CAROLINE [_stifling her sobs by a great effort_] I am not crying any more. DUPONT. There is only one thing to be done. We must try and get the money back from Courthezon. CAROLINE. No! No! DUPONT. We shall see. [_He hurries out_]. CAROLINE. Stop him. Stop him, mother. Go at once. Stop him, I beg of you. MME. DUPONT. Very well, dear. [_She follows her husband_]. _Caroline is left alone for a moment. Then Angèle comes in._ ANGÈLE [_very tenderly_] Caroline, are you in trouble? CAROLINE [_in a low voice_] Yes. ANGÈLE. What about? Tell me. CAROLINE [_in an expressionless voice, but not angrily_]. No. It is over now. ANGÈLE. You won’t tell me? CAROLINE [_coldly_] It would be useless. ANGÈLE. Who knows? Come. I can see you have been crying. CAROLINE. Yes. We are very unfortunate, Julie and I. ANGÈLE. Julie? CAROLINE. She is leaving her husband. ANGÈLE. Why? CAROLINE. They cannot go on living together any longer. ANGÈLE. And you? CAROLINE. I? [_She makes a gesture of hopelessness_]. _Julie comes in._ JULIE. I was looking for you, Caroline. I am going away sooner than I expected. They say my husband is coming here. I do not wish ever to see him again. So I am going. CAROLINE. What will you do? JULIE. I shall do as you do; hire a room somewhere and get work. CAROLINE. What kind of work? JULIE. I don’t know. Anything I can get. CAROLINE. Don’t do that, Julie. Don’t! [_Deeply distressed_] If you only knew! JULIE. What? CAROLINE. The wretchedness of living alone. JULIE. I’m not afraid. I shall work so hard that I shall have no time for moping. CAROLINE. You will work. [_She sighs_]. It isn’t easy for a woman who is alone to earn her living. JULIE. Nonsense. CAROLINE. I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes when I take my work to the shop they refuse it with an insolent contempt they would never dare to show to a man. It’s true. For I am doubly unprotected since I am a woman and I need work. JULIE. But in your own room, at least, you are free. CAROLINE. Free! [_With a mirthless laugh_]. If that is freedom, give me slavery. JULIE. I shall have friends. CAROLINE. Do you think so? The women will have nothing to do with you because you’ll be a wife living apart from her husband, and because you will be dull. And the men? What will people say if they visit you? JULIE. Little I care what people will say. CAROLINE. Still for your own sake you will have to send them away. JULIE. What do you advise, then? That I should remain with my husband?