Nor will, I think. But, yes, I’ll take the part; I’ll speak in prose to you To whom I else would speak in poetry! THE MARQUISE (_with a curtesy_) Monsieur Jourdain, your prose is ravishing!— I’m Dorimène. DE BUC And I Dorante! MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI Lucille. MME. DE MALESTROIT Nicole! THE ACTRESS I am, Monsieur Jourdain, your wife! LA FÔRET Your son-in-law the Turk! DE VARDES Behold, monsieur, Your fencing master! DE L’ORIENT Your _maître de danse_. Imagine, pray, you hear my violin: La, la—The minuet!—La, la, la! [_He plays an imaginary violin. The prisoners hesitate, laugh, then begin to step a minuet. The children and the gaolers watch them._ DE VARDES _does not dance. He leans against a pillar to the left_. _Enter a turnkey_, CÉLESTE, ANGÉLIQUE, NANON, _and_ SÉRAPHINE. SÉRAPHINE (_crossing herself_) Eh! Eh! They dance!—Well, what a thing it is To be a noble born! CÉLESTE (_jealously_) We dance as well! SÉRAPHINE Ay, the Carmagnole! ANGÉLIQUE ‘Tis a swifter dance! Why came we here? I never liked this church, They are too gay of heart, these ci-devants! Let’s to the Judgment Hall, or to the Loire. CÉLESTE Séraphine would come— SÉRAPHINE Patience, Citoyennes, No haste! I’ve just a little word to speak Unto monseigneur there. CÉLESTE Monseigneur! SÉRAPHINE Oh, The Citoyen Vardes! You know my tripping tongue. NANON (_to the turnkey_) Where is that ci-devant men once did call La belle Marquise? THE TURNKEY ‘Tis she who dances there, Fair-haired and dressed in violet. NANON Awhile I’ll watch her dance. CÉLESTE Their cheeks are pale. ANGÉLIQUE They smile. I would not smile if I were they. [NANON, CÉLESTE, _and_ ANGÉLIQUE _watch the dancers_. SÉRAPHINE _approaches_ DE VARDES. SÉRAPHINE (_in a low voice_)