De la Brive
Glass can be made out of sand!

Mercadet
That’s a good idea!

De la Brive
Therefore, sir—­

Mercadet
Silence!  Promise me that this broken marriage-contract shall be kept
secret.

De la Brive
I swear it shall—­ Ah! excepting to Pierquin.  I have just written to
him to set his mind at rest.

Mercadet
Is that the letter you sent by Justin?

De la Brive
The very one.

Mercadet
And what have you told him?

De la Brive
The name of my father-in-law.  Confound it!—­I thought you were rich.

Mercadet (despairingly) And you have written that to Pierquin?  It’s all up!  This fresh defeat will be known on the Exchange!  But, any way, I am ruined!  Suppose I write to him—­ Suppose I ask him—­ (He goes to the table to write.)

Sceneninth

The same persons, Mme. Mercadet, Julie and Verdelin.

Mme. Mercadet
My friend, M. Verdelin.

Julie (to Verdelin)
Here is my father, sir.

Mercadet
Ah!  It is you, is it, Verdelin—­and you are come to dinner?

Verdelin
No, I am not come to dinner.

Mercadet (aside)
He knows all.  He is furious!

Verdelin
And this gentleman is your son-in-law? (Verdelin bows to De la Brive.)
This is a fine marriage you are going to make!

Mercadet
The marriage, my dear sir, is not going to take place.

Julie
How happy I feel!

(De la Brive bows to Julie.  She casts down her eyes.)

Mme. Mercadet (seizing her hand)
My dear daughter!

Mercadet
I have been deceived by Mericourt.

Verdelin And you have played on me one of your tricks this morning, for the purpose of getting a thousand crowns; but the whole incident has been made public on the Exchange, and they think it a huge joke!

Mercadet
They have been informed, I suppose—­

Verdelin That your pocket-book is full of the notes of hand signed by your son-in-law.  And Pierquin tells me that your creditors are exasperated, and are to meet to-night at the house of Goulard to conclude measures for united action against you to-morrow!

Mercadet
To-night!  To-morrow!  Ah!  I hear the knell of bankruptcy sound!

Verdelin
Yes, to-morrow they are going to send a prison cab for you.

Mme. Mercadet and Julie
God help us!

Mercadet
I see the carriage, the hearse of the speculator, carrying me to
Clichy!

Verdelin
They wish, as far as possible, to rid the Exchange of all sharpers!

Mercadet They are fools, for in that case they will turn it into a desert!  And so I am ruined!  Expelled from the Exchange with all the sequelae of bankruptcy,—­shame, beggary!  I cannot believe it—­it is impossible!

De la Brive
Believe me, sir, that I regret having been in some degree—­