weave the cloth for their uniforms.

Godard
This is very commendable! You should keep on storing up, General, so
that your widow may not be left without a fortune.

The General
She is an angel, Godard!

Godard
De Rimonville.

The General
Godard, she is an angel, to whom you are indebted for the education of
your intended, whom she has moulded after her own image. Pauline is a
pearl, a jewel; she has never left this home; she is as pure and
innocent as she was in her cradle.

Godard
General, let me admit that Mlle. Pauline is beautiful!

The General
I am quite sure of that.

Godard
She is very beautiful; but there are numbers of beautiful girls in
Normandy, some of them very rich, much richer than she is. Well now,
you'll scarcely believe how the mothers and fathers of these heiresses
run after me! It is scarcely decent. But it amuses me immensely; I
visit their chateaus; they overwhelm me with attentions--

The General
I said he was conceited!

Godard
Oh, I am quite aware that it is not for my sake! I don't delude myself
as to that; it is for my unmortgaged pastures; for my savings, and for
my habit of living within my income. Do you know what it is that makes
me seek an alliance with you above all others?

The General
No.

Godard
There are certain rich would-be fathers-in-law who promise to obtain
from his Majesty a decree, by which I shall be created Comte de
Rimonville and Peer of France.

The General
You?

Godard
Yes, I.

The General
Have you won any battles? Have you saved your country? Have you added
to its glory? This is pitiful!

Godard
Pitiful? (Aside) What shall I say? (Aloud) We differ in our views on
this subject, but do you know why I prefer your adorable Pauline?

The General
I suppose it is because you love her.

Godard
That is a matter of course; but it is also on account of the harmony,
the tranquillity, the happiness which reign here! It is so delightful
to enter a family of high honor, of pure, sincere, patriarchal
manners! I am a man of observation.

The General
That is to say, you are inquisitive.

Godard
Curiosity, General, is the mother of observation. I know the seamy
side of the whole department.

The General
Really?

Godard
Yes, really! In all the families of which I have spoken to you, I have
seen some shabbiness or other. The public sees the decent exterior of
irreproachable mothers of family, of charming young persons, of good
fathers, of mod