Ah, he’s not refusing! He prefers that! I understand. Virginie, leave your mistress—she doesn’t need you now—and take the gentleman down to your kitchen. Give him some of everything. (_He taps the SAINT familiarly on the stomach._) Ha, ha! You and Virginie are going to have a jolly good time together! I guessed right, didn’t I, you old rogue you! You old sly-boots! VIRGINIE (_In a voice of alarm._) Sir! GUSTAVE What is it? VIRGINIE I don’t know, but Mademoiselle Hortense has lost her speech again. GUSTAVE What? She’s lost her speech? VIRGINIE Yes, sir, look.... She’s opening her mouth and moving her lips and working her hands but her voice has gone. GUSTAVE What is it, aunt? Is there something you want to tell us? (_She nods assent._) And you can’t? There, there, make an effort; it’s a temporary paralysis, that’s all. It will soon pass. (_She makes a sign that she can no longer speak._) What’s the matter with you? What do want? (_To SAINT ANTHONY._) What’s the meaning of this? SAINT ANTHONY She will never speak again. GUSTAVE She will never speak again? But she has been speaking. You heard her. She even gave you a piece of her mind. SAINT ANTHONY It was an oversight on my part. She won’t have her voice again. GUSTAVE Can’t you restore it to her? SAINT ANTHONY No. GUSTAVE And when will it come back? SAINT ANTHONY Never. GUSTAVE What! Will she remain dumb to the end of her days? SAINT ANTHONY Yes. GUSTAVE Why? SAINT ANTHONY She has beheld mysteries which she may not reveal. GUSTAVE Mysteries? What mysteries? SAINT ANTHONY The mysteries of the dead. GUSTAVE The mysteries of the dead? This is a fresh joke. What do you take us for? No, no, my lad, this won’t do! She spoke; we all heard her; we have witnesses. You have, of malice prepense, deprived her of her power of speech, with an object which I am beginning to see through. You’ll just restore it at once, or.... ACHILLE It was really not worth while bringing her back to life, to give her to us in this condition. GUSTAVE If you could not give her back to us as she was before your stupid and clumsy interference, you would have done better not to have meddled. ACHILLE It was a bad action. GUSTAVE An abuse of confidence. ACHILLE An abuse of confidence: that’s what it was. There is no excuse for it. GUSTAVE You’re expecting to blackmail us, perhaps? ACHILLE I suppose you think you’re dealing with a pack of fools? GUSTAVE Who asked you to come? I hate saying it, but I would rather see her dead than have her back in this state. It’s too cruel, too painful for those who love her. You can’t come like this, under the pretence of working a miracle, and disturb the peace of the people who have done you no harm, bringing unhappiness upon them! A nice thing. But he laughs best who laughs last! THE DOCTOR