Bellac. (Playing with the idea) I beg your pardon! More than friendship, better than love!
Lucy. Well, if it’s more than the one and better than the other, then it’s neither! And now, thank you once more; thank you a thousand times! But let us go back, shan’t we? (She starts to go)
Bellac. (Detaining her) Wait a moment!
Lucy. No, no, let us go back!
Paul. (To Jeanne) She won’t take the bait!
Bellac. (Always holding her back) Please wait, I beg you!—Two words! Two words! Explain to me, tell me—it’s worth the trouble! Come, Lucy!
Lucy. Come, Bellac! (Becoming animated, as she passes to the right) But see, my friend, listen, M. Bellac—your Platonic love has absolutely no philosophical basis——
Bellac. Pardon me, that love is a kind of friendship——
Lucy. If it’s friendship it is no longer love.
Bellac. But it’s a double concept!