.

Lafouraille
Ja, mein herr.

Vautrin (angrily)
Souri joro, fistas.

Lafouraille
Joro. (whispering) There are the de Langeac papers.

Vautrin
I am not for the emancipation of the negroes! When there are no more
of them, we shall have to do with whites.

Inez (to her mother)
Mother, allow me to go and read my father's letter. (To Vautrin)
General-- (She bows.)

Vautrin
She is charming, may she be happy!

(Exit Inez, accompanied to the door by her mother.)

SCENE THIRD.
The Duchess and Vautrin.

Vautrin (aside)
If Mexico saw herself represented in this way, the government would be
capable of condemning me to embassades for life. (Aloud) Pray excuse
me, madame. I have so many things to think about.

The Duchess
If absent-mindedness may be excused in any one, it is in a diplomat.

Vautrin
Yes, to civil diplomats, but I mean to remain a frank soldier. The
success which I derive must be the result of candor. But now that we
are alone, let us talk, for I have more than one delicate mission to
discharge.

The Duchess
Have you any news which my daughter should not hear?

Vautrin
It may be so. Let me come to the point; the senorita is young and
beautiful, she is rich and noble born; she probably has four times as
many suitors as any other lady. Her hand is the object of rivalry.
Well, her father has charged me to find whether she has singled out
any one in particular.

The Duchess
With a frank man, general, I will be frank. Your question is so
strange that I cannot answer it.

Vautrin
Take care, for we diplomats, in our fear of being deceived, always put
the worst interpretation on silence.

The Duchess
Sir, you forget that we are talking of Inez de Christoval!

Vautrin
She is in love with no one. That is good; she will be able then to
carry out the wishes of her father.

The Duchess
How has Monsieur de Christoval disposed of his daughter's hand?

Vautrin
You see my meaning, and your anxiety tells me that she has made her
choice. I tremble to ask further, as much as you do to answer. Ah! if
only the young man whom your daughter loves were a foreigner, rich,
apparently without family, and bent on concealing the name of his
native land!

The Duchess
The name, Frescas, which you lately uttered, is that of a young man
who seeks the hand of Inez.

Vautrin
Does he call himself also Raoul?

The Duchess
Yes, Raoul de Frescas.

Vautrin
A young man of refinement, elegance and wit, and tw