The General They are both first with me, for they are based upon a common principle. Pauline Very well; if you throw away your honor by violating your oath, you may as well throw away your hatred. That is all I wanted to find out. The General If women are angelic, they have in them also something of the diabolical. Tell me, who has filled the head of such an innocent girl as you are with ideas like these? This is the way they lead us by the-- Pauline (interrupting him) Good-night, father. The General You naughty child! Pauline Keep my secret, or I will bring you a son-in-law that will drive you wild. (Pauline enters her own apartment.) SCENE EIGHTH The General (alone) There must certainly be some key to this enigma! It must be discovered! Yes, and Gertrude shall discover it! (Scene curtain.) SCENE NINTH (Pauline's chamber; a small plain room with a bed in the centre and a round table at the left; the entrance is at the right, but there is a secret entrance on the left.) Pauline At last I am alone! At last I can be natural! Married? My Ferdinand married? If this is so, he is the falsest, foulest, vilest of men! And I could kill him! Kill him? But I myself could not survive one hour the knowledge that he was actually married. My stepmother I detest! And if she becomes my enemy, there will be war between us, and war in earnest. It would be terrible, for I should tell my father all I know. (She looks at her watch.) Half-past eleven, and he cannot come before midnight, when the whole household is asleep. Poor Ferdinand! He has to risk his life for a few minutes' chat with her he loves! That is what I call true love! Such perils men will not undergo for every woman! But what would I not undergo for him! If my father surprised us, I would be the one to take the first blow. Oh! To suspect the man you love is to suffer greater torment than to lose him! If he dies, you can follow him in death; but doubt--is the cruelest of separations!--Ah! I hear him. SCENE TENTH Ferdinand and Pauline (who locks the door). Pauline Are you married? Ferdinand What a joke! Wouldn't I have told you? Pauline Ah! (She sinks back on a chair, then falls upon her knees.) Holy Virgin, what vows shall I make to thee? (She kisses Ferdinand's hand.) And you, a thousand blessings on your head! Ferdinand Who could have told you such a foolish thing? Pauline My stepmother. Ferdinand Why, she knows all about me, and if she did not, she would set spies to discover all; for suspicion with such women as that is certitude! Listen, Pauline, moments now are precious. It was Madame de Grandchamp who brought me into this house. Pauline And why? Ferdinand Because she is in love with me. Pauline How horrible! And what of my father? Ferdinand She was in love with me before her marriage. Pauline She is in love with you; but you, are you in love with her?