NANETTE.
Fool! Justice is blind, not deaf.
POTIN.
True! That's why you always get the better of me, dear. Justice
listens too much and looks too little.
NANETTE.
Bah!
[_Pointing to pail_.]
Take that rubbish to the cellar.
POTIN.
[_Crosses, lifts pail, and looks into it_.]
Ashes!--Heigho! Every fire has its ashes.
NANETTE.
Aye--and the fire that warms a man's home may burn his house
down!--Mark you that, Citizen.
POTIN.
Oh, I see! You mean a wife, who should be a comfort, often proves a
curse.
NANETTE.
I mean, Citizen Potin, that in days of revolution, husbands are easily
suppressed.
POTIN.
[_Starting_.]
Take care! A word against the Revolution is treason and sure death.
NANETTE.
Bah! Better death, than a life of terror like that in France to-day.
POTIN.
[_Terrified_.]
Good heavens, Nanette! Fewer words than these have guillotined our
betters! Can you never hold your tongue?
NANETTE.
Never!--while I have a truth to tell.
POTIN.
Tell the truth! Good Lord, that's fatal.
NANETTE.
Aye, for in these noble days of liberty we are only free to lie.
POTIN.
[_Turning away in disgust_.
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