--CATHOS, MADELON, JODELET, MASCARILLE, MAROTTE, ALMANZOR.
MASC. Ah, Viscount!
JOD. Ah, Marquis! (_Embracing each other_).
MASC. How glad I am to meet you!
JOD. How happy I am to see you here.
MASC. Embrace me once more, I pray you.
[Footnote: It was then the fashion for young courtiers to embrace each
other repeatedly with exaggerated gestures, uttering all the while loud
exclamations. The Viscount de Jodelet is the caricature of a courtier of
a former reign; he is very old, very pale, dressed in sombre colours,
speaks slowly and through the nose. Geoffrin, the actor, who played this
part, was at least seventy years old.]
MAD. (_To Cathos_). My dearest, we begin to be known; people of fashion
find the way to our house.
MASC. Ladies, allow me to introduce this gentleman to you. Upon my word,
he deserves the honour of your acquaintance.
JOD. It is but just we should come and pay you what we owe; your charms
demand their lordly rights from all sorts of people.
MAD. You carry your civilities to the utmost confines of flattery.
CAT. This day ought to be marked in our diary as a red-letter day.
MAD. (_To Almanser_). Come, boy, must you always be told things over and
over again? Do you not observe there must be an additional chair?
MASC.
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