_Madame Fourchambault_--Would you have to pay for it?

_Fourchambault_--That's the kind of reasoning that's ruining me.

_Madame Fourchambault_--Now he says I'm ruining him! His whole fortune
comes from me.

_Fourchambault_--Now don't get angry, my dear. I want you to have
everything in reason, but you must understand the situation.

_Madame Fourchambault_--The situation?

_Fourchambault_--I ought to be a rich man; but thanks to the continual
expenses you incur in the name of your dowry, I can barely rub along
from day to day. If there should be a sudden fall in stocks, I have no
reserve with which to meet it.

_Madame Fourchambault_--That can't be true! Tell me at once that it
isn't true, for if it were so you would be without excuse.

_Fourchambault_--I or you?

_Madame Fourchambault_--This is too much! Is it my fault that you don't
understand business? If you haven't had the wit to make the best use of
your way of living and your family connections--any one else--

_Fourchambault_--Quite likely! But I am petty enough to be a scrupulous
man, and to wish to remain one.

_Madame Fourchambault_--Pooh! That's the excuse of all the dolts who