_Madame Fourchambault_--Pooh! That's the excuse of all the dolts who can't succeed. They set up to be the only honest fellows in business. In my opinion, Monsieur, a timid and mediocre man should not insist upon remaining at the head of a bank, but should turn the position over to his son. _Fourchambault_--You are still harping on that? But, my dear, you might as well bury me alive! Already I'm a mere cipher in my family. _Madame Fourchambault_--You do not choose your time well to pose as a victim, when like a tyrant you are refusing me a mere trifle. _Fourchambault_--I refuse you nothing. I merely explain my position. Now do as you like. It is useless to expostulate. _Madame Fourchambault_--At last! But you have wounded me to the heart, Adrien, and just when I had a surprise for you-- _Fourchambault_--What is your surprise? [_Aside_: It makes me tremble.] _Madame Fourchambault_--Thanks to me, the Fourchambaults are going to triumph over the Duhamels. _Fourchambault_--How? _Madame Fourchambault_--Madame Duhamel has been determined this long time to marry her daughter to the son of the prefect. _Fourchambault_--I knew it. What about it? _Madame Fourchambault_--While she was making a goose of herself so publicly, I was quietly negotiating, and Baron Rastiboulois is coming to ask our daughter's hand. _Fourchambault_--That will never do! I'm planning quite a different match for her. _Madame Fourchambault_--You? I should like to know-- _Fourchambault_--He's a fine fellow of our own set, who loves Blanche, and whom she loves if I'm not mistaken. _Madame Fourchambault_--You are entirely mistaken. You mean Victor Chauvet, Monsieur Bernard's clerk? _Fourchambault_--His right arm, rather. His _alter ego_. _Madame Fourchambault_--Blanche did think of him at one time. But her fancy was just a morning mist, which I easily dispelled. She has forgotten all about him, and I advise you to follow her example. _Fourchambault_--What fault can you find with this young man? _Madame Fourchambault_--Nothing and everything. Even his name is absurd. I never would have consented to be called Madame Chauvet, and Blanche is as proud as I was. But that is only a detail; the truth is, I won't have her marry a clerk. _Fourchambault_--You won't have! You won't have! But there are two of us. _Madame Fourchambault_--Are you going to portion Blanche? _Fourchambault_--I? No. _Madame Fourchambault_--Then you see there are not two of us. As I am going to portion her, it is my privilege to choose my son-in-law. _Fourchambault_--And mine to refuse him. I tell you I won't have your little baron at any price. _Madame Fourchambault_--Now it is your turn. What fault can you find with him, except his title? _Fourchambault_--He's fast, a gambler, worn out by dissipation. _Madame Fourchambault_--Blanche likes him just as he is. _Fourchambault_--Heavens! He's not even handsome. _Madame Fourchambault_--What does that matter? Haven't I been the happiest of wives?