He wanted to marry her, but his relations maligned her
character, and he cast her off; nor does he know what has become of her
and her child. In the second act we pass to the house of an energetic
and successful young shipowner named Bernard, who lives alone with his
mother. Bernard, as we divine, is secretly devoted to a young lady named
Marie Letellier, a guest in the Fourchambault house, to whom young
Leopold Fourchambault is paying undesirable attentions. One day Bernard
casually mentions to his mother that the house of Fourchambault is on
the verge of bankruptcy; nothing less than a quarter of a million francs
will enable it to tide over the crisis. Mme. Bernard, to her son's
astonishment, begs him to lend the tottering firm the sum required. He
objects that, unless the business is better managed, the loan will only
postpone the inevitable disaster. "Well, then, my son," she replied,
"you must go into partnership with M. Fourchambault." "I! with that
imbecile!" he exclaims.
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