MADELEINE. Why so radiant? ANNETTE. Yes, I am! I am! Oh, I’m so happy! LUCIE. Is that why you kissed Josephine? ANNETTE. Josephine! Why, I could have kissed the passers by in the street! MADELEINE [_laughing_] Our little girl’s gone cracked. ANNETTE. No, no; only—oh, I’m so happy. [_She bursts into a fit of sobbing_]. LUCIE. Annette, what’s the matter? MADELEINE. Annette! ANNETTE [_through her tears_] Oh, I am happy, happy! LUCIE. She’ll make herself ill. Madeleine, call someone. ANNETTE. No, no; don’t worry. Don’t say anything. It’s only my nerves. [_Laughing and crying at the same time_] Oh, I am happy, only—how silly to cry like that! But I can’t help it. [_She puts her arm round Lucie’s neck, who is kneeling beside her, and draws Madeleine’s head towards her_] Lucie, darling! Madeleine, dearest! [_She kisses them, then sobs again_] How silly! It’s no good; I must. There [_she dries her eyes_], there. Now I can tell you. [_With a pure look of deeply felt happiness_] I’m going to be married. M. and Mme. Bernin are coming. LUCIE. Why? ANNETTE. Because they’re going to the country to-morrow. MADELEINE. They’re going away? ANNETTE. Yes; Jacques has told them. LUCIE. Jacques? ANNETTE [_in a sudden rush_] Yes. It all happened like that, with our music—Gabrielle and me. That was how, and he guessed everything. He sings tenor—oh, not very well. Once [_with a laugh_]—but I’ll tell you later. That was how it came about; and we’re to be married soon. [_Crying again, then gravely pressing Lucie to her_] I love him so! Oh, if you only knew! If he hadn’t married me, it would have been so dreadful. You don’t understand? MADELEINE [_smiling_] Perhaps we can guess. ANNETTE. Shall I tell you everything, everything from the beginning? LUCIE. Yes. ANNETTE. I should love to tell you. You won’t mind? MADELEINE. Go on. ANNETTE. It was like that, when Gabrielle and I were playing duets. At first I hated him because he always laughs at everything, but at bottom he’s good. Do you know what he once— LUCIE. Never mind that. Go on about the music. ANNETTE. Well, as I was saying, Gabrielle and I used to play duets. He used to come and listen to us. He stood behind and turned over the pages. Then once he put his hand on my shoulder— MADELEINE. And you didn’t say anything? ANNETTE. He had his other hand on Gabrielle’s. I should have looked so idiotic. LUCIE. Gabrielle’s not the same thing. ANNETTE. Just what I was going to say. My heart beat so hard and I felt my face all scarlet, that I hardly knew what I was playing. Then another time, when he couldn’t follow, he bent right over. Oh, but I can’t tell you everything, little by little. We love one another, that’s all. MADELEINE. And he has told you that he loves you? ANNETTE [_gravely_] Yes. LUCIE. And you kept all that from me! That wasn’t right, Annette.