Ramel
Is it anything criminal?
Ferdinand
Oh, nonsense! My faults are such as the judges themselves would be
willing to commit.
Ramel
Perhaps I had better not listen to you; or, if I do listen to you--
Ferdinand
Well!
Ramel
I could demand a change of position.
Ferdinand
You are always my best and kindest friend. Listen then! For over three
years I have been in love with Mlle. Pauline de Grandchamp, and she--
Ramel
You needn't go on; I understand. You have been reviving _Romeo and
Juliet_--in the heart of Normandy.
Ferdinand
With this difference, that the hereditary hatred which stood between
the two lovers of the play was a mere trifle in comparison with the
loathing with which the Comte de Grandchamp contemplates the son of
the traitor Marcandal!
Ramel
Let me see! Mlle. Pauline de Grandchamp will be free in three years;
she is rich in her own right--I know this from the Boudevilles. You
can easily take her to Switzerland and keep her there until the
General's wrath has had time to cool; and then you can make him the
respectful apologies required under the circumstances.
Ferdinand
Do you think I would have asked your advice if the only difficulty lay
in the attainment of this trite and easy solution of the problem?
Ramel
Ah! I see, my dear friend. You have already married your
Gertrude--your angel--who has become to you like all other angels,
after their metamorphoses into a lawful wives.
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