_Man._ Not quite; but in order that you may--I must tell you, Madame--that when you offer me money to rob your benefactor, and mine, you entirely and totally mistake the person you are addressing. _Mad. A._ Oh! oh! [_Weeps._ _Man._ It grieves me to be so abrupt, but-- _Mad. A._ It is not that, it is not that--but, to be thought capable of such--to be accused--oh, sir! you have cruelly _misunderstood_ me. [_Exit, weeping._ _Man._ Another misunderstanding! That makes three friends I have secured this morning. One or two more of the same sort, and my business here will be soon finished. _Enter MLLE HELOUIN._ _Man._ Here comes the first misunderstanding again. _Mlle H._ M. Manuel, I thought you might like to know that the Doctor has just arrived-- _Man._ Thank you--I'll go to him at once. [_Exit._ _Mlle H._ So eager to avoid me. Have a care, my lord Marquis--spite of my insignificance, you may learn to rue the day you made me conscious of it. _Enter BEVANNES._ And here is one on whom, if I don't very much mistake, I may rely for aid. _Bev._ Upon my honor, Mademoiselle, you make quite a pretty picture--a wood nymph's reverie; sweet subject, now, for the pencil of our friend, the steward. _Mlle H._ Our friend, the steward, as you term him, has loftier subjects for his pictures, either aerial or substantial. _Bev._ Really! _Mlle H._ And in the former quality his aspirations are sublime. _Bev._ Mademoiselle, you are an entertaining person, but I never guessed a conundrum in my life. _Mlle H._ In plain terms, then, this romantic gentleman aspires to create an interest in the heart of Marguerite. _Bev._ O come! I can stand a great deal, but that's rather _too_ good. _Mlle H._ But if I can prove it? _Bev._ The thing is too absurd. _Mlle H._ I have just parted from Madame Aubrey. _Bev._ I congratulate you. _Mlle H._ You jest, M. de Bevannes, but you may one day wake to find the steward rather a dangerous person. Madame Aubrey has picked up a letter of his, which was blown out of the window of his room, into the park. Would you like to see it? _Bev._ Mademoiselle, I don't pretend to more virtue than my neighbors, but if I can only get at facts by reading another man's letters, I'm afraid I shall remain in ignorance. _Mlle H._ Marguerite is coming. Would you like to hear the communication I have to make? _Bev._ The contents of the letter? _Mlle H._ No, but still a somewhat startling discovery. _Bev._ On the whole, I think I'll take my departure; for when there's mischief to be concocted, and two women to brew it, it would be the grossest vanity in any man to think he could improve the cookery. [_Exit._