_Paul._ He is wrong. Besides, if he would only consent to our union the house would be his as well as mine. _Toinon._ He says he hates you, and it would be better I should die an old maid than marry a scamp. _Paul._ [_Piteously._] Do you also, my darling, share his opinion? _Toinon._ Alas! _Gnawer._ [_Aside._] That alas goes to my heart. It says more than enough. _Paul._ Heavens! your father is coming down the street! I am off. _Toinon._ [_Retreating from the window._] If only he escapes unobserved. If he does not, what shall I do? [_She enters her room._] SCENE IV. THE SAME. _Trotter._ Hah! hah! Old Babolin will spoil your matrimonial scheme, my master! _Gnawer._ I have decided that this marriage shall take place. {105} _Trotter._ That of course alters the matter. If you have pledged your word, Babolin must fall. _Gnawer._ Yes, certainly! _Trotter._ Is Babolin a weather-cock, that you can turn him at will? _Gnawer._ No; he is anything but a weather-cock. It would almost take a surgical operation to get a notion out of his rat’s head when it is once there. _Trotter._ [_Astonished._] Is the parent of this fair girl a rat? _Gnawer._ No, not exactly. He is what men call a Church Rat. He dispenses holy water at the door of Notre Dame, and sells candles to the faithful, which they piously light in honour of God and the saints. _Trotter._ I know. The candles which are lit on the shrine when their owners are present, and carefully extinguished and saved when they have gone, by order of the thrifty saints perhaps. So men in their pious thrift exact a heavy percentage of profit out of holy things. _Gnawer._ Come! come! You may grow indignant at your leisure. I hear Babolin approaching. Let us leave him a clear field; he might tread on us. SCENE V. _Enter_ BABOLIN. So, so! In spite of my express wishes he meets my daughter. Comes like a thief to the window under cover of night. I shall show them what I am. [_Calls Toinon; Toinon enters._] Where are my rights as a father? where are they? It is Mr. Paul who mocks me! [_As if struck with an idea, he pauses._] What if I said nothing about my mischances? If I acted the clement loving father. Paul loves my daughter. My daughter loves Paul. If, like the really kind-hearted man that I am, I yield to their wishes? That would do me honour, and make me appear before the world a model of virtue and forbearance. [_Approaching his daughter._] Say, my little Toinon, does it grieve you very much not to wed your Paul? [_Toinon, whose heart is too full for speech, bursts into tears._] Toinon, if instead of going to the lawyer we go to the notary? _Toinon._ [_Smiling like the sun through a rain-cloud._] To the notary, my father? {106} _Babolin._ Yes, my darling, that he may hasten to draw up your marriage contract. _Toinon._ With whom, my dear papa? _Babolin._ With Paul.