The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 84 pages of information about The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts.

The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 84 pages of information about The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts.

Gertrude (to the General)
I guessed aright; he is in love with Pauline.

Pauline Sir, have I ever given you the right, by a single look, or by a single word, to utter my name in this way?  No one could be more astonished than I am to find that I have inspired you with sentiments which might flatter others, but which I can never reciprocate; I have a higher ambition.

The General Pauline, my child, you are more than severe.  Come, tell me, is there not some misunderstanding here?  Ferdinand, come here, come close to me.

Ferdinand
How is it, mademoiselle, when your stepmother, and your father agree?

Pauline (in a low voice to Ferdinand)
We are lost!

The General
Now I am going to act the tyrant.  Tell me, Ferdinand, of course your
family is an honorable one?

Pauline (to Ferdinand)
You hear that!

The General
Your father must certainly have been a man of as honorable a
profession as mine was; my father was sergeant of the watch.

Gertrude (aside)
They are now separated forever.

Ferdinand Ah! (To Gertrude) I understand your move. (To the General) General, I do not deny that once in a dream, long ago, in a sweet dream, in which it was delicious for a man poor and without family to indulge in—­dreams we are told are all the fortune that ever comes to the unfortunate—­I do not deny that I once regarded it as a piece of overwhelming happiness to become a member of your family; but the reception which mademoiselle accords to those natural hopes of mine, and which you have been cruel enough to make me reveal, is such that at the present moment they have left my heart, never again to return!  I have been rudely awakened from that dream, General.  The poor man has his pride, which it is as ungenerous in the rich man to wound, as it would be for any one to insult—­mark what I say—­your attachment to Napoleon. (In a low voice to Gertrude) You are playing a terrible part!

Gertrude (aside to Ferdinand)
She shall marry Godard.

The General Poor young man! (To Pauline) He is everything that is good!  He inspires me with affection. (He takes Ferdinand aside.) If I were in your place, and at your age, I would have—­No, no, what the devil am I saying?—­After all she is my daughter!

Ferdinand General, I make an appeal to your honor; swear that you will keep, as the most profound secret, what I am going to confide to you; and this secrecy must extend so far even as to Madame de Grandchamp.

The General (aside)
What is this?  He also, like my daughter, seems to distrust my wife. 
But, by heaven, I will learn what it means! (Aloud) I consent; you
have the word of a man who has never once broken a promise given.

Ferdinand After having forced me to reveal that which I had buried in the recesses of my heart, and after I have been thunderstruck, for that is the only word in which to express it, by the disdain of Mademoiselle Pauline, it is impossible for me to remain here any longer.  I shall therefore put my accounts in order; this evening I shall quit this place, and to-morrow will leave France for America, if I can find a ship sailing from Havre.

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The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.