LUCIE. I know what you do at those times. Now do you understand?
BRIGNAC. No.
LUCIE [irritated] Don’t deny it. You must see that I know all about it. The best thing you can do is to be silent, as I have pretended so far to know nothing.
BRIGNAC [coming off his high-horse] I assure you—
LUCIE. Do you want me to tell you the name of the person you go to see over at Villeneuve, while I am nursing, or a ‘future mother’ as you call it?
BRIGNAC. If you’re going to believe all the gossip you hear—
LUCIE. We had better say no more about it.
BRIGNAC. I beg to observe that it was not I who started the subject. There, there—you’re in a bad temper. I shall go and do some work, and then I must join those gentlemen. Only, you know, you’re mistaken.
LUCIE. Oh, yes, of course.
He goes out to the right, shrugging his shoulders. Lucie rings. Catherine comes in.