t you must furnish proofs.

Vautrin
If your grace has confided any important secret to him, I shall have
immediately to put him under surveillance.

The Duke (aside)
This man seems more honest and reliable than the other.

Vautrin
We put the secret police on such cases.

The Duke
You ought not to have come here, sir, unless you were able to justify
your assertions.

Vautrin
I have done my duty. I hope that the ambition of this man, who is
capable of selling himself to the highest bidder, may be of service to
you.

The Duke (aside)
How can he have learned so promptly the secret of my morning
interview?

Vautrin (aside)
He hesitates; Joseph is right, some important secret is at stake.

The Duke
Sir!

Vautrin
Your grace!

The Duke
It is the interest of both of us to defeat this man.

Vautrin
That would be dangerous, if he has your secret; for he is tricky.

The Duke
Yes, the fellow has wit.

Vautrin
Did you give him a commission?

The Duke
Nothing of importance; I wish to find out all about a certain Monsieur
de Frescas.

Vautrin (aside)
Merely that! (Aloud) I can tell your grace all about him. Raoul de
Frescas is a young nobleman whose family is mixed up in an affair of
high treason, and he does not like to assume his father's name.

The Duke
He has a father, then?

Vautrin
He has a father.

The Duke
And where does he come from? What is his fortune?

Vautrin
We are changing our roles, and your grace must excuse my not answering
until you tell me what special interest your grace has in Monsieur de
Frescas.

The Duke
You are forgetting yourself, sir!

Vautrin (with assumed humility)
Yes, I am forgetting the fact that there is an enormous difference
between spies and those who set them.

The Duke
Joseph!

Vautrin (aside)
The duke has set his spies upon us; I must hurry.

(Vautrin disappears through the side door, by which he entered in the
first act.)

The Duke (turning back)
You shall not leave the house. Heavens! Where is he? (He rings and
Joseph answers.) Let all the doors of the house be locked, a man has
got into the house. Quick! Let all look for him, and let him be
apprehended. (He goes to the room of the duchess.)

Joseph (looking through the postern)
He is far away by this time.

Curtain to the Second Act.

ACT III.

SCENE FIRST.
(A room in the house of Raoul de Frescas.)

Lafouraille (alone)
Would my late excelle