The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts

Go in and win! I know what request you mean – My wife is on your side.

Ah, Godard, you have attacked the fortress at its weak point!

Godard

General, you are an old soldier, and have no taste for mere phrases.

In all your undertakings you go straight ahead, as you did when under fire.

The General

Straight and facing the whole battery.

Godard

That suits me well, for I am rather timid.

The General You! I owe you, my dear friend, an apology; I took you for a man who was too well aware of his own worth.

Godard You took me to be conceited! But General, as a matter of fact, I intend to marry because I don't know how to pay any court to women.

The General (aside) What a civilian! (Aloud) How is this? You talk like an old man, and – that is not the way to win my daughter.

Godard Do not misunderstand me. I have a warm heart; I wish only to feel sure that I shall be accepted.

The General

That means that you don't mind attacking unwalled towns.

Godard

That is not it at all, General. You quite alarm me, with your banter.

The General

What do you mean then?

Godard I understand nothing about the tricks of women. I know no more when their yes means no, than when their no means yes; and when I am in love, I wish to be loved in return.

The General (aside)

With such ideas as those he has precious little chance.

Godard There are plenty of men like me, men who are supremely bored by this little warfare of manners and whims.

The General But there is something also delightful in it, – I mean in the feminine show of resistance, which gives one the pleasure of overcoming it.

Godard Thank you, nothing of that sort for me! When I am hungry, I do not wish to coquette with my soup. I like to have things decided, and care very little how the decision is arrived at, although I do come from Normandy. In the world, I see coxcombs who creep into the favor of women by saying to them, "Ah! madame, what a pretty frock you have on. Your taste is perfect. You are the only person who could wear that," and starting from such speeches as that they go on and on – and gain their end. They are wonderful fellows, upon my honor! I don't see how they reach success by such idle talk. I should beat about the bush through all eternity before I could tell a pretty woman the effect she had made on me.

The General

The men of the Empire were not of that sort.

Godard It is on account of that, that I put on a bold face! This boldness when backed by an income of forty thousand francs is accepted without protest, and wins its way to the front. That is why you took me for a good match. So long as there are no mortgages on the rich pasture lands of the Auge Valley, so long as one possesses a fine chateau, well furnished – for my wife need bring with her nothing but her trousseau, since she will find there even the cashmeres and laces of my late mother – when a man has all that, General, he has got all the courage he need have. Besides, I am now Monsieur de Rimonville.

The General

No, you're only Godard.

Godard

Godard de Rimonville.

The General

Godard for short.

Godard

General, you are trying my patience.

The General As for me, it would try my patience to see a man, even if he were my son-in-law, deny his father; and your father, a right honest man, used himself to drive his beeves from Caen to Poissy, and all along the road was known as Godard – Father Godard.

Godard

He was highly thought of.

The General He was, in his own class. But I see what's the matter; as his cattle provided you with an income of forty thousand francs, you are counting upon other animals to give you the name of De Rimonville.

Godard Now come, General, you had better consult Mlle. Pauline; she belongs to her own epoch – that she does. We are now in the year 1829 and Charles X. is king. She would sooner hear the valet call out, as she left a ballroom, "the carriage of Madame de Rimonville," than, "the carriage of Madame Godard."

The General Well, if such silliness as this pleases my daughter, it makes no difference to me. For, after all, you would be the one they'd poke fun at, my dear Godard.

Godard

De Rimonville.

The General Godard, you are a good fellow, you are young, you are rich, you say that you won't pay your court to women, but that your wife shall be the queen of your house. Well, if you gain her consent you can have mine; for bear in mind, Pauline will only marry the man she loves, rich or poor. There may be one exception, but that doesn't concern you. I would prefer to attend her funeral rather than take her to the registry office to marry a man who was a son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin or connection of one of the four or five wretches who betrayed – you know what my religion is —

Godard

Betrayed the Emperor. Yes, everyone knows your creed, General.

The General God, first of all; then France or the Emperor – It is all the same to me. Lastly, my wife and children! Whoever meddles with my gods becomes my enemy; I would kill him like a hare, remorselessly. My catechism is short, but it is good. Do you know why, in the year 1816, after their cursed disbanding of the army of the Loire, I took my little motherless child and came here, I, colonel of the Young Guard, wounded at Waterloo, and became a cloth manufacturer of Louviers?

Godard

I suppose you didn't wish to hold office under them.