The Indian Woman (L'Indienne)

That depends on your Master; as you are not from this country, you are ignorant of its laws. Know that when a woman becomes a widow, she is honestly obligated to sacrifice herself within the week, unless a Brahmin a member of the highest Hindu caste/priestly class, having become a widower at the same time, wishes to marry her immediately; your Master is in that situation...

Ah! I understand, you come to offer him your hand to save the rest. The deal is reasonable: but you have bad luck: there are one hundred thousand men who would accept your proposition, and you have fallen upon the one hundred thousand and first, he will never want to consent to it.

O Heaven! What are you telling me there?

A sad truth. I know well that the law is not as rigorous for men as for women; but he has the whim for it, in two hours he will be in ashes.

Ah! Do not tell me that, you are going to make me die of grief.

What attachment!

Yes, for my life which depends on his, I am young, fairly passable, so they say, and your Master would not want to marry me. I will marry him, myself.

What do you want me to tell you? I am going to make him come down, you will speak to him yourself, try to catch his eye, animate your remarks a little. Think that those you address to him will be so many prayers against the burning.

Go, my dear Mendès, try to determine him in my favor.