out of sight. Marguerite brings in lights and cards. Night is approaching.)

Marguerite Four card tables—that will be enough, even though the cure, the mayor and his assistant come. (Felix lights the candles.) I'll wager anything that my poor Pauline will not be married this time. Dear child! If her late mother were to see that she was not queen of the house, she would weep in her coffin! I only remain here in order to comfort and to wait upon her.

Felix (aside) What is this old woman grumbling about? (Aloud) Whom are you complaining of now, Marguerite? I'll bet it is the mistress.

Marguerite
No, it is not; I am blaming the master.

Felix The General? You had better mind your own business. He is a saint, is that man.

Marguerite
Yes, a stone saint, for he is blind.

Felix
You had better say that he has been blinded.

Marguerite
You hit the nail on the head there.

Felix
The General has but one fault—he is jealous.

Marguerite
Yes, and obstinate, too.

Felix Yes, obstinate; it is the same thing. When once he suspects anything he comes down like a hammer. That was the way he laid two men lifeless at a blow. Between ourselves, there is only one way to treat a trooper of that sort; you must stuff him with flattery. And the mistress certainly does stuff him. Besides, she is clever enough to put blinders on him, such as they put on shying 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 General
Ferdinand then is your friend?

Ramel I have known him from childhood; and here we met in your avenue. On meeting, after nine years of separation, we had so many things to talk about, that I caused him to be late.

The General
But, sir, to what circumstance am I to attribute your presence here?

Ramel I come in the matter of Jean Nicot, known as Champagne, your foreman, who is charged with a crime.

Gertrude But, sir, our friend, Doctor Vernon, has declared that Champagne's wife died a natural death.

Vernon
Yes, sir, cholera.

Ramel Justice, sir, believes in nothing but investigations and convictions of its own. You did wrong to proceed before my arrival.

Felix
Madame, shall I bring in the coffee?

Gertrude Wait a while! (Aside) How changed this man is, this attorney. I shouldn't have recognized him. He terrifies me.

The General But how could you be brought here by the crime of Champagne, an old soldier for whom I would stand security?

Ramel
You will earn that, on the arrival of the investigating magistrate.

The General
Will you be pleased to take a seat?

Ferdinand (to Ramel, pointing out Pauline)
That is she!

Ramel
A man might lay down his life for such a lovely girl.

Gertrude (to Ramel) We do not know each other! You have never seen me, have you? You must have pity on us!

Ramel
You may depend upon me for that.

The General (who sees Ramel and Gertrude talking together)
Is my wife to be called to this investigation?

Ramel Certainly, General. I came here myself because the countess had not been notified that we required her presence.

The General
My wife mixed up in such an affair? It is an outrage!

Vernon
Keep cool, my friend.

Felix (announcing)
Monsieur, the investigating magistrate!

The General
Let him come in.

SCENE THIRD

The same persons, the investigating magistrate, Champagne, Baudrillon and a gendarme who is guarding Champagne.

The Magistrate (bowing to the company)
Monsieur the state's attorney, this is M. Baudrillon, the druggist.

Ramel
Has M. Baudrillon seen the accused?

The Magistrate
No, monsieur, the accused came in charge of a gendarme.

Ramel We shall soon learn the truth in this case! Let M. Baudrillon and the accused approach.

The Magistrate
Come forward, M. Baudrillon; (to Champagne) and you also.

Ramel M. Baudrillon, do you identify this man as the person who bought arsenic from you two days ago?

Baudrillon
Yes, that is the very man.

Champagne
Didn't I