Ah, men are sad creatures! They marry a young girl because she is demure and self-contained, and they leave her on the morrow to dangle after a girl who is not young and who certainly is not demure, her chief attraction being that all the rich and well-known men about town have at one time been in her favor. The more danglers she has after her, the more she is esteemed, the more she is sought after, and the more she is respected; that is to say, with that kind of Parisian respect which accrues to a woman in the degree of her notoriety--a notoriety due either to the scandal she creates, or the scandal men create about her. Ah, yes, you men are so nice in these things!
Take care! One would think you were jealous.
I? Jealous? For whom do you take me? [_The butler announces_.] Madame is served. [_Hands a letter to_ M. de Sallus.]
M. DE SALLUS [_after reading his letter_]
Come along, then, let us go to dinner. I have to go out this evening.
Nephew of M. Martinel, a painter; not yet thirty years of age, but already well known and the recipient of various honors.
Brother to Gilberts Martinel, a young lawyer about thirty years of age.
An old gunmaker of Havre, aged fifty-five.
An old magistrate, officer of the Legion of Honor. Aged sixty.
A fashionable physician of about thirty-five.
Sister to M. de Petitpré, about fifty-five years of age.
Nicknamed Musotte; a little model, formerly Jean Martinel's mistress. Twenty-two years of age.
A midwife. Formerly a ballet-dancer at the Opera. About thirty-five years of age.
Daughter of M. and Mme. de Petitpré, married in the morning to Jean Martinel. About twenty years old.
_Time: Paris of to-day. The first and third acts take place in_ M. de Petitpré's _drawing-room.
The second act takes place in_ Musotte's _bedchamber_.
(_A richly yet classically furnished drawing-room in_ M. de Petitpré's house. _A table_, C.; _sofas_, R.; _chairs and armchairs_, L. _Wide doors_, C., _opening upon a terrace or gallery. Doors_ R. _and_ L. _of_ C. _Lighted lamps_.)
_Enter from_ R. M. de Petitpré, Monsieur Martinel, Madame de Ronchard, Léon de Petitpré, Jean _and_ Gilberte. Gilberte _is in her bridal attire, but without wreath and veil_.
MME. DE RONCHARD [_after bowing to_ M. Martinel, _whose arm she relinquishes, seats herself_ R.]
