Baroness--Allow me--
Marquis--Go along, Dubois.--Now you are my prisoner.
Baroness--But, Marquis, this is very unconventional.
Marquis [kissing her hand]--Flatterer! Now sit down, and let's talk about serious things. [Taking a newspaper from the table.] The gout hasn't kept me from reading the news. Do you know that poor Déodat's death is a serious mishap?
Baroness--What a loss to our cause!
Marquis--I have wept for him.
Baroness--Such talent! Such spirit! Such sarcasm!
Marquis--He was the hussar of orthodoxy. He will live in history as the angelic pamphleteer. And now that we have settled his noble ghost--
Baroness--You speak very lightly about it, Marquis.
Marquis--I tell you I've wept for him.--Now let's think of some one to replace him.