Part 25 (1/2)

MANCINI

[_Sitting back comfortably and playing with his cane_]: Don't forget yourself, HE. But you're hiding something, my boy. I always said you used to belong to society. It is so easy to talk to you. And who is this Prince? A genuine one?

HE

Genuine. A first-rater. Like you!

MANCINI

A sympathetic face. Although at first I thought he was an undertaker who came for an order. Ah, HE! When shall I finally depart from these dirty walls, from Papa Briquet, stupid posters, and brutal jockeys!

HE

Very soon, Mancini.

MANCINI

Yes, soon. I am simply exhausted in these surroundings, HE! I begin to feel myself a horse. You are from society, still you don't yet know what high society means. To be at last decently dressed, to attend receptions, to display the splendour of wit; from time to time to have a game of baccarat [_laughing_] without tricks or cheating----

HE

And when evening comes, go to a suburb, where you are considered an honest father, who loves his children and----

MANCINI

And get hold of something, eh? [_Laughs._] I shall wear a silk mask and two butlers shall follow me, thus protecting me from the dirty crowd.

Ah, HE! The blood of my ancestors boils in me. Look at this stiletto.

What do you think? Do you think that it was ever stained with blood?

HE

You frighten me, Count!

MANCINI

[_Laughing, and putting the stiletto back into its sheath_]: Fool!

HE

And what about the girl?

MANCINI

Tss! I give those bourgeois absolute satisfaction, and they glorify my name. [_Laughs._] The splendour of my name is beginning to s.h.i.+ne with a force unknown. By the way, do you know what automobile firms are the best? Money is no object. [_Laughs._] Ah! Papa Briquet!

[_Enter Briquet in his overcoat and silk hat. They shake hands._]

BRIQUET