Because you're a fool, and play for nothing. Waiter, the check. (_Laughter. The bell calls them to the ring. The actors go out in haste, some running. The waiters collect their money._)
[_In a sing-song_]: To the ring--to the ring--
I want to tell you something, HE. You are not going yet?
[_The clowns as they go sing in shrill, squeaky voices. Little by little they all disappear, and loud music begins. HE seats himself on the sofa with his legs crossed, and yawns._]
HE, you have something none of my ancestors ever had--money. Let's have a nice bottle on you. Waiter, please--[_The waiter who was taking up dishes, brings a bottle of wine and glasses and goes out._]
You're blue, Mancini. [_Stretches._] Well, at my age, a hundred slaps--it seems pretty hard. So you're blue. How are things getting on with your girl?
Tss! Bad! Complications--parents--[_shudders_] Agh--
[_Laughing_]: Prison! Mustn't I uphold the glory of my name now, eh? HE, I'm joking--but there is Hell in my heart. You're the only one who understands me. But tell me how to explain this passion? It will turn my hair grey, it'll bring me to prison, to the grave. I am a tragic man. HE--[_Wipes his eyes with a dirty handkerchief._] Why don't I like things which are not forbidden? Why, at all moments, even at the very moment of ecstasy, must I be reminded of some law--it is stupid. HE, I am becoming an anarchist. Good God!--Count Mancini, an anarchist. That's the only thing I've missed.
Isn't there a way of settling it somehow?
Is there a way of getting money, somehow?
Oh, yes! He's just waiting for it, the bloodsucker! He'll get what he's after. Some day, you'll see me give him Consuelo for ten thousand francs, perhaps for five!
Did I say it was anything else? Do I want to do it? But these bourgeois are strangling me, they've got me by the throat. HE, one can easily see that you're a gentleman, and of good society, you understand me--I showed you the jewels which I sent back to him--damn honesty--I didn't even dare change the stones, put false ones--
It would have queered the game. Do you think he didn't weigh the diamonds when he got them back?
Yes he will. You don't understand. [_Laughs._] The first half of his life, this man had only appetites--now love's got him. If he does not get Consuelo, he is lost, he is--like a withered narcissus. Plague take him with his automobiles. Did you see his car?