MME. POUCHELET. Never heard of him.

JULIE. He was a Dutch painter. Seventeenth century.

MME. POUCHELET. Really. But of course you know more about these things than I do. A propos, M. Dupont, did you go to the lecture the other day on women’s rights?

POUCHELET [laughing] Oh, yes, ha! ha!

MME. POUCHELET [to Julie] I shouldn’t be surprised if you, madame, had some sympathy with such opinions?

JULIE [evasively] I don’t know.

ANTONIN [laughing] Come, confess, my dear. Just a little, perhaps?

MME. MAIRAUT. Woman the equal of man!

JULIE [mildly] Why not?

MAIRAUT. There are some women who wouldn’t gain much by that.