Chapter 16

(Martinel _and_ Léon.)

MARTINEL [_seated_ R.]

What shall we do now? What are we going to say? What explanations can we give?

LÉON

Let me manage it. It is only right that I should do it since I brought about this marriage.

MARTINEL [_rises_]

Well, I'd dearly love to be forty-eight hours older. [_Rising_.] I confess I do not like these love tragedies, and moreover the fact of the child entering into the case is awful. What is going to become of that poor little mortal? We cannot send him to the foundling asylum. [_Enter_ Gilberte L.] Gilberte!