ine. Lord! Quick! Come on!
Your love for each other can't be withdrawn.
[Valere and Mariane hold hands for awhile without looking at each other.]
Valere [turning toward Mariane]. Don't react so painfully by the book.
Try giving a fellow a civil look.
[Mariane turns her gaze on Valere and gives him a shy smile.]
Dorine. All lovers are crazy! It's sad, but true.
Valere [to Mariane]. Am I not right to complain about you?
And to tell the truth, weren't you rather unkind
To delight in trying to unsettle my mind?
Mariane. What about you? Aren't you the bigger ingrate . . . ?
Dorine. Let's wait until later for this debate
And try instead to stop this marriage.
Mariane. Tell us, then, what we can use for leverage.
Dorine. We will wage warfare on every front.
Your father is bluffing and playing a stunt.
[To Mariane] But it might be better for you to seem
To sweetly consent to his crazy scheme
So that, whatever the future may bring,
You can postpone and postpone this wedding.
By gaining time, we gain our remedy.
Sometimes you will feign a strange malady
Whose sudden onset will bring some delay;
Sometimes an ill-omen will cause you dismay:
You saw a corpse and never felt queerer,
Dreamt of muddy water, or broke a mirror.
The point above all is that no one, I guess,
Can force you to marry unless you say, "Yes."
But our ship would sail in fairer weather
If you were never seen talking together.
[To Valere] Go, and without delay employ each friend
To keep him on course toward what we intend.
[To Mariane] We are going to seek help from his brother
And we'll also recruit your step-mother.
Farewell.
Valere [to Mariane]. Whatever we attempt to do,
In truth, my greatest hope resides in you.
Mariane [to Valere]. Although I cannot answer for my father,
I vow I'll never belong to another.
Valere. How happy you have made me! If they ever . . .
Dorine. Fie! Your young lovers prattle forever!
Be off, I say.
Valere [going a step and then returning]. Finally . . .
Dorine. What blather!
You go off that way, and you go the other.

ACT III

SCENE I