ARG. Send her here, my love, send her here at once. Ah! the brazen-faced
girl! (_Alone_.) I no longer wonder at the resistance she showed.
SCENE XI.--ARGAN, LOUISON.
LOU. What do you want, papa? My step-mamma told me to come to you.
ARG. Yes; come here. Come nearer. Turn round, and hold up your head.
Look straight at me. Well?
LOU. What, papa?
ARG. So?
LOU. What?
ARG. Have you nothing to say to me?
LOU. Yes. I will, to amuse you, tell you, if you like, the story of
the Ass's Skin or the fable of the Fox and the Crow, which I have
learnt lately.
ARG. That is not what I want of you.
LOU. What is it then?
ARG. Ah! cunning little girl, you know very well what I mean.
LOU. No indeed, papa.
ARG. Is that the way you obey me?
LOU. What, papa?
ARG. Have I not asked you to tell me at once all you see?
LOU. Yes, papa.
ARG. Have you done so?
LOU. Yes, papa. I always come and tell you all I see.
ARG. And have you seen nothing to-day?
LOU. No, papa.
ARG. No?
LOU. No, papa.
ARG. Quite sure?
LOU. Quite sure.
ARG. Ah! indeed! I will make you see something soon.
LOU. (_seeing_ ARGAN _take a rod_). Ah! papa!
ARG. Ah! ah! false little girl; you do not tell me that you saw a man
in your sister's room!
LOU. (_crying_). Papa!
ARG. (_taking_ LOUISON _by the arm_). This will teach you to
tell falsehoods.
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