Gilberte _has removed her marriage robes, and now wears a handsome house
gown. She carries an opera cloak, which she throws over a chair neat the
door_.
GILBERTE
Where is Jean?
LÉON
Do not be disturbed, he will be back directly.
GILBERTE [_in astonishment_]
Has he gone out?
LÉON
Yes.
GILBERTE
Gone out? And on this evening, above all others!
LÉON
A sudden and grave circumstance compelled him to go out for an hour.
GILBERTE [_excitedly_]
What is going on? What is it that you are hiding from me? Your story is
impossible. Some awful misfortune must have happened.
LÉON AND MARTINEL [_together_]
Oh, no, no!
GILBERTE
Then, what is it? Tell me! Speak!
LÉON
I cannot tell you anything. Be patient for an hour. It is Jean's duty to
tell you of the sudden and unexpected call which has summoned him hence
at such a time.
GILBERTE
What curious words you use! A sudden and unexpected call? He is an
orphan--his uncle is his only relative,--then what? Who? Why? Oh, God,
how you frighten me!
LÉON
There are duties of many kinds, my dear; friendship, pity, sympathy can
impose many of them. But I must not say any more. Be patient for an
hour, I implore you.
GILBERTE [_to_ Martinel]
And you, Uncle? Speak! I implore you! What is he doing? Where has he
gone? I feel--oh, I feel the shadow of a terrible misfortune hovering
over us; speak, I entreat.
MARTINEL [_with tears in his eyes_]
But I cannot tell you any more, my dear child. I cannot. Like your
brother, I promised to say nothing, and I would have done just as Jean
has done. Wait for an hour, I beseech you--just an hour.
GILBERTE
And you, too, are upset. It must be a catastrophe.
MARTINEL
No, no! The fact that you are so distressed agitates me, because you
know I love you with my whole heart. [_Embraces her_.]
GILBERTE [_to_ Léon]
You have spoken of friendship, of pity, and of sympathy, but if it were
any of these reasons you could tell me so; meanwhile, as I look at you
two, I feel that here is some unspoken reason, some mystery which
appalls me.
LÉON [_resolutely_]
My dear little sister, won't you trust in me?
GILBERTE
Yes, you ought to know all.
LÉON
Will you trust me absolutely?
GILBERTE
Absolutely.
LÉON
I swear to you, on my faith as a gentleman, that I would have done just
as Jean has done; that his absolute fidelity to you, his fidelity, which
perhaps is even exaggerated by love for you, is the only reason which
had led him to forget at this very moment the very thing that he has
gone to learn anew.
GILBERTE [_looks_ Léon _straight in the eyes_]
I believe you, Léon, and I thank you. Nevertheless, I tremble yet and I
shall tremble until he returns. If you swear to me that my husband was
entirely ignorant of the cause which has made him leave me at this
supreme moment, I will content myself as well as I can, trusting in you
two. [_She stretches both hands to the two men_.]