MME. DUPONT. And, even so, one is often cheated.
DUPONT. Possibly. But M. Antonin Mairaut is a very eligible young man. No? What do you want, then, in Heaven’s name? If you are waiting for a royal prince, say so. Are you waiting for a prince? Answer me. Come, my child, this is an opportunity you may never see again: a young man, well brought up, with an uncle who is head clerk at the Prefecture and can double my profits by putting the contract for printing in my way, not to speak of other things. And you raise difficulties!
MME. DUPONT. Think, dear. You are four-and-twenty.
DUPONT. And you have had the astonishing good luck to captivate this young fellow—at a ball, it seems.
JULIE. I believe so. He wanted to kiss me in one of the passages. I had to put him in his place.
MME. DUPONT. You were quite right.
DUPONT. I don’t say she wasn’t—that is, if she didn’t overdo it. In his case I’m sure it was only playfulness.
MME. DUPONT. Oh, of course.
JULIE. I only half like him, father.
DUPONT. Well, if you half like him, that’s always something. Plenty of people marry without even that.