ARG. (_behind the scenes_). Hullo! Silvestre. SIL. (_to_ ZERBINETTE). Go in there; my master is calling me. SCENE VI.--ARGANTE, SILVESTRE. ARG. So you agreed, you rascals; you agreed--Scapin, you, and my son--to cheat me out of my money; and you think that I am going to bear it patiently? SIL. Upon my word, Sir, if Scapin is deceiving you, it is none of my doing. I assure you that I have nothing whatever to do with it. ARG. We shall see, you rascal! we shall see; and I am not going to be made a fool of for nothing. SCENE VII.-GÉRONTE, ARGANTE, SILVESTRE. GER. Ah! Mr. Argante, you see me in the greatest trouble. ARG. And I am in the greatest sorrow. GER. This rascal, Scapin, has got five hundred crowns out of me. ARG. Yes, and this same rascal, Scapin, two hundred pistoles out of me. GER. He was not satisfied with getting those five hundred crowns, but treated me besides in a manner I am ashamed to speak of. But he--shall pay me for it. ARG. I shall have him punished for the trick he has played me. GER. And I mean to make an example of him. SIL. (_aside_). May Heaven grant that I do not catch my share of all this! GER. But, Mr. Argante, this is not all; and misfortunes, as you know, never come alone. I was looking forward to the happiness of to-day seeing my daughter, who was everything to me; and I have just heard that she left Tarentum a long while since; and there is every reason to suppose that the ship was wrecked, and that she is lost to me for ever. ARG. But why did you keep her in Tarentum, instead of enjoying the happiness of having her with you? GER. I had my reasons for it; some family interests forced me till now to keep my second marriage secret. But what do I see? SCENE VIII.--ARGANTE, GÉRONTE, NÉRINE, SILVESTRE. GER. What! you here, Nérine? NER. (_on her knees before_ GÉRONTE). Ah! Mr. Pandolphe, how.... GER. Call me Géronte, and do not use the other name any more. The reasons which forced me to take it at Tarentum exist no longer. NER. Alas! what sorrow that change of name has caused us; what troubles and difficulties in trying to find you out! GER. And where are my daughter and her mother? NER. Your daughter, Sir, is not far from here; but before I go to fetch her, I must ask you to forgive me for having married her, because of the forsaken state we found ourselves in, when we had no longer any hope of meeting you. GER. My daughter is married? NER. Yes, Sir. GER. And to whom? NER. To a young man, called Octave, the son of a certain Mr. Argante. GER. O Heaven! ARG. What an extraordinary coincidence. GER. Take us quickly where she is. NER. You have but to come into this house. GER. Go in first; follow me, follow me, Mr. Argante. SIL. (alone). Well, this is a strange affair. SCENE IX.--SCAPIN, SILVESTRE. SCA. Well, Silvestre, what are our people doing?