LUCIE. Don’t you think you’ve had enough, dear?
BRIGNAC [holding up the glass] What, of this wine? From a vineyard that my father planted—!
LUCIE. That makes no difference.
BRIGNAC. Have you ever seen me drunk?
LUCIE. No.
BRIGNAC. Well then! [He drinks] Ah! Pure sunshine. It brightens my heart to drink it! M. de Forgeau was enchanted. Have you told Madeleine that I’m going to stand?
LUCIE. Everyone knows about it.
BRIGNAC. So much the better. After today, I have reason to think that there’s every chance of my being elected. At last, we’ll have done with this narrow life of a provincial lawyer! You’ll see! And who knows—between ourselves, of course—who knows that some day I shan’t have men on the bench coming to beg favors of the Minister that they used to refuse to the simple lawyer! Aha, and why not? Stranger things have happened. [Walking about and rubbing his hands] Ah, there’ll be some who’ll cut a queer figure then. [He pulls himself up] Well, well. In the meantime the essential thing is the deputation.
LUCIE. Yes.
BRIGNAC. We’re working at it. And what could be finer than to advance one’s own interests in the very act of defending one’s country? That is the best defence of it, to help in the production of the human race itself, for it means true morality within and the respect of other countries from without.