BEGGAR. [_Coming down C._] [_Jumps up, cries out wildly._] I can't stand any more. For eight days I have not had a warm morsel of food in my stomach. I am not a human being any more. I'll kill myself. [_Runs to the edge of the dock and jumps overboard._] [_The splash of the water is heard. The Townswoman and the Waiter call "help, help!" Whereupon, from every side a crowd collects so that the entire background is filled with people staring into the water._]
TOWNSWOMAN. For God's sake he has thrown himself into the Seine. Oh, God! Oh, God!
AMERICAN. [_At table Right._] What a noisy place this is.
[_Townsman at center throws off his coat and is unbuttoning his vest when his wife seizes him._]
TOWNSWOMAN. [_Center._] [_Whimpering._] Aristide, remember you have a wife and children.
TOWNSWOMAN. Aristide, I'll jump in after you--as true as I live I'll jump in after you.
TOWNSMAN. [_Slowly puts his coat on again._] Then I won't do it. [_Goes with her into the crowd._]
A VOICE. Get the life buoy. [_Willing hands try to unloosen the life buoy, but it sticks._]
ANOTHER VOICE. Let that life buoy alone. Don't you see the sign "Do not touch"?
A MAN. The buoy is no good. It will not work.
ANOTHER MAN. Of course not. It's city property.
COCOTTE [_shuddering_]. I can't look at it. [_Comes back to her table._]
TOWNSWOMAN. My little heart of gold [_to her husband_]. Why don't you lift him up? Don't you hear that the child can't see? [_Townsman takes the child on his shoulder._]
YOUNG MAN [_coming back to table_]. These people are utterly heartless. It is revolting.
AMERICAN [_loudly_]. I'll bet twenty dollars he drowns. Who'll take the bet? Twenty dollars.
AMERICAN. Young man, better shut your mouth. [_Fills his glass._]
YOUNG MAN. Does no one hear know the meaning of Altruism?
ARTIST. Altruism! Ha, ha! [_Laughs scornfully._] Love of one's neighbor. God preserve mankind from Altruism!
COCOTTE. What do you mean? You are not in earnest?
ARTIST. In dead earnest. [_Some one in the crowd brings a boat hook and reaches down into the river._]
AMERICAN. I'll bet twenty-five dollars that he doesn't drown--thirty dollars! [_Disgustedly, seeing that no one takes him up._] Tightwads!
ARTIST. Life is like that. One man's success is another man's failure. He who sacrifices himself for an idea is a hero. He who sacrifices himself for a fellow man is a fool.