Henriette.  Give them to me.

Maurice.  No, she’s better than we, better than everybody else.

Henriette.  I don’t believe it.  She is simply stupider and stingier.  One who weeps because you order champagne—­

Maurice.  When the child was without stockings.  Yes, she is a good woman.

Henriette.  Philistine!  You’ll never be an artist.  But I am an artist, and I’ll make a bust of you with a shopkeeper’s cap instead of the laurel wreath—­Her name is Jeanne?

Maurice.  How do you know?

Henriette.  Why, that’s the name of all housekeepers.

Maurice.  Henriette!

(Henriette takes the tie and the gloves and throws them into the fireplace.)

Maurice. [Weakly] Astarte, now you demand the sacrifice of women.  You shall have them, but if you ask for innocent children, too, then I’ll send you packing.

Henriette.  Can you tell me what it is that binds you to me?

Maurice.  If I only knew, I should be able to tear myself away.  But I believe it must be those qualities which you have and I lack.  I believe that the evil within you draws me with the irresistible lure of novelty.

Henriette.  Have you ever committed a crime?

Maurice.  No real one.  Have you?

Henriette.  Yes.

Maurice.  Well, how did you find it?

Henriette.  It was greater than to perform a good deed, for by that we are placed on equality with others; it was greater than to perform some act of heroism, for by that we are raised above others and rewarded.  That crime placed me outside and beyond life, society, and my fellow-beings.  Since then I am living only a partial life, a sort of dream life, and that’s why reality never gets a hold on me.

Maurice.  What was it you did?

Henriette.  I won’t tell, for then you would get scared again.

Maurice.  Can you never be found out?

Henriette.  Never.  But that does not prevent me from seeing, frequently, the five stones at the Place de Roquette, where the scaffold used to stand; and for this reason I never dare to open a pack of cards, as I always turn up the five-spot of diamonds.

Maurice.  Was it that kind of a crime?

Henriette.  Yes, it was that kind.

Maurice.  Of course, it’s horrible, but it is interesting.  Have you no conscience?

Henriette.  None, but I should be grateful if you would talk of something else.

Maurice.  Suppose we talk of—­love?

Henriette.  Of that you don’t talk until it is over.

Maurice.  Have you been in love with Adolphe?