The Miser | Page 8

delayed, and must feign some illness or
other.
ELI. But he will soon discover the truth if they call in the doctor.
VAL. Not a bit of it. Do you imagine that a doctor understands what he
is about? Nonsense! Don't be afraid. Believe me, you may complain of
any disease you please, the doctor will be at no loss to explain to you

from what it proceeds.

SCENE IX--HARPAGON, ÉLISE, VALÈRE.
HAR. (alone, at the farther end of the stage). It is nothing, thank
heaven!
VAL. (not seeing HARPAGON). In short, flight is the last resource we
have left us to avoid all this; and if your love, dear Élise, is as strong
as.... (Seeing HARPAGON) Yes, a daughter is bound to obey her father.
She has no right to inquire what a husband offered to her is like, and
when the most important question, "without dowry," presents itself, she
should accept anybody that is given her.
HAR. Good; that was beautifully said!
VAL. I beg your pardon, Sir, if I carry it a little too far, and take upon
myself to speak to her as I do.
HAR. Why, I am delighted, and I wish you to have her entirely under
your control. (To ÉLISE) Yes, you may run away as much as you like.
I give him all the authority over you that heaven has given me, and I
will have you do all that he tells you.
VAL. After that, resist all my expostulations, if you can.

SCENE X.-HARPAGON, VALÈRE.
VAL. I will follow her, Sir, if you will allow me, and will continue the
lecture I was giving her.
HAR. Yes, do so; you will oblige me greatly.
VAL. She ought to be kept in with a tight hand.
HAR. Quite true, you must....

VAL. Do not be afraid; I believe I shall end by convincing her.
HAR. Do so, do so. I am going to take a short stroll in the town, and I
will come back again presently.
VAL. (going towards the door through which ÉLISE _left, and
speaking as if it were to her_). Yes, money is more precious than
anything else in the world, and you should thank heaven that you have
so worthy a man for a father. He knows what life is. When a man offers
to marry a girl without a dowry, we ought to look no farther.
Everything is comprised in that, and "without dowry" compensates for
want of beauty, youth, birth, honour, wisdom, and probity.
HAR. Ah! the honest fellow! he speaks like an oracle. Happy is he who
can secure such a servant!

ACT II.
SCENE I.--CLÉANTE, LA FLÈCHE.
CLE. How now, you rascal! where have you been hiding? Did I not
give you orders to...?
LA FL. Yes, Sir, and I came here resolved to wait for you without
stirring, but your father, that most ungracious of men, drove me into the
street in spite of myself, and I well nigh got a good drubbing into the
bargain.
CLE. How is our affair progressing? Things are worse than ever for us,
and since I left you, I have discovered that my own father is my rival.
LA FL. Your father in love?
CLE. It seems so; and I found it very difficult to hide from him what I
felt at such a discovery.
LA FL. He meddling with love! What the deuce is he thinking of? Does

he mean to set everybody at defiance? And is love made for people of
his build?
CLE. It is to punish me for my sins that this passion has entered his
head.
LA FL. But why do you hide your love from him?
CLE. That he may not suspect anything, and to make it more easy for
me to fall back, if need be, upon some device to prevent this marriage.
What answer did you receive?
LA FL. Indeed, Sir, those who borrow are much to be pitied, and we
must put up with strange things when, like you, we are forced to pass
through the hands of the usurers.
CLE. Then the affair won't come off?
LA FL. Excuse me; Mr. Simon, the broker who was recommended to
us, is a very active and zealous fellow, and says he has left no stone
unturned to help you. He assures me that your looks alone have won his
heart.
CLE. Shall I have the fifteen thousand francs which I want?
LA FL. Yes, but under certain trifling conditions, which you must
accept if you wish the bargain to be concluded.
CLE. Did you speak to the man who is to lend the money?
LA FL Oh! dear no. Things are not done in that way. He is still more
anxious than you to remain unknown. These things