ACT II.

SCENE I.--ERASTE, _alone_.


Are the bores gone at last? I think they rain here on every side. The
more I flee from them, the more I light on them; and to add to my
uneasiness, I cannot find her whom I wish to find. The thunder and rain
have soon passed over, and have not dispersed the fashionable company.
Would to Heaven that those gifts which it showered upon us, had driven
away all the people who weary me! The sun sinks fast; I am surprised
that my servant has not yet returned.




SCENE II.--ALCIPPE, ERASTE.


ALC. Good day to you.

ER. (_Aside_). How now! Is my passion always to be turned aside?

ALC. Console me, Marquis, in respect of a wonderful game of piquet which
I lost yesterday to a certain Saint-Bouvain, to whom I could have given
fifteen points and the deal. It was a desperate blow, which has been too
much for me since yesterday, and would make me wish all players at the
deuce; a blow, I assure you, enough to make me hang myself in public.--I
wanted only two tricks, whilst the other wanted a piquet. I dealt, he