JACQUES DE RANDOL [_takes her in his arms and kisses her_] I simply adore you! MME. DE SALLUS [_melts_] And I, too, love you dearly, Jacques, and that is the reason why I fear. JACQUES DE RANDOL But, tell me, Madeline how long has it been since your husband reformed? MME. DE SALLUS Possibly fifteen days or three weeks. JACQUES DE RANDOL Without relapse? MME. DE SALLUS Without relapse. JACQUES DE RANDOL I will explain the mystery. The fact of the matter is this, your husband has simply become a widower. MME. DE SALLUS What do you say? JACQUES DE RANDOL I mean that your husband is unattached just now, and seeks to spend his leisure time with his wife. MME. DE SALLUS But I tell you that he is in love with me. JACQUES DE RANDOL Yes--yes--and no. He is in love with you--and also with another. Tell me, his temper is usually bad, isn't it? MME. DE SALLUS Execrable! JACQUES DE RANDOL Well, then, here is a man in love with you who shows his wonderful return of tenderness by moods that are simply unsupportable--for they are unsupportable, aren't they? MME. DE SALLUS Absolutely. JACQUES DE RANDOL If he wooed you with tenderness you would not feel fear. You would say to yourself, “My turn has come at last,” and then he would inspire you with a little pity for him, for a woman has always a sneaking sort of compassion for the man who loves her, even though that man be her husband. MME. DE SALLUS Perhaps that is true. JACQUES DE RANDOL Is he nervous, preoccupied? MME. DE SALLUS Yes. JACQUES DE RANDOL And he is abrupt with you, not to say brutal? He demands his right without even praying for it? MME. DE SALLUS True. JACQUES DE RANDOL My darling, for the moment you are simply a substitute. MME. DE SALLUS Oh! no, no! JACQUES DE RANDOL My dearest girl, your husband's latest mistress was Madame de Bardane, whom he left very abruptly about two months ago to run after the Santelli. MME. DE SALLUS What, the singer? JACQUES DE RANDOL Yes, a capricious, saucy, cunning, venal little woman. A woman not at all uncommon upon the stage, or in the world either, for that matter. MME. DE SALLUS Then that is why he haunts the Opéra. JACQUES DE RANDOL [_laughs_] Without a doubt. MME. DE SALLUS [_dreamily_] No, no, you are deceiving yourself. JACQUES DE RANDOL [_emphatically_] The Santelli resists him and repulses him; then, burdened with a heart full of longing that has no outlet, he deigns to offer you a portion. MME. DE SALLUS My dear, you are dreaming. If he were in love with the Santelli, he would not tell me that he loves me. If he were so entirely preoccupied with this creature, he would not woo me. If he coveted her, he would not desire me at the same time. JACQUES DE RANDOL