Mercadet
She will be indebted to you for having secured her happiness.

Minard (despairingly)
She will despise me, sir!

Mercadet That is probable!  But if I have read your heart aright, your love for her is such that you will sacrifice yourself completely to the happiness of her life.  But here she comes, sir, and her mother is with her.  It is on their account that I make this request to you, sir; can I count on you?

Minard
You—­can.

Mercadet
Very good—­I thank you.

Scenethird

The preceding, Julie and Mme. Mercadet.

Julie
Come, mother, I am sure that Adolphe has triumphed over all obstacles.

Mme. Mercadet
My dear, M. Minard has asked of you the hand of Julie.  What answer
have you given him?

Mercadet (going to the desk)
It is for him to say.

Mercadet (aside)
How can I tell her?  My heart is breaking.

Julie
What have you got to say, Adolphe?

Minard
Mademoiselle—­

Julie
Mademoiselle!  Am I no longer Julie to you?  Oh, tell me quickly.  You
have settled everything with my father, have you not?

Minard
Your father has shown great confidence in me.  He has revealed to me
his situation; he has told me—­

Julie
Go on, please go on—­

Mercadet
I have told him that we are ruined—­

Julie
And this avowal has not changed your plans—­your love—­has it,
Adolphe?

Minard (ardently) My love! (Mercadet, without being noticed, seizes his hand.) I should be deceiving you—­mademoiselle—­(speaking with great effort)—­if I were to say that my intentions are unaltered.

Julie
Oh!  It is impossible!  Can it be you who speak to me in this strain?

Mme. Mercadet
Julie—­

Minard (rousing himself) There are some men to whom poverty adds energy; men capable of daily self-sacrifice, of hourly toil; men who think themselves sufficiently recompensed by a smile from a companion that they love—­(checking himself).  I, mademoiselle am not one of these.  The thought of poverty dismays me.  I—­I could not endure the sight of your unhappiness.

Julie (bursting into tears and flinging herself into the arms of her mother) Oh!  Mother!  Mother!  Mother!

Mme. Mercadet
My daughter—­my poor Julie!

Minard (in a low voice to Mercadet)
Is this sufficient, sir?

Julie (without looking at Minard) I should have had courage for both of us.  I should always have greeted you with a smile, I should have toiled without regret, and happiness would always have reigned in our home.  You could never have meant this, Adolphe.  You do not mean it.

Minard (in a low voice)
Let me go—­let me leave the house, sir.

Mercadet
Come, then. (He retires to the back of the stage.)