Vautrin He is beside himself with joy. (To Raoul) To speak out would be to lose Inez and deliver me to justice: do as you choose, I am at your disposal.
Raoul
O Vautrin! In what an abyss you have plunged me!
Vautrin I have made you a prince; and don't forget that you are at the summit of happiness. (Aside) He will give in. (Exit.)
SCENE SEVENTH. Inez (standing at the door through which her mother has passed); Raoul (at the other side of the stage).
Raoul (aside) Honor bids me to speak out, gratitude to keep silence; well, I accept my role of happy man, until he is out of danger; but I will write this evening, and Inez shall learn who I am. Vautrin, after such a sacrifice, I may cry quits with you; all ties between us are severed. I will seek, I care not where, a soldier's death.
Inez (approaching, after gazing at him) My father and yours are friends; they consent to our marriage; we make love to each other as if they were opposed to it, and you seem lost in thought, and almost sad!
Raoul You are right, and I have lost my reason. At the very moment you see no obstacle in our way, it is possible that insurmountable difficulties may arise.
Inez
Raoul, what a damper you are throwing on our happiness!
Raoul Our happiness! (Aside) It is impossible to dissemble. (Aloud) In the name of our common love I implore you to believe in my loyalty.
Inez Has not my confidence in you been boundless? And the general has quite justified it, even during your silence before the Montsorels. I forgive you all the little annoyances you were forced to cause me.