Joseph, have you forgotten nothing, especially the flowers? SERVANT Monsieur and Madame may rest assured that everything has been done. [_Exit servant_ L.] LÉON [_to_ Mme. de Ronchard] Look at them; aren't they a bonny couple? SCENE IV. (_The same with_ Jean _and_ Gilberte.) JEAN [_approaches_ Mme. de Ronchard _and speaks to her_] Do you know of whom we were talking just now? We were talking of you. LÉON [_aside_] Ahem! ahem! JEAN Yes; I was just saying that I had not made you a present on the occasion of my nuptials, because the choosing of it demanded a great deal of reflection. MME. DE RONCHARD [_dryly_] But Gilberte made me a very pretty one for you both, Monsieur. JEAN But that is not enough. I have been looking for something which I thought would be particularly acceptable to you; and do you know what I found? It is a very small thing, but I ask you, Madame, to be so good as to accept this little pocketbook, which holds some bank-notes, for the benefit of your dear little deserted pets. You can add to your home for these little pets some additional kennels on the sole condition that you will allow me from time to time to come and pet your little pensioners, and on the additional condition that you will not pick out the most vicious among them to greet me. MME. DE RONCHARD [_greatly impressed_] With all my heart, I thank you. How good of you to think of my poor little orphans! LÉON [_whispers to_ Jean] You diplomat, you! JEAN There is nothing extraordinary about it, Madame. I am very fond of dumb animals. They are really the foster-brothers of man, sacrificed for them, slaves to them, and in many cases their food. They are the true martyrs of the world. MME. DE RONCHARD What you say is very true, Monsieur, and I have often thought of it in that way. For instance, take those poor horses, scourged and beaten by coachmen in the streets. LÉON [_with sarcastic emphasis_] And the pheasants, Auntie, and the partridges and the blackcock falling on all sides under a hail of lead, flying panic-stricken before the horrible massacre of the guns. MME. DE RONCHARD Oh, don't talk like that, it makes me shudder; it is horrible! JEAN [_turns to_ Gilberte] Horrible, indeed! LÉON [_after a pause, in light tone_] Perhaps so, but they are good eating. MME. DE RONCHARD You are pitiless. LÉON [_aside to his aunt_] Pitiless, perhaps, toward animals, but not pitiless, like you, toward people. MME. DE RONCHARD [_in the same tone_] What do you mean by that? LÉON [_in the same tone pointing to_ Jean _and_ Gilberte, _who are seated on a sofa_ R.] Do you think that your presence here can be acceptable to those two lovers? [_Takes her arm_.] My father has certainly finished smoking; come into the billiard-room for a little while. MME. DE RONCHARD And what are you going to do? LÉON I am going down into my study on the ground floor, and I shall come up here after a little while. MME. DE RONCHARD [_sarcastically_]