MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: There are two hundred louis d'or. DORANTE: I
assure you, Monsieur Jourdain, that I am completely yours, and that
I am eager to render you a service at court. MONSIEUR JOURDAIN:
I'm much obliged to you. DORANTE: If Madame Jourdain desires to
see the royal entertainment, I will have the best places in the
ballroom given to her. MADAME JOURDAIN: Madame Jourdain kisses
your hands [but declines]. DORANTE: (Aside to Monsieur Jourdain)
Our beautiful marchioness, as I sent word to you, in my note, will
come here soon for the ballet and refreshments; I finally brought
her to consent to the entertainment you wish to give her. MONSIEUR
JOURDAIN: Let us move a little farther away, for a certain reason.
DORANTE: It has been eight days since I saw you, and I have sent
you no news regarding the diamond you put into my hands to present
to her on your behalf; but it's because I had the greatest
difficulty in conquering her scruples, and it's only today that she
resolved to accept it.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: How did she judge it?
DORANTE: Marvelous. And I am greatly deceived if the beauty of that
diamond does not produce for you an admirable effect on her
spirit.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Would to Heaven!
MADAME JOURDAIN: (To Nicole) Once he's with him he cannot leave
him.
DORANTE: I made her value as she should the richness of that
present and the grandeur of your love.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: These are, sir, favors which overwhelm me; and I
am in the very greatest confusion at seeing a person of your
quality demean himself for me as you do.
DORANTE: Are you joking? Among friends, does one stop at these
sorts of scruples? And wouldn't you do the same thing for me, if
the occasion offered?
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Oh! Certainly, and with all my heart.
MADAME JOURDAIN: (To Nicole) His presence weighs me down!
DORANTE: As for me, I never mind anything when it is necessary to
serve a friend; and when you confided in me about the ardent
passion you have formed for that delightful marchioness with whom I
have contacts, you saw that I volunteered immediately to assist
your love.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: It's true, these are favors that confound me.
MADAME JOURDAIN: (To Nicole) Will he never go?
NICOLE: They enjoy being together.
DORANTE: You took the right tack to touch her heart. Women love
above all the expenses we go to for them; and your frequent
serenades, your continual bouquets, that superb fireworks for her
over the water, the diamond she has received from you, and the
entertainment you are preparing for her, all this speaks much
better in favor of your love than all the words you might have
spoken yourself.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: There are no expenditures I would not make if by
that means I might find the road to her heart. A woman of quality
has ravishing charms for me and it's an honor I would purchase at
any price.
MADAME JOURDAIN: (To Nicole) What can they talk about so much?
Steal over and listen a little.
DORANTE: Soon enough you will enjoy at your ease the pleasure of
seeing her, and your eyes will have a long time to satisfy
themselves.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: To be completely free, I have arranged for my
wife to go to dinner at her sister's, where she'll spend all the
after-dinner hours.
DORANTE: You have done prudently, as your wife might have
embarrassed us. I have given the necessary orders to the cook for
you, and for the ballet. It is of my own invention; and, provided
the execution corresponds to the idea, I am sure it will be
found....
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: (Sees that Nicole is listening, and gives her a
slap) Say! You're very impertinent! (To Dorante) Let's go, if you
please.
ACT THREE