I comprehend....
(_After a pause._)
Monsieur, malicious brains combine
For your discomfiture, and mine.
Let us defeat that ill design.
If Monsieur but ... (_hesitating_).

M. JOLICOEUR (_bowing_).
Rely on me.

THE LADY (_still hesitating_).
Monsieur, I know, will understand ...

M. JOLICOEUR.
Madame, I wait but your command.

THE LADY.
You are too good. Then condescend
At once to be a new-found Friend!

M. JOLICOEUR (_entering upon the part forthwith_).
How? I am charmed,--enchanted. Ah!
What ages since we met ... at _Spa_?

THE LADY (_a little disconcerted_).
At _Ems_, I think. Monsieur, maybe,
Will recollect the Orangery?

M. JOLICOEUR.
At _Ems_, of course. But Madame's face
Might make one well forget a place.

THE LADY.
It seems so. Still, Monsieur recalls
The Kuerhaus, and the concert-balls?

M. JOLICOEUR.
Assuredly. Though there again
'Tis Madame's image I retain.

THE LADY.
Monsieur is skilled in ... repartee.
(How do they take it?--Can you see?)

M. JOLICOEUR.
Nay,--Madame furnishes the wit.
(They don't know what to make of it!)

THE LADY.
And Monsieur's friend who sometimes came?...
That clever ... I forget the name.

M. JOLICOEUR.
The BARON?... It escapes me, too.
'Twas doubtless he that Madame knew?

THE LADY (_archly_).
Precisely. But, my carriage waits.
Monsieur will see me to the gates?

M. JOLICOEUR (_offering his arm_).
I shall be charmed. (Your stratagem
Bids fair, I think, to conquer them.)
(_Aside_)
(Who is she? I must find that out.)
--And Madame's husband thrives, no doubt?

THE LADY (_off her guard_).
Monsieur de BEAU--?... He died at _Dole_!

M. JOLICOEUR.
Truly. How sad!
(_Aside_)
(Yet, on the whole,
How fortunate! BEAU-_pre_?--BEAU-_vau_?
Which can it be? Ah, there they go!)
--Madame, your enemies retreat
With all the honours of ... defeat.

THE LADY.
Thanks to Monsieur. Monsieur has shown
A skill PREVILLE could not disown.

M. JOLICOEUR.
You flatter me. We need no skill
To act so nearly what we will.
Nay,--what may come to pass, if Fate
And Madame bid me cultivate ...

THE LADY (_anticipating_).
Alas!--no farther than the gate.
Monsieur, besides, is too