Cléante. May the plague choke him with his discretion, the wretch, the cut-throat that he is! Has one ever heard of similar usury? Is he not satisfied with the tremendous interest which he demands, but must needs force me to take for the three thousand francs the old lumber which he picks up? I shall not get two hundred crowns for the whole of it; and nevertheless I must make up my mind to consent to what he wishes; for he has it in his power to make me accept anything: and the scoundrel holds me with a knife to my throat.

La Flèche. Without offence, Sir, I see you exactly on the high road which Panurge took to ruin himself: taking money in advance, buying dear, selling cheap, and eating his corn whilst it was but grass.

Cléante. What am I to do? See to what young people are reduced by the cursed stinginess of their fathers, and then people are surprised when sons wish their fathers dead!

La Flèche. One must confess that yours, with his stinginess, would incense the steadiest man in the world. I have, Heaven be praised, no very great inclination to be hanged; and, among my colleagues whom I see dabbling in many trifling things, I know well enough how to get cleverly out of a scrape, and to keep as clear as possible of those little amenities which savour more or less of the rope; but, to tell you the truth, he would, by his way of acting, give me the temptation to rob him; and I verily believe that, by doing so, I would commit a meritorious action.

Cléante. Give me this memorandum, that I may have another look at it.

Scene II.—Harpagon, Master Simon, Cléante and La Flèche at the farther end of the stage.

Simon. Yes, Sir, it is a young man who is in want of money; his affairs compel him to find some, and he will consent to all that you dictate to him.

Harpagon. But think you, Master Simon, that there is no risk to run? and do you know the name, the property, and the family of him for whom you speak?

Simon. No. In reality I cannot well inform you about that, and it is only by chance that I have been recommended to him; but he will himself explain all these things to you, and his servant has assured me that you will be satisfied when you shall know him. All that I am able to tell you is that his family is very rich, that he has already lost his mother, and he will engage himself, if you wish it, that his father shall die before eight months are over.

Harpagon. That is something. Charity, Master Simon, enjoins us to be agreeable to people when we can.

Simon. That needs no comment.

La Flèche (softly, to Cléante, recognizing Master Simon). What does this mean? Master Simon who is speaking to your father?

Cléante (softly, to La Flèche). Can any one have told him who I am and are you perhaps betraying me?

Simon (to Cléante and La Flèche). Ah, ah! you are in a great hurry! Who told you that it was here. (To HARPAGON). It is not I, at least, Sir, who have given them your name and address; but, in my opinion, there is no great harm in this; they are discreet persons, and you can here come to an understanding with one another.

Harpagon. How?

Simon (pointing to Cléante). This gentleman is the party who wishes to borrow the fifteen thousand francs of which I spoke.