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care. Take care: do you hear? You may go too far.

L a d y (innocently turning her face to him): What's the matter?

N a p o l e o n : What are you hinting at? Who is this woman?

L a d y (meeting his angry searching gaze with tranquil indifference as she sits looking up at him): A vain, silly, extravagant crea-

ture, with a very able and ambitious husband who knows her through and through: knows that she had lied to him about her age, her

income, her social position, about everything that silly women lie about: knows that she is incapable of fidelity to any principle or any

person; and yet cannot help loving her — cannot help his man's instinct to make use of her for his own advancement with Barras.

N a p o l e o n (in a stealthy coldly furious whisper): This is your revenge, you she-cat, for having had to give me the letters.

L a d y : Nonsense! Or do you mean that you are that sort of man?

N a p o l e o n (exasperated, clasps his hands behind him, his fingers twitching, and says, as he walks irritably away from her to the

fireplace): This woman will drive me out of my senses. (To her.) Begone."

L a d y (springing up with a bright flush in her cheeks): Oh, you are too bad. Keep your letters. Read the story of your own disho-

nour in them; and much good may they do you. Goodbye. (She goes indignantly towards the inner door.)

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. The Man of Destiny: Napoleon regarded himself as an instrument in the hands of destiny.

2. shew, shewed: show, showed — in standard English.

3. fichu (Fr.) [fi'Ju:]: woman's triangular shawl of lace for shoulders and neck.

4. Buonaparte: Bonaparte ['b3un3pa:t],

5. Tut! Tut! [Utj: an exclamation of contempt, impatience or annoyance.

___6. Dalila [di'laib]: a biblical name used as a symbol of a treacherous,

faithless woman.

7. Beaulieu Jean Pirre ['bjidij: Commander-in-chief of the Austrian army in Italy defeated in 1796 by Napoleon.

8. Per Bacco (Lat.): I swear by god. Bacchus: in Greek and Roman mythology god of wine and revelry.

9. Caesar's wife is above suspicion: the words ascribed to Julius Caesar ['cfeuiljss 'si:za].

10. Barras Paul: a reactionary politician, a member of the Directory which governed France at that time.

11. Begone: go away.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

Vocabulary Notes

1. character n 1) mental or moral nature, e. g. He is a man of fine (strong, weak, independent) character. In order to know a

person's character we must know how he thinks, feels and acts. They differ in character. 2) the qualities that make a thing what it is,

as the character of the work, soil, climate, etc.; 3) moral strength, e. g. He is a man of character. Character- building is not an easy

thing. 4) a person in a play or novel, as the characters in the novel; good (bad, important) characters, e. g. Many characters of the

novel are real people, others are fictional. 5) a person who does something unusual, e. g. He's quite a character. 6) a description of a

person's abilities, e. g. He came to our office with a good character.