Ha! ha! ha! [_Slightly threatening_] Really!--
Never mind my joke. What if they did dare attack me--ever seen this, Briquet? [_He draws a stiletto out of his cane and advances it silently._] Useful little thing. By the way, you have no idea of the discovery I made yesterday in a suburb. Such a girl! [_Laughs._] Oh, well! all right, all right--I know you don't like that sort of sport. But look here, you must give me a hundred francs!
Then I'll take away Consuelo--that's all----
Yes, my threat! And you would do the same, if you were as shamefully hard up as I am. Now look here, you know as well as I do that I have to live up to my name somehow, keep up the family reputation. Just because the tide of ill-fortune which struck my ancestors compelled me to make my daughter, the Countess Veronica, a bareback rider--to keep us from starving--do you understand--you heartless idiot!
You chase the girls too much! Some day you'll land in jail, Mancini!
In jail? Oh, no! Why, I have to uphold our _name_, the splendour of my family, [_laughs_] haven't I? The Mancinis are known all over Italy for their love of girls--just girls! Is it my fault if I must pay such crazy prices for what my ancestors got free of charge? You're nothing but an ass, a _parvenu_ ass. How can you understand Family Traditions? I don't drink--I stopped playing cards after that accident--no, you need not smile. Now if I give up the girls, what will be left of Mancini? Only a coat of arms, that's all---- In the name of family traditions, give me a hundred francs!
You know that I leave half of the salary for Consuelo--but--perhaps you think I do not love my child--my only daughter, all that remains to me as a memory of her sainted mother--what cruelty! [_Pretends to cry, wipes his eyes with a small and dirty lace handkerchief, embroidered with a coronet._]
Why don't you say, rather, that she is foolish enough to give you half her salary. You make me sick----
[_Enter Zinida, the lion tamer; burningly beautiful, her self-confident, commanding gestures at first glance give an impression of languor. She is_ BRIQUET'S _unmarried wife._]
Madame Zinida! This barbarian, this brute may pierce me with his dagger, but I cannot control the expression of my love! [_Kneels facetiously before her_] Madame! Count Mancini has the honour of asking you to be his wife....