The Duchess
He is, I fear, ruined; for I have brought him under the notice of his
father, who will-- But stay, something must be done! I must find out
where he lives, and warn him not to come here to-morrow morning.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
Leave the house at this hour! Louise, you are mad!

The Duchess
Come, we must save him at any price.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
What do you propose doing?

The Duchess
Neither of us can leave the house to-morrow without being noticed. We
must forestall the duke by bribing my chambermaid.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey
Louise, would you resort to such means as this?

The Duchess
If Raoul is the son disclaimed by his father, the child over whom I
have mourned for the last twenty years, I must show them what a wife,
a mother, who has been wrongly accused, can do!


Curtain to the First Act.