in the attainment of this trite and easy solution of the problem?

Ramel
Ah! I see, my dear friend. You have already married your
Gertrude--your angel--who has become to you like all other angels,
after their metamorphoses into a lawful wives.

Ferdinand
'Tis a hundred times worse than that! Gertrude, my dear sir, is now
Madame de Grandchamp.

Ramel
Oh, dear! How is it you've thrust yourself into such a hornets' nest?

Ferdinand
In the same way that people always thrust themselves into hornets'
nests; that is, with the hope of finding honey there.

Ramel
Oh, oh! This is a very serious matter! Now, really, you must conceal
nothing from me.

Ferdinand
Mlle. Gertrude de Meilhac, educated at St. Denis, without doubt loved
me first of all through ambition; she was glad to know that I was
rich, and did all she could to gain my attachment with a view to
marriage.

Ramel
Such is the game of all these intriguing orphan girls.