Читать «Практический курс английского языка 3 курс (calibre 2.43.0)» онлайн - страница 136
Владимир Дмитриевич Аракин
have come to regard my letters as your own property, of which I am trying to rob you.
L a d y
tains a stolen letter: a letter written by a woman to a man: a man not her husband: a letter that means disgrace, infamy — ^N a p o 1 e
o n: A love letter?
L a d y
N a p o l e o n : Why is it sent to me? To put the husband in my power?
L a d y : No, no: it can be of no use to you: I swear that it will cost you nothing to give it to me. It has been sent to you out of sheer
malice: solely to injure the woman who wrote it.
N a p o l e o n : Then why not send it to her husband instead of to me?
N a p o l e o n : Aha! I thought so: a little romance to get the papers back. Per Bacco,81 can't help admiring you. I wish I could lie like
that. It would save me a great deal of trouble.
L a d y
thing nobody will believe.
N a p o l e o n
better than you if I set my mind to it. Next time you are asked why a letter compromising a wife should not be sent to her husband, an -
swer simply that the husband wouldn't read it. Do you suppose, you goose, that a man wants to be compelled by public opinion to
make a scene, to fight a duel, to break up his household, to injure his career by a scandal, when he can avoid it all by taking care not
to know?
L a d y
N a p o l e o n
L a d y
N a p o l e o n : You have committed an indiscretion. I pardon you. In future, do not permit yourself to introduce real persons in your
romances.
L a d y : General: there really is a woman's letter there.
N a p o l e o n : Why?
L a d y : She is an old friend: we were at school together. She has written to me imploring me to prevent the letter falling into your
hands.
N a p o 1 e o n: Why has it been sent to me?
L a d y : Because it compromises the director Barras! 10
Napoleon (frowning,
friend.
L a d y
N a p o l e o n : Again! Have I not forbidden you to speak of my wife? Barras? Barras?