ing horses; he can see neither
to the right nor to the left, and she says to him, "My dear, look
straight ahead!" So she does!

Marguerite
Ah! You think with me that a woman of thirty-two does not love a man
of seventy without some object. She is scheming something.

Ramel (aside)
Oh, these servants! whom we pay to spy over us!

Felix
What can be her scheme? She never leaves the house, she never sees
anyone.

Marguerite
She would skin a flint! She has taken away the keys from me--from me
who always had the confidence of the former mistress; do you know why
she did so?

Felix
I suppose she is saving up her pile.

Marguerite
Yes, out of the fortune of Mlle. Pauline, and the profits of the
factory. That is the reason why she puts off the marriage of the dear
child as long as she can, for she has to give up her fortune when she
marries her.

Felix
Yes, that's the law.

Marguerite
I would forgive her everything, if only she made Mademoiselle happy;
but I sometimes catch my pet in tears, and I ask her what is the
matter, and she says nothing but "Good Marguerite!" (Exit Felix.) Let
me see, have I done everything? Yes, here are the card tables--the
candles--the cards--Ah! the sofa. (She catches sight of Ramel) Good
Lord! A stranger!

Ramel
Don't be startled, Marguerite.

Marguerite
You must have heard all we said.

Ramel
Don't be alarmed. My business is to keep secrets. I am the state's
attorney.

Marguerite
Oh!

SCENE SECOND

The same persons, Pauline, Godard, Vernon, Napoleon, Ferdinand, the
General, Madame de Grandchamp.

(Gertrude rushes to Marguerite and snatches the cushions from her
hands.)

Gertrude
Marguerite, you know very well what pain you give me, by not allowing
me to do everything for your master; besides, I am the only one who
knows how to arrange the cushions to his liking.

Marguerite (to Pauline)
What a to-do about nothing!

Godard
Why, look! Here is the state's attorney!

The General
The state's attorney at my house?

Gertrude
I am surprised!

The General (to Ramel)
Sir, what brings you here?

Ramel
I asked my friend, M. Ferdinand Mar--

(Ferdinand checks him by a gesture. Gertrude and Pauline look at him
in alarm.)

Gertrude (aside)
It is his friend, Eugene Ramel.

Ramel
My friend, Ferdinand de Charny, to whom I have told the object of my
visit, to say nothing about it until you had finished your dinner.

The Gener