They are putting on their finery. For myself, I was
just on the point of dismissing--whom do you think?--an aspirant to
the hand of Mlle. Julie. Poor young man! I was perhaps hard on him,
and yet I felt for him. He worships my daughter; but what could I do?
He has only ten thousand francs' income.

De la Brive
That wouldn't go very far!

Mercadet
A mere subsistence!

De la Brive
You're not the man to give a rich and clever girl to the first comer--

Mericourt
Certainly not.

Mercadet
Before the ladies come in, gentlemen, we must talk a little serious
business.

De la Brive (to Mericourt)
Now comes the tug of war!

(They all sit down.)

Mercadet (on the sofa)
Are you seriously in love with my daughter?

De la Brive
I love her passionately!

Mercadet
Passionately?

Mericourt (to his friend)
You are over-doing it.

De la Brive (to Mericourt)
Wait a moment. (Aloud) Sir, I am ambitious--and I saw in Mlle. Julie a
lady at once distinguished, full of intellect, possessed of charming
manners, who would never be out of place in the position in which my
fortune puts me; and such a wife is essential to the success of a
politician.

Mercadet
I understand! It is easy to find a woman, but it is very rare that a
man who wishes to be a minister or ambassador finds a wife. You are a
man of wi