I beg your
pardon for interrupting you.
pardon for interrupting you.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v09 - Dra to Eme
But I, on the other hand, like
almost all my generation, brought in contact with a fashionable
world from the time that I began life,-1, born in an epoch of
lassitude and transition,-1 led for a while this life by mere
imitation in laziness.
It is a kind of existence that no
longer amuses me; and moreover, I can tell you that it never
did amuse me. To sit up all night turning over cards; to get
up at two o'clock in the afternoon, to have horses put to the
carriage and go for the drive around the Lake, or to ride horse-
back; to live by day with idlers and to pass my evenings with
such parasites as your friend M. De Tournas — all that seems to
me the height of foolishness. And at the bottom of your own
thoughts you think just as I do. So now, now that you really
have got to a serious explanation of affairs, let us reach a real
irrevocable determination of them. Are you willing to let me
arrange your life for you in the future exactly as I would wish
to arrange my own life? Are you willing to have confidence in
me, and after having brought me up in your way, are you willing
that in turn, while there is still time for it, I should — bring you
up in mine?
Count - Yes, go on.
André — Very well, - to severe diseases strong remedies. You
think a great deal of our Vilsac estate ?
Count - I was born there. I should not be sorry to end my
days there.
## p. 5028 (#196) ###########################################
5028
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
André - Very well. We will keep Vilsac for you, and find
money in some other way to pay off the mortgage.
Count -- How?
André -- That's my business; only you must send away the
two piqueurs, and six of the keepers.
Count - Poor fellows!
André -- And only four horses are to be kept. No more en-
tertainments are to be given, no more fireworks. You will enter-
tain only two or three intimate friends now and then,-if we find
as many friends as that among all those that are about us now-
adays here, - and you will stay at Vilsac seven or eight months
of the year.
Count – Alone ?
André — Wait a little. I have not finished yet. This house
where we are must be sold. We must put out of doors these
servants, who are just so many thieves; and we will keep at
Paris only a very modest stopping-place.
Count - Will you kindly allow me to get my breath ?
André — Don't stir, or my surgical operation will not be suc-
cessful. Now that your debts are paid there will be left to
you-
Count - There will be left to me
André — Forty thousand livres income, and as much for me,-
no more; and with all that, during three or four years you will
not have the capital at your disposition.
Count — Heavens, what a smash!
Andri — Are you willing to accept my scheme?
Count -I must.
André — Very well, then: sign these papers!
Count - What are they?
André — They are papers which I have just got from the
notary, and which I have been expecting to make you sign while
at Dieppe and send to me; but since you are here –
Count [signs] — Since I am here, I may as well sign at once:
you are quite right,- there you are.
André — Very well; now as, according to my notions, just as
much as you are left to yourself you will slip back into the same
errors as in the past -
Count - What are you going to do further ?
André - Guess.
Count -- You are going to forbid -
## p. 5029 (#197) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5029
André — Are you out of your senses ?
I am going to marry
you off.
Count - Marry me off!
André — Without permission.
Count - And how about yourself?
André - I am going to marry myself off-afterwards. You
must begin as an example.
Count — André, do you know something?
André - What?
Count — Some one has told you the very thing I have had in
mind.
André - Nobody has told me anything.
Count – Your word on it ?
André — My word on it.
Count Explain yourself. You, all by yourself, have had this
idea of marriage ?
André-I myself.
Count — Deny now the sympathy between us!
André — Well ?
Count — It exists [putting his arms around his son]. There,
embrace me!
André — And you accept?
Count - As if I would do anything else!
Translated for (A Library of the World's Best Literature, by E. Irenæus
Stevenson
MR. AND MRS. CLARKSON
From L'Étrangère)
[These scenes, the final ones of the drama, occur in the private drawing-
room of Catherine, the young Duchess of Septmonts. Mr. Clarkson, a wealthy
American man of business, a Californian, has just received a note from the
Duke of Septmonts, a blasé young roué of high family, requesting him to call
He has come, in some bewilderment, to find the duke. Mr. Clark-
son has only a formal acquaintance with the duke, but Mrs. Clarkson, who
resides much of the time in Paris, acting as Mr. Clarkson's business repre-
sentative, knows the duke confidentially. The Duchess of Septmonts receives
Clarkson. ]
at once.
R. CLARKSON — I beg your pardon, madam, for having in-
Ma
ago I found on returning to my house, a letter from your
husband. It asked me for a rendezvous as as possible,
soon
## p. 5030 (#198) ###########################################
5030
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
without giving me a reason for it. I find M. de Septmonts not
at home. May I ask you if you know how I can be of service to
him ?
Catherine — I was under the impression that in his letter, M.
de Septmonts explained to you the matter in which he wishes
your assistance.
Clarkson - No.
Catherine - Did not his letter contain another letter, sealed,
which he purposed leaving in your hands?
Clarkson - No.
Catherine — Are you really telling me the truth?
Clarkson - I never lie, madam: I have too much business on
my hands; it would mix me up quite too much in my affairs.
Catherine — Then perhaps it is to Mrs. Clarkson that my hus-
band has intrusted that letter.
Clarkson - No. She would have mentioned it; for I told her
that I had received a line from the Duke, and was on my way
to this house.
Catherine — Perhaps your wife did not tell you — all.
Clarkson - She has no earthly reason to conceal anything from
me!
Catherine — True! I know very well that she is your wife
only in name; she told me as much when I was at her house
yesterday.
Clarkson — Really! She must be very much pleased with you,
for she does not talk readily about her personal affairs.
Catherine - Unfortunately, it is quite otherwise as far as I am
concerned; she has not hidden from me the fact that she detests
me, and that she will do me all the injury she possibly can.
Clarkson - You? Injury? For what reason ? Pray, what have
you done to her ?
Catherine — Nothing ! I have known her only two days.
Nevertheless
Clarkson - Nevertheless —
Catherine — What I was going to say is not my secret, sir, it
is hers, and she alone has the right to tell it to you. But as to
this letter that my husband has told my father he has sent to you
it is I who wrote that letter. You may as well know, too, that
it was abstracted from my possession; and moreover, that with
that letter any one can indeed do me all the mischief with which
your wife, Mrs. Clarkson, has threatened me.
## p. 5031 (#199) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5031
Clarkson (very gravely] — Then we must know at once if my
wife has that letter. I will write her to come here immediately
and join us — that I have something very important to communi-
cate to her - here. Are you willing to have her come? [He
writes while he speaks. ]
Catherine-Certainly.
Clarkson - Then we can have a general explanation. You
may be sure, madam, that I shall never lend my hand to any-
thing that means harm to you, or to any woman: I come from
the country where we respect women.
Catherine [rings the bell, and says to a servant who answers
it]— See that this letter is sent immediately. Be careful that it
does not go astray. It is not my letter. This gentleman has
written it. (Exit servant. ]
Clarkson — And now, madam, do you know why M. de Sept-
monts wishes to have an interview with me?
Catherine — Yes, I can guess. It concerns me, perhaps; but I
have no right to discuss the matter. It is something which be-
longs to the Duke, and he alone has the right to impart it to
you. All I can do is to beg of you to have all details thoroughly
explained to you, and to look into them very carefully.
A Servant enters
Servant — M. le Duc has come in; he will be glad to have
Mr. Clarkson come to him.
Clarkson — Very good. [Going] I bid you good evening,
madam.
Catherine [to the servant] — Wait a moment. [Going to Clark-
son and speaking in a low voice. ] Suppose I were to ask you a
very great service.
Clarkson - Ask it, madam.
Catherine — Suppose I were to ask you to say to my husband
that you are waiting for him here in this drawing-room — that
you will be glad to speak with him here.
Clarkson - Nothing but that? With great pleasure. [To the
servant. ] Say to M. de Septmonts that I shall be obliged if he
will join me — here. (Servant goes out. ]
Catherine - I shall leave you; for if I know what is going to
be discussed in this interview, I neither could nor should take
part in it; but whatever may come of it, I shall never forget
## p. 5032 (#200) ###########################################
5032
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
that you have done everything that you could do as a courtesy
to me, — and that you are a gentleman. [Exit Catherine. ]
Clarkson [alone] - Charming! She is charming, that little
woman; but may I be hanged if I understand one word of what
is going on here.
The Duke of Septmonts comes in hastily, and advances to Clarkson
own
room
Septmonts — I have just come from your house, Mr. Clarkson.
Mrs. Clarkson told me you were here. I returned at once. Par-
don me for troubling you. If when I came in I asked you to
come to my own drawing-room, and have thus troubled you once
more, it is because I was told you were expecting me here, with
the duchess. This is her private parlor; and as what we have to
say is a matter for men
Clarkson - Therefore the duchess went to her
when your return here was announced.
Septmonts - Mr. Clarkson, did she tell the servant that you
would prefer to hold our conversation here ?
Clarkson — No, I told him.
[Septmonts goes to the door of the room by which Catherine went out,
and closes the portière. ]
Clarkson [in a scornful aside] – What an amount of mystery
and precaution!
Septmonts — The matter is this, Mr. Clarkson. I must fight a
duel to-morrow morning. This duel can terminate only in the
death of one or other of the contestants. I am the insulted one,
therefore I have the choice of weapons. I choose the sword.
Clarkson - Do you fence well?
Septmonts - I believe I am one of the best fencers in Paris.
But another friend on whom I could count is one of those men
of the world who discuss all the details of an affair, and with
whom the preliminaries of such a meeting might last several
days. I want to get through with the matter at once.
Clarkson - Ah! The fact is, you do give an importance and
a solemnity to such things in France that we don't understand,
we Americans, who settle the question in five minutes on the
first corner of the street, in the sight of everybody.
Septmonts - That is just the reason that I allowed myself to
apply to you, Mr. Clarkson. Now, are you disposed to be pres-
ent as my second ?
## p. 5033 (#201) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5033
Clarkson — Bless me, with all my heart ! Besides, when I
mentioned your letter to Mrs. Clarkson she told me to do all
I could to serve you. Have you and my wife known each other
long?
Septmonts - About four years; and I owe your wife a great
deal, morally speaking. I have no desire to conceal the fact.
was not yet married when I met Mrs. Clarkson. One day I had
lost a large sum at play, - a hundred and fifty thousand francs,-
which I did not have, and tried in vain to procure; for at that
time I was completely ruined. Mrs. Clarkson very generously
lent me the sum, and I repaid it, with interest equivalent to the
capital.
Clarkson - But as you were ruined, duke, how could you pay
this large capital and this large interest ? Did your father or
mother die ? In France the death of parents is a great resource,
I know.
Septmonts — No. I was an orphan, and I had no expecta-
tions. I married.
Clarkson - Ah, true!
Ah, true! You French people make much of mar-
riages for money! It's a great advantage over us Americans,
who only marry for love. Now with us, in such a case as yours,
a man goes into some business or other; he goes to mining; he
works. But every country has its own customs.
I beg your
pardon for interrupting you. After all, it doesn't concern me.
Come back to our duel.
Septmonts — I have a letter here in my hands -
Clarkson Ah! You have a letter in your hands —
Septmonts - A letter which compromises my wife -
Clarkson - Ah! I am completely at your service. I belong
to the sort of men who do not admit any compromises in mat-
ters of that kind.
Septmonts -I may be killed - one has to look ahead. If I
lose my life, I lose it by having been so injured by my wife that
I intend to be revenged on her.
Clarkson And how ?
Septmonts — I wish that the contents of this letter, which I
have in my possession, shall become public property if I am
killed.
Clarkson [coldly) — Ah! And how can I serve you as to that ?
Septmonts - I will intrust this sealed letter to you. [He takes
the letter from his pocket. ] Here it is.
## p. 5034 (#202) ###########################################
5034
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
Clarkson [still more coldly] – Very well.
Septmonts — Now, if I survive, you will restore it to me as it
is. If not, then in the trial which will follow, you will read it
in a court. I wish the letters to become public. Then it will be
known that I avenged my honor under a feigned pretext; and M.
Gérard and the duchess will be so situated that they will never
be able to see each other again.
Clarkson Nonsense! Once dead, what does it matter to you?
Septmonts — I am firm there. Will you kindly accept the com-
mission ?
Clarkson [in a formal tone] — Surely.
Septmonts - Here is the letter.
Clarkson [takes it and holds it as he speaks] — Butduke,
now that I think about it, when this trial occurs it is probable,
even certain, that I shall not be in France. I was expecting
to leave Paris on business to-morrow morning at the latest. I
can wait until to-morrow evening to please you, and to help
you with this duel of yours; but that is really all the time I can
spare.
Septmonts - Very well; then you will have the goodness to
give this letter to Mrs. Clarkson with the instructions I have just
given you, and it will be in equally good hands.
Clarkson [looking at the letter] – All right. A blank envelope.
What is there to indicate that this letter was addressed to M.
Gérard ?
Septmonts - The envelope with his name on it is inside.
Clarkson - You found this letter?
Septmonts — I found it — before it was mailed.
Clarkson -- And as you had your suspicions you -- opened it?
Septmonts — Yes.
Clarkson - I beg your pardon for questioning you so, but you
yourself did me the honor to say that you wished me to be fully
informed. Do
you
know whether the sentiments between M.
Gérard and the duchess were of long standing ?
Septmonts — They date from before my marriage.
Clarkson [looking toward the apartment of the duchess] — Oh,
That is serious!
Septmonts — They loved each other, they wanted to marry
each other, but my wife's father would not consent.
Clarkson [reflectively] – M. Gérard wanted to marry her, did
he ?
I see.
## p. 5035 (#203) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5035
Septmonts - Yes; but when he learned that Mademoiselle
Mauriceau was a millionaire, as he had nothing and had no title
other than his plain name Gérard, he withdrew his pretensions.
Clarkson That was a very proper thing for the young man
to do. It doesn't surprise me!
Septmonts - Yes; but now, Mr. Clarkson, this young gentleman
has come back
Clarkson - And is too intimate a friend to your wife?
Septmonts — Ah, I do not say that!
Clarkson - What do you say, then ?
Septmonts — That as the letter in question gives that impres-
sion, the situation amounts to the same thing as far as a legal
process is concerned.
Clarkson [thoughtfully and coldly]-Oh-h-h!
Septmonts - Don't you agree with me, Mr. Clarkson ?
Clarkson - No, not at all.
No, not at all. I can understand revenge on those
who have injured us, but not on those who haven't done so.
And I don't like vengeance on a woman anyway, even when she
is guilty; and certainly not when she is innocent; and you owe
your wife a great deal — between ourselves, you owe your wife a
great deal, duke. I understand now why, for once, your father-
in-law M. Mauriceau sides with his daughter and M. Gérard
against you. He is sure they both are innocent. By-the-by, does
M. Mauriceau also know of this letter ?
Septmonts — Yes. He even tried to take it from me by force.
Clarkson Why did he not ke it?
Sept monts - Ah, because you see, I had the presence of mind
to tell him that I did not have it any longer — that I had sent it
to you!
Clarkson (ironically] — That was very clever!
Sept monts — And then when M. Gérard had challenged me, M.
Mauriceau thought he would make an impression by saying to
him before me, “I will be your second. ”
Clarkson - Well, is that the whole story?
Septmonts -- Yes.
Clarkson - Very well, my dear sir: to speak frankly, all those
people whom you characterize so slightingly seem to me the right
kind of people - excellent people. Your little wife seems to be
the victim of prejudices, of morals, and of combinations about
which we mere American savages don't know anything at all. In
our American society, which of course I can't compare with
## p. 5036 (#204) ###########################################
5036
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
yours, as we only date from yesterday,- if Mademoiselle Mau-
riceau had loved a fine young fellow like M. Gérard, her father
would have given her to the man she loved; or if he had refused
that, why she would have gone quite simply and been married
before the justice of the peace! Perhaps her father wouldn't
have portioned her; but then the husband would have worked,
gone into business, and the two young people would have been
happy all the same. As to your M. Gérard here, he is an honest
man and a clever one. We like people who work, we Americans,
and to whatever country they belong, we hold them as compatri-
ots — because we are such savages,
I
suppose. So you under-
stand that I don't at all share your opinion of this question.
Septmonts — And so speaking, you mean — ?
Clarkson - That if I give you this explanation, it is because I
think I understand that in paying me the honor of choosing me
as a second, you thought that the men of my country were less
clear-sighted, less scrupulous than the men of yours. In short,
duke, you thought I would lend my hand to all these social pet-
tinesses, these little vilenesses which you have just recounted with
a candor that honors you.
Septmonts-Do you happen to remember, Mr. Clarkson, that
you are talking to me - in this way?
Clarkson - To you. Because there are only two of us here!
But if you like, we will call in other people to listen.
Septmonts — Then, sir, you tell me to my face —
Clarkson - I tell you to your face that to squander your in-
heritance— to have gambled away money you did not have — to
borrow it from a woman without knowing when or how you
could return it — to marry in order to pay your debts and con-
tinue your dissipations— to revenge yourseif now on an innocent
woman – to steal letters — to misapply your skill in arms by kill-
ing a brave man — why, I tell you to your face that all that is
the work of a rascal, and that therefore a rascal you are. Oh,
what astonishes me is that fifty people haven't told you so
already, and that I have had to travel three thousand leagues
to inform you on the subject ! For you don't seem to have
ever suspected it, and you don't look thoroughly convinced even
now.
Septmonts [controlling himself with the greatest difficulty]-
Mr. Clarkson, you know that I cannot call you to account until
I have settled with your friend M. Gérard. You take a strange
## p. 5037 (#205) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5037
advantage of the fact, sir. But we shall meet again. Please re-
turn me the paper you have had from me.
Clarkson - Your wife's letter ? Never in the world! As it was
addressed to M. Gérard, it belongs to M. Gérard. I intend to
give it to M. Gérard. If he wants to return it to you, I won't
stand in the way; but I doubt whether he will return it.
Septmonts — You will fight me, then, you mean?
Clarkson — Oh! as for that; yes, fight as much as you like.
Septmonts - Very well; when I have finished with the other,
you and I will have our business together.
Clarkson - Say the day after to-morrow, then ?
Septmonts - The day after to-morrow.
Clarkson - Stop; I must start off by to-morrow night, at the
latest.
Septmonts -- You can wait. And while waiting, leave me!
Clarkson — Duke, do I look like a man to whom to say “leave”
in that tone, and who goes ? Now look at me; it isn't hard to
see what I have decided. I don't mean you to fight with Gérard
before you have fought with me. If Gérard kills you, I shan't
have the pleasure of crossing swords with “one of the first
fencers in Paris,” which it will amuse me to do.
If you kill
him, you cause irreparable misfortunes. If you think I'm going
to let you kill a man who has saved me twenty-five per cent. in
the cost of washing gold, you are mistaken! Come, prove you
are brave, even when you aren't sure of being the stronger! Go
and get a good pair of swords from your room (since the sword
is your favorite weapon - mine, too, for the matter of that), and
follow me to those great bare grounds back of your house. On
my way here I was wondering why in goodness's name they were
not utilized. In the heart of the city they must be worth a good
deal! We will prove it. As for seconds, umpires of the point
of honor, we'll have the people who pass by in the street - if
any do pass.
(Septmonts rushes in a fury toward the door, but when there stretches his
hand toneard the bell. Clarkson throws himself between him and the
bell. ]
Clarkson - Ah! no ringing, please! Don't play the Louis XV.
gentleman, and order your servants to cudgel a poor beggar! or
as sure as my name is Clarkson, I'll slap your face, sir, before
all your lackeys!
## p. 5038 (#206) ###########################################
5038
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
Septmonts - Very well, so be it! I will begin with you.
[Angrily hastens from the room for the weapons. ]
Clarkson - Quite right! [Looking coolly at his watch. ] Let me
see; why, perhaps I can get away from Paris this evening after
all. [He goes calmly out at the back toward the darkened garden. ]
(The Duchess of Septmonts has pulled aside the portière and looks toward
the door by which her husband and Mr. Clarkson have gone out. She
is very much agitated, and can hardly walk. She rings the bell, and
then makes an effort to appear calm. The servant comes in. ]
Catherine [tremulously, to the servant] — Ask my father to
come here, immediately. [The servant goes out. Catherine looks
toward the window and makes a movement to go to it. ] No, I
will not look out! I will not know anything! I do not know
anything; I have heard nothing; the minutes that that hand
marks upon the clock, no one knows what they say to me. One
of them will decide my life! Even if I had heard nothing,
things would take the turn that they have, and I should merely
be amazed in knowing of them. Instead of knowing nothing, I
have merely to remember nothing. But no, no,- I am trying in
vain to smother the voice of my own conscience! What I am
doing is wicked. From the moment that I have known anything
about this, I am an accomplice; and if one of these two men is
killed he has been killed with my consent. No, I cannot and
I will not. [She runs toward the door. As she docs So Mrs.
Clarkson enters hastily. ] You, you, madam!
Mrs. Clarkson — Were you not really expecting me to-day,
madam ? My husband sends me a note to say that you — and
he-wish to speak to me immediately.
Catherine - Madam, since Mr. Clarkson has written you, there
has occurred a thing which neither your husband, nor I, nor you
yourself could foresce.
Mrs. Clarkson - What do you mean?
Catherine — While my husband the duke has been explaining
to Mr. Clarkson the reasons of the duel, — which you, you, madam,
have provoked, - your husband, who did not find these reasons
either sufficient or honorable, has undertaken to defend us
Gérard, yes, Gérard, and me, -- and so very forcibly, that at this
instant-
Mrs. Clarkson — They are fighting ?
Catherine — Yes, yes, only a few steps away from here!
## p. 5039 (#207) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5039
Mrs. Clarkson — Ah! That sounds like Clarkson! [She takes
a step toward the door. ]
Catherine — Madam, that duel must not go on.
Mrs. Clarkson - Why not?
Catherine - I will not permit these two men to lose their
lives on my account.
Mrs. Clarkson - You?
almost all my generation, brought in contact with a fashionable
world from the time that I began life,-1, born in an epoch of
lassitude and transition,-1 led for a while this life by mere
imitation in laziness.
It is a kind of existence that no
longer amuses me; and moreover, I can tell you that it never
did amuse me. To sit up all night turning over cards; to get
up at two o'clock in the afternoon, to have horses put to the
carriage and go for the drive around the Lake, or to ride horse-
back; to live by day with idlers and to pass my evenings with
such parasites as your friend M. De Tournas — all that seems to
me the height of foolishness. And at the bottom of your own
thoughts you think just as I do. So now, now that you really
have got to a serious explanation of affairs, let us reach a real
irrevocable determination of them. Are you willing to let me
arrange your life for you in the future exactly as I would wish
to arrange my own life? Are you willing to have confidence in
me, and after having brought me up in your way, are you willing
that in turn, while there is still time for it, I should — bring you
up in mine?
Count - Yes, go on.
André — Very well, - to severe diseases strong remedies. You
think a great deal of our Vilsac estate ?
Count - I was born there. I should not be sorry to end my
days there.
## p. 5028 (#196) ###########################################
5028
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
André - Very well. We will keep Vilsac for you, and find
money in some other way to pay off the mortgage.
Count -- How?
André -- That's my business; only you must send away the
two piqueurs, and six of the keepers.
Count - Poor fellows!
André -- And only four horses are to be kept. No more en-
tertainments are to be given, no more fireworks. You will enter-
tain only two or three intimate friends now and then,-if we find
as many friends as that among all those that are about us now-
adays here, - and you will stay at Vilsac seven or eight months
of the year.
Count – Alone ?
André — Wait a little. I have not finished yet. This house
where we are must be sold. We must put out of doors these
servants, who are just so many thieves; and we will keep at
Paris only a very modest stopping-place.
Count - Will you kindly allow me to get my breath ?
André — Don't stir, or my surgical operation will not be suc-
cessful. Now that your debts are paid there will be left to
you-
Count - There will be left to me
André — Forty thousand livres income, and as much for me,-
no more; and with all that, during three or four years you will
not have the capital at your disposition.
Count — Heavens, what a smash!
Andri — Are you willing to accept my scheme?
Count -I must.
André — Very well, then: sign these papers!
Count - What are they?
André — They are papers which I have just got from the
notary, and which I have been expecting to make you sign while
at Dieppe and send to me; but since you are here –
Count [signs] — Since I am here, I may as well sign at once:
you are quite right,- there you are.
André — Very well; now as, according to my notions, just as
much as you are left to yourself you will slip back into the same
errors as in the past -
Count - What are you going to do further ?
André - Guess.
Count -- You are going to forbid -
## p. 5029 (#197) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5029
André — Are you out of your senses ?
I am going to marry
you off.
Count - Marry me off!
André — Without permission.
Count - And how about yourself?
André - I am going to marry myself off-afterwards. You
must begin as an example.
Count — André, do you know something?
André - What?
Count — Some one has told you the very thing I have had in
mind.
André - Nobody has told me anything.
Count – Your word on it ?
André — My word on it.
Count Explain yourself. You, all by yourself, have had this
idea of marriage ?
André-I myself.
Count — Deny now the sympathy between us!
André — Well ?
Count — It exists [putting his arms around his son]. There,
embrace me!
André — And you accept?
Count - As if I would do anything else!
Translated for (A Library of the World's Best Literature, by E. Irenæus
Stevenson
MR. AND MRS. CLARKSON
From L'Étrangère)
[These scenes, the final ones of the drama, occur in the private drawing-
room of Catherine, the young Duchess of Septmonts. Mr. Clarkson, a wealthy
American man of business, a Californian, has just received a note from the
Duke of Septmonts, a blasé young roué of high family, requesting him to call
He has come, in some bewilderment, to find the duke. Mr. Clark-
son has only a formal acquaintance with the duke, but Mrs. Clarkson, who
resides much of the time in Paris, acting as Mr. Clarkson's business repre-
sentative, knows the duke confidentially. The Duchess of Septmonts receives
Clarkson. ]
at once.
R. CLARKSON — I beg your pardon, madam, for having in-
Ma
ago I found on returning to my house, a letter from your
husband. It asked me for a rendezvous as as possible,
soon
## p. 5030 (#198) ###########################################
5030
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
without giving me a reason for it. I find M. de Septmonts not
at home. May I ask you if you know how I can be of service to
him ?
Catherine — I was under the impression that in his letter, M.
de Septmonts explained to you the matter in which he wishes
your assistance.
Clarkson - No.
Catherine - Did not his letter contain another letter, sealed,
which he purposed leaving in your hands?
Clarkson - No.
Catherine — Are you really telling me the truth?
Clarkson - I never lie, madam: I have too much business on
my hands; it would mix me up quite too much in my affairs.
Catherine — Then perhaps it is to Mrs. Clarkson that my hus-
band has intrusted that letter.
Clarkson - No. She would have mentioned it; for I told her
that I had received a line from the Duke, and was on my way
to this house.
Catherine — Perhaps your wife did not tell you — all.
Clarkson - She has no earthly reason to conceal anything from
me!
Catherine — True! I know very well that she is your wife
only in name; she told me as much when I was at her house
yesterday.
Clarkson — Really! She must be very much pleased with you,
for she does not talk readily about her personal affairs.
Catherine - Unfortunately, it is quite otherwise as far as I am
concerned; she has not hidden from me the fact that she detests
me, and that she will do me all the injury she possibly can.
Clarkson - You? Injury? For what reason ? Pray, what have
you done to her ?
Catherine — Nothing ! I have known her only two days.
Nevertheless
Clarkson - Nevertheless —
Catherine — What I was going to say is not my secret, sir, it
is hers, and she alone has the right to tell it to you. But as to
this letter that my husband has told my father he has sent to you
it is I who wrote that letter. You may as well know, too, that
it was abstracted from my possession; and moreover, that with
that letter any one can indeed do me all the mischief with which
your wife, Mrs. Clarkson, has threatened me.
## p. 5031 (#199) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5031
Clarkson (very gravely] — Then we must know at once if my
wife has that letter. I will write her to come here immediately
and join us — that I have something very important to communi-
cate to her - here. Are you willing to have her come? [He
writes while he speaks. ]
Catherine-Certainly.
Clarkson - Then we can have a general explanation. You
may be sure, madam, that I shall never lend my hand to any-
thing that means harm to you, or to any woman: I come from
the country where we respect women.
Catherine [rings the bell, and says to a servant who answers
it]— See that this letter is sent immediately. Be careful that it
does not go astray. It is not my letter. This gentleman has
written it. (Exit servant. ]
Clarkson — And now, madam, do you know why M. de Sept-
monts wishes to have an interview with me?
Catherine — Yes, I can guess. It concerns me, perhaps; but I
have no right to discuss the matter. It is something which be-
longs to the Duke, and he alone has the right to impart it to
you. All I can do is to beg of you to have all details thoroughly
explained to you, and to look into them very carefully.
A Servant enters
Servant — M. le Duc has come in; he will be glad to have
Mr. Clarkson come to him.
Clarkson — Very good. [Going] I bid you good evening,
madam.
Catherine [to the servant] — Wait a moment. [Going to Clark-
son and speaking in a low voice. ] Suppose I were to ask you a
very great service.
Clarkson - Ask it, madam.
Catherine — Suppose I were to ask you to say to my husband
that you are waiting for him here in this drawing-room — that
you will be glad to speak with him here.
Clarkson - Nothing but that? With great pleasure. [To the
servant. ] Say to M. de Septmonts that I shall be obliged if he
will join me — here. (Servant goes out. ]
Catherine - I shall leave you; for if I know what is going to
be discussed in this interview, I neither could nor should take
part in it; but whatever may come of it, I shall never forget
## p. 5032 (#200) ###########################################
5032
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
that you have done everything that you could do as a courtesy
to me, — and that you are a gentleman. [Exit Catherine. ]
Clarkson [alone] - Charming! She is charming, that little
woman; but may I be hanged if I understand one word of what
is going on here.
The Duke of Septmonts comes in hastily, and advances to Clarkson
own
room
Septmonts — I have just come from your house, Mr. Clarkson.
Mrs. Clarkson told me you were here. I returned at once. Par-
don me for troubling you. If when I came in I asked you to
come to my own drawing-room, and have thus troubled you once
more, it is because I was told you were expecting me here, with
the duchess. This is her private parlor; and as what we have to
say is a matter for men
Clarkson - Therefore the duchess went to her
when your return here was announced.
Septmonts - Mr. Clarkson, did she tell the servant that you
would prefer to hold our conversation here ?
Clarkson — No, I told him.
[Septmonts goes to the door of the room by which Catherine went out,
and closes the portière. ]
Clarkson [in a scornful aside] – What an amount of mystery
and precaution!
Septmonts — The matter is this, Mr. Clarkson. I must fight a
duel to-morrow morning. This duel can terminate only in the
death of one or other of the contestants. I am the insulted one,
therefore I have the choice of weapons. I choose the sword.
Clarkson - Do you fence well?
Septmonts - I believe I am one of the best fencers in Paris.
But another friend on whom I could count is one of those men
of the world who discuss all the details of an affair, and with
whom the preliminaries of such a meeting might last several
days. I want to get through with the matter at once.
Clarkson - Ah! The fact is, you do give an importance and
a solemnity to such things in France that we don't understand,
we Americans, who settle the question in five minutes on the
first corner of the street, in the sight of everybody.
Septmonts - That is just the reason that I allowed myself to
apply to you, Mr. Clarkson. Now, are you disposed to be pres-
ent as my second ?
## p. 5033 (#201) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5033
Clarkson — Bless me, with all my heart ! Besides, when I
mentioned your letter to Mrs. Clarkson she told me to do all
I could to serve you. Have you and my wife known each other
long?
Septmonts - About four years; and I owe your wife a great
deal, morally speaking. I have no desire to conceal the fact.
was not yet married when I met Mrs. Clarkson. One day I had
lost a large sum at play, - a hundred and fifty thousand francs,-
which I did not have, and tried in vain to procure; for at that
time I was completely ruined. Mrs. Clarkson very generously
lent me the sum, and I repaid it, with interest equivalent to the
capital.
Clarkson - But as you were ruined, duke, how could you pay
this large capital and this large interest ? Did your father or
mother die ? In France the death of parents is a great resource,
I know.
Septmonts — No. I was an orphan, and I had no expecta-
tions. I married.
Clarkson - Ah, true!
Ah, true! You French people make much of mar-
riages for money! It's a great advantage over us Americans,
who only marry for love. Now with us, in such a case as yours,
a man goes into some business or other; he goes to mining; he
works. But every country has its own customs.
I beg your
pardon for interrupting you. After all, it doesn't concern me.
Come back to our duel.
Septmonts — I have a letter here in my hands -
Clarkson Ah! You have a letter in your hands —
Septmonts - A letter which compromises my wife -
Clarkson - Ah! I am completely at your service. I belong
to the sort of men who do not admit any compromises in mat-
ters of that kind.
Septmonts -I may be killed - one has to look ahead. If I
lose my life, I lose it by having been so injured by my wife that
I intend to be revenged on her.
Clarkson And how ?
Septmonts — I wish that the contents of this letter, which I
have in my possession, shall become public property if I am
killed.
Clarkson [coldly) — Ah! And how can I serve you as to that ?
Septmonts - I will intrust this sealed letter to you. [He takes
the letter from his pocket. ] Here it is.
## p. 5034 (#202) ###########################################
5034
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
Clarkson [still more coldly] – Very well.
Septmonts — Now, if I survive, you will restore it to me as it
is. If not, then in the trial which will follow, you will read it
in a court. I wish the letters to become public. Then it will be
known that I avenged my honor under a feigned pretext; and M.
Gérard and the duchess will be so situated that they will never
be able to see each other again.
Clarkson Nonsense! Once dead, what does it matter to you?
Septmonts — I am firm there. Will you kindly accept the com-
mission ?
Clarkson [in a formal tone] — Surely.
Septmonts - Here is the letter.
Clarkson [takes it and holds it as he speaks] — Butduke,
now that I think about it, when this trial occurs it is probable,
even certain, that I shall not be in France. I was expecting
to leave Paris on business to-morrow morning at the latest. I
can wait until to-morrow evening to please you, and to help
you with this duel of yours; but that is really all the time I can
spare.
Septmonts - Very well; then you will have the goodness to
give this letter to Mrs. Clarkson with the instructions I have just
given you, and it will be in equally good hands.
Clarkson [looking at the letter] – All right. A blank envelope.
What is there to indicate that this letter was addressed to M.
Gérard ?
Septmonts - The envelope with his name on it is inside.
Clarkson - You found this letter?
Septmonts — I found it — before it was mailed.
Clarkson -- And as you had your suspicions you -- opened it?
Septmonts — Yes.
Clarkson - I beg your pardon for questioning you so, but you
yourself did me the honor to say that you wished me to be fully
informed. Do
you
know whether the sentiments between M.
Gérard and the duchess were of long standing ?
Septmonts — They date from before my marriage.
Clarkson [looking toward the apartment of the duchess] — Oh,
That is serious!
Septmonts — They loved each other, they wanted to marry
each other, but my wife's father would not consent.
Clarkson [reflectively] – M. Gérard wanted to marry her, did
he ?
I see.
## p. 5035 (#203) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5035
Septmonts - Yes; but when he learned that Mademoiselle
Mauriceau was a millionaire, as he had nothing and had no title
other than his plain name Gérard, he withdrew his pretensions.
Clarkson That was a very proper thing for the young man
to do. It doesn't surprise me!
Septmonts - Yes; but now, Mr. Clarkson, this young gentleman
has come back
Clarkson - And is too intimate a friend to your wife?
Septmonts — Ah, I do not say that!
Clarkson - What do you say, then ?
Septmonts — That as the letter in question gives that impres-
sion, the situation amounts to the same thing as far as a legal
process is concerned.
Clarkson [thoughtfully and coldly]-Oh-h-h!
Septmonts - Don't you agree with me, Mr. Clarkson ?
Clarkson - No, not at all.
No, not at all. I can understand revenge on those
who have injured us, but not on those who haven't done so.
And I don't like vengeance on a woman anyway, even when she
is guilty; and certainly not when she is innocent; and you owe
your wife a great deal — between ourselves, you owe your wife a
great deal, duke. I understand now why, for once, your father-
in-law M. Mauriceau sides with his daughter and M. Gérard
against you. He is sure they both are innocent. By-the-by, does
M. Mauriceau also know of this letter ?
Septmonts — Yes. He even tried to take it from me by force.
Clarkson Why did he not ke it?
Sept monts - Ah, because you see, I had the presence of mind
to tell him that I did not have it any longer — that I had sent it
to you!
Clarkson (ironically] — That was very clever!
Sept monts — And then when M. Gérard had challenged me, M.
Mauriceau thought he would make an impression by saying to
him before me, “I will be your second. ”
Clarkson - Well, is that the whole story?
Septmonts -- Yes.
Clarkson - Very well, my dear sir: to speak frankly, all those
people whom you characterize so slightingly seem to me the right
kind of people - excellent people. Your little wife seems to be
the victim of prejudices, of morals, and of combinations about
which we mere American savages don't know anything at all. In
our American society, which of course I can't compare with
## p. 5036 (#204) ###########################################
5036
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
yours, as we only date from yesterday,- if Mademoiselle Mau-
riceau had loved a fine young fellow like M. Gérard, her father
would have given her to the man she loved; or if he had refused
that, why she would have gone quite simply and been married
before the justice of the peace! Perhaps her father wouldn't
have portioned her; but then the husband would have worked,
gone into business, and the two young people would have been
happy all the same. As to your M. Gérard here, he is an honest
man and a clever one. We like people who work, we Americans,
and to whatever country they belong, we hold them as compatri-
ots — because we are such savages,
I
suppose. So you under-
stand that I don't at all share your opinion of this question.
Septmonts — And so speaking, you mean — ?
Clarkson - That if I give you this explanation, it is because I
think I understand that in paying me the honor of choosing me
as a second, you thought that the men of my country were less
clear-sighted, less scrupulous than the men of yours. In short,
duke, you thought I would lend my hand to all these social pet-
tinesses, these little vilenesses which you have just recounted with
a candor that honors you.
Septmonts-Do you happen to remember, Mr. Clarkson, that
you are talking to me - in this way?
Clarkson - To you. Because there are only two of us here!
But if you like, we will call in other people to listen.
Septmonts — Then, sir, you tell me to my face —
Clarkson - I tell you to your face that to squander your in-
heritance— to have gambled away money you did not have — to
borrow it from a woman without knowing when or how you
could return it — to marry in order to pay your debts and con-
tinue your dissipations— to revenge yourseif now on an innocent
woman – to steal letters — to misapply your skill in arms by kill-
ing a brave man — why, I tell you to your face that all that is
the work of a rascal, and that therefore a rascal you are. Oh,
what astonishes me is that fifty people haven't told you so
already, and that I have had to travel three thousand leagues
to inform you on the subject ! For you don't seem to have
ever suspected it, and you don't look thoroughly convinced even
now.
Septmonts [controlling himself with the greatest difficulty]-
Mr. Clarkson, you know that I cannot call you to account until
I have settled with your friend M. Gérard. You take a strange
## p. 5037 (#205) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5037
advantage of the fact, sir. But we shall meet again. Please re-
turn me the paper you have had from me.
Clarkson - Your wife's letter ? Never in the world! As it was
addressed to M. Gérard, it belongs to M. Gérard. I intend to
give it to M. Gérard. If he wants to return it to you, I won't
stand in the way; but I doubt whether he will return it.
Septmonts — You will fight me, then, you mean?
Clarkson — Oh! as for that; yes, fight as much as you like.
Septmonts - Very well; when I have finished with the other,
you and I will have our business together.
Clarkson - Say the day after to-morrow, then ?
Septmonts - The day after to-morrow.
Clarkson - Stop; I must start off by to-morrow night, at the
latest.
Septmonts -- You can wait. And while waiting, leave me!
Clarkson — Duke, do I look like a man to whom to say “leave”
in that tone, and who goes ? Now look at me; it isn't hard to
see what I have decided. I don't mean you to fight with Gérard
before you have fought with me. If Gérard kills you, I shan't
have the pleasure of crossing swords with “one of the first
fencers in Paris,” which it will amuse me to do.
If you kill
him, you cause irreparable misfortunes. If you think I'm going
to let you kill a man who has saved me twenty-five per cent. in
the cost of washing gold, you are mistaken! Come, prove you
are brave, even when you aren't sure of being the stronger! Go
and get a good pair of swords from your room (since the sword
is your favorite weapon - mine, too, for the matter of that), and
follow me to those great bare grounds back of your house. On
my way here I was wondering why in goodness's name they were
not utilized. In the heart of the city they must be worth a good
deal! We will prove it. As for seconds, umpires of the point
of honor, we'll have the people who pass by in the street - if
any do pass.
(Septmonts rushes in a fury toward the door, but when there stretches his
hand toneard the bell. Clarkson throws himself between him and the
bell. ]
Clarkson - Ah! no ringing, please! Don't play the Louis XV.
gentleman, and order your servants to cudgel a poor beggar! or
as sure as my name is Clarkson, I'll slap your face, sir, before
all your lackeys!
## p. 5038 (#206) ###########################################
5038
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
Septmonts - Very well, so be it! I will begin with you.
[Angrily hastens from the room for the weapons. ]
Clarkson - Quite right! [Looking coolly at his watch. ] Let me
see; why, perhaps I can get away from Paris this evening after
all. [He goes calmly out at the back toward the darkened garden. ]
(The Duchess of Septmonts has pulled aside the portière and looks toward
the door by which her husband and Mr. Clarkson have gone out. She
is very much agitated, and can hardly walk. She rings the bell, and
then makes an effort to appear calm. The servant comes in. ]
Catherine [tremulously, to the servant] — Ask my father to
come here, immediately. [The servant goes out. Catherine looks
toward the window and makes a movement to go to it. ] No, I
will not look out! I will not know anything! I do not know
anything; I have heard nothing; the minutes that that hand
marks upon the clock, no one knows what they say to me. One
of them will decide my life! Even if I had heard nothing,
things would take the turn that they have, and I should merely
be amazed in knowing of them. Instead of knowing nothing, I
have merely to remember nothing. But no, no,- I am trying in
vain to smother the voice of my own conscience! What I am
doing is wicked. From the moment that I have known anything
about this, I am an accomplice; and if one of these two men is
killed he has been killed with my consent. No, I cannot and
I will not. [She runs toward the door. As she docs So Mrs.
Clarkson enters hastily. ] You, you, madam!
Mrs. Clarkson — Were you not really expecting me to-day,
madam ? My husband sends me a note to say that you — and
he-wish to speak to me immediately.
Catherine - Madam, since Mr. Clarkson has written you, there
has occurred a thing which neither your husband, nor I, nor you
yourself could foresce.
Mrs. Clarkson - What do you mean?
Catherine — While my husband the duke has been explaining
to Mr. Clarkson the reasons of the duel, — which you, you, madam,
have provoked, - your husband, who did not find these reasons
either sufficient or honorable, has undertaken to defend us
Gérard, yes, Gérard, and me, -- and so very forcibly, that at this
instant-
Mrs. Clarkson — They are fighting ?
Catherine — Yes, yes, only a few steps away from here!
## p. 5039 (#207) ###########################################
ALEXANDRE DUMAS, JUNIOR
5039
Mrs. Clarkson — Ah! That sounds like Clarkson! [She takes
a step toward the door. ]
Catherine — Madam, that duel must not go on.
Mrs. Clarkson - Why not?
Catherine - I will not permit these two men to lose their
lives on my account.
Mrs. Clarkson - You?
