ke--a joke....

ALBIN. She isn't his--

MICHETTE. Go away. You let me sit where I want to.

[SCAEVOLA stands there with clenched fists.]

HOST (behind). Now, now?

SCAEVOLA. Ha, ha!

HOST (takes him by the collar). Ha, ha! (By his side.) You have not
a farthing's worth of talent. Roaring, that's the only thing you can
do.

MICHETTE (to FRANCOIS). Recently he did it much better.

SCAEVOLA (to HOST). I'm not in the vein. I'll make a better show
later on, when more people are here; you see. Prosper, I need an
audience.

Enter the DUC DE CADIGNAN.

DUKE. Already in full swing!

[MICHETTE and FLIPOTTE go up to him.]

MICHETTE. My sweet Duke.

FRANCOIS. Good evening, EMILE ... (introducing) My young friend,
Albin, Chevalier de Tremouille--the Duc de Cadignan.

DUKE. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. (To the girls, who are
hanging on to him.) Leave me alone, children! (To ALBIN.) So you,
too, are having a look at this droll tavern?

ALBIN. It bewilders me in the extreme.

FRANCOIS. The Chevalier has only been in Paris a few days.

DUKE (laughing). Then you have certainly chosen a nice time.

ALBIN. How so?

MICHETTE. He still has that delicious perfume! There isn't another man
in Paris who has such a pleasant smell. (To ALBIN.) ... You can't
perceive it like that.

DUKE. She speaks of the seven or eight hundred whom she knows as well
as me.

FLIPOTTE. Will you let me play with your sword, dear?

[She draws his sword out of its sheath and flashes it about.]

GRAIN (to Host). He's the man--'twas him I saw her with--

[HOST lets him go on, seems astonished.]

DUKE. Henri is not here yet, then? (To ALBIN.) If you see him, you
will not regret having come here.

HOST (to DUKE). Oh, so you're here again, are you? I am glad. We
shall not have the pleasure much longer.

DUKE. Why? I find it very nice at your place.

HOST. I believe that. But since in any case you will be one of the
first ...

ALBIN. What does that mean!

HOST. You understand me well enough. The favorites of fortune will be
the first! (Goes to the back.)

DUKE (after reflection). If I were king, I would make him my Court
Fool; I mean to say, I should have many Court Fools, but he would be
one of them.

ALBIN. What did he mean by saying that you were too fortunate?

DUKE. He means, Chevalier ...

ALBIN. Ple