Mercadet
You must pay them by a bluff.

Mme. Mercadet
Sometimes you can obtain by affection what is not attainable by—­

Mercadet By affection!  Ah!  Little do you know the age in which we live—­To-day, madame, wealth is everything, family is nothing; there are no families, but only individuals!  The future of each one is to be determined by the public funds.  A young girl when she needs a dowry no longer appeals to her family, but to a syndicate.  The income of the King of England comes from an insurance company.  The wife depends for funds, not upon her husband, but upon the savings bank!—­Debts are paid, not to creditors, but to the country, through an agency, which manages a sort of slave-trade in white people!  All our duties are arranged by coupons—­The servants which we exchange for them are no longer attached to their masters, but if you hold their money they will be devoted to you.

Mme. Mercadet
Oh, sir, you who are so honorable, so upright, sometimes say things to
me which—­

Mercadet And what is said may also be done, that is what you mean, isn’t it?  Undoubtedly I would do anything to save myself, for (he pulls out a five-franc piece) this represents modern honor.  Do you know why the dramas that have criminals for their heroes are so popular?  It is because all the audience flatter themselves and say, “at any rate, I am much better than that fellow!”

Mme. Mercadet
My dear!

Mercadet For my part I have an excuse, for I am bearing the burden of my partner’s crime—­of that fellow Godeau, who absconded, carrying with him the cash box of our house!—­And besides that, what disgrace is it to be in debt?  What man is there who does not owe his father his existence?  He can never repay that debt.  The earth is constantly bankrupt to the sun.  Life, madame, is a perpetual loan!  Am I not superior to my creditors?  I have their money, when they can only expect mine.  I do not ask anything of them, and yet they are constantly importuning me.—­A man who does not owe anything is not thought about by any one, while my creditors take a keen interest in me.

Mme. Mercadet
They take rather too much!  To owe and to pay is well enough—­but to
borrow without any prospect of returning—­

Mercadet
You feel a great deal of compassion for my creditors, but our
indebtedness to them springs from—­

Mme. Mercadet
Their confidence in us, sir.

Mercadet No, but from their greed of gain!  The speculator and the broker are one and the same—­each of them aims at sudden wealth.  I have done a favor to all my creditors, and they all expect to get something out of me!  I should be most unhappy but for the secret consciousness I have that they are selfish and avaricious—­so that you will see in a few moments how I will make each of them play out his little comedy. (He sits down.)