I have told him that we are ruined--

Julie
And this avowal has not changed your plans--your love--has it,
Adolphe?

Minard (ardently)
My love! (Mercadet, without being noticed, seizes his hand.) I should
be deceiving you--mademoiselle--(speaking with great effort)--if I
were to say that my intentions are unaltered.

Julie
Oh! It is impossible! Can it be you who speak to me in this strain?

Mme. Mercadet
Julie--

Minard (rousing himself)
There are some men to whom poverty adds energy; men capable of daily
self-sacrifice, of hourly toil; men who think themselves sufficiently
recompensed by a smile from a companion that they love--(checking
himself). I, mademoiselle am not one of these. The thought of poverty
dismays me. I--I could not endure the sight of your unhappiness.

Julie (bursting into tears and flinging herself into the arms of her
mother)
Oh! Mother! Mother! Mother!

Mme. Mercadet
My daughter--my poor Julie!