Vernon
In order that we may have our explanation without witnesses.

Gertrude
Explanation! By what right do you--you, the parasite of the house,
pretend to have an explanation with the Comtesse de Grandchamp?

Vernon
I, a parasite? Madame! I have an income of ten thousand francs,
besides my pension; I have the rank of general, and my fortune will be
bequeathed to the children of my old friend! A parasite indeed! You
forget that I am not only here as a friend but as a doctor, and--you
poured certain drops of laudanum into Pauline's tea.

Gertrude
I?

Vernon
I saw you do it, and I have the cup.

Gertrude
You have the cup? Why, I washed it myself!

Vernon
Yes, you washed mine, which I gave you in exchange for that of
Pauline! I was not reading the newspaper, I was watching you.

Gertrude
Oh! sir, how unworthy of you!

Vernon
You must confess that what I did then is of great service to you, for
if you had by the effect of that draught brought Pauline to the brink
of the grave, you would have been very glad of my services.

Gertrude
The brink of the grave--why, doctor, I put in only a very few drops.

Vernon
You admit, then, that you put opium in her tea?

Gertrude
Doctor--this is outrageous!

Vernon
That I have obtained a confession from you? Every woman under the same
circumstances would have said the same thing. I know it by experience.
But that is not all. You have several others things to confide in me.

Gertrude (aside)
He is a spy! The only thing I can do is to make him my accomplice.
(Aloud) Doctor, you are too useful to me to admit of our quarreling.
In a moment, if you will wait here, I will return and speak frankly to
you.

(Gertrude goes into her chamber and locks the door.)

Vernon
She has turned the key! I am caught, tricked! I cannot after all
resort to violence. What is she doing? She is going to hide her flask
of opium. A man is always wrong when he undertakes to discharge for a
friend the offices which my old friend, this poor General, expects of
me. She is going to entangle me--Ah! Here she comes.

Gertrude (aside)
I have burnt them! There is not a trace left--I am saved! (Aloud)
Doctor!

Vernon
Madame?

Gertrude
My stepdaughter Pauline, whom you believed to be an innocent girl, an
angel, had carried off furtively and criminally something whose
discovery would have compromised the honor and the life of four
persons.

Vernon
Four! (Aside) That is herself, the Gene