Adolphe.  What does he want here?

Abbe. [Enters] Good evening, madame.  Good evening, Monsieur.

Mme. Catherine.  Can I be of any service?

Abbe.  Has Monsieur Maurice, the author, been here to-day?

Mme. Catherine.  Not to-day.  His play has just been put on, and that is probably keeping him busy.

Abbe.  I have—­sad news to bring him.  Sad in several respects.

Mme. Catherine.  May I ask of what kind?

Abbe.  Yes, it’s no secret.  The daughter he had with that girl,
Jeanne, is dead.

Mme. Catherine.  Dead!

Adolphe.  Marion dead!

Abbe.  Yes, she died suddenly this morning without any previous illness.

Mme. Catherine.  O Lord, who can tell Thy ways!

Abbe.  The mother’s grief makes it necessary that Monsieur Maurice look after her, so we must try to find him.  But first a question in confidence:  do you know whether Monsieur Maurice was fond of the child, or was indifferent to it?

Mme. Catherine.  If he was fond of Marion?  Why, all of us know how he loved her.

Adolphe.  There’s no doubt about that.

Abbe.  I am glad to hear it, and it settles the matter so far as I am concerned.

Mme. Catherine.  Has there been any doubt about it?

Abbe.  Yes, unfortunately.  It has even been rumoured in the neighbourhood that he had abandoned the child and its mother in order to go away with a strange woman.  In a few hours this rumour has grown into definite accusations, and at the same time the feeling against him has risen to such a point that his life is threatened and he is being called a murderer.

Mme. Catherine.  Good God, what is this?  What does it mean?

Abbe.  Now I’ll tell you my opinion—­I am convinced that the man is innocent on this score, and the mother feels as certain about it as I do.  But appearances are against Monsieur Maurice, and I think he will find it rather hard to clear himself when the police come to question him.

Adolphe.  Have the police got hold of the matter?

Abbe.  Yea, the police have had to step in to protect him against all those ugly rumours and the rage of the people.  Probably the Commissaire will be here soon.

Mme. Catherine. [To Adolphe] There you see what happens when a man cannot tell the difference between good and evil, and when he trifles with vice.  God will punish!

Adolphe.  Then he is more merciless than man.

Abbe.  What do you know about that?

Adolphe.  Not very much, but I keep an eye on what happens—­

Abbe.  And you understand it also?

Adolphe.  Not yet perhaps.