Mme. Mercadet
But, unhappy child—­

Mercadet Ah!  A lucky thought strikes me!  Let me talk to her.  Julie, listen to me.  I will marry you to Minard. (Julie smiles with delight.) Now, look here, you haven’t got a single sou, and you know it; what is going to become of you a week after your marriage?  Have you thought about that?

Julie
Yes, papa—­

Mme. Mercadet (with sympathy, to her husband)
The poor child is mad.

Mercadet
Yes, she is in love. (To Julie) Tell me all about it, Julie.  I am not
now your father, but your confidant; I am listening.

Julie
After our marriage we will still love each other.

Mercadet
But will Cupid shoot you bank coupons at the end of his arrows?

Julie Father, we shall lodge in a small apartment, at the extremity of the Faubourg, on the fourth story, if necessary!—­And if it can’t be helped, I will be his house-maid.  Oh!  I will take an immense delight in the care of the household, for I shall know that it will all be done for him.  I will work for him, while he is working for me.  I will spare him every anxiety, and he will never know how straitened we are.  Our home will be spotlessly clean, even elegant—­You shall see!  Elegance depends upon such little things; it springs from the soul, and happiness is at once the cause and the effect of it.  I can earn enough from my painting to cost him nothing and even to contribute to the expenses of our living.  Moreover, love will help us to pass through the days of hardship.  Adolphe has ambition, like all those who are of lofty soul, and these are the successful men—­

Mercadet Success is within reach of the bachelor, but, when a man is married, he exhausts himself in meeting his expenses, and runs after a thousand franc bill as a dog runs after a carriage.

Julie
But, papa, Adolphe has strength of will, united with such capacity
that I feel sure I shall see him some day a Minister, perhaps—­

Mercadet In these days, who is there that does not indulge more or less the hope of being a minister?  When a man leaves college he thinks himself a great poet, or a great orator!  Do you know what your Adolphe will really become?—­Why, the father of several children, who will utterly disarrange your plans of work and economy, who will end by landing his excellency in the debtor’s prison, and who will plunge you into the most frightful poverty.  What you have related to me is the romance and not the reality of life.

Mme. Mercadet
Daughter, there can be nothing serious in this love of yours.

Julie
It is a love to which both of us are willing to sacrifice everything.

Mercadet
I suppose that your friend Adolphe thinks that we are rich?

Julie
He has never spoken to me about money.

Mercadet
Just so.  I can quite understand it. (To Julie) Julie, write to him at
once, telling him to come to me.