Toinon. [Retreating from the window.] If only he escapes unobserved. If he does not, what shall I do? [She enters her room.]
SCENE IV. THE SAME.
Trotter. Hah! hah! Old Babolin will spoil your matrimonial scheme, my master!
Gnawer. I have decided that this marriage shall take place.
Trotter. That of course alters the matter. If you have pledged your word, Babolin must fall.
Gnawer. Yes, certainly!
Trotter. Is Babolin a weather-cock, that you can turn him at will?
Gnawer. No; he is anything but a weather-cock. It would almost take a surgical operation to get a notion out of his rat’s head when it is once there.
Trotter. [Astonished.] Is the parent of this fair girl a rat?
Gnawer. No, not exactly. He is what men call a Church Rat. He dispenses holy water at the door of Notre Dame, and sells candles to the faithful, which they piously light in honour of God and the saints.