SCENE FIRST

(The stage represents the room of Pamela.)

Pamela, Giraud and Madame Giraud.

(Pamela is standing near her mother, who is knitting; Giraud is at
work at a table on the left.)

Mme. Giraud
The fact of the matter is this, my poor daughter; I do not mean to
reproach you, but you are the cause of all our trouble.

Giraud
No doubt about it! We came to Paris because in the country tailoring
is no sort of a business, and we had some ambition for you, our
Pamela, such a sweet, pretty little thing as you were. We said to each
other: "We will go into service; I will work at my trade; we will give
a good position to our child; and as she will be good, industrious and
pretty, we can take care of our old age by marrying her well."

Pamela
O father!

Mme. Giraud
Half of our plans were already carried out.

Giraud
Yes, certainly. We had a good position; you made as fine flowers as
any gardener could grow; and Joseph Binet, your neighbor, was to be
the husband of our choice.

Mme. Giraud
Instead of all this, the scandal which has arisen in the house has
caused the landlord to dismiss us; the talk of the neighborhood was
incessant, for the young man was arrested in your room.

Pamela
And yet I have been guilty of nothing!

Giraud
Come, now, we know that well enough! Do you think if it were otherwise
that we would stay near you? And that I would embrace you? After all,
Pamela, there is nothing like a father and a mother! And when the
whole world is against you, if a girl can look into her parents' face
without a blush it is enough.

SCENE SECOND

The same persons and Joseph Binet.

Mme. Giraud
Well, well! Here is Joseph Binet.

Pamela
M. Binet, what are you doing here? But for your want of common-sense,
M. Jules would not have been found here.

Joseph
I am come to tell you about him.

Pamela
What! Really? Well, let us hear, Joseph.

Joseph
Ah! you won't send me away now, will you? I have seen his lawyer, and
I have offered him all that I possess if he would get him off!

Pamela
Do you mean it?

Joseph
Yes. Would you be satisfied if he was merely transported?

Pamela
Ah! you are a good fellow, Joseph, and I see that you love me! Let us
be friends.

Joseph (aside)
I have good hopes that we shall be.

(A knock at the door is heard.)

SCENE THIRD

The preceding, M. de Verby and Madame du Brocard.

Mme. Giraud (opening the door)
There are some people here!

Giraud
A lady and a gentleman.

Joseph
What did you say?

(Pamela rises from her seat and takes a step toward M. de Verby, who
bows to her.)

Mme. du Brocard
Is this Mlle. Pamela Giraud?

Pamela
It is, madame.

De Verby
Forgive us, mademoiselle, for presenting ourselves without previous
announcement—

Pamela
There is no harm done. May I know the object of this visit?

Mme. du Brocard
And you, good people, are her father and mother?

Mme. Giraud
Yes, madame.

Joseph
She calls them good people—she must be one of the swells.

Pamela
Will you please be seated.

(Mme. Giraud offers them seats.)

Joseph (to Giraud)
My eye! The gentleman has on the ribbon of the Legion of Honor! He
belongs to high society.

Giraud (looking at De Verby)
By my faith, that's true!

Mme. du Brocard
I am the aunt of M. Jules Rousseau.

Pamela
You, madame? Then this gentleman must be his father?

Mme. du Brocard
He is merely a friend of the family. We are come, mademoiselle, to ask
a favor of you. (Looking at Binet with embarrassment.) Your brother?

Giraud
No, madame, just a neighbor of ours.

Mme. du Brocard (to Pamela)
Send him away.

Joseph (aside)
Send him away, indeed. I'd like to know what right she has—

(Pamela makes a sign to Joseph.)

Giraud (to Joseph)
My friend, you had better leave us. It seems this is a private matter.

Joseph
Very well. (Exit.)

SCENE FOURTH

The same persons excepting Binet.

Mme. du Brocard (to Pamela)
You are acquainted with my nephew. I do not intend to reproach you.
Your parents alone have the right.

Mme. Giraud
But, thank God, they have no reason.

Giraud
It is your nephew who has caused all this talk about her, but she is
blameless!

De Verby (interrupting him)
But suppose that we wish her to be guilty?

Pamela
What do you mean, sir?

Giraud and Mme. Giraud
To think of it!

Mme. du Brocard (seizing De Verby's meaning)
Yes, suppose, to save the life of a poor young man—

De Verby
It were necessary to declare that M. Jules Rousseau spent nearly the
whole night of the twenty-fourth of August here with you?

Pamela
Ah! sir!

De Verby (to Giraud and his wife)
Yes, suppose it were necessary to testify against your daughter, by
alleging this?

Mme. Giraud
I would never say such a thing.

Giraud
What! Insult my child! Sir, I have had all possible troubles. I was
once a tailor, now I am reduced to nothing. I am a porter! But I have
remained a father. My daughter is our sole treasure, the glory of our
old age, and you ask us to dishonor her?

Mme. du Brocard
Pray listen to me, sir.

Giraud
No, madame, I will listen to nothing. My daughter is the hope of my
gray hairs.

Pamela
Calm yourself, father, I implore you.

Mme. Giraud
Keep quite, Giraud! Do let this lady and gentleman speak!

Mme. du Brocard
A family in deep affliction implores you to save them.

Pamela (aside)
Poor Jules!

De Verby (in a low voice to Pamela)
His fate is in your hands.

Mme. Giraud
We are respectable people and know what it is for parents, for a
mother, to be in despair. But what you ask is out of the question.

(Pamela puts a handkerchief to her eyes.)

Giraud
We must stop this! You see the girl is in tears.

Mme. Giraud
She has done nothing but weep for several days.

Giraud
I know my daughter; she would be capable of going and making the
declaration they ask, in spite of us.

Mme. Giraud
Yes,—for you must see, she loves him, she loves your nephew! And to
save his life—Well! Well! I would have done as much in her place.

Mme. du Brocard
Have compassion on us!

De Verby
Grant this request of ours—

Mme. du Brocard (to Pamela)
If it is true that you love Jules—

Mme. Giraud (leading Giraud up to Pamela)
Did you hear that? Well! Listen to me. She is in love with this youth.
It is quite certain that he also is in love with her. If she should
make a sacrifice like that, as a return, he ought to marry her.

Pamela (with vehemence)
Never! (Aside) These people would not wish it, not they.

De Verby (to Mme. du Brocard)
They are consulting about it.

Mme. du Brocard (in a low voice to De Verby)
It will be absolutely necessary for us to make a sacrifice. We must
appeal to their interest. It is the only plan!

De Verby
In venturing to ask of you so great a sacrifice, we are quite aware of
the claims that you will have on our gratitude. The family of Jules,
who might have blamed you on account of your relations with him, are,
on the contrary, anxious to discharge the obligations which bind them
to you.

Mme. Giraud
Ah! Did I not tell you so?

Pamela
Can it be possible that Jules—

De Verby
I am authorized to make a promise to you.

Pamela (with emotion)
Oh!

De Verby
Tell me, how much do you ask for the sacrifice required of you?

Pamela (in consternation)
What do you mean? How much—I ask—for saving Jules?