De la Brive And we ourselves are a startling proof of this! In order to claim a part in political power you must not show what good but what harm you can do. You must not alone possess talents, you must be able also to inspire fear. Accordingly, the very day after my marriage, I shall assume an air of seriousness, of profundity, of high principles! I can take my choice, for we have in France a list of principles which is as varied as a bill of fare. I elect to be a socialist! The word pleases me! At every epoch, my dear friend, there are adjectives which form the pass-words of ambition! Before 1789 a man called himself an economist; in 1815 he was a liberal; the next party will call itself the social party--perhaps because it is so unsocial. For in France you must always take the opposite sense of a word to understand its meaning. Mericourt Let me tell you privately, that you are now talking nothing but the nonsense of masked ball chatter, which passes for wit among those who do not indulge in it. What are you going to do when a certain definite knowledge becomes necessary? De la Brive My dear friend! In every profession, whether of art, science or literature, a man needs intellectual capital, special knowledge and capacity. But in politics, my dear fellow, a man wins everything and attains to everything by means of a single phrase-- Mericourt What is that? De la Brive "The principles of my friends, the party for which I stand, look for--" Mericourt Hush! Here comes the father-in-law! SCENE FIFTH The same persons and Mercadet. Mercadet Good-day, my dear Mericourt! (To De la Brive) The ladies have kept you waiting, sir. Ah! They are putting on their finery. For myself, I was just on the point of dismissing--whom do you think?--an aspirant to the hand of Mlle. Julie. Poor young man! I was perhaps hard on him, and yet I felt for him. He worships my daughter; but what could I do? He has only ten thousand francs' income. De la Brive That wouldn't go very far! Mercadet A mere subsistence! De la Brive You're not the man to give a rich and clever girl to the first comer-- Mericourt Certainly not. Mercadet Before the ladies come in, gentlemen, we must talk a little serious business. De la Brive (to Mericourt) Now comes the tug of war! (They all sit down.) Mercadet (on the sofa) Are you seriously in love with my daughter? De la Brive I love her passionately! Mercadet Passionately? Mericourt (to his friend) You are over-doing it. De la Brive (to Mericourt) Wait a moment. (Aloud) Sir, I am ambitious--and I saw in Mlle. Julie a lady at once distinguished, full of intellect, possessed of charming manners, who would never be out of place in the position in which my fortune puts me; and such a wife is essential to the success of a politician.