And what"s that white image standing in the corner, the one that never stirs, never speaks and follows us wherever we go?
ROSARELLE
That great lump of clay, that ugly wax-work? That washed-out plaster saint?
BELLINE
She looks very ill.
ROSARELLE
She may have Jewish leprosy or Zanzibar plague or Bombay cholera.... I tell you, we must be careful: that"s all very catching....
AIMETTE
(_Coming up to the bench timidly_.) I should like to sit down too, I"m very tired....
ROSARELLE
Mind what you"re about, miss!... There"s dust enough as it is; I don"t want flour into the bargain.
ROSELLE
What"s all this, what"s all this? Are we turning up our nose at flour now?
ROSARELLE
I wasn"t addressing my remarks to you, madam.
ROSELLE
No, but I"m speaking to you. What bread would you eat if you had no flour?
ROSARELLE
You would do better to tell your father to pay the three quarters" rent that"s in arrear.
ROSELLE
He"ll pay his rent when your horrid old miser of a grandfather has seen to those repairs. We"ve been asking to have them done these last three years.
BELLINE
Is it the repairs that prevent your father from paying his butcher"s bills?
ROSELLE
Does he owe anything at your shop?
BELLINE
It"s six months since we saw the colour of his money.
ROSELLE
He"s waiting to see the colour of yours at the inn.
BELLINE
Of mine indeed? You can wait a long time before I set foot in your dirty dram-shop.
ROSELLE
Yes, but that father of yours isn"t so squeamish when he comes on Sundays and tipples till we have to put him out dead-drunk.
ROSARELLE
Don"t answer her, my dear; we are not accustomed to these pot-house brawls.
ROSELLE
As for you, miss, who pretend to be so particular, you just go and ask your father, the mayor, who it was that nibbled the holes, which were not made by rats, in the town"s cash-box.
ROSARELLE
(_Springing to her feet, furiously_.) Holes which were not made by rats!
What do you mean?
ROSELLE
I mean what every one in the village means!...
ROSARELLE
Mind what you"re saying; and say it again if you dare.
ROSELLE
Well, what would you do if I did say it again? You don"t frighten me with your airs and graces.
ROSARELLE
Never mind my airs and graces; I"ll soon show you what I"ll do.
ROSELLE
Well, then, I do say it again.
ROSARELLE