GirardGo on foot, from fear that your carriage will break down. This isgoing to reform the pomp of your train. (giving the list to Lisette)This is the true list.
Widow Yes, the reversal is very afflicting. But you've shone already for your money. A hundred thousand francs for you in the air.
BaronOne hundred thousand francs to laugh at.
LisetteWhat are they talking about? What?
Lucas (looking for the place where the prize was shown in his otherlist)Eh! Go on, go on, let them talk. Here, here. It's here. For Lucas, theGrand Prize.
BaronYou will not buy my chateau, master fool.
Lucas (troubled)It was there.
GirardThe zeroes are left.
LisetteOh! Father, they are mocking you.
ArgonYes, here's the mystery.
WidowYou have nothing.
GirardBut nothing—gets nothing. I made the false list, and I found wealth.I've gotten all of Lucas' rents. My love for you makes heroicsacrifices. I give them all to you, Lisette.
ArgonLet's go to supper at my place.
BaronYes, let's go.
Girard Yes, I have pity for the trouble in which I see you. These gentlemen, without their ranks. My offer ought to please you. They have made their fortune, and I have my fortune to make. But, I am, in a day, by myself, more amorous than the two of them can be in a month. They have not been able to acquire a young girl. But nobility acquires more than riches.
Lisette (to widow) How much I owe you, Madame! It's you who turned my spirit upside down, in telling me that one must be a coquette.
WidowI am well punished for my bad advice. I agree, I was wrong.
Lisette (to Girard) I listened to her. You must have a Baron, she always said. No, I would never have thought of anyone but you, except for her. If I had followed my natural inclination, from tenderness I would have chosen you.
GirardEh! Choose me then! Lucas will consent.
Lucas (in going)Ouf!
GirardSpeak
LucasOuf!
GirardTwo times ouf, in mute language, is worth one yes.
Widow That's the fate of a coquette. After high prospects, one sees her, sooner or later, confused, confounded, and reduced to a Girard.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Village Coquette, by Riviere Dufresny