The General
The men of the Empire were not of that sort.
Godard It is on account of that, that I put on a bold face! This boldness when backed by an income of forty thousand francs is accepted without protest, and wins its way to the front. That is why you took me for a good match. So long as there are no mortgages on the rich pasture lands of the Auge Valley, so long as one possesses a fine chateau, well furnished—for my wife need bring with her nothing but her trousseau, since she will find there even the cashmeres and laces of my late mother—when a man has all that, General, he has got all the courage he need have. Besides, I am now Monsieur de Rimonville.
The General
No, you're only Godard.
Godard
Godard de Rimonville.
The General
Godard for short.
Godard
General, you are trying my patience.
The General As for me, it would try my patience to see a man, even if he were my son-in-law, deny his father; and your father, a right honest man, used himself to drive his beeves from Caen to Poissy, and all along the road was known as Godard—Father Godard.
Godard
He was highly thought of.
The General He was, in his own class. But I see what's the matter; as his cattle provided you with an income of forty thousand francs, you are counting upon other animals to give you the name of De Rimonville.
Godard Now come, General, you had better consult Mlle. Pauline; she belongs to her own epoch—that she does. We are now in the year 1829 and Charles X. is king. She would sooner hear the valet call out, as she left a ballroom, "the carriage of Madame de Rimonville," than, "the carriage of Madame Godard."