ercadet (despairingly)
And you have written that to Pierquin? It's all up! This fresh defeat
will be known on the Exchange! But, any way, I am ruined! Suppose I
write to him-- Suppose I ask him-- (He goes to the table to write.)

SCENE NINTH

The same persons, Mme. Mercadet, Julie and Verdelin.

Mme. Mercadet
My friend, M. Verdelin.

Julie (to Verdelin)
Here is my father, sir.

Mercadet
Ah! It is you, is it, Verdelin--and you are come to dinner?

Verdelin
No, I am not come to dinner.

Mercadet (aside)
He knows all. He is furious!

Verdelin
And this gentleman is your son-in-law? (Verdelin bows to De la Brive.)
This is a fine marriage you are going to make!

Mercadet
The marriage, my dear sir, is not going to take place.

Julie
How happy I feel!

(De la Brive bows to Julie. She casts down her eyes.)

Mme. Mercadet (seizing her hand)
My dear daughter!

Mercadet
I have been deceived by Mericourt.

Verdelin
And you have played on me one of your tricks this morning, for the
purpose of getting a thousand crowns; but the whole incident has been
made public on the Exchange, and they think it a huge joke!

Mercadet
They have been informed, I suppose--

Verdelin
That your pocket-book is full of the notes of hand signed by your son-
in-law. And Pierquin tells me that your creditors are exasperated, and
are to meet to-night at the house of Goulard to conclude measures for
united action against you to-morrow!

Mercadet
To-night! To-morrow! Ah! I hear the knell of bankruptcy sound!

Verdelin
Yes, to-morrow they are going to send a prison cab for you.

Mme. Mercadet and Julie
God help us!

Mercadet
I see the carriage, the hearse of the speculator, carrying me to
Clichy!

Verdelin
They wish, as far as possible, to rid the Exchange of all sharpers!

Mercadet
They are fools, for in that case they will turn it into a desert! And
so I am ruined! Expelled from the Exchange with all the sequelae of
bankruptcy,--shame, beggary! I cannot believe it--it is impossible!

De la Brive
Believe me, sir, that I regret having been in some degree--

Mercadet (looking him in the face)
You! (in a low voice to him) Listen to me: you have hurried on my
destruction, but you have it in your power to help me to escape.

De la Brive
On what conditions?

Mercadet
I will make you a good offer! (Aloud, as they start toward opposite
doors) True, the idea is a bold one! But to-mo