Scene Fourteenth
Vernon and Gertrude.
Gertrude (aside)
I have them!—I am going to burn them in my chamber. (She meets
Vernon.) Ah!
Vernon
Madame, I have sent everybody away.
Gertrude
May I ask you why?
Vernon In order that we may have our explanation without witnesses.
Gertrude Explanation! By what right do you—you, the parasite of the house, pretend to have an explanation with the Comtesse de Grandchamp?
Vernon I, a parasite? Madame! I have an income of ten thousand francs, besides my pension; I have the rank of general, and my fortune will be bequeathed to the children of my old friend! A parasite indeed! You forget that I am not only here as a friend but as a doctor, and—you poured certain drops of laudanum into Pauline’s tea.
Gertrude
I?
Vernon
I saw you do it, and I have the cup.
Gertrude
You have the cup? Why, I washed it myself!
Vernon Yes, you washed mine, which I gave you in exchange for that of Pauline! I was not reading the newspaper, I was watching you.
Gertrude
Oh! sir, how unworthy of you!
Vernon You must confess that what I did then is of great service to you, for if you had by the effect of that draught brought Pauline to the brink of the grave, you would have been very glad of my services.
Gertrude The brink of the grave—why, doctor, I put in only a very few drops.
Vernon
You admit, then, that you put opium in her tea?
Gertrude
Doctor—this is outrageous!
Vernon That I have obtained a confession from you? Every woman under the same circumstances would have said the same thing. I know it by experience. But that is not all. You have several others things to confide in me.
Gertrude (aside)
He is a spy! The only thing I can do is to make him my accomplice.
(Aloud) Doctor, you are too useful to me to admit of our quarreling.
In a moment, if you will wait here, I will return and speak frankly to you.
(Gertrude goes into her chamber and locks the door.)
Vernon She has turned the key! I am caught, tricked! I cannot after all resort to violence. What is she doing? She is going to hide her flask of opium. A man is always wrong when he undertakes to discharge for a friend the offices which my old friend, this poor General, expects of me. She is going to entangle me—Ah! Here she comes.
Gertrude (aside)
I have burnt them! There is not a trace left—I am saved! (Aloud)
Doctor!
Vernon
Madame?
Gertrude My stepdaughter Pauline, whom you believed to be an innocent girl, an angel, had carried off furtively and criminally something whose discovery would have compromised the honor and the life of four persons.
Vernon Four! (Aside) That is herself, the General—Ah! her son, perhaps—and the unknown.
Gertrude This secret, concerning which she is forced to keep silence, even though it imperilled her life to do so—
Vernon
I don’t quite catch your meaning.
Gertrude In short, the proofs of this secret are now destroyed! And you, doctor, who love us all, you would be as base, as infamous as she is—even more so, because you are a man, and have not the insensate passions of a woman!—You would be a monster if you were to take another step along the path on which you have now started—
Vernon You mean that for intimidation? Madame, since civilized society first sprang into being, the seed which you are sowing has produced a crop whose name is crime.
Gertrude But there are four lives at stake; remember that. (Aside) He is giving way. (Aloud) In spite of this danger I demand that you will assist me in maintaining peace here, and that you will immediately go and get something by which Pauline may be roused from her slumber. And you will explain, if necessary, her drowsiness to the General. Further, you will give me back the cup, for I am sure you intend to do so, and each step that we take together in this affair shall be fully explained to you.
Vernon
Madame!
Gertrude
We must separate now, for the General will soon be back.
Vernon (aside)
I shall still look after you! I have now a weapon that I can use and—
(Exit Vernon.)