THERESE. I beg your pardon. NERISSE. What kind of assurance do you want me to give you? Do you believe in nothing? Is it quite impossible for you to feel frankly and naturally, and to say "I have confidence in you, and I accept your friendship"--a friendship offered to you perfectly honestly and loyally? It really drives one to despair. THERESE [_without enthusiasm_] Well, yes. I say it. _She puts her hands into the hands Monsieur Nerisse holds out to her._ NERISSE. Thank you. [_A silence. Then he says in a low voice_] Oh, Therese, I love you, how I love you! THERESE [_snatching her hands away_] Oh, this is abominable. You set a trap for me, and my vanity made me fall into it. NERISSE. I implore you to let me tell you about myself. I'm so miserable and lonely when you're away. THERESE [_trying to speak reasonably_] I know quite well what you want to say to me, and it all amounts to this: you love me. It's quite clear, and I answer you just as clearly: I do _not_ love you. NERISSE. I'm so unhappy! THERESE. If it's true that you're unhappy because I don't love you, that is a misfortune for you; a misfortune for which I am not in any way responsible, because you certainly cannot accuse me of having encouraged you. NERISSE. I don't ask you to love me--yet. I ask you to allow me to try and win your love. THERESE [_almost desperate_] Don't dare to say that again. If you were an honorable man, you couldn't possibly have said these things to me to-day when my living depends upon you. You know the position I'm in, and you know that if I don't stay here, there are only two courses open to me--to go and live at the expense of my godmother, which I will _not_ do, or to take the chances of a woman alone looking for work in Paris. Don't you understand that speaking about your love for me to-day is the same as driving me into the street? NERISSE. If you go into the street, it is by your own choice. THERESE. Exactly. There's the old, everlasting, scandalous bargain. Sell yourself or you shall starve. If I give in, I can stay; if I don't-- NERISSE. _I_ didn't say so. But clearly my efforts to help you will be greater if I know that I'm working for my friend. THERESE. You actually confess it! You think yourself an honorable man, and you don't see that what you're doing is the vilest of crimes. NERISSE. Now I ask you. Did I wait for your answer before I began to defend you and to help you?