Marguerite:
I think I know my own heart better than you can, Monsieur, and I can trust it not to change.
Monsieur Duval:
No woman unprotected as you are can afford to give the best years of her life to a man who when he leaves her will leave her with nothing. And who is certain to leave her in the end.
Marguerite:
I don't suppose you can understand how any woman, unprotected as you say I am, can be lifted above self-interest by a sentiment so delicate and pure that she feels only humiliation when you speak of such things.
Monsieur Duval:
I realize now that you do love him unselfishly. But even so, I say it can't go on.
Marguerite:
But it will go on!
Monsieur Duval:
Armand is a young man with his way to make, with a career waiting for him. And in his case, he can't serve his best interest by being tied to a woman he can't present to his family or his friends.
Marguerite:
Armand is no different than other men.
Monsieur Duval:
Oh, come Mme. Be honest. Haven't you found him different? Haven't you found him more sensitive, more loyal? Or am I prejudiced because I'm his father?
Marguerite:
No. I know Armand was different.
Monsieur Duval:
So you see, as long as Armand loves you, he'll not enter rooms that you can't.
Marguerite:
But a man can go back. He can always go back. Monsieur, suppose I told you I have a feeling I shan't live very long.
Monsieur Duval:
Well then I scold you for being fanciful and a little foolish. What you probably feel is the melancholy of happiness, that mood that comes over all of us when we realize that even love can't remain at flood tide forever.
Marguerite:
Oh Armand, I'm doomed.
Monsieur Duval:
With him, you're both doomed. Without a profession of any sort, what can he do, unless he sinks so low, he's willing to let some other man foot the bills for his life with you.
Marguerite:
You don't know Armand. He wouldn't say that.
Monsieur Duval:
No one knows the man he might become if he loses his self-respect. But I think that's too high a price to pay even for love. I want Armand to enjoy life, not to be sacrificed to it. You see, my son is as dear to me as he can possibly be to you.
Marguerite:
Yes, but you have others who are dear to you. I have only Armand. You don't know how I've changed. And he taught me that love is not always selfish, nor goodness dull, nor men faithless. No, no, you can't expect me to give up such love as his.
