Let me consider a little if I can in conscience do it. (Goes away a small distance from MR. DE POURCEAUGNAC.) He is a man who looks after his own interests, who tries to provide for his daughter as advantageously as possible; and one should injure nobody. It is true that these things are no secret; but I shall be telling them to a man who knows nothing about it, and it is forbidden to talk scandal of one's neighbour. All this is true. On the other hand, however, here is a stranger they want to impose upon, who comes in all good faith to marry a girl he knows nothing about, and whom he has never seen. A gentleman all openheartedness, for whom I feel some inclination, who does me the honour of reckoning me his friend, puts his confidence in me, and gives me a ring to keep for his sake. (To MR. DE POURCEAUGNAC) Yes, I think that I can tell you how things are without wounding my conscience. But I must try to tell it all to you in the mildest way possible, and to spare people as much as I can. If I were to tell you that this girl leads a bad life, it would be going too far. I must find some milder term to explain myself. The word coquette does not come up to the mark; that of downright flirt seems to me to answer the purpose pretty well, and I can make use of it to tell you honestly what she is. (MR. POUR: They want to make a fool of me then?) But it may not be so bad as people think; and after all, there are men who set themselves above such things, and who do not think that their honour depends upon...

Sbri Monologue from Monsieur De Pourceaugnac

Rehearse Sbri's monologue