Minard You know the Julie that all the world sees; but love has transfigured her! Tenderness and devotion lend to her a transporting beauty that I alone have called up in her.
Julie
Father, I feel ashamed—
Mercadet
You mean you feel happy. And if you, sir, repeat these things—
Minard I shall repeat them a hundred times, a thousand times, and even then I couldn't repeat them often enough. There is no crime in repeating them before a father!
Mercadet You flatter me! I did believe myself her father; but you are the father of a Julie whose acquaintance I should very much like to make.
Minard
You have never been in love, I suppose?
Mercadet I have been very much in love! And felt the galling chain of gold like everybody else.
Minard
That was long ago. In these days we love in a better way.
Mercadet
How do you do that?
Minard
We cling to the soul, to the idea!