for a few minutes' chat with her he loves! That is
what I call true love! Such perils men will not undergo for every
woman! But what would I not undergo for him! If my father surprised
us, I would be the one to take the first blow. Oh! To suspect the man
you love is to suffer greater torment than to lose him! If he dies,
you can follow him in death; but doubt--is the cruelest of
separations!--Ah! I hear him.

SCENE TENTH

Ferdinand and Pauline (who locks the door).

Pauline
Are you married?

Ferdinand
What a joke! Wouldn't I have told you?

Pauline
Ah! (She sinks back on a chair, then falls upon her knees.) Holy
Virgin, what vows shall I make to thee? (She kisses Ferdinand's hand.)
And you, a thousand blessings on your head!

Ferdinand
Who could have told you such a foolish thing?

Pauline
My stepmother.

Ferdinand
Why, she knows all about me, and if she did not, she would set spies
to discover all; for suspicion with such women as that is certitude!
Listen, Pauline, moments now are precious. It was Madame de Grandchamp
who brought me into this house.

Pauline
And why?

Ferdinand
Because she is in love with me.

Pauline
How horrible! And what of my father?

Ferdinand
She was in love with me before her marriage.

Pauline
She is in love with you; but you, are you in love with her?

Ferdinand
Do you think if I were, I should have remained in this house?

Pauline
And she is still in love with you?

Ferdinand
Yes, unhappily she is! I ought to tell you that she was at one time
beloved by me; but to-day I hate her from the bottom of my heart, and
I sometimes ask myself why. Is it because I am in love with you, and
every genuine and pure love is by nature exclusive? Is it because the
contrast between an angel of purity, such as you, and a devil like her
excites in me just as much hatred towards her as it rouses love
towards you, my joy, my bliss, my beauteous treasure? I cannot say.
But I hate her, and I love you so much that I should not regret dying
if your father killed me; for one talk with you, one hour spent in
this chamber by your side, seems, even when it is passed away, a whole
lifetime to me.

Pauline
Oh, say those dear words again! For they bring back my confidence once
more. After hearing you speak thus, I forgive you the wrong you have
done me in telling that I am not your first and only love, as you are
mine. It is but a lost illusion, that is