que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?

Molière , Fourberies de Scapin, ii. II , imitated from a scene of Le Pédant joué by Cyrano de Bergerac, as is noted by M. Edmond Rostand in his play, “Cyrano de Bergerac,” v. 6:\nRag.   Hier on jouait Scapin Et j’ai vu qu’il vous a pris une scène. Le Bret.      Entière! Rag. Oui, Monsieur, le fameux: “Que diable allait-il faire?”\nIn Molière, Scapin, the amusing but rascally servant of farce, in order to obtain more money out of Géronte, the father of his young master, Léandre, pretends that the latter has been taken prisoner on board a Turkish galley and that the captain demands 500 crowns as ransom. Géronte in the dilemma of losing either his money or his son, at last parts with his treasured gold, but not without repeating several times in heartfelt sorrow, “Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?”