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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34055-8.txt b/34055-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62b5c67 --- /dev/null +++ b/34055-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3810 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles Di Tocca, by Cale Young Rice + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Charles Di Tocca + A Tragedy + +Author: Cale Young Rice + +Release Date: October 11, 2010 [EBook #34055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES DI TOCCA *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + _CHARLES DI TOCCA_ + + _A Tragedy_ + + _By_ + + _Cale Young Rice_ + + + _McClure, Phillips & Co._ + _New York_ + 1903 + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY + CALE YOUNG RICE + + Published, March, 1903, R + + + + _To My Wife_ + + + + _CHARLES DI TOCCA_ + + + + +CHARLES DI TOCCA + +_A Tragedy_ + + + CHARLES DI TOCCA _Duke of Leucadia, Tyrant of Arta, etc._ + ANTONIO DI TOCCA _His son._ + HÆMON _A Greek noble._ + BARDAS _His friend._ + CARDINAL JULIAN _The Pope's Legate._ + AGABUS _A mad monk._ + CECCO _Seneschal of the Castle._ + FULVIA COLONNA _Under the duke's protection._ + HELENA _Sister to Hæmon._ + GIULIA _Serving Fulvia._ + PAULA _Serving Helena._ + LYGIA } + PHAON } _Revellers._ + ZOE } + BASIL } + + NARDO, a boy, and DIOGENES, a philosopher. + + A Captain of the Guard, Soldiers, Guests, Attendants, etc. + + _Time_: _Fifteenth Century._ + + + + +ACT ONE + + +_Scene._--_The Island Leucadia. A ruined temple of Apollo near the town +of Pharo. Broken columns and stones are strewn, or stand desolately +about. It is night--the moon rising. ANTONIO, who has been waiting +impatiently, seats himself on a stone. By a road near the ruins FULVIA +enters, cloaked._ + + ANTONIO (_turning_): Helen----! + + FULVIA: A comely name, my lord. + + ANTONIO: Ah, you? + My father's unforgetting Fulvia? + + FULVIA: At least not Helena, whoe'er she be. + + ANTONIO: And did I call you so? + + FULVIA: Unless it is + These stones have tongue and passion. + + ANTONIO: Then the night + Recalling dreams of dim antiquity's + Heroic bloom worked on me.--But whence are + Your steps, so late, alone? + + FULVIA: From the Cardinal, + Who has but come. + + ANTONIO: What comfort there? + + FULVIA: With doom + The moody bolt of Rome broods over us. + + ANTONIO: My father will not bind his heresy? + + FULVIA: You with him walked to-day. What said he? + + ANTONIO: I? + With him to-day? Ah, true. What may be done? + + FULVIA: He has been strange of late and silent, laughs, + Seeing the Cross, but softly and almost + As it were some sweet thing he loved. + + ANTONIO (_absently_): As if + 'Twere some sweet thing--he laughs--is strange--you say? + + FULVIA: Stranger than is Antonio his son, + Who but for some expectancy is vacant. + (_She makes to go._) + + ANTONIO: Stay, Fulvia, though I am not in poise. + Last night I dreamed of you: in vain you hovered + To reach me from the coil of swift Charybdis. + + (_A low cry, ANTONIO starts._) + + Fulvia: A woman's voice! + (_Looking down the road._) + And hasting here! + + ANTONIO: Alone? + + FULVIA: No, with another! + + ANTONIO: Go, then, Fulvia. + 'Tis one would speak with me. + + FULVIA: Ah? (_She goes._) + +_Enter HELENA frightedly with PAULA._ + + HELENA: Antonio! + + ANTONIO: My Helena, what is it? You are wan + And tremble as a blossom quick with fear + Of shattering. What is it? Speak. + + HELENA: Not true! + O, 'tis not true! + + ANTONIO: What have you chanced upon? + + HELENA: Say no to me, say no, and no again! + + ANTONIO: Say no, and no? + + HELENA: Yes; I am reeling, wrung, + With one glance o'er the precipice of ill! + Say his incanted prophecies spring from + No power that's more than frenzied fantasy! + + ANTONIO: Who prophesies? Who now upon this isle + More than visible and present day + Can gather to his eye? Tell me. + + HELENA: The monk-- + Ah, chide me not!--mad Agabus, who can + Unsphere dark spirits from their evil airs + And show all things of love or death, seized me + As hither I stole to thee. With wild looks + And wilder lips he vented on my ear + Boding more wild than both. "Sappho!" he cried, + "Sappho! Sappho!" and probed my eyes as if + Destiny moved dark-visaged in their deeps. + Then tore his rags and moaned, "So young, to cease!" + Gazed then out into awful vacancy; + And whispered hotly, following his gaze, + "The Shadow! Shadow!" + + ANTONIO: This is but a whim, + A sudden gloomy surge of superstition. + Put it from you, my Helena. + + HELENA: But he + Has often cleft the future with his ken, + Seen through it to some lurking misery + And mar of love: or the dim knell of death + Heard and revealed. + + ANTONIO: A witless monk who thinks + God lives but to fulfil his prophecies! + + HELENA: You know him not. 'Tis told in youth he loved + One treacherous, and in avenge made fierce + Treaty with Hell that lends him sight of all + Ills that arise from it to mated hearts! + Yet look not so, my lord! I'll trust thine eyes + That tell me love is master of all times, + And thou of all love master! + + ANTONIO: And of thee? + Then will the winds return unto the night + And flute us lover songs of happiness! + + HELENA: Nor dare upon a duller note while here + We tryst beneath the moon? + + ANTONIO: My perfect Greek! + Athene looks again out of thy lids, + And Venus trembles in thy every limb! + + HELENA: Not Venus, ah, not Venus! + + ANTONIO: Now; again? + + HELENA: 'Twas on this temple's ancient gate she found + Wounded Adonis dead, and to forget, + Like Sappho leaped, 'tis said, from yonder cliff + Down to the waves' oblivion below. + + ANTONIO: And will you read such terror in a tale? + + HELENA: Forgive me, then. + + ANTONIO: Surely you are unstrung, + And yet there is---- (_Turns away from her._) + + HELENA: Is what? Antonio? + + ANTONIO: Nothing: I who must ebb with you and flow + A little was moved. + + HELENA: Not you, not you! I'll change + My tears to laughter, if but fantasy + May so unmettle you! Not moved, indeed! + Not moved, Antonio? + + ANTONIO: Well, let us off, + My Helena, with these numb awes that wind + About our joy. + + HELENA: Thy kiss then, for it can + Drive all gloom out of the world! + + ANTONIO: And thine, my own, + On Fate's hard brow would shame it of all frown! + + HELENA: Yet is thine mightier, for no frown can be + When no more gloom's in the world! + + ANTONIO: But 'tis thy lips + That lend it might. If I pressed other---- + + HELENA: Other! + You should not know that any other lips + Could e'er be pressed; I'll have no kiss but his + Who is all blind to every mouth but mine! + (_Breaks from him._) + + ANTONIO: Oh?--Well. + + HELENA: "Oh--well?"--Then it is well I go! + + ANTONIO: Perhaps. + + HELENA: "Perhaps!" (_Makes to go._) + + ANTONIO: Good-night. + + HELENA (_returning_): Antonio----? + + ANTONIO: Ah! still----? + + HELENA: There's gloom in the world again. + + ANTONIO (_kissing her_): 'Tis gone? + + HELENA: Not all, I think. + + ANTONIO: Two for so small a gloom? + (_Kisses her again._) + + HELENA: So small! + + ANTONIO: And still you sigh? + + HELENA: The vainest glooms + To-night seem ominous--as cloud-flakes flung + Upward before the heaving of the west. + (_In fright_) Oh! + + ANTONIO: Helena! + + HELENA: See, see! 'tis Agabus! + +_Enter AGABUS unkempt and distracted._ + + AGABUS: O--lovers! lovers! Lord have none of them! + + ANTONIO: Good monk---- + + AGABUS: O--yes, yes, yes. You'd give me gold + To pray for your two souls. (_Crossing himself._) Not I! Not I! + Know you not love is brewed of lust and fire? + It gnaws and burns, until the Shadow--Sir, (_Searching about the + air._) + Have you not seen a Shadow pass? + + ANTONIO: A Shadow? + + AGABUS: Silent and cold. A-times they call him Death: + I'd have him for my brain--it shakes with fever. + (_Goes searching anxiously._ + + HELENA: Antonio---- + + ANTONIO: You're calm? + + HELENA: Yes, very calm-- + Of impotence--as one who in a tomb + Awakes and waits? + + ANTONIO: He is but mad. + + HELENA: But mad. + + ANTONIO: Yet fear you? still? + + (_A shout is heard._) + + HELENA: Who is it? soldiers come + From Arta? + + ANTONIO: Yes. + + HELENA: And by this road!--They must + Not see us! + + ANTONIO: No. But quick, within this breach! + + (_They conceal themselves in the breach. The soldiers pass + across the stage. The last, as all shout "DI TOCCA!" + strikes a column near him. It falls, and HELENA starts + forward shuddering._) + + HELENA: Fallen! Ah, fallen! See, Antonio! + + ANTONIO: What now! + + HELENA (_swaying_): It is as if the earth were wind + Under my feet! + + ANTONIO: Are all things thus become + Omen and dread to you? + + HELENA: O, but it is + The pillar grieving Venus leant upon + Ere to forget she leapt, and wrote, + When falls this pillar tall and proud + Let surest lovers weave their shroud. + + ANTONIO: Mere myth! + + HELENA: The shroud! It coldly winds about us--coldly! + + ANTONIO: Should a vain hap so desperately move you? + + HELENA: The breath and secret soul of all this night + Are burdened with foreboding! And it seems-- + + ANTONIO: You must not, Helena! + + HELENA: My love, my lord-- + Touch me lest I forget my natural flesh + In this unnatural awe! (_He takes her to him._) + Ah how thy arms + Warm the cold moan and misery of fear + Out of my veins! + + ANTONIO: You rave, but in me stir + Again the attraction of these dim portents. + Nay, quiver not! 'tis but a passing mist, + And this that runs in us is worthless dread! + + HELENA: But ah, the shroud! the shroud! + + ANTONIO: We'll weave no shroud, + But wedding robes and wreaths and pageantry! + And you shall be my Sappho--but through joys + Such as shall legend ecstasy about + Our knitted names when distant lovers dream. + + HELENA: I'll fear no more, then---- + + ANTONIO: Yet? + + HELENA: My lord, let us + Unloose this strangling secrecy and be + Open in love. My brother, Hæmon, let + Our hearts betrothed exchange and hope be told + Him and thy father! + + ANTONIO: This cannot be--now + + HELENA: It cannot be, and you a god? I'll bow + Before your eyes no more!--say that it can! + + ANTONIO: Not yet--not now. Hæmon's suspicious, quick, + And melancholy: must be won with service. + And you are Greek, a name till yesterday + I never knew pass in the portal to + My father's ear, but it came out his mouth + Headlong and dark with curses. + + HELENA: Yet of late + He oft has smiled upon me as he passed. + + ANTONIO: On you--my father? O, he only dreamt, + And saw you not. + + HELENA: Then have you also dreamt! + He looked as you, when, moonlight in my hair, + You call me---- + + ANTONIO: Stay: I'll call you so no more. + + HELENA: You'll call me so no more? + + ANTONIO: No more. + + HELENA: Why do + You say so--is it kind? + + ANTONIO: Why?--why? Because + Words were they miracles of beauty could + As little reveal you as a taper's ray + The lone profundity and space of night! + + HELENA: And yet---- + + ANTONIO: And yet? + + HELENA: I'll hold you not too false + If sometimes they trip out upon your lips. + + ANTONIO: Or to my father's eye? + + HELENA: If he but look + Upon me for thy sake. + + ANTONIO: He smiled, you say? + + HELENA: Gently, as one might in forgetting pain. + + ANTONIO: Perhaps: for some unwonted softness seems + Near him. But yesterday he called for song, + Dancing and wine. + + HELENA: Then tell him! These are years + So dyed in crime that secrecy must seem + Yoke-mate of guilt. + + ANTONIO: Fear has bewitched you--shame! + + HELENA: Antonio, love's wave has cast us high + I would do all lest now it turn to fate + Under our feet and draw us out---- + + ANTONIO: 'Twill not! + +_Enter PAULA._ + + PAULA: My lady, some one comes. + + HELENA: And is the world + Not space enough but he must needs come here! + If it were----? + + ANTONIO: Hæmon?--'Twere perhaps not ill. + + HELENA: I know not! Broodings smoulder from his moods + Feverous bitter. + + ANTONIO: Kindness then shall quench them. + But now, away. Forget this dread and be you + By day my lark, by night my nightingale, + Not a sad bird of boding! + + HELENA: With the day + All will be well. + + ANTONIO: Remember then you are + Only a little slept from your life's shore + Out on the infinite of love, whose air + Is awe and mystery. + + HELENA: I go, my lord. + Think of me oft! + + ANTONIO (_taking her in his arms_): My Helena! + + (_She goes with PAULA. He steps aside and watches the + approaching forms._) + + 'Tis Hæmon! + My father! + +_Enter CHARLES friendly, with HÆMON._ + + CHARLES: So, no farther? you'll stop here? + + HÆMON: Sir, if you grant it. I---- + + CHARLES (_twittingly_): Some rendezvous? + Who is she? Ah, young blood and Spring and night! + + HÆMON: No rendezvous, my lord. + + CHARLES: Some lay then you + Would muse on? + + HÆMON: Yes, a lay. + + CHARLES: And one of love? + The word, you see, founts easy to my lips. + (_With confidential archness._) 'Tis recent in my thought--as + you will learn. + + HÆMON: How, sir, and when? + + CHARLES: O, when? Be not surprised!-- + Well, to the lay! + (_He goes._ + + HÆMON: Cruel! His soldiers waste + The bread of honesty, the hope of age! + Are drunken, bloody, indolent, and lust + To tear all innocence away and robe + Our loveliest in shame!--Yet me, a Greek, + He suddenly befriends! + + ANTONIO (_coming forward_): Hæmon---- + + HÆMON: Ah, you? + + ANTONIO: There's room between your tone and courtesy. + + HÆMON: And shall be while I'm readier to bend + Over a beggar's pain than prince's fingers. + + ANTONIO: And yet you know me better---- + + HÆMON: Than to believe + You're not Antonio, son of Charles di Tocca? + + ANTONIO: I'd be your friend. + + HÆMON: So would he: and he smiles. + + ANTONIO: There are deep reasons for it. + + HÆMON: With him too! + Against a miracle, you are his heir! + + ANTONIO: I think it would be well for you to listen. + My confidence once curbed---- + + HÆMON: May bite and paw? + Let it! for fools are threats, and cowards. Were + You Tamerlane and mine the skull should cap + A bloody pyramid of enemies, + I'd----! + + ANTONIO: Hear me. Will you be so blind? + + HÆMON: To your + Fair graces? No, my lord--not so. Your sword + And doublet are sublimely worn! sublimely! + Your curls would tempt an empress' fingers, and---- + + ANTONIO: Why is my anger silent? + + HÆMON: Let it speak + And not this subtle pride! You would be friend, + A friend to me--a friend!--Did not your father + Into a sick and sunless keep cast mine + Because he was a Greek and still a Greek, + And would not be a slave? His cunning has + Not whispered death about him as a pest? + He--he, my friend? and you?--And I on him + Should lean, and flatter----? + + ANTONIO: Cease: though he has stains + The times are tyrannous and men like beasts + Find mercy preservation's enemy. + You're heated with suspicion and old wrong, + But take my hand as pledge---- + + HÆMON (_refusing it_): That you'll be false? + +_Enter BARDAS._ + + BARDAS: I've sought you, Hæmon. Antonio? We are + Well met then: to your doors my want was bent + With a request. + + ANTONIO: Which gladly I shall hear + And if I can will grant. + + BARDAS: My haste is blunt-- + As is my tongue. + + HÆMON: Then yield it us at once, + Our mood is so. + + BARDAS: Hæmon, I love your sister. + Not love: I am idolatrous before + Her foot's least print, and cannot breathe or pray + But where she's sometime been and left a heaven! + + HÆMON: Therefore you'll cry it maudlin at the streets? + + BARDAS: Necessity's not over delicate. + Antonio, sue for me. You have been apt + In all love's skill they say. My oath on it + Your words once sown upon her listening + Would not lie fruitless did they bid her yield + More than her most. + + HÆMON: Bardas! Do you--Does such + Unseemliness run in your thought? + + BARDAS: Peace, Hæmon. + Antonio, speak. + + ANTONIO: You're strange in this request. + Helena, whom I've seen, would little thank + The eyes that told her own where they should love. + + BARDAS: I saved your life, my lord. + + ANTONIO: And I've besought + Occasion oft for loaning of some chance + Worthily to repay you. If 'tis this, + I am distrest. I cannot plead your suit. + + BARDAS: You cannot or you will not? + + ANTONIO: I have said. + Ask me for service on your foes, for gold, + Faith or devotion, friendship you're aloof to, + For all that will and honor well may render + With nicety, and I'll be wings and heart, + More--drudge to your desire. + + HÆMON: Nobly, my lord! + Bardas, you must atone---- + + BARDAS: Peace, Hæmon. + + HÆMON: Peace + Is goad and gall! Why do you burn my cheek + With this indignity? + + BARDAS: Do you ask why? (_to ANTONIO._) + A little since one of your father's guard + Gave his command in seal to Helena + Upon the streets, to instantly repair + Unto his halls--which she must henceforth _honor_. + You knew it not? + + ANTONIO: My father? + + BARDAS: O, well feigned. + Be sure none will suspect he is too old + For knightly feat like this--and that he has + A son! + + ANTONIO: To Helena! my father! sealed! + + HÆMON: Bardas, you bring the truth?--And so, my lord, + You stab me through another--you, my _friend_? + + ANTONIO (_to BARDAS_): Do you mean that----? + + BARDAS: Until this hour I held + The race of Charles di Tocca bold, or other + But empty of all lies in deed or speech, + It grows--a little low? + + ANTONIO: Why you are mad! + Are mad! I'm naked of this thing, and hide + No guilt behind the wonder of my face. + For Paradises brimming with all Beauty + I would not lay one fancy's weight of shame + On her you name! + + BARDAS: A pretty protest--but + A breath too heavenly. + + ANTONIO: Leave sneering there! + You have repaid yourself--cast on me words + Intolerable more than loss of life. + You both shall learn this night's entangling. + But know, between her, Helena, and shame + I burn with flaming heart and fearless hand! + (_Goes angrily._ + + HÆMON: He can be false and wear this mien of truth? + + BARDAS: I'll not believe! + + HÆMON: But, what: my sister seized? + + BARDAS: Ah, what!--"He burns with flaming heart!"--have we + No flesh to understand this passion then? + Bound to the wings of wide ambition he + Will choose undowered worth?--To the ordeal + Of mere suspicion's flaming I'd not trust + The fairness of his name; but doubts in me + Are sunk with proofs. + + HÆMON: No, no! + + BARDAS: Unyielding. + + HÆMON: Proof? + He could not. No! he dare not! + + BARDAS: Yet the rogue + Cecco, the duke's half-seneschal, half-spy, + I passed upon the streets o'ermuch in wine, + Leaning upon a tipsier jade and spouting + With drunken mockery, + + "'Sweet Helena! Fair Helena!' Pluck me, wench, but the lord Antonio + knows sound nuts! And sly! Why hear you now! he gets the duke to + seize on the maid! The fox! The rat! Have I not heard him in his + chamber these thirty nights puff her name out his window with as + many honeyed drawls of passion as--as--as--June has buds? 'Sweet + Helena!'--la! 'Fair Helena!'--O! 'Dear Helena! my rose! my queen! + my sun and moon and stars! Thy kiss is still at my lips, thy breast + beats still on mine! my Helena!'--Um! Oh, 'tmust be a rare damsel. + I'll make a sluice between her purse and mine, wench; do you hear?" + + HÆMON: Well--well? + + BARDAS: No more. When I had struck him down, + He swore it was unswerving all and truth. + Hasting to warn I found Helena ta'en + And sought you here. + + HÆMON (_grasping his brows_): Ah! + + BARDAS: Helena who is + All purity! + + HÆMON: Ah sister, child!--Have I + With strength been father and with tenderness + A mother been to her unfolding years + But to see now unchastest cruelty + Pluck her white bloom to ease his idle sense + One fragrant hour?--If it be so, no flowers + Should blossom; only weeds whose withering + Can hurt no heart! + + BARDAS: These tears should seal fierce oaths + Against him! + + HÆMON: And they shall! until God wrecks + Him in the tempest raised of his outrage! + + BARDAS: Then may I be the rock on which he breaks! + But hear; who comes? (_Revellers are heard approaching._) + We must aside until + This mirth is past. (_They conceal themselves._) + +_Enter revellers dressed as bacchanals and bacchantes, dancing and +singing._ + + Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo! + The vine! a fig for the rest! + With locks green-crowned and lips red-warm-- + The vine! the vine's the best! + He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo! + The vine! a maiden's breast! + He pressed the grape, and kissed the maid!-- + The cuckoo builds no nest! + + (_All go dancing, except LYDIA and PHAON, who clasps and + kisses her passionately_) + + LYDIA (_breaking from him_): Do you think kisses are so cheap? You + must know mine fill my purse! A pretty gallant from Naples, with + laces and silks and jewels gave me this ring last year for but one. + And another lover from Venice gave me this (_a bracelet_)--but he + looked so sad when he gave it. Ah, his eyes! I'd not have cared if + he had given me naught. + + PHAON: Here, here, then! (_Offers jewel._) + + LYDIA (_putting it aside_): They say the ladies in Venice ride with + their lovers through the streets all night in boats: and the very + moon shines more passionately there. Is it true? + + PHAON: Yes, yes. But kiss me, Lydia! Take this jewel--my last. Be + mine to-night, no other's! We'll prate of Venice another time. + + LYDIA: Another time we'll prate of kisses. I'll not have the jewel. + + PHAON: Not have it! Now you're turning nun! a soft and virgin, silly + nun! With a gray gown to hide these shoulders that--shall I whisper + it? + + LYDIA: Devil! they're not! A nice lover called them round and + fair last night. And I've been sick! And--I--cruel! cruel! cruel! + (_Revellers are heard returning._) There, they're coming. + + PHAON: Never mind, my girl. But you mustn't scorn a man's blood when + it's afire. + +_Re-enter Revellers singing_ + + Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo! etc. + (_After which all go, except ZOE and BASIL._ + + ZOE: O! O! O! but 'tis brave! Wine, Basil! Wine, my knight, my + Bacchus! Ho! ho! my god! you wheeze like a cross-bow. Is it years, + my wooer, years?--Ah! (_She sighs._) + + BASIL: Sighs--sighs! Now look for showers. + + ZOE: Basil--you were my first lover--except the duke Charles. Ah, + did you see how that Helena looked when they gave her the duke's + command? I was like that once. (_HÆMON starts forward._) + + BASIL: Fiends, nymphs and saints! it's come! tears in your eyes! + Zoe, stop it. Would you have mine leak and drive me to a monastery + for shelter! + + ZOE (_sings sadly and absently_): + + She lay by the river, dead, + A broken reed in her hand + A nymph whom an idle god had wed + And led from her maidenland. + + BASIL: O, had I been born a heathen! + + ZOE: He told me, Basil, I should live, a great lady, at his castle. + And they should kiss my hand and courtesy to me. He meant but + jest--I feared.--I feared! But--I loved him! + + BASIL: Now, my damsel--! + + ZOE (_sings_): + + The god was the great god Jove, + Two notes would the bent reed blow, + The one was sorrow, the other love + Enwove with a woman's woe. + + BASIL: Songs and snakes! Give me instead a Dominican's funeral! + I'd as lief crawl bare-kneed to Rome and mouth the Pope's heel. + O blessed Turks with their remorseless harems!--Zoe! + + ZOE (_sings_): + + She lay by the river dead; + And he at feasting forgot. + The gods, shall they be disquieted + By dread of a mortal's lot? + + (_She wipes her eyes, trembles, looks at him and laughs + hysterically._) + + Bacchus! my Bacchus! with wet eyes! Up, up, lad! there's many a cup + for us yet! + + (_They go, she leading and singing._ + + He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo! + The vine! a maiden's breast! etc. + + (_HÆMON and BARDAS look at each other, then start after them + terribly moved._) + + +CURTAIN. + + + + +ACT TWO + + +_Scene._--_An audience hall in the castle of CHARLES DI TOCCA; the next +afternoon. The dark stained walls have been festooned with vines and +flowers. On the left is the ducal throne. On the right sunlight through +high-set windows. In the rear heavily draped doors. Enter CHARLES, who +looks around and smiles with subtle content, then summons a servant._ + +_Enter servant._ + + CHARLES: The princess Fulvia. + + SERVANT: She comes, sir, now. + (_Goes._ + +_Enter FULVIA._ + + FULVIA: My lord, flowers and vines upon these walls + That seem always in dismal memory + And mist of grief? What means it? + + CHARLES: That sprung up, + A greedy multitude upon the fields, + Citron and olive were left hungry, so + I quelled them! + + FULVIA: Magic ever dwells in flowers + To waft me back to childhood. (_Taking some._) + Poor pluckt buds + If they could speak like children torn from the breast. + + CHARLES: You're full of sighs and pity then? + + FULVIA: Yes, and-- + Of doubt. + + CHARLES: What so divides you? + + FULVIA: Helena-- + This Greek--I do not understand. + + CHARLES: Nor guess? + You have not seen nor spoken to her? + + FULVIA: No. + + CHARLES: We'll have her. (_Motions servant._) + Go. Say that we wait her here, + The lady Helena. (_Servant goes._ + She's frighted--thinks + 'Tmay be her father found too deep a rest + Within our care: yet has a hope that holds + The tears still from her lids. I've smiled on her, + Smiled, Fulvia, and she--Why do you cloud? + + FULVIA: I would this were undone. + + CHARLES: Undone? Undone? + You would it were----? + +_Enter HELENA._ + + Ah, Greek! Our Fulvia, + Who is as heart and health about our doors, + Has speech for you. And polities + Untended groan for me. (_He goes._ + + FULVIA (_looking sadly at her_): Girl--child-- + + HELENA: Why do + You call me so with struggle on your breast? + + FULVIA: You're very fair. + + HELENA: And was so free I thought + The world brimmed up with my full happiness. + + FULVIA: But find it is a sieve to all but grief? + + HELENA: Is it then grief? I have not any tears, + Yet seem girt by an emptiness that aches, + Surrounds and whispers, what I dare not think + Or, shapened, see. + + FULVIA: It stains too as a shroud + The morrow's face? + + HELENA: You look at me--I think + You look at me, as if----? + + FULVIA: No child. + + HELENA: Why am + I in this place? You fear for me? + + FULVIA: Fear? + + HELENA: Yes! + A dumb dread trembles from you sufferingly. + + FULVIA: It is not fear. Or--no!--has vanished quite, + Ashamed of its too naked idleness. + + HELENA (_shuddering_): He cannot, will not!--Yet you feared! + + FULVIA: Be calm: + Beauty is better so. + + HELENA: Ah, you are cold! + See a great shadow reach and wrap at me, + Yet lend no light! By gentleness I pray you, + What said he? + + FULVIA: Child---- + + HELENA: Child!--Ah, a moment's dread + Brings age on us!--If not by gentleness, + Then by that love that women bear to men, + By happiness too fleeting to tread earth, + I pray you tell the fear your heart so hides! + + FULVIA: You are the guest of Charles di Tocca. + + HELENA: Guest? + Ah, guests are bidden, not commanded.--Where, + Where can Antonio be gone. All day + No token, quieting! + + FULVIA: Antonio, girl? + Antonio?--Is it true? + +_Re-enter CHARLES._ + + CHARLES: So eager?--Truth + Has brewed more tears than lies. But, Fulvia, + Why doth it mated with Antonio's name + Wring thus your troubled hands? + + FULVIA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: You falter? + No matter--now. (_To HELENA._) But you, my fair one, put + More merriment upon your lips and lids, + And this (_giving pearls_) upon the lustre of your throat. + Hither our guests come soon. Be with us then, + And at your beauty's best. Now; trembling so?-- + Yet is the lily lovelier in the wind! + (_He looks after, musingly, as she goes._ + + FULVIA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: True, Fulvia--as titles go. + + FULVIA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: Twice--but I'm not two lords. + + FULVIA: To-night + I think you are. But quench your jests. + + CHARLES: In tears? + And groans? Where borrow them? + + FULVIA (_turning away_): So let it be. + + CHARLES: Why do you say so be it and sigh as + Nought could again be well? + + FULVIA: O---- + + CHARLES: Now you frown? + + FULVIA: The hope you nurse, then, if it prove a pang + Of serpent bitterness---- + + CHARLES: Prove pang? I then + But for an "if" must pluck it from me? + + FULVIA: So + I must believe. + + CHARLES: Pluck it from me! Will you-- + Now will you have me mouth and foam and thresh + The quiet in me to a maelstrom! This + Is mine, this joy; and still is mine, though I + To keep it must bring on me bitterness + And bleeding and--I rage! + + FULVIA: Then shall I cease, + And say no more? No, you are on a flood + Whose sinking may be rapid down to horror. + And she--this girl! It has been long since you + Gave license rein upon your will, and spur. + Do not so now. + + CHARLES: License? + + FULVIA: She is all morn + And dream and dew: make her not dark! + + CHARLES: You think--! + + FULVIA: Wake her not, ah, not suddenly on terror! + + CHARLES: On terror! (_Laughing._) + + FULVIA: You've laughed nobler. + + CHARLES: Fulvia, + Friend of my unrepaying years, dream you + I who in empire youth too soon forgot, + Who on my brow surprise the wafted dew, + The presages of age and death, shake not? + + FULVIA: I knew not, but have waited oft such words. + + CHARLES: Ah what! this hope, this leaping in me, this + White dawn across my turbulence and night, + From license?--Hear me. I have sudden found + A door to let in heaven on my heart. + Had I not laughed to see your dread upon it + Write "license," perilous had been my frown. + + FULVIA: You will----? + + CHARLES: Yes--yes! About her brow shall curl + The coronet! Her wishes shall be sceptres + Waving a swift fulfilment to her feet! + Her pity shall leave ready graves unfilled, + Her anger open earth for all who offend! + She shall---- + + FULVIA: Ah cease, infatuate man! Will you + Build kingdoms on the wind, and empires on + A girl's ungiven heart? + + CHARLES (_slowly_): Unto such love + As mine all things are given. + + FULVIA: All things but love. + + CHARLES: Stood she not as in pleading? Yes--and to + Her cheeks came hurried roses from her heart. + And her large eyes, did they not drift to mine + Caressing?--yet as if in them they found + The likeness of some visitant dear dream. + + FULVIA: The likeness of some dream? + + CHARLES: Question no more. + She is set in the centre of my need + As youth and fiercest passion could not set her. + Supernally as May she has burst on + My barren age. Pain, envious decay, + And doubt that mystery wounds us with, and wrong, + Flee from the gleam and whisper of her name. + + FULVIA: And if your coronet and heat avail + Not with her as might charm of equal years + And beauty? + + CHARLES: Then--why then--why there may slip + An avalanche of raging and despair + Out of me! Hope of her once taken, all + The thwarted thunders of my want would rush + Into the void with lightnings for revenge! + +_Enter ANTONIO._ + + ANTONIO: Sir, I'm returned. + + CHARLES: With lightnings that shall--(_Sees him._) You? + Antonio? My eyes had other thought. + Open your news--but mind 'tis not of failure. + + ANTONIO: We seized the murderous robbers in their cove + And o'er the cliff, as our just law commands, + To death flung them. + + CHARLES: So with all traitors be it. + + ANTONIO: So should it. + + CHARLES: Well, 'twas swift. In you there is + More than your mother's gentleness. + + ANTONIO: Else were + My name di Tocca, sir, and not myself. + + CHARLES: You have my love.--But as you came met you + The cardinal? + + ANTONIO: So close he should by this + Be at our gates. + + CHARLES: He'll miss no welcome, and-- + Perhaps--we shall-- (_Smiles on them._) Give me that cross you wear, + My Fulvia. It may---- + + ANTONIO: Sir, this is good! + We earnestly beseech of you to hear + The Pope's embassador with yielding. + + CHARLES: Ah?-- + But you, boy, draw out of this solitude + And musing moodiness. You should think but + On silly sighs and kisses, rhymes and trysts! + Must I yet teach your coldness youth? + (_A trumpet, and sound of opening gates._) + Draw out! + + ANTONIO: I have to-day desired some words of this. + +_Enter CECCO._ + + CHARLES: Well, who----? + + CECCO: The Cardinal, your grace. + + CHARLES: Then go, + And bid our guests. Bring too Diogenes, + Our most amusing raveller of all + Philosophies. Say that the duke, his brother, + Humbly desires it! (_CECCO goes._ + + FULVIA: And Helena? + + CHARLES (_to ANTONIO_): Why do + You start, sir?--Fulvia, we must look to + This callow god our son. Yet, had our court + Two eyes of loveliness to drown his heart, + I'd think on oath 'twere done. + (_Goes to the throne._) + + FULVIA (_low to ANTONIO_): Listen. No word + Of Helena! + + CHARLES: Now! is it secrets? + + FULVIA: Sir, + He scorns to spill a drop of confidence + On my too thirsty questions. + + CHARLES: Does he so + Tightly seal up his spirits? + + FULVIA: Put the rogue + To prison on stale bread, my lord: I half + Believe he's full of treasons. + + CHARLES (_laughing_): Do you hear! + Because you are the son and scout our foes + Justice is not impossible upon you! + +_The guests enter, among them HÆMON and BARDAS, following the CARDINAL +JULIAN and his suite, and last HELENA, whom FULVIA leads aside._ + + CARDINAL: Peace, worthy duke! + + CHARLES: And more, lord Cardinal, + We would to-day enlarge our worthiness + With you and with great Rome. + + CARDINAL: Firmly I crave + It may be so. + + CHARLES: Here unto all our guests + We then do disavow our heresies---- + For faith's as air, as ease to life--and seek + At your absolving lips release from our + Rough disobedience. Nor shall we shun + The lash and needed weight of penitence. + + (_A murmur of approval._) + + JULIAN: These words, great lord, fall wise and soothing well. + Who so confesses, plants beneath his foot + A step to scale all impotence and wrong. + Our royal Pope's conditions shall be told, + Pledge them consenting seal and you shall be + Briefly and fully free. (_Motions his secretary._) + + SECRETARY (_opens and reads_): "Whereas the duke + Di Tocca has offended----" + + CARDINAL: Pass the offence. + Be it oblivion's. On, the penalty. + + SECRETARY: "Therefore the duke di Tocca humbling himself + Must pay into our vaults two hundred ducats--" + + CHARLES: It shall be three. + + SECRETARY: "And send a hundred men + Armed 'gainst the foes that threaten Italy." + + CHARLES: See to it, yes, Antonio, ere a dawn. + + SECRETARY: "He must also yield up the princess Fulvia + Who's fled her father's house and rightful marriage." + + FULVIA (_to JULIAN_): You told me not of this--no word, my lord! + + CARDINAL: My silence as my speech is not my own. + + CHARLES: We'll more of it--a measure more. + Read on. + + SECRETARY: "And for the better amity and weal + Of Italy and Christ's most Holy Church, + He is enjoined to wed with Beatrice + Of Florence. If his wilful boldness grants + Obedience, his sins shall melt to rest + Under the calm of full forgiveness. He----" + + CHARLES: A mild, a courteous, O a modest Pope! + I must tear from my happiness a friend + Who fled a father's searing cruelty, + And cast her back in the flames! And I must bind + My crippled years that fare toward the grave + In the cold clasp of an unloving hand! + No! No! + Then, sir, and Cardinal, 'tis not enough! + I pray you swift again to Rome and plead + Most suppliantly that I for penance may + Swear my true son is shame-begot, or lend + My kin to drink clean of its fouling damp + Some pestilent prison! And 'tis impious too + That any still should trust my love. Beseech + His Holiness' command for death upon them! + + CARDINAL: This is your answer? + + CHARLES (_rises_): A mite! a mite of it! + The rest is I will wed where I will wed + Though every hill of earth raise up its pope + To bellow at me thunderous damnation! + I will--I will-- (_Falls back convulsed._) + + FULVIA (_hastening to him_): Charles, ah! Wine for him, wine! (_It + is brought._) + + ANTONIO: Lord Cardinal, spare yourself more and go. + You shall learn if a change may loose this strain. + + (_The CARDINAL goes with his suite amid timid reverence._) + + CHARLES (_struggling_): I will--this frenzy--off my throat--! + I-- (_Recovering._) Ah, + Thou, Fulvia? 'Twas as a fiend swung on me. + And shame! fear oozes out upon my brow, + And I----. (_Rises and calms himself._) Forgive, friends, this + so sudden wrench + Upon your pleasure. One too quick made saint, + Stands feebly: but at once wilt I atone. + Where is Diogenes--where is he? His + Tangled fantastic wisdom shall divert us. + + (_DIOGENES, who has stood unconscious of all that has + passed, is pushed forward._) + + Ah, peer of Socrates and perfect Plato, + Leave your unseeing silence now and tell us---- + +_Enter AGABUS gazing anxiously and wildly before him._ + + Who's this? + + AGABUS (_hoarsely_): Where went he--the Shadow?--whither? + + CHARLES: Who's this broke from his grave upon us? + + AGABUS (_searching still_): Where? + I followed him--he sped and there was cold! + Behind him blows a horror! + (_Stops in fascinated awe before HELENA._) + Ah, on her head! + His touch! his earthless finger!--and she rots + To dust! to dust! + + ANTONIO: Ill monk! are there no men + That you must wring a woman so with fear? + + AGABUS: Ha, men? Christ save all men but lovers! all! (_Crosses + himself._) + + CHARLES: Antonio, how speaks he? + + ANTONIO: Sir, most mad + With the pestilence of evil prophecy. + (_To guards._) Forth with him! + + CHARLES: Stay. + + ANTONIO: Let him not, for he will + Beguile you to some ravening belief. + + AGABUS (_going up to CHARLES, staring at him in suppressed + excitement_): A lover! a lover! and he loves in vain! + Wilt go? There is a cave--(_taking his hand_), we'll curse + her--come! + + CHARLES: Out! out! (_Throws him from the dais._) + + AGABUS: Christ save all men but-- (_Seeking vacantly._) Ah, the + Shadow! + Has no one seen him? none?--the Shadow? none? + (_Goes dazed. Guests whisper, awed._ + + CHARLES: He is obsessed--vile utterly! + + A GUEST: O duke, + I pray, good-night. + + ANOTHER: And I, my lord. + + ANOTHER: And I---- + + ANOTHER: And---- + + CHARLES: Friends, you shall not--no. This pall will pass, + My hospitality is up, you shall not! + + ANOTHER: Pardon, O duke, we---- + + CHARLES: Though some grudging wind + Blows us away from mirth, 'tis still in view, + We've lute and dance that yet shall bring us in. + + 1ST LADY: O, dance! + + CHARLES: Cecco, our Circes from the Nile. + (_CECCO goes._ + + 2D LADY: The Nile! Ah, Cleopatra's Nile? + + CHARLES: Her own; + And sinuous as Nile water is their grace. + +_Enter two Egyptian girls, who dance, then go._ + + GUESTS (_applauding_): Bravely!--O, brave! + + CHARLES: Do they not whirl it lithe? + With limbs like swallow wings upon the blue? + + 1ST LADY: 'Twas witchery! + + 3D LADY: Such eyes! such hair! + + 2D LADY: And thus, + Did Cleopatra thus steal Antony? + Wrap him about with motion that would seize + His senses to an ecstasy? O, oh, + To dance so! + + CHARLES: And so steal an Antony? + We'll frame a law on thieving of men's heart's! + + 2D LADY: Then, vainly! 'tis a theft men like the most. + + CHARLES: When in its stead the thief has left her own-- + But shall we woo no boon of mirth save dance? + A lute! a lute! (_One is gone for._) Some new lay, Hæmon, come! + And every word must dip its syllables + In Pindar's spring to trip so lightly forth. + + HÆMON: I have no lay. + + CHARLES: The lute! (_It is offered HÆMON._) + Sing us of love + That builds a Paradise of kisses, thinks + The Infinite bound up in an embrace. + Whose sighs seem to it hurricanes of pain, + Whose tears as seas of molten misery. + + HÆMON: I have none--cannot. + + CHARLES: Now will you fright off + Again our timid cheer? + + HÆMON: While she, my sister--! + (_The lute is offered again._) + I cannot, will not! + + CHARLES: Will not? will not? Look! + I had an honor pluckt to laurel it, + A wreath of noble worth, a thing to tell---- + + HÆMON: Honor upon dishonor sits not well. + + CHARLES (_not hearing_): Heat me not with denial. Is new bliss + Raised from the dead in me but to fall back + As stone ere it has breathed? Have I so frequent + Drained you? Be slow to tempt me--In me moves + Peril that has a passion to leap forth! + + HÆMON: Antonio, speak! Where's innocence and where + Begins deceit? + + FULVIA (_to HÆMON aside_): Ask it not, or you step + On waiting hazard and calamity. + + CHARLES: New fret? and new confusion? In the blind + Power and passing of this night is there + Conspiracy?--plot of some here? or of + That One whose necromancy wields the world? + I care not!--I care not! We must have mirth! + Have mirth! though it be laughter at damned souls. + + HÆMON: And I must wake it? I with laugh and lay, + Doting upon dishonor? + + CHARLES: What means he? + + HÆMON: Give me again my sister from these walls, + Since might is yours, strip from me wealth and life + And more, and all--but let her not, no, no, + Meet here the touch and leprosy of shame! + + CHARLES (_laughing_): Said I not, said I, friends, we should + have mirth? + You shall laugh with me laughter bright as wine. + + ANTONIO: But, sir, this is not good for laughter! Sir! + + HÆMON (_to ANTONIO_): Ah, put the lamb on--bleat mock sympathy! + + CHARLES (_still laughing_): Fulvia, O, he foots it in the tracks + Of your own fear! and wanders to delusion! + + HÆMON: Will you laugh at me, fiend! + + CHARLES: Boy! + + HÆMON: Had I but + Omnipotence a moment and could dash + Annihilation on you and your race! + (_Throws his glove in ANTONIO'S face._) + + HELENA: Hæmon! + + FULVIA (_restraining her_): No, Helena. + + CHARLES: Omnipotence? + And could Omnipotence make such a fool? + There must be two Gods in the world to do it. + + HÆMON: She shall not----! + (_Attempts to kill HELENA._) + + ANTONIO (_preventing_): Fury!--Ah! what would you do? + + CHARLES: Such things can be? A sister, yet he strikes? + (_HÆMON is seized._) + + HELENA: O let me speak with him, sir, let me speak! + + CHARLES: Not now, girl, no, not now--lest in his breath + Be venom for thee! (_To soldiers._) Shut him from our gates + Till he repent this fever. + (_HÆMON goes quietly out._) + (_To guests who are suspicious and undetermined._) If you stare so + Will the skies stop! Have I not arm in arm + Friended this youth and meant him honor still? + Leave me. I had a thing to tell; but it + Must wait more seasonable festivity. + (_To PAULA._) See to thy mistress, child. Antonio, stay. + + (_All go but ANTONIO and CHARLES, who leaves his chair + slowly and with dejection._) + + ANTONIO: Father---- + + CHARLES (_unheeding_): Did I not humble me? + + ANTONIO: Father----? + + CHARLES: Or ask more than a brevity of joy + To bud on my life's withering close? + + ANTONIO: But, sir----! + + CHARLES: If it bud not----! + + ANTONIO: What thought impels and wrings + These angers from your eyes? + + CHARLES (_slowly, gazing at him_): You're like your mother. + + ANTONIO: In trouble for your peace, more than in feature. + + CHARLES: Peace--peace? Antonio, a dream has come: + To stir--to wake--to learn it is a dream-- + I must not, will not look on such abyss. + You love me, boy? + + ANTONIO: Sir, well: you cannot doubt it. + + CHARLES: There has been darkness in me--and it seems + Such night as would put out a heaven of hope, + Quench an eternity of flaming joy! + I have sunk down under the world and hit + On nethermost despair: flown blind across + An infinite unrest! + + ANTONIO: Forget it, now. + + CHARLES: Had I drunk Lethe's all 'twould not have stilled + The crying of my desolation's want. + Within me tenderness to iron turned, + Gladness to worm and gloom.--But 'tis o'erpast. + A rift, a smile, a breath has come--blown me + From torture to an ecstasy. + + ANTONIO: To----? + + CHARLES: Ecstasy! + Such as surrounds Hyperion on his sun, + Or Pleiads sweeping seven-fold the night. + + ANTONIO: And you--this breath----? + + CHARLES: Is--you are pale! + And press your lips from trembling! + + ANTONIO: No--yes--well-- + This ecstasy? + + CHARLES: Is love! is love that-- How? + You feign! distress and groaning tear in you! + + ANTONIO: No. She you love---- + + CHARLES: O, Eve new-burst on Eden, + All pure with the prime beauty of God's breath, + Was not so! + + ANTONIO: She is Helena?--the Greek? + + CHARLES: She--Still you do not ail?--Yes, Helena, + Who--But you are not well and cannot share + This ravishment!--I will not ask it--now. + This ravishment!--Ah, she has stayed the tread + And stilled the whispering of death: has called + Echoes of youth from me! and all I feared.... + I think--you are not well. Shall we go in? + + +CURTAIN. + + + + +ACT THREE + + +_Scene._--_The gardens of the castle. Paths meet under a large lime in +the centre, where seats are placed. The wall of the garden crosses the +rear, and has a postern. It is night of the same day, and behind a +convent on a near hill the moon is rising. A nightingale sings._ + +_Enter GIULIA, CECCO, and NALDO._ + + GIULIA: That bird! Always so noisy, always vain + Of gushing. Sing, and sing, sing, sing, it must! + As if nobody else would speak or sleep. + + CECCO: Let the bird be, my jaunty. 'Tis no lie + The shrew and nightingale were never friends. + + GIULIA: No more were shrew and serpent. + + CECCO: Well what would + You scratch from me? + + GIULIA: If there is anything + To be got from you, then it must be scratched. + + CECCO: Yet shrews do not scratch serpents. + + GIULIA: If they're caught + Where they can neither coil nor strike? + + CECCO: Well, _I_ + Begin to coil. + + GIULIA: And I'll begin to scotch + You ere 'tis done.--Give me the postern key. + + CECCO: Your lady's voice--but you are not your lady. + + GIULIA: And were I you not long would be your lord's. + Give me the key. + + CECCO: I coil--I coil! will soon + Be ready for a strike, my tender shrew. + + GIULIA: Does the duke know you've hidden from his ear + Antonio's passion? does he?--ah?--and shall + I tell him? ah? + + CECCO: You heard then---- + + GIULIA: He likes well + What's kept so thriftily. + + CECCO (_scowling_): You want the key + To let in Boro to chuck your baby face + And moon with you! He's been discharged--take care. + + GIULIA: The duke might learn, too, you're not clear between + His ducats and your own. + + CECCO: There then (_gives key_), but---- + + GIULIA (_as he goes_): Oh? + And shrews do not scratch serpents? You may spy, + But others are not witless, I can tell you! + (_CECCO goes_. + Now, Naldo (_gives him key and writing_), do not lose the + writing. But + Should you, he must not come till two. For 'tis + At twelve the Greek will meet Antonio. + + (_NALDO goes, through the postern: GIULIA to the castle._ + +_Enter HELENA and PAULA from another part of the gardens._ + + HELENA: At twelve, said he, at twelve, beside the arbor? + + PAULA: Yes, mistress. + + HELENA: I were patient if the moon + Would slip less sadly up. She is so pale-- + With longing for Endymion her lover. + + PAULA: Has she a lover? Oh, how strange. Is it + So sweet to love, my lady? I have heard + Men die and women for it weep themselves + Into the grave--yet gladly. + + HELENA: Sweet? Ah, yes, + To terror! for the edge of fate cares not + How quick it severs. + + PAULA: On my simple hills + They told of one who slew herself on her + Dead lover's breast. Would you do so? + Would you, my lady? + + HELENA: There's no twain in love. + My heart is in my lord Antonio's + To beat, Paula, or cease with it. + + PAULA: But died + He far away? + + HELENA: Far sunders flesh not souls. + Across all lands the hush of death on him + Would sound to me; and, did he live, denial, + Though every voice and silence spoke it, could + Not reach my rest!--But he is near. + + PAULA: O no, + Not yet, my lady. + + HELENA: Then some weariness + Has pluckt the minutes' wings and they have crept. + + PAULA: But 'tis not twelve, else would we hear the band + Of holy Basil from their convent peace + Dreamily chant. + + HELENA: Nay, hearts may hear beyond + The hark of ears! Listen! to me his step + Thrills thro' the earth. + (_ANTONIO approaches and enters the postern._) + 'Tis he! Go Paula, go: + But sleep not. + (_PAULA hastens out._) + (_Going to him._) My Antonio, I breathe, + Now no betiding fell athwart thy path + To stay thee from me! + + ANTONIO: Stronger than all betiding + This hour has reached and drawn me yearning to thee! + (_Takes her in his arms._) + + HELENA: And may all hours! + + ANTONIO: All! tho' we two will still + Be more than destiny--which cannot grasp + Beyond the grave. + + HELENA: 'Tis sadly put, my lord. + + ANTONIO: Ah, sadly, loathly; but, my Helena-- + + HELENA: I would not sink from it, the simple sun-- + Fade to a tomb! What dirging hast thou heard + To mind thee of it? + + ANTONIO: Love is a bliss too bright + To rest on earth. With it God should give us + Ever to soar above mortality. + But you must know----! + + HELENA: Not yet, tell me not yet! + Dimly I see the burden in your eyes, + But dare not take it yet into my own. + Let us a little look upon the moon, + Forgetting. (_They seat themselves._) + + ANTONIO (_musingly_): These hands--this hair-- + (_Caressing them._) + + HELENA: Like a farewell + Your touch falls on them. + + ANTONIO (_moved_): To a father yield them? + + HELENA: Antonio? + + ANTONIO (_still caressing_): No, no! It cannot be! + + HELENA: This dread--and shrinking--let me have it!--speak! + You mean--look on me!--mean, your father?-- + + ANTONIO: Ah! + It must not! must not! + + HELENA: Do you mean--he--No! + Let him not touch me even in thy thought, + To me come nearer than a father may! + + ANTONIO: He's swept by the sweet contagion of you, wrapt + In a fierce spell by your effulgent youth. + + HELENA: Say, say it not! To him I but smiled up-- + But smiled! + + ANTONIO: He knew not that such smiles could dawn + In a bare world. And now is flame; would take + Your tenderness into his arms and hear + Seized to him the warm music of your heart. + O, I could be for him--he is my father-- + Prometheus stormed and gnawed on Caucasus, + Tantalus ever near the slipping wave, + Or torn and tossed to burning martyrdom-- + But not--not this! + + HELENA: Then, flight! In it we may + Find haven and new nurture for our bliss. + + ANTONIO: Snap from his hunger this one hope, so he + Must starve? Push him who has but learned there's light + Back into yawning blindness? Ah, not flight! + + HELENA: I know he is your father, and my days + Have been all fatherless, tho' I have made + Me child to every wind that had caress + And to each lonely tree of the deep wood-- + Oft envious of those who touch gray hairs, + Or spend desire on filial grief and pang. + And most have you a softness in him kept, + Been to him more than empire's tyranny-- + But baffled none can measure him nor trust! + + ANTONIO: Yet must we wait. + + HELENA: When waiting shall but goad + The speed of peril? + + ANTONIO: Still: and strain to win + Him from this brink.--If vainly, then birth, pity, + And memory shall fall from me!--all, all, + But fierceness for thy peace! + + HELENA: My Antony! + + ANTONIO: And fierceness without falter! + + HELENA: I am thine, + Thine more than immortality is God's! + Hear, does the nightingale not tell it thee? + The stars do they not tremble it, the moon + Murmur it argently into thine eyes? + + ANTONIO: Ah, sorceress! You need but breathe to put + Abysm from us; but build words to float us + On infinite ecstasy. (_Kisses her._) + + HELENA: How, how thy kisses + Sing in me! + + ANTONIO: From my heart they do but send + Echoes born of thy beauty mid its strings! + + HELENA: Then would I lean forever at thy lips, + Lose no reverberance, no ring, no waft, + Hear nothing everlastingly but them! + + (_A mournful chant is borne from the Convent. They slowly + unclasp, awed._) + + ANTONIO: Weary with vigil does it swell and sink, + Moaning the dead. + + HELENA: Ah, no! There are no dead + To-night in all the world. Could God see them + Lie cold and wondrous still, while we are rich + In warmth and throb! + + ANTONIO: Yet, hear. The funeral tread + Of the old sea sighs in each strain, and breaks. + + HELENA: As I were drowned and heard it over me, + It cometh--cometh! + (_Her head droops back on his arm. A pause._) + + ANTONIO (_touching her face_): Cold! cold!--your lips--your brow! + And you are pale as with a prophecy! + + HELENA: Oh--oh! + + ANTONIO: Your spirit is not in you but + Afar and suffering! + + HELENA: A vision sweeps me. + + ANTONIO: Awake from it! + + HELENA (_recovering_): A waste of waves that beat + Upon a cliff--and beat! Yet thou and I + Had place in it. + + ANTONIO: Come to yon arbour, come. + The moon has looked too long on the sad earth, + And can reflect but sorrow. + + HELENA: Ah, I fear! + (_They go clinging passionately together._ + +_Enter CHARLES and CECCO._ + + CHARLES: And yet it is a little thing to sleep-- + Just to lie down and sleep. A child may do it. + + CECCO: If my lord would, here's sleep for him wrapped in + A quiet powder. + + CHARLES: Sleep is ever mate + Of peace and should go with it. I have slept + In the wild arms of battle when the winds + Of souls departing fearfully shook by, + And on the breast of dizzy danger cradled + Softly been lulled. Potions should be for them + Who wrestle and are thrown by misery. + + CECCO: And is my lord at peace? + + CHARLES: Strangely.--Yet seem + For sleep too coldly calm. + + CECCO: So were you, sir-- + I keep your words lest you may need of them-- + On the same night young Hæmon's father went + The secret way to death. + + CHARLES: Of that!--of that?-- + + CECCO: Pardon, I but---- + + CHARLES: Smirker!--Yet, was it so? + That night indeed? + + CECCO: Sir, surely. + + CHARLES: And the moon's + 'Scutcheon hung stainless up the purple east? + + CECCO: Half, sir; even as now. + + CHARLES (_as to himself_): Since that hour's close + To this I have not stood in so much calm. + Still was he not in every vein of him, + And breath, a traitor? A Greek who--I'll not say it, + Since she is Greek I must forget the word + Sounds the diapason of perfidy. + + CECCO: My lord thinks of the gentle Helena? + + CHARLES: And if I do? + + CECCO: Why, sir---- + + CHARLES: Well? + + CECCO: Nothing: but---- + + CHARLES: Subtle! your nothing harboreth some theft + Of spial. + + CECCO: Sir, I--no--that is---- + + CHARLES: That is + It does! Must I--persuade it from your throat? + (_Makes to choke him._) + + CECCO: It was of lord Antonio---- + + CHARLES: Speak then. + + CECCO: Have you not marked him sundry of his moods? + + CHARLES: Well? + + CECCO: On his back in the wood as if the leaves + Sung fairy balladry; then riding wild + Nowhither and alone; about the castle + Yearning, yet absent to soft speech and arms! + He'll drink, sir, and not know if it be wine! + + CHARLES: So is he! but to-day he bold unsheathed + His skill and bravery. + + CECCO: And did not crave + A boon of you? + + CHARLES: None. But you put not ill + My thought to it. His aspiration flags---- + + CECCO: Ah, flags. + + CHARLES: New wings it needs and buoyancy. + My trust in him is ripe: the fruit of it, + He shall be lord of Arta--total lord. + + CECCO: He begged no softer boon? + + CHARLES: Cunning! again? + Sleek questions of a sleeker consequence? + + CECCO: It was, sir, only of Antonio. + + CHARLES: Worm, you began so. Stretch now to the end, + Or--will you? + + CECCO: I would say--would ask--and hope + There is no thorny hint in it to vex you, + To prick your humor--may not he be sick, + Amorous, mellow sick upon some maid? + + CHARLES: Have you so labored to this atom's birth? + Is a boy's passion so new under the moon + You gape at it? + + CECCO: But if, sir---- + + CHARLES: I had thought + Would start up in your words some Titan woe, + No human catapult could war upon! + Some dread colossal doom, frenzied to fall! + Were it he's traitor gnawing at my throne, + Or ready with some potent cruelty + To blight this tenderness new-sprung in me-- + I would--even have listened! + + (_Noise is heard at the postern. It is unlocked. HÆMON + enters, and stops in consternation._) + + CHARLES: Keys? To--this? + + HÆMON: I--have excuse. + + CHARLES: Perchance also you have + Them to my gems and secrecies? Shall I + Not show their hiding?--rubies, and fair gold? + + HÆMON: Mistake me not, my lord. + + CHARLES: I could not: you + Have come at midnight--a most honest hour. + Enter this postern--a most honest way, + And seem most honest--Why, I could not, sir! + + HÆMON: You wrong me, and have wronged me. I but come + To loose my sister. + + CHARLES: As to-day you would + Have loosed her with a piercing--into death? + + HÆMON: Rather, could I! Antonio--yet neither. + Since you, not he, are here, my passion melts + Into a plea. Humbly as manhood may-- + + CHARLES: This fever still? + + HÆMON: This fever! Must I be + As ice while soiling flames leap out at her? + And passionless--as one cold in a trance? + Rigid while she in stealth is drugged to shame? + Be voiceless and be vain, unstung, and still? + I must wait softly while her innocence + Is drained as virgin freshness from the morn?-- + Though he were twice Antonio and your son, + An emperor and a god, I would not! + + CHARLES: Ever, + And ever bent upon Antonio? + Be not a torrent, boy, of rush and foam. + Be not, of roar!--Yet--look: Antonio? + You said Antonio? + + HÆMON: Yes. + + CHARLES (_troubled_): You did ill + To say it! He's my son. + + HÆMON: I care not. + + CHARLES: Have + You cause--a ground--some reason? Men should when + Suspicions curve their lips. + + HÆMON: Cause! reason! + + CHARLES: No: + He is my son. His flesh has memories + That would cry out and curdle him to madness, + Palsy and strangle every pregnant wish, + Or bring in him compassion like a flood. + + HÆMON (_contemptuous_): O----? + + CHARLES: Never!--Yet, a lurking at my brain! + +_Enter PAULA, hurriedly._ + + PAULA: My lord Antonio! my lady! (_Seeing CHARLES._) O! + + CHARLES (_strangely_): Come here. + + PAULA: O, sir! + + CHARLES (_taking her wrist_): Were you not in a haste? + + PAULA: I--I--I do not know. + + CHARLES: Girl!--Why do you + Drop fearful to your knees? + + PAULA: 'Tis late, sir, late, + Let me go in! + + CHARLES: You have a mistress who + Keeps quick temptation in her eyes and hair. + A shy mole too lies pillowed on her cheek-- + Does she rest well? + + PAULA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: Ah, you would say + She sometimes walks asleep: and you have come + To fetch her? + + PAULA: Loose me, sir! + + CHARLES: Or she has left + Her kerchief in some nook: you seek it? + + PAULA: O, + Your eyes! your eyes! + + CHARLES: I have a son: are his + Not like them? + + PAULA: My wrist, sir! + + CHARLES: It was night, then--night? + You could not see him clearly? + + PAULA: Mercy! + + CHARLES (_looking about_): Yet + Perchance he too walks in his sleep. Were it + Quite well if they have met--these two that walk? + + PAULA: My lady, my sweet lady! + + CHARLES (_releasing her_): Go, for she + Still wonderful may lie upon her couch, + One arm dropt whitely. If you prayed for her-- + If you should pray for her--Something may chance: + There is so much may chance--we cannot know! + (_PAULA goes._ + (_Disturbed._) This child who hath but dwelt about her, touched + And coiled the mystery of her hair, has might + Almost too much! + + HÆMON: You cloud me with these words. + Were they Antonio's---- + + CHARLES: If I but think + "Helena" must you link "Antonio" to it! + Can they not be, yet be apart? Will winds + Not bear them, and not sound them separate! + If angels cry one at the stars will they + But echo back the other?--This is froth-- + The froth and fume of folly. You are thick + In falsity, and in disquietude. + Another rapture rules Antonio's eye, + Not Helena. + + HÆMON: You know it--yet have led + Her to his arms? + + CHARLES: His arms! Ah, mole to burrow + Thus under blind and muddy misbelief! + To mine is she come here. (_Terribly._) Were he a seraph, + And did from Paradise desire to fold her-- + No mercy!--But, I will speak as a child, + As he who woke with Ruth fair at his feet; + Long have I gleaned amid the years and lone. + She shall glean softly now beside me--softly, + Till sunset fail in me and I am night. + + HÆMON: This is a gin, a net, and I am fast! + + CHARLES: A net to snare what never has been free? + + HÆMON: Still must it be this tenderness lives false + Upon your lips. + + CHARLES: "Must," say you, "must," yet stand---- + + HÆMON: Then shall he rest--lie easy down and rest In treachery? + + CHARLES: He----? + + HÆMON: Yes. + + CHARLES: You mean----? + + HÆMON: Yes!--yes! + + CHARLES: Antonio? + + HÆMON: Is it not open? + + CHARLES (_confusedly_): No: + Glooms start around me, glooms that seethe and cling. + + HÆMON: This maid who called, did she come idly here? + You stir? you rouse? + + CHARLES: A coldness runs in me. + + HÆMON: And have not I come strangely on the hour! + + CHARLES: It 'gins to burn! + + HÆMON: Not entered a strange way? + + CHARLES: You pause and ever pause upon my patience. + 'Twill heave unbearably! + + HÆMON: Then hear me, hear!-- + Senseless against a bank I found a boy, + Hurled by some ruthless hoof. Near him this key + And writing---- + + CHARLES: Tell it! + + HÆMON: That avows, mid lines + Clandestine of purport, Antonio + And Helena, under these shades at twelve---- + + CHARLES: You bring on me a furious desolation. + But Fulvia, ah, she---- + + HÆMON: Not there is trust! + She is aware and aids in his deceit. + This writing says it of her. + + CHARLES: Fulvia? No! + No, no!--Though she had sudden whispers for him! + A lie--Yet fast belief fixes its fangs + On me and will not loose me--for against + My hope she set a coldness and a doubt! + O woman woven through all fibres of me! + (_Starting up._) But he----! + + HÆMON: Ah then, it runs in you, the rush + And pang that answer mine? + + CHARLES (_quietly_): If they are still---- + + HÆMON: Under these shades? + + CHARLES: And--lips to lips---- + + HÆMON: Ah, God! + You will?--you will? + + CHARLES: Hush! something--No, it was + But fate cried out in me, not any voice. + + HÆMON: We must be swift. + + CHARLES: It cries again. I will + Not listen! He's not flesh of me--not flesh! + A traitor is no son, nor was nor shall be! + Though it shriek desolation utterly + I will not listen! + + HÆMON: Do not! + + CHARLES: And to-day + He shook, ashen and clenched, remembering + The guilty secret in him! + + HÆMON: Still he's free. + + CHARLES: My words fell warm as tears--"A rift has come, + A rift, a smile, a breath"--men speak so when + They creep from madness up into some space + Whose element is love. + + HÆMON: And will you sink + To a weak palsy--who should o'erwhelm + With penalty! + + CHARLES (_rousing_): No! all and ever false + Was he who's so when most he should be true! + I will make treachery bitter to all time. + Bring dread on all to whom are given sons! + Down generations shall they peer and tremble, + Look on me as on majesties accursed!-- + Search every shade--search, search! You stand as death. + I am in famine till he gives me groan! + (_They go in opposite directions._ + +_Enter FULVIA, distressed, and GIULIA._ + + FULVIA: He was with Hæmon? + + GIULIA: On that seat. + + FULVIA: Convulsed, + Yet passionless? + + GIULIA: His words were low + + FULVIA: Why were + You not asleep? + + GIULIA: I---- + + FULVIA: Did he beat his hands + Briefly--and then no more? + + GIULIA: I was behind---- + + FULVIA: And could not see? But heard their names? + The Greek is still without? + + GIULIA: My lady, yes. + + FULVIA: Your voice is guilty. How came Hæmon in? + Answer me, answer! No, go quickly! If + The duke has entered now and sleeps! Or if----! + + (_Words and swords are heard, then a shriek from HELENA. + CHARLES rushes in furious and wounded in the arm, followed + by HELENA, ANTONIO, who is dazed, and from Castle side by + HÆMON, guards, etc._) + + ANTONIO: You, you, sir? father? I knew it not, so swift + Your rage fell on me. + + CHARLES (_to a guard_): Gaping, ghastly fool! + Do you behold him murderous and lay + No hand on him! + + ANTONIO: But, sir----! + + CHARLES: Let him not fawn + About me! Seize him! God forgives not Hell. + Not this blood only but my soul's be on him. + + HELENA: O, do not, he---- + + CHARLES: Stand! stand! Touch me not with + Your voice or eyes or being! They are soft + With perfidy, and stole me to believe + There's sweetness in a flower, light in air, + And beauty in the innocence of earth. + Bind him! Leucadia's just cliff awaits + All traitors--'tis the law, they must be flung + Out on the dizzy and supportless wind. + + FULVIA: But this shall never be! No, though your looks + Heave out with hate upon me. + + CHARLES (_convulsed, then coldly_): You are dead, + And speak to me. Once you were Fulvia-- + No more! And once my friend, now but a ghost + Whom I must gaze upon forgetlessly. + Obey, at once! and at to-morrow's sunset! + + (_ANTONIO is taken and led out._) + + HELENA (_falling at CHARLES' feet_): You cannot, will not--O, he + is your son + And loves you much! + + CHARLES: Touch me not! touch me not! + (_To HÆMON._) Lead her away--and quickly, quickly, quickly! + (_HÆMON goes with HELENA through the postern._ + Friends--friends-- (_unsteadily_) I am--quite--friendless now--? + (_Clutching his wounded arm._) Ah--quite! (_He faints._) + + FULVIA: Charles! Charles! my lord! return!--A numbness + Has barred the way of soothing to his breast! + + +CURTAIN. + + + + +ACT FOUR + + +_Scene._--_A chamber in the Castle, opening on the right to a hall, +curtained on the left from another chamber. In the rear is a window +through which may be seen silvery hills of olive resting under the +late afternoon sun: by it a shrine. Enter the CAPTAIN of the Guard +and a SOLDIER from the Hall._ + + SOLDIER: There is no more? + + CAPTAIN: Not if you understand. + + SOLDIER: That do I--every link of it! I've served + Under the bold de Montreal, and he + For stratagems--well, Italy knows him! + + CAPTAIN: You must be quick and secret. + + SOLDIER: As the end + Of the world! + + CAPTAIN: Our duty's with the duke. But then + Antonio has our love. + + SOLDIER: That has he! Ah, + That has he! + + CAPTAIN: Well, be close. None must escape, + Remember, none be hurt. As for the princess, + We'll hear the chink of ducats with her thanks. + + SOLDIER: Madonna save her!--The Judas of a father + Who robs her rest! + + CAPTAIN (_looking down the hall_): 'Tis she who comes this way. + So go, and haste. But fail not. + + SOLDIER: If I do, + Bury me with a pagan, next a Turk! + (_Goes._ + +_Enter FULVIA._ + + CAPTAIN: Princess-- + + FULVIA: Our plans grow to fulfilment--are + No way misplanted? + + CAPTAIN: Lady, all seems now + Seasonable for their expected fruit. + + FULVIA: No accident appears to threat and thwart them? + + CAPTAIN: Doubt not a fullest harvest of your hope. + The duke himself shall for this deed at last + Have benediction. + + FULVIA: May it be! He's quick, + Though quicker in forgetting. I will move + Him as I may. + + CAPTAIN: The kind and wise assaults + Your words shall make must move him, gracious lady. + +_Enter HÆMON._ + + HÆMON: I seek the duke. + + FULVIA (_dismissing CAPTAIN with a gesture_): + You would seek penitence + Were you less far in folly. + + HÆMON (_as going_): O--if he's + Not here, then---- + + FULVIA: Sorrow too would strain your lips, + Not cold defiance. + + HÆMON: Pardon: if you know, + Where is he? + + FULVIA: Was it easy to o'erwhelm + Under the ruin of her dreams a sister? + + HÆMON: Better beneath her dreams than under shame. + + FULVIA: Your rashness cloaks itself in that excuse, + Your ruth, and your suspicion that has doomed + One innocent. + + HÆMON: One innocent! His thought + Had but betrayal for her! + + FULVIA: 'Tis the Greek + In you avows it, no true voice. + + HÆMON: Then 'tis + My father murdered whose last moan I hear + Driven about me in this castle's gray + Cold spaces. And the dead speak not to lie. + + FULVIA: No, no. You cannot brave your action with + The spur of that belief. + + HÆMON: What want you of me? + + FULVIA: This: ache and restlessness are on you. + + HÆMON (_impatiently_): No. + + FULVIA: And doubt begins in you that as a wolf + Will scent the wounded quarry of your conscience. + + HÆMON: After he lured and wooed her under night + And secrecy? + + FULVIA: Not running there will you + Escape its dread pursuit. + + HÆMON: He frauded--duped + His father's trust! + + FULVIA: Or there! But one refuge + Have you against its bitter ceaseless tooth, + And that above the wilds of self-deceit. + + HÆMON: Why do you wind so sinuously about me? + No refuge can be from an hour that's done. + Shall we invert the glass or tilt the dial + To bring it back? + + FULVIA: But if there were? + + HÆMON: Where is + The duke--I will not bauble. + + FULVIA: If there were? + + HÆMON: I will no longer listen to the worm, + You set to feed upon me--torturing! + The sun melts to an end, and with the night + Antonio will not be. + + FULVIA: Yet there is time. + + HÆMON: The duke is fixed. + + FULVIA: No matter: 'gainst the swell + And power of this peril you must lean. + + HÆMON: I----? + + FULVIA: Yes. + + HÆMON: You have a plan? + + FULVIA: One that is sure. + (_Steps are heard._) + But through those curtains, quick. For more seek out + The Captain of the guard. The duke comes hither. + (_HÆMON goes through the curtains._ + +_CHARLES enters, worn, dishevelled, and followed by CECCO. He sees +FULVIA and pauses._ + + FULVIA: I come to plead. + + CHARLES: (_turning away_): Ah! Nature should have pled + With her your mother, 'gainst conception. + + FULVIA: Your trust is causelessly withdrawn. Yet for + A breath again I beg it--for a moment! + + CHARLES: A moment were too much--or not enough. + Is trust a flower of sudden birth we may + Bid bloom with a command? + + FULVIA: Ah, that it were, + Or bloomed as amaranth in those we love, + Beyond all drought and withering of ill! + But hear me----! + + CHARLES: Leave these words. + + FULVIA: Will you not turn + Out of this rage? + + CHARLES: Leave them, I say, and cease! + Still down the vortex of this destiny + I would not farther have you drawn. + + FULVIA: Then from + It draw yourself! + + CHARLES: Myself am but a hulk + Whose treasures have already been engulfed. + + FULVIA: Yet shrink from it! + + CHARLES: A son, a friend, a--No, + She was not mine!--I will not turn. + + FULVIA: It is + Your fury that distorts us into guilt. + Although he will not render up his heart, + But flings you stony and unfilial speech, + Fearing for her---- + + CHARLES: Leave! + + FULVIA: We---- + + CHARLES: Thrice have I said it! + + FULVIA: Yet must I not until your will is wasted. + + CHARLES (_angrily_): Ah! + + (_FULVIA sighs then goes slowly._) + + CHARLES: Cecco! + + CECCO: My lord? + + CHARLES: The hour? + + CECCO (_going to window_): It leans to sunset. + + CHARLES: The sky--the sky? + + CECCO: A murk moves slowly up. + + CHARLES (_wearily_): There should be storm--gloating of wind and + grind + Of hopeless thunders. Lightnings should laugh out + As tongues of fiends. There should be storm. + (_His head sinks on his breast._) + (_Suddenly._) Yet!--yet!---- + + CECCO: My lord? + + CHARLES: The glow and glory of her seem + Dead in me! + + CECCO: Of--the Greek? + + CHARLES: And yearning has + Grown impotent--as 'twere a moment's folly, + A left and quickly quenched desire of youth + Kindled in me!--To youth alone love's sudden. + + CECCO: Sir, dare I speak? + + CHARLES: Speak. + + CECCO: When Antonio---- + + CHARLES: Cease: but a whisper of his name and I + Am frenzy--frenzy--though the stillness burns + And bursts with it! + + (_CECCO steps back. A pause._) + + CHARLES: The sun, how hangs it now? + + CECCO (_going to window_): Above the bloody waving of the sea, + Eager to dip. + + CHARLES (_staggering up_): Ah, I was in a foam---- + Bitten by hounds of fury and despair! + Did you not, Fulvia, pleading for them say + They quailed but would not flee and leave me waste? + + CECCO: She is not here, my liege. + + CHARLES: Antonio! + Ah, boy! thou ever wast to me as wafts + Of light, of song, of summer on the hills! + Soft now I feel thy baby arms about me, + And all the burgeon of thy youth, ere proud + And cruel years grew in me, comes again + On wings and stealing winds of memory! + + CECCO: O, then, sir---- + + CHARLES: Yes. Fly, fly! and stay the guard! + He must not--Ah!--down fearful fathoms, down + Into the roar! + (_CECCO starts. He stops him._) + Yet he has flung me from + Immeasurable peaks, and I have sunk + Forevermore beneath hope's horizon. + Who falls so close the grave can rise no more. + + CECCO: This your despair would wound him more than death. + Forget the girl. + + CHARLES: She? Ah, my sullen, wild, + And gloomy pulse beat with a rightful scorn + Against the hours that sieged it. Stony was + Its solitude and fierce, bastioned against + All danger of quick blisses--till, with fury + For that mute tenderness which women's love + Lays on the desolation of the world, + She ravished it!--Yet now 'tis still and cold. + + CECCO: But 'twas unknowingly. + + CHARLES: A woman's smile + Never was luring, never, but she knew it, + As hawk the cruel rapture of his wings. + + CECCO: She though is young, and youth---- + + CHARLES: Must pay with moan + The shriving!--Ah, the sun--the sun--where burns it? + + CECCO: Upon a cloud whence it must spring to night. + + CHARLES: So low? + + CECCO: Sir, yes. + + CHARLES: Ah, 'tis? so low? + + CECCO: Red now + It rushes forth. + + CHARLES: A breathing of the world, + And then!--Antonio! + + CECCO: Again a cloud + Withholds. + + CHARLES: Antonio! + + CECCO: It dips, my lord. + + CHARLES (_frenzied_): O, will great Christ upon it lay no fear! + Let it swoon down as if its sinking sent + No signal unto Death--and plunge, plunge thee, + Antonio, forever from the day! + Has He no miracle will seize it yet! + Nor will lend now His thunder to cry hold, + His lightning to flame off the hands that grasp, + Bidden to hurl thee o'er! + + CECCO: 'Tis sunk! + + CHARLES (_rushing to window_): Yes!--Yes! + (_Starting back horrified._) The vision of it! Ah,--see + you not, see! + They lift him, swing him--Now! down, down, down, down! + The rocks! the lash! the foam! + + (_Sinks exhausted in his chair. CECCO pours out wine._) + +_Enter hurriedly, a SOLDIER._ + + SOLDIER: Great lord! + + CECCO: What now! + It is ill-timed! + + SOLDIER: Great lord, there's mutiny! + + CECCO: And where? + + SOLDIER: Hear me, great sir, there's mutiny! + + CECCO: The town? the town? + + CHARLES (_rousing_): Ay----? + + SOLDIER: Mutiny! your haste! + + CHARLES: O, mutiny. + + SOLDIER: Sir, yes! + + CHARLES: And do the ranks + Of hell roar up at me?--It is not strange. + + SOLDIER (_confused_): The ranks of--pardon, lord. + + CHARLES: Do the skies rage----? + They were else dead to madness. + + SOLDIER: Sir, it is + Your guard beyond the gates. + + CHARLES: 'Tis every throat + Of earth and realm unearthly has a cry + Against me and against! + + SOLDIER: No, but a few---- + + CHARLES: You doubt it?--Are my eyes not bloody? Say! + + SOLDIER: Sir! sir! + + CHARLES: My lips then are not pale with murder + Bitterly done? + + SOLDIER: Pale--no. + + CHARLES: Yet have I killed; + Spoke death with them--not reasonless--yet death. + And all the lost have echoes of it: hear + You not a spirit clamor on the air? + Ploughing as storms of pain it passes through me. + Mutiny? Go. I could call chaos fair, + And fawn on infinite ruin--fawn and praise. + (_SOLDIER goes._ + Yet will not yield! (_To CECCO._) My robes and coronet! + (_CECCO goes to obey._ + I'll sit in them and mock at greatness that + A passion may unthrone. If we weep not + Calamity will leave to torture us, + And fate for want of tears will thirst to death! + +_Enter CARDINAL._ + + Ah, priestly sir. + + CARDINAL: Infuriate man! + + CHARLES: Speak so. + I lust for bitterness. + + CARDINAL: What have you done! + + CHARLES (_shuddering, then smiling_): Watched the sun set. Did + it not, think you, bleed + Unwontedly along the waves? + + CARDINAL: O horror! + Horrible when a father slays and smiles! + + CHARLES: Not so, lord Cardinal, not so!--but when + He slays and smileth not. + + CARDINAL: Beyond all mercy! + + CHARLES: Therefore I smile. Men should not mid the trite + Enchanting and vain trickery of earth + Till they no longer hope of it, or want. + Smiles should be kept for life's unbearable. + + CARDINAL: Murderer! + + CHARLES: Ah! + + CARDINAL: Heretic! + + CHARLES: Well. + (_Goes to shrine and casts it out the window._) + + CARDINAL: Fool! fool! + + CHARLES: There are no wise men, O lord Cardinal. + + CARDINAL: Heaven let Antonio's death under the sea + Make every wave a tongue against your rest, + And 'gainst the rock of this impenitence! + (_CHARLES listens as to something afar off._) + No wind should blow that has not sting of it, + No light stream that it stains not! + + CHARLES (_sighing_): You have loosed + Your robe, lord prelate--see. + + CARDINAL: O stone! thou stone! + + CHARLES: Have peace. A keener cry comes up to me + Than frenzy can invoke: a vaster pain + Than justice from Omnipotence may call. + + CARDINAL: My lips shall learn it. + + CHARLES: "Father" moans it. "Father!"---- + It is my ears' inheritance forever. + +_Enter FULVIA_ + + FULVIA: Lord Cardinal, one of your servants has + In quarrel been struck, and mortally 'tis feared. + Quickly to him: then I may plead of you + Escort to Rome. + + CARDINAL: I do not understand. + + FULVIA: But shall. + + CARDINAL: To Rome? + + FULVIA: Do not pause here to learn + With the dear minutes of a dying man. + (_CARDINAL goes._ + + CHARLES: You baffle and bewilder. + + FULVIA: Well. + + CHARLES: You--?--Yes! + I am beat off by it. + + FULVIA: Ten years of shelter + Have you held over me. + + CHARLES: Ten years---- + + FULVIA: Whose days, + Whose every moment else had borne a torture. + + CHARLES: Now----? + + FULVIA: I, perhaps, must go. + + CHARLES: Must?--Still I grope. + + FULVIA: Must go! Though in this castle's aged calm + And melancholy dusk no shadow is + Or niche but may remember prayer for thee. + + CHARLES: To Rome? You must?--I am under a spell. + + FULVIA: We, thou and I, after the battle's foam + Or chase's tired return, often have breathed + The passionate deep hours away in rest + And sympathy. + + CHARLES: Say on. Your voice--I marvel---- + + FULVIA: And at the dawn have looked and sighed, then slow + With quiet clasp of fingers turned apart. + + CHARLES: You go?--But, on!--your tone--in it I feel---- + + FULVIA: Have we not fast been friends? + + CHARLES: What hath your voice? + + FULVIA: Such friends have we not been as grow up from + Eternity? + + CHARLES: You say it, and I wake. + + Fulvia: Such friends--till yesterday you---- + + CHARLES: Ah! + + FULVIA: Changed sudden as the sea when cometh storm. + + CHARLES: I had forgot--forgot!--the sun!--the sea! + The sea!--Antonio!--The cliff--the surf! + The shroud and funeral fury of the waves! + + FULVIA: Be calm. + + CHARLES (_rising excitedly_): I'll stay it! Cecco, our fleetest + foot! + A rain of ducats if he shall outspeed + This doom on us. More! more! a flood of them, + If he---- + + FULVIA (_drawing him to his chair_): Be patient--calm. + + CHARLES: I--I--remember, + 'Tis night! + + FULVIA: Yes, night. + + CHARLES: The sun's no more! It hath + Gone down beyond all mercy and recall. + + FULVIA: Beyond?--Ah! + + CHARLES (_quickly_): Fulvia? + + FULVIA: 'Tis hard to think! + + CHARLES: You utter and he seemeth still of life. + + FULVIA: He was a child in mimic mail clad out + When first this threshold poured its welcome to me. + + CHARLES: Softly you muse it, and call to your eyes + No quailing nor a flame of execration! + You do not burst out on me? from me do + Not shrink as from an executioner? + + FULVIA: I am a woman who in tears came to + Your strength, in tears depart. + + CHARLES: And will not judge? + But fear me--fear, and flee?--You shall not go! + + FULVIA: Perhaps---- + + CHARLES: Again "perhaps"--this calm "perhaps!"---- + To Rome?--I say you shall not. + + FULVIA: Yet should he, + Antonio, from those curtains come---- + + CHARLES: Should--should? + You speak not reasonably. Why do you say + "If he should come?" + + FULVIA: Because---- + + CHARLES: You've touched + And led me trembling from reality! + Those curtains?--those?--just those?--You shall not go. + + FULVIA: I will not then. + + CHARLES: But something breaks from you, + And as an air of resurrection stirs. + Speak; on your words I wait unutterably. + + FULVIA: Did not a soldier lately come, my lord, + Breathless with eager speech of mutiny----? + + CHARLES: Well--well----? + + FULVIA: Within your guard? + + CHARLES: My guard? No--yes---- + What do I see yet cannot in your words? + + FULVIA: The mutiny was roused at my command. + + CHARLES: Say it--say all! + + FULVIA: To save you the mad blot + Of a son's blood. + + CHARLES: Antonio----? + + FULVIA: Lives! + + CHARLES: Low--low---- + Joy come too furious has piercing peril. + He lives?--You have done this? With these soft hands, + These little hands, held off the shears of Fate? + Have dared? and have not feared? + + FULVIA: Your danger was + My fear--that, and no more. + + CHARLES: He lives?--I have + No worth, no gratitude, no gift that may + Answer this deed--no glow, no eloquence + But would ring poor in rarest words of earth. + He lives?--Years yet are mine. Too brief they'll be + To muse with love of this! + + FULVIA: No, no, my lord. + + CHARLES: But where is he? Belief, tho' risen, strains + In me as if 'twere fast in cerements + That seeing must unbind. + + FULVIA: Turn then, and see. + + (_ANTONIO steps from the curtains._) + + CHARLES: Antonio!--boy! boy! + + ANTONIO: My father! (_They embrace._) + +_Re-enter CARDINAL._ + + CARDINAL: Princess, + If your decision and desire are still---- + + (_Sees ANTONIO._) + + FULVIA: Your eyes look upon flesh, lord Cardinal. + + (_A cry is heard, then weeping._) + + ANTONIO (_startled_): Whose pain is this?--strangely it hurts + me--strangely! + +_Enter CECCO hastily, bearing robe and coronet._ + + CECCO: My lord, the lady Helen's little maid---- + + (_Sees ANTONIO. Shrinks from him._) + + ANTONIO: What of her? Are you horrified to stone! + Her maid?--There are than risen dead worse things + And worse to dread!--her maid? + + CECCO: Sir---- + + ANTONIO: Forth with it! + She direness of her mistress brings? some tale + That earth elsewhere abyssless gaped her up? + That butterfly or bud turn asp to bite her? + + CECCO: Sir--she--the maid craves audience with the duke. + + ANTONIO: Fetch her, and quickly. + (_CECCO goes._ + + FULVIA: Reason, Antonio. + She will but whimper, tell what overmuch + Of grief her mistress makes for you: of tears + Your sunny coming will dry in her. + + ANTONIO (_putting her aside_): These + Hours come not of any good, but are + Infected with resolved adversity. + This dread!---- + + FULVIA: They ever dread who have but quit + The shadow of some doom and the dismay. + +_Re-enter CECCO, with PAULA weeping._ + + ANTONIO: Girl! girl! Thy mistress? + + PAULA (_shrinking_): O!---- + + ANTONIO: I am no ghost. + Thy mistress? + + PAULA: Mary, Mother! (_Sinks praying._) + + ANTONIO (_lifting her up_): Look on me. See! + I have not been down in the grave, nor ev'n + A moment beyond earth. Do you not hear! + + PAULA (_looking at him_): Sir! + + ANTONIO: Tell me. + + PAULA (_hysterically_): Go to her, + O, go to her. + + ANTONIO: But, child----? + + PAULA: She, O!--go seek her, O, she is---- + + ANTONIO: Where, Paula? + + PAULA: Blind all day she moaned and wept. + + ANTONIO: My Helena! + + PAULA: And when the sun was gone, + Came quiet, kissed me--O, go seek her, sir! + + ANTONIO: Kissed you----? + + PAULA: Then to me gave these jewels. O! + And darkly cloaked stole out into the night. + + CHARLES: Alone? + + ANTONIO: Whither, quick, whither? + + PAULA: Ah, I do + Not know: but she---- + + ANTONIO: Pray, pray, tell out your dread. + + PAULA: Last night she said, "My heart is in my lord + Antonio's to beat or cease with it." + I learned her words--they seemed so pretty. + + Charles (_gasping_): Ah! + + ANTONIO: Why do you gasp?--Paula---- + + CHARLES: If she--the cliff! + + ANTONIO: The cliff! The--? + (_Staggers dizzily, then rushes out._ + + CHARLES: Let one go with him--bring + Us what hath passed--hath passed. + (_A SOLDIER goes._ + + PAULA (_with uncontrollable terror_): My lady! + + CHARLES: Child, + I cannot bear thy voice upon my heart! + It hath a tone--a clutch--no more, no more! + I cannot bear it! We must wait. No hap + Has been--no hap, I think--surely no hap. + +_Enter BARDAS deprecatingly, followed by ANTONIO._ + + BARDAS: Antonio! not in the sea? You live? + + ANTONIO: I say, where is she? + + BARDAS: You are mortal? + + ANTONIO (_groaning with impatience_): O + This utter superstition! (_Pricking his arm._) Is it not blood? + + BARDAS: You live! and live? but let her think your death! + You let her! still devising for yourself + Safety and preservation! + + ANTONIO: She's not safe? + + BARDAS: O, safe--if she had shrift! + + CHARLES (_hoarsely_): The dead are so! + + BARDAS: Ay, so. + + ANTONIO: And none above the grave?--no answer? + + BARDAS: She came unto the cliff amid her tears-- + Her being all into one want was fused, + You down the wave to follow. + + ANTONIO: But you grasped----? + You held her? + + BARDAS: Yes---- + + ANTONIO: Then--well? + + BARDAS: She had a phial. + + ANTONIO: God! God! + + BARDAS: Out of her breast she drew it swift, + And instant of it drank. + + ANTONIO: Drank? and she fell? + No?--no?--Ah but you dashed it from her lips? + She did but taste?---- + + BARDAS: Only: and then---- + + ANTONIO: More? more? + + BARDAS: "Is 't not enough," she pled to me, "Enough + That I must wander the cold way of death + Unto his arms? Go hence! There is no rest. + I will go down and clasp him, drift with him + To some unhabited gray ocean vale + God hath forgot. There will we dwell away + From destiny and weeping, from despair!" + + CHARLES: You left her? + + BARDAS: As I held her piteous hand + Came revellers who saw us--jested her + Of taking a new love. She broke my grasp---- + + ANTONIO: And leapt?--down the wide air? + + BARDAS: Swifter than all + Prevention. + + ANTONIO: Helena! O Helena! + That all thy loveliness should fare to this, + Thy glory go in dark calamity! + + BARDAS: I saw her as she leapt and until death + Shall see no more. + + ANTONIO (_drawing_): Blot it from you! Her face, + Her sorrow and her fairness shall not stand + Imprisoned in your eye, tho' 'twere to cry + Relentlessly your crime.--But no--but no! + + (_Sheathing his sword, he pauses, then staggers suddenly + out._) + + PAULA: Let me go to my lady! + + CHARLES: Still her! She + Forever hath a fluttering, a cry, + Undurably. It presses the lone air + With sensitive and aching agony. + + PAULA (_witlessly, in tears_): I know thy song, my lady, I know, I + know! + 'Twas pretty and 'twas strange, but now I know. + + (_Sings._) Sappho! Sappho! + In maiden woe + (Let alone love, it spurns and burns!) + Wept--wept, and leapt-- + O love is so! + (Let alone love, it burns!) + + My lady! O my lady! my sweet lady! + + (_She is led out._) + + FULVIA: This is most sad--most sad, and pitiful. + + CHARLES: I cannot bear her voice upon my heart + +_Enter AGABUS gazing into the air._ + + Again this monk? this dog of death?--and now? + + AGABUS: My trusty Shadow (_Laughs madly._) Ha, he has been here! + My king o' the worms and all corruption!-- + (_Approaching CHARLES._) Lovers, and lovers! O she leapt as 'twere + To Christ and not sin's Pit! And he is gone + To follow her! The devil's nine wits are + Too many! + (_Wanders about._) + + FULVIA: My lord! Your limbs are frozen, + And bloodlessly you stand! Move, rouse, O breathe! + It is not truth but madness that he speaks. + + (_A cry and clanking of armor are heard in the Hall. A + SOLDIER bursts into the chamber._) + + SOLDIER: O duke! O duke! (_Sinks to his knee._) + + CHARLES: (_gazes at him, struggling to speak_): Rise--go--and, + if thou canst-- + To pray. + + SOLDIER: O sir----! + + CHARLES: You have no tidings. + + SOLDIER: Sir---- + + CHARLES (_desperately_): None, fool! but come to say what silence + groans, + What earth numb and in deadness raves to me. + To tell Antonio hath gone out and o'er + A precipice hath stepped for sake of love. + This is not tidings--hath it not on me + Been fixed forever? It is older than + Despair, as old as pain! (_To HÆMON, who has entered._) Your + sister---- + + BARDAS: Hæmon----! + + CARDINAL: Hold him not in this anguish. + + FULVIA: She and our + Antonio have left us to our tears. + + (_HÆMON stands motionless._) + + CHARLES: Let no one groan. I say let no one groan-- + Fury on him that groans! (_He blindly rocks to and fro._) + + FULVIA: My lord! + + CHARLES (_taking her hand_): Well--come. + (_As in a trance._) + There's much to do. We will think of the dead. + Perchance 'twill keep them near us: speak to them, + And they may answer while we wait, may float + Dim words on moonbeams to us. O for one + That shall sound of forgiveness and of rest! + (_More wildly._) + O I have started on the mountain's brow + A tremor that has loosed the avalanche; + And penitence too late--too late--too late-- + Was powerless as flowers along its path! + + (_He sinks back into his chair and stares hopelessly before + him._) + + +CURTAIN. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles Di Tocca, by Cale Young Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES DI TOCCA *** + +***** This file should be named 34055-8.txt or 34055-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/0/5/34055/ + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Charles Di Tocca + A Tragedy + +Author: Cale Young Rice + +Release Date: October 11, 2010 [EBook #34055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES DI TOCCA *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + + +<h1><i>CHARLES DI TOCCA</i></h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>CHARLES DI TOCCA</i></h2> + +<h3><i>A Tragedy</i><br /> +<br /> +<i>By</i><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cale Young Rice</i></h3> + + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + + +<p class="center"><i>McClure, Phillips & Co.<br /> +New York</i><br /> +1903</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h5><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1903, By</span><br /> +CALE YOUNG RICE<br /><br /><br /> + +Published, March, 1903. R</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>To My Wife</i></h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>CHARLES DI TOCCA</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 2 ]</span></p> +<h2>CHARLES DI TOCCA<br /> +<br /> +<i>A Tragedy</i></h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Characters"> +<tr> + <td>CHARLES DI TOCCA</td> + <td><i>Duke of Leucadia, Tyrant of Arta, etc.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>ANTONIO DI TOCCA</td> + <td><i>His son.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>HÆMON</td> + <td><i>A Greek noble.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>BARDAS</td> + <td><i>His friend.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>CARDINAL JULIAN</td> + <td><i>The Pope's Legate.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>AGABUS</td> + <td><i>A mad monk.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>CECCO</td> + <td><i>Seneschal of the Castle.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>FULVIA COLONNA</td> + <td><i>Under the duke's protection.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>HELENA</td> + <td><i>Sister to Hæmon.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>GIULIA</td> + <td><i>Serving Fulvia.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>PAULA</td> + <td><i>Serving Helena.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>LYGIA<br />PHAON<br />ZOE<br />BASIL</td> + <td><i>Revellers.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Nardo</span>, a boy, and <span class="smcap">Diogenes</span>, a philosopher.<br /> +A Captain of the Guard. Soldiers, Guests,<br /> +Attendants, etc.<br /> +<br /> +<big><i>Time: Fifteenth Century.</i></big></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 3 ]</span></p> +<h2>ACT ONE</h2> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><i>Scene</i>.—<i>The Island Leucadia. A ruined temple +of Apollo near the town of Pharo. Broken +columns and stones are strewn, or stand desolately +about. It is night—the moon rising.</i> +<span class="smcap">Antonio</span>, <i>who has been waiting impatiently, +seats himself on a stone. By a road near +the ruins</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> <i>enters, cloaked</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>turning</i>): Helen——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">A comely name, my lord.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Ah, you?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My father's unforgetting Fulvia?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: At least not Helena, whoe'er she be.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: And did I call you so?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Unless it is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">These stones have tongue and passion.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 4 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Then the night</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Recalling dreams of dim antiquity's<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heroic bloom worked on me.—But whence are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your steps, so late, alone?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">From the Cardinal,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who has but come.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">What comfort there?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">With doom</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moody bolt of Rome broods over us.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: My father will not bind his heresy?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: You with him walked to-day. What said he?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">I?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With him to-day? Ah, true. What may be done?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: He has been strange of late and silent, laughs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seeing the Cross, but softly and almost<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As it were some sweet thing he loved.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 5 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>absently</i>): <span style="margin-left: 8em;">As if</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twere some sweet thing—he laughs—is strange—you say?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Stranger than is Antonio his son,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who but for some expectancy is vacant.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>She makes to go.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Stay, Fulvia, though I am not in poise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Last night I dreamed of you: in vain you hovered<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To reach me from the coil of swift Charybdis.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>A low cry</i>, <span class="smcap">Antonio</span> <i>starts</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: A woman's voice!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>Looking down the road.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i8">And hasting here!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Alone?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: No, with another!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Go, then, Fulvia.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis one would speak with me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Ah? (<i>She goes.</i>)</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span> <i>frightedly with</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span>.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 6 ]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Antonio!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: My Helena, what is it? You are wan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And tremble as a blossom quick with fear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of shattering. What is it? Speak.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Not true!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O, 'tis not true!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">What have you chanced upon?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Say no to me, say no, and no again!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Say no, and no?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Yes; I am reeling, wrung,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With one glance o'er the precipice of ill!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Say his incanted prophecies spring from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No power that's more than frenzied fantasy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Who prophesies? Who now upon this isle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More than visible and present day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can gather to his eye? Tell me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">The monk—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, chide me not!—mad Agabus, who can<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 7 ]</span><span class="i0">Unsphere dark spirits from their evil airs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And show all things of love or death, seized me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As hither I stole to thee. With wild looks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wilder lips he vented on my ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Boding more wild than both. "Sappho!" he cried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Sappho! Sappho!" and probed my eyes as if<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Destiny moved dark-visaged in their deeps.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then tore his rags and moaned, "So young, to cease!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gazed then out into awful vacancy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whispered hotly, following his gaze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The Shadow! Shadow!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">This is but a whim,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A sudden gloomy surge of superstition.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put it from you, my Helena.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">But he</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has often cleft the future with his ken,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seen through it to some lurking misery<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 8 ]</span><span class="i0">And mar of love: or the dim knell of death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard and revealed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">A witless monk who thinks</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">God lives but to fulfil his prophecies!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: You know him not. 'Tis told in youth he loved<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One treacherous, and in avenge made fierce<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Treaty with Hell that lends him sight of all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ills that arise from it to mated hearts!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet look not so, my lord! I'll trust thine eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That tell me love is master of all times,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thou of all love master!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">And of thee?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then will the winds return unto the night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And flute us lover songs of happiness!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Nor dare upon a duller note while here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We tryst beneath the moon?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 9 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">My perfect Greek!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Athene looks again out of thy lids,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Venus trembles in thy every limb!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Not Venus, ah, not Venus!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Now; again?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: 'Twas on this temple's ancient gate she found<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wounded Adonis dead, and to forget,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like Sappho leaped, 'tis said, from yonder cliff<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Down to the waves' oblivion below.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: And will you read such terror in a tale?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Forgive me, then.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Surely you are unstrung,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And yet there is—— (<i>Turns away from her.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Is what? Antonio?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Nothing: I who must ebb with you and flow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A little was moved.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 10 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Not you, not you! I'll change</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My tears to laughter, if but fantasy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May so unmettle you! Not moved, indeed!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not moved, Antonio?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Well, let us off,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My Helena, with these numb awes that wind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">About our joy.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Thy kiss then, for it can</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drive all gloom out of the world!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">And thine, my own,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Fate's hard brow would shame it of all frown!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Yet is thine mightier, for no frown can be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When no more gloom's in the world!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">But 'tis thy lips</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That lend it might. If I pressed other——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Other!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You should not know that any other lips<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 11 ]</span><span class="i0">Could e'er be pressed; I'll have no kiss but his<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who is all blind to every mouth but mine!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>Breaks from him.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Oh?—Well.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: "Oh—well?"—Then it is well I go!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Perhaps.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">"Perhaps!" (<i>Makes to go.</i>)</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Good-night.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span> (<i>returning</i>): <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Antonio——?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Ah! still——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">There's gloom in the world again.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>kissing her</i>): <span style="margin-left: 6em;">'Tis gone?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Not all, I think.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Two for so small a gloom?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>Kisses her again.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: So small!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">And still you sigh?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">The vainest glooms</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-night seem ominous—as cloud-flakes flung<span class='pagenum'>[ 12 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upward before the heaving of the west.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>In fright</i>) <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Helena!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">See, see! 'tis Agabus!</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Agabus</span> <i>unkempt and distracted.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span>: O—lovers! lovers! Lord have none of them!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Good monk——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span>: O—yes, yes, yes. You'd give me gold<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To pray for your two souls. (<i>Crossing himself.</i>) Not I! Not I!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Know you not love is brewed of lust and fire?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It gnaws and burns, until the Shadow—Sir,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>Searching about the air.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have you not seen a Shadow pass?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">A Shadow?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span>: Silent and cold. A-times they call him Death:<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class='pagenum'>[ 13 ]</span>I'd have him for my brain—it shakes with fever.<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>Goes searching anxiously.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: Antonio——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">You're calm?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Yes, very calm—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of impotence—as one who in a tomb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Awakes and waits?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">He is but mad.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 11em;">But mad.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Yet fear you? still?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>A shout is heard</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Who is it? soldiers come</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">From Arta?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Yes.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">And by this road!—They must</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not see us!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: No. But quick, within this breach!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>They conceal themselves in the breach.</i> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 14 ]</span> +<i>The soldiers pass across the stage. The +last, as all shout</i> "<span class="smcap">di Tocca</span>!" <i>strikes a +column near him</i>. <i>It falls</i>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span> +<i>starts forward shuddering</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Fallen! Ah, fallen! See, Antonio!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> What now!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span> (<i>swaying</i>): It is as if the earth were wind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under my feet!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Are all things thus become</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Omen and dread to you?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">O, but it is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The pillar grieving Venus leant upon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere to forget she leapt, and wrote,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When falls this pillar tall and proud<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let surest lovers weave their shroud.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Mere myth!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> The shroud! It coldly winds about us—coldly!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 15 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Should a vain hap so desperately move you?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> The breath and secret soul of all this night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are burdened with foreboding! And it seems—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> You must not, Helena!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">My love, my lord—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Touch me lest I forget my natural flesh<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In this unnatural awe! (<i>He takes her to him.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Ah how thy arms<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Warm the cold moan and misery of fear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of my veins!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You rave, but in me stir</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Again the attraction of these dim portents.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nay, quiver not! 'tis but a passing mist,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this that runs in us is worthless dread!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> But ah, the shroud! the shroud!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">We'll weave no shroud,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But wedding robes and wreaths and pageantry!<span class='pagenum'>[ 16 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you shall be my Sappho—but through joys<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such as shall legend ecstasy about<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our knitted names when distant lovers dream.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> I'll fear no more, then——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Yet?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">My lord, let us</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unloose this strangling secrecy and be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open in love. My brother, Hæmon, let<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our hearts betrothed exchange and hope be told<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him and thy father!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">This cannot be—now</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> It cannot be, and you a god? I'll bow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before your eyes no more!—say that it can!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Not yet—not now. Hæmon's suspicious, quick,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And melancholy: must be won with service.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you are Greek, a name till yesterday<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I never knew pass in the portal to<span class='pagenum'>[ 17 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My father's ear, but it came out his mouth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Headlong and dark with curses.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Yet of late</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He oft has smiled upon me as he passed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> On you—my father? O, he only dreamt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And saw you not.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Then have you also dreamt!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He looked as you, when, moonlight in my hair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You call me——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Stay: I'll call you so no more.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> You'll call me so no more?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">No more.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Why do</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You say so—is it kind?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Why?—why? Because</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Words were they miracles of beauty could<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As little reveal you as a taper's ray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lone profundity and space of night!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 18 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> And yet——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">And yet?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">I'll hold you not too false</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">If sometimes they trip out upon your lips.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Or to my father's eye?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">If he but look</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon me for thy sake.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">He smiled, you say?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Gently, as one might in forgetting pain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Perhaps: for some unwonted softness seems<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Near him. But yesterday he called for song,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dancing and wine.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then tell him! These are years</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">So dyed in crime that secrecy must seem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yoke-mate of guilt.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fear has bewitched you—shame!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Antonio, love's wave has cast us high<span class='pagenum'>[ 19 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would do all lest now it turn to fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under our feet and draw us out——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">'Twill not!</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> My lady, some one comes.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">And is the world</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not space enough but he must needs come here!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If it were——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Hæmon?—'Twere perhaps not ill.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> I know not! Broodings smoulder from his moods<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Feverous bitter.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Kindness then shall quench them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now, away. Forget this dread and be you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By day my lark, by night my nightingale,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not a sad bird of boding!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">With the day</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">All will be well.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Remember then you are</span><br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 20 ]</span><span class="i0">Only a little slept from your life's shore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out on the infinite of love, whose air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is awe and mystery.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">I go, my lord.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think of me oft!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>taking her in his arms</i>): My Helena!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>She goes with</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span>. <i>He steps aside and +watches the approaching forms.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">'Tis Hæmon!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My father!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span> <i>friendly, with</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> So, no farther? you'll stop here?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Sir, if you grant it. I——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>twittingly</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Some rendezvous?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who is she? Ah, young blood and Spring and night!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> No rendezvous, my lord.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Some lay then you</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would muse on?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 21 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Yes, a lay.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">And one of love?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The word, you see, founts easy to my lips.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>With confidential archness.</i>) 'Tis recent in my thought—as you will learn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> How, sir, and when?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">O, when? Be not surprised!—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well, to the lay!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>He goes.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Cruel! His soldiers waste</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bread of honesty, the hope of age!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are drunken, bloody, indolent, and lust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tear all innocence away and robe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our loveliest in shame!—Yet me, a Greek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He suddenly befriends!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>coming forward</i>): Hæmon——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Ah, you?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> There's room between your tone and courtesy.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 22 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> And shall be while I'm readier to bend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Over a beggar's pain than prince's fingers.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> And yet you know me better——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Than to believe</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You're not Antonio, son of Charles di Tocca?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> I'd be your friend.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">So would he: and he smiles.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> There are deep reasons for it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">With him too!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against a miracle, you are his heir!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> I think it would be well for you to listen.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My confidence once curbed——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">May bite and paw?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let it! for fools are threats, and cowards. Were<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You Tamerlane and mine the skull should cap<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A bloody pyramid of enemies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'd——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Hear me. Will you be so blind?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 23 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">To your</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fair graces? No, my lord—not so. Your sword<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And doublet are sublimely worn! sublimely!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your curls would tempt an empress' fingers, and——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Why is my anger silent?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Let it speak</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And not this subtle pride! You would be friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A friend to me—a friend!—Did not your father<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into a sick and sunless keep cast mine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Because he was a Greek and still a Greek,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And would not be a slave? His cunning has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not whispered death about him as a pest?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He—he, my friend? and you?—And I on him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should lean, and flatter——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Cease: though he has stains</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The times are tyrannous and men like beasts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find mercy preservation's enemy.<span class='pagenum'>[ 24 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You're heated with suspicion and old wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But take my hand as pledge——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> (<i>refusing it</i>): That you'll be false?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Bardas</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> I've sought you, Hæmon. Antonio? We are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Well met then: to your doors my want was bent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a request.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Which gladly I shall hear</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if I can will grant.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">My haste is blunt—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">As is my tongue.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then yield it us at once,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our mood is so.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Hæmon, I love your sister.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not love: I am idolatrous before<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her foot's least print, and cannot breathe or pray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But where she's sometime been and left a heaven!<span class='pagenum'>[ 25 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Therefore you'll cry it maudlin at the streets?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: Necessity's not over delicate.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio, sue for me. You have been apt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In all love's skill they say. My oath on it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your words once sown upon her listening<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would not lie fruitless did they bid her yield<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More than her most.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Bardas! Do you—Does such</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unseemliness run in your thought?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Peace, Hæmon.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio, speak.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You're strange in this request.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Helena, whom I've seen, would little thank<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The eyes that told her own where they should love.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> I saved your life, my lord.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">And I've besought</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Occasion oft for loaning of some chance<span class='pagenum'>[ 26 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Worthily to repay you. If 'tis this,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am distrest. I cannot plead your suit.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> You cannot or you will not?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">I have said.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ask me for service on your foes, for gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Faith or devotion, friendship you're aloof to,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all that will and honor well may render<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With nicety, and I'll be wings and heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More—drudge to your desire.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Nobly, my lord!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bardas, you must atone——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Peace, Hæmon.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Peace</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is goad and gall! Why do you burn my cheek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With this indignity?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Do you ask why? (<i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>.)</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A little since one of your father's guard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gave his command in seal to Helena<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the streets, to instantly repair<span class='pagenum'>[ 27 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto his halls—which she must henceforth <i>honor</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You knew it not?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">My father?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">O, well feigned.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be sure none will suspect he is too old<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For knightly feat like this—and that he has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A son!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> To Helena! my father! sealed!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Bardas, you bring the truth?—And so, my lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You stab me through another—you, my <i>friend</i>?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Bardas</span>): Do you mean that——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Until this hour I held</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The race of Charles di Tocca bold, or other<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But empty of all lies in deed or speech,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It grows—a little low?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Why you are mad!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are mad! I'm naked of this thing, and hide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No guilt behind the wonder of my face.<span class='pagenum'>[ 28 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Paradises brimming with all Beauty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would not lay one fancy's weight of shame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On her you name!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">A pretty protest—but</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A breath too heavenly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Leave sneering there!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You have repaid yourself—cast on me words<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Intolerable more than loss of life.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You both shall learn this night's entangling.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But know, between her, Helena, and shame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I burn with flaming heart and fearless hand!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>Goes angrily.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> He can be false and wear this mien of truth?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> I'll not believe!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">But, what: my sister seized?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> Ah, what!—"He burns with flaming heart!"—have we<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No flesh to understand this passion then?<span class='pagenum'>[ 29 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bound to the wings of wide ambition he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will choose undowered worth?—To the ordeal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of mere suspicion's flaming I'd not trust<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fairness of his name; but doubts in me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are sunk with proofs.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">No, no!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Unyielding.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Proof?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He could not. No! he dare not!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Yet the rogue</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cecco, the duke's half-seneschal, half-spy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I passed upon the streets o'ermuch in wine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaning upon a tipsier jade and spouting<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With drunken mockery,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"'Sweet Helena! Fair Helena!' Pluck me, +wench, but the lord Antonio knows sound nuts! +And sly! Why hear you now! he gets the duke +to seize on the maid! The fox! The rat! +Have I not heard him in his chamber these<span class='pagenum'>[ 30 ]</span> +thirty nights puff her name out his window with +as many honeyed drawls of passion as—as—as—June +has buds? 'Sweet Helena!'—la! 'Fair +Helena!'—O! 'Dear Helena! my rose! my +queen! my sun and moon and stars! Thy kiss +is still at my lips, thy breast beats still on mine! +my Helena!'—Um! Oh, 'tmust be a rare damsel. +I'll make a sluice between her purse and mine, +wench; do you hear?"</p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Well—well?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> No more. When I had struck him down,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He swore it was unswerving all and truth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hasting to warn I found Helena ta'en<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sought you here.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> (<i>grasping his brows</i>): Ah!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Helena who is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">All purity!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Ah sister, child!—Have I</span><br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 31 ]</span><span class="i0">With strength been father and with tenderness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mother been to her unfolding years<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But to see now unchastest cruelty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pluck her white bloom to ease his idle sense<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One fragrant hour?—If it be so, no flowers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should blossom; only weeds whose withering<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can hurt no heart!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">These tears should seal fierce oaths</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against him!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And they shall! until God wrecks</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him in the tempest raised of his outrage!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas:</span> Then may I be the rock on which he breaks!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But hear; who comes? (<i>Revellers are heard approaching.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i12">We must aside until<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This mirth is past. (<i>They conceal themselves.</i>)<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter revellers dressed as bacchanals and bacchantes, +dancing and singing.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 32 ]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The vine! a fig for the rest!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With locks green-crowned and lips red-warm—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The vine! the vine's the best!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The vine! a maiden's breast!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">He pressed the grape, and kissed the maid!—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The cuckoo builds no nest!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>All go dancing, except</i> <span class="smcap">Lydia</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Phaon</span>, +<i>who clasps and kisses her passionately</i>)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> (<i>breaking from him</i>): Do you think +kisses are so cheap? You must know mine fill +my purse! A pretty gallant from Naples, with +laces and silks and jewels gave me this ring last +year for but one. And another lover from +Venice gave me this (<i>a bracelet</i>)—but he looked +so sad when he gave it. Ah, his eyes! I'd not +have cared if he had given me naught.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phaon:</span> Here, here, then! (<i>Offers jewel.</i>)<span class='pagenum'>[ 33 ]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> (<i>putting it aside</i>): They say the ladies +in Venice ride with their lovers through the streets +all night in boats: and the very moon shines more +passionately there. Is it true?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phaon:</span> Yes, yes. But kiss me, Lydia! Take +this jewel—my last. Be mine to-night, no other's! +We'll prate of Venice another time.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia:</span> Another time we'll prate of kisses. I'll +not have the jewel.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phaon:</span> Not have it! Now you're turning +nun! a soft and virgin, silly nun! With a gray +gown to hide these shoulders that—shall I whisper +it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia:</span> Devil! they're not! A nice lover called +them round and fair last night. And I've been +sick! And—I—cruel! cruel! cruel! (<i>Revellers +are heard returning.</i>) There, they're coming.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phaon:</span> Never mind, my girl. But you mustn't +scorn a man's blood when it's afire.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 34 ]</span></p> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Re-enter Revellers singing</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo! etc.<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>After which all go, except</i> <span class="smcap">Zoe</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Basil</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">Zoe:</span> O! O! O! but 'tis brave! Wine, Basil! +Wine, my knight, my Bacchus! Ho! ho! my +god! you wheeze like a cross-bow. Is it years, +my wooer, years?—Ah! (<i>She sighs.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil:</span> Sighs—sighs! Now look for showers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zoe:</span> Basil—you were my first lover—except +the duke Charles. Ah, did you see how that +Helena looked when they gave her the duke's +command? I was like that once. (<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>starts forward</i>.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil:</span> Fiends, nymphs and saints! it's come! +tears in your eyes! Zoe, stop it. Would you have +mine leak and drive me to a monastery for shelter!</p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Zoe</span> (<i>sings sadly and absently</i>):<br /></span> +<span class="i3">She lay by the river, dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">A broken reed in her hand<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 35 ]</span><span class="i3">A nymph whom an idle god had wed<br /></span> +<span class="i3">And led from her maidenland.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">Basil:</span> O, had I been born a heathen!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Zoe:</span> He told me, Basil, I should live, a great +lady, at his castle. And they should kiss my +hand and courtesy to me. He meant but jest—I +feared.—I feared! But—I loved him!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil:</span> Now, my damsel—!</p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Zoe</span> (<i>sings</i>):<br /></span> +<span class="i3">The god was the great god Jove,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Two notes would the bent reed blow,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">The one was sorrow, the other love<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Enwove with a woman's woe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">Basil:</span> Songs and snakes! Give me instead +a Dominican's funeral! I'd as lief crawl bare-kneed +to Rome and mouth the Pope's heel. O +blessed Turks with their remorseless harems!—Zoe!</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 36 ]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Zoe</span> (<i>sings</i>):<br /></span> +<span class="i3">She lay by the river dead;<br /></span> +<span class="i3">And he at feasting forgot.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">The gods, shall they be disquieted<br /></span> +<span class="i3">By dread of a mortal's lot?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>She wipes her eyes, trembles, looks at him +and laughs hysterically.</i>)</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +Bacchus! my Bacchus! with wet eyes! Up, +up, lad! there's many a cup for us yet! +</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="r0">(<i>They go, she leading and singing.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i3">He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">The vine! a maiden's breast! etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Bardas</span> <i>look at each other, then +start after them terribly moved</i>.)</p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Curtain.</span></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 37 ]</span></p> +<h2>ACT TWO</h2> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><i>Scene.</i>—<i>An audience hall in the castle of</i> <span class="smcap">Charles +di Tocca</span>; <i>the next afternoon. The dark +stained walls have been festooned with vines +and flowers. On the left is the ducal throne. +On the right sunlight through high-set windows. +In the rear heavily draped doors. +Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span>, <i>who looks around and smiles +with subtle content, then summons a servant</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter servant.</i></p> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> The princess Fulvia.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Servant:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">She comes, sir, now.</span><br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>Goes.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> My lord, flowers and vines upon these walls<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 38 ]</span><span class="i0">That seem always in dismal memory<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mist of grief? What means it?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">That sprung up,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A greedy multitude upon the fields,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Citron and olive were left hungry, so<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I quelled them!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Magic ever dwells in flowers</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To waft me back to childhood. (<i>Taking some.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Poor pluckt buds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If they could speak like children torn from the breast.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> You're full of sighs and pity then?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Yes, and—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of doubt.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> What so divides you?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Helena—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This Greek—I do not understand.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Nor guess?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You have not seen nor spoken to her?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 39 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 11em;">No.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: We'll have her. (<i>Motions servant.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Go. Say that we wait her here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lady Helena. <span style="margin-left: 5em;">(<i>Servant goes.</i></span><br /></span> +<span class="i8">She's frighted—thinks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tmay be her father found too deep a rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within our care: yet has a hope that holds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The tears still from her lids. I've smiled on her,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smiled, Fulvia, and she—Why do you cloud?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: I would this were undone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Undone? Undone?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You would it were——?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">Ah, Greek! Our Fulvia,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who is as heart and health about our doors,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has speech for you. And polities<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Untended groan for me. <span style="margin-left: 6em;">(<i>He goes.</i></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>looking sadly at her</i>): Girl—child—<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 40 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Why do</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You call me so with struggle on your breast?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> You're very fair.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">And was so free I thought</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world brimmed up with my full happiness.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> But find it is a sieve to all but grief?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Is it then grief? I have not any tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet seem girt by an emptiness that aches,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Surrounds and whispers, what I dare not think<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, shapened, see.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">It stains too as a shroud</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The morrow's face?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">You look at me—I think</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You look at me, as if——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">No child.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Why am</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I in this place? You fear for me?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Fear?</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 41 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 14em;">Yes!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A dumb dread trembles from you sufferingly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> It is not fear. Or—no!—has vanished quite,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ashamed of its too naked idleness.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span> (<i>shuddering</i>): He cannot, will not!—Yet you feared!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Be calm:</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beauty is better so.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Ah, you are cold!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">See a great shadow reach and wrap at me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet lend no light! By gentleness I pray you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What said he?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Child——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Child!—Ah, a moment's dread</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Brings age on us!—If not by gentleness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then by that love that women bear to men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By happiness too fleeting to tread earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pray you tell the fear your heart so hides!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> You are the guest of Charles di Tocca.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 42 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 14em;">Guest?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, guests are bidden, not commanded.—Where,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where can Antonio be gone. All day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No token, quieting!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Antonio, girl?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio?—Is it true?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Re-enter</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">So eager?—Truth</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has brewed more tears than lies. But, Fulvia,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why doth it mated with Antonio's name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wring thus your troubled hands?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">My lord——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">You falter?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">No matter—now. (<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>.) But you, my fair one, put<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More merriment upon your lips and lids,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And this (<i>giving pearls</i>) upon the lustre of your throat.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hither our guests come soon. Be with us then,<span class='pagenum'>[ 43 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And at your beauty's best. Now; trembling so?—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet is the lily lovelier in the wind!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>He looks after, musingly, as she goes.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> My lord——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">True, Fulvia—as titles go.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> My lord——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Twice—but I'm not two lords.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">To-night</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I think you are. But quench your jests.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">In tears?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And groans? Where borrow them?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>turning away</i>): <span style="margin-left: 5em;">So let it be.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Why do you say so be it and sigh as<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nought could again be well?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">O——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Now you frown?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> The hope you nurse, then, if it prove a pang<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of serpent bitterness——<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 44 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Prove pang? I then</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But for an "if" must pluck it from me?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">So</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must believe.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Pluck it from me! Will you—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now will you have me mouth and foam and thresh<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The quiet in me to a maelstrom! This<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is mine, this joy; and still is mine, though I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To keep it must bring on me bitterness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bleeding and—I rage!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Then shall I cease,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And say no more? No, you are on a flood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose sinking may be rapid down to horror.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And she—this girl! It has been long since you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gave license rein upon your will, and spur.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do not so now.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">License?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">She is all morn</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dream and dew: make her not dark!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 45 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">You think—!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Wake her not, ah, not suddenly on terror!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> On terror! (<i>Laughing.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">You've laughed nobler.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">Fulvia,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Friend of my unrepaying years, dream you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I who in empire youth too soon forgot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who on my brow surprise the wafted dew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The presages of age and death, shake not?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> I knew not, but have waited oft such words.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Ah what! this hope, this leaping in me, this<br /></span> +<span class="i0">White dawn across my turbulence and night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From license?—Hear me. I have sudden found<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A door to let in heaven on my heart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had I not laughed to see your dread upon it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Write "license," perilous had been my frown.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 46 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> You will——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Yes—yes! About her brow shall curl<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The coronet! Her wishes shall be sceptres<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waving a swift fulfilment to her feet!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her pity shall leave ready graves unfilled,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her anger open earth for all who offend!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She shall——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Ah cease, infatuate man! Will you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Build kingdoms on the wind, and empires on<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A girl's ungiven heart?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>slowly</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Unto such love</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">As mine all things are given.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">All things but love.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Stood she not as in pleading? Yes—and to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her cheeks came hurried roses from her heart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And her large eyes, did they not drift to mine<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Caressing?—yet as if in them they found<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The likeness of some visitant dear dream.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 47 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> The likeness of some dream?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Question no more.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">She is set in the centre of my need<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As youth and fiercest passion could not set her.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Supernally as May she has burst on<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My barren age. Pain, envious decay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And doubt that mystery wounds us with, and wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Flee from the gleam and whisper of her name.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> And if your coronet and heat avail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not with her as might charm of equal years<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And beauty?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Then—why then—why there may slip<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An avalanche of raging and despair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of me! Hope of her once taken, all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The thwarted thunders of my want would rush<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the void with lightnings for revenge!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Sir, I'm returned.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 48 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> With lightnings that shall—(<i>Sees him.</i>) You?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio? My eyes had other thought.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open your news—but mind 'tis not of failure.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> We seized the murderous robbers in their cove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And o'er the cliff, as our just law commands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To death flung them.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> So with all traitors be it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> So should it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Well, 'twas swift. In you there is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">More than your mother's gentleness.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">Else were</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My name di Tocca, sir, and not myself.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> You have my love.—But as you came met you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cardinal?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">So close he should by this</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be at our gates.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 49 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">He'll miss no welcome, and—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perhaps—we shall— (<i>Smiles on them.</i>) Give me that cross you wear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My Fulvia. It may——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Sir, this is good!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">We earnestly beseech of you to hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Pope's embassador with yielding.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 13em;">Ah?—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But you, boy, draw out of this solitude<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And musing moodiness. You should think but<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On silly sighs and kisses, rhymes and trysts!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must I yet teach your coldness youth?<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>A trumpet, and sound of opening gates.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i16">Draw out!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> I have to-day desired some words of this.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Well, who——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">The Cardinal, your grace.</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 50 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Then go,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bid our guests. Bring too Diogenes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our most amusing raveller of all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Philosophies. Say that the duke, his brother,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Humbly desires it! <span style="margin-left: 7em;">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>goes</i>.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">And Helena?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>): <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Why do</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You start, sir?—Fulvia, we must look to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This callow god our son. Yet, had our court<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two eyes of loveliness to drown his heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'd think on oath 'twere done.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Goes to the throne.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>low to</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>): Listen. No word<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Helena!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Now! is it secrets?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Sir,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He scorns to spill a drop of confidence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On my too thirsty questions.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 51 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Does he so</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tightly seal up his spirits?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Put the rogue</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To prison on stale bread, my lord: I half<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Believe he's full of treasons.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>laughing</i>): <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Do you hear!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Because you are the son and scout our foes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Justice is not impossible upon you!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc2"><i>The guests enter, among them</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Bardas</span>, +<i>following the</i> <span class="smcap">Cardinal Julian</span> <i>and his +suite, and last</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>, <i>whom</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> <i>leads +aside</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal:</span> Peace, worthy duke!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">And more, lord Cardinal,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">We would to-day enlarge our worthiness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With you and with great Rome.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Firmly I crave</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It may be so.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 52 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Here unto all our guests<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We then do disavow our heresies——<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For faith's as air, as ease to life—and seek<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At your absolving lips release from our<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rough disobedience. Nor shall we shun<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lash and needed weight of penitence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>A murmur of approval.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Julian:</span> These words, great lord, fall wise and soothing well.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who so confesses, plants beneath his foot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A step to scale all impotence and wrong.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Our royal Pope's conditions shall be told,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pledge them consenting seal and you shall be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Briefly and fully free. (<i>Motions his secretary.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Secretary</span> (<i>opens and reads</i>): "Whereas the duke<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Di Tocca has offended——"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Pass the offence.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be it oblivion's. On, the penalty.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 53 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Secretary:</span> "Therefore the duke di Tocca humbling himself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must pay into our vaults two hundred ducats—"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> It shall be three.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Secretary:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">"And send a hundred men</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Armed 'gainst the foes that threaten Italy."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> See to it, yes, Antonio, ere a dawn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Secretary:</span> "He must also yield up the princess Fulvia<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who's fled her father's house and rightful marriage."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Julian</span>): You told me not of this—no word, my lord!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal:</span> My silence as my speech is not my own.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> We'll more of it—a measure more.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Read on.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Secretary:</span> "And for the better amity and weal<span class='pagenum'>[ 54 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Italy and Christ's most Holy Church,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He is enjoined to wed with Beatrice<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Florence. If his wilful boldness grants<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Obedience, his sins shall melt to rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under the calm of full forgiveness. He——"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> A mild, a courteous, O a modest Pope!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must tear from my happiness a friend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who fled a father's searing cruelty,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cast her back in the flames! And I must bind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My crippled years that fare toward the grave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the cold clasp of an unloving hand!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No! No!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then, sir, and Cardinal, 'tis not enough!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pray you swift again to Rome and plead<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Most suppliantly that I for penance may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swear my true son is shame-begot, or lend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My kin to drink clean of its fouling damp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some pestilent prison! And 'tis impious too<span class='pagenum'>[ 55 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That any still should trust my love. Beseech<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His Holiness' command for death upon them!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: This is your answer?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>rises</i>): <span style="margin-left: 4em;">A mite! a mite of it!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rest is I will wed where I will wed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though every hill of earth raise up its pope<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bellow at me thunderous damnation!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will—I will— (<i>Falls back convulsed.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>hastening to him</i>): Charles, ah! Wine for him, wine! (<i>It is brought.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Lord Cardinal, spare yourself more and go.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You shall learn if a change may loose this strain.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Cardinal</span> <i>goes with his suite amid timid reverence.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>struggling</i>): I will—this frenzy—off my throat—! I— (<i>Recovering.</i>) Ah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou, Fulvia? 'Twas as a fiend swung on me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shame! fear oozes out upon my brow,<span class='pagenum'>[ 56 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I——. (<i>Rises and calms himself.</i>) Forgive, friends, this so sudden wrench<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon your pleasure. One too quick made saint,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stands feebly: but at once wilt I atone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where is Diogenes—where is he? His<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tangled fantastic wisdom shall divert us.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Diogenes</span>, <i>who has stood unconscious of all +that has passed, is pushed forward</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, peer of Socrates and perfect Plato,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave your unseeing silence now and tell us——<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Agabus</span> <i>gazing anxiously and wildly before him</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Who's this?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span> (<i>hoarsely</i>): Where went he—the Shadow?—whither?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Who's this broke from his grave upon us?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span> (<i>searching still</i>): <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Where?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I followed him—he sped and there was cold!<span class='pagenum'>[ 57 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behind him blows a horror!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>Stops in fascinated awe before</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>.)<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Ah, on her head!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His touch! his earthless finger!—and she rots<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To dust! to dust!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Ill monk! are there no men</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That you must wring a woman so with fear?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus:</span> Ha, men? Christ save all men but lovers! all! (<i>Crosses himself.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Antonio, how speaks he?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Sir, most mad</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the pestilence of evil prophecy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>To guards.</i>) Forth with him!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Stay.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Let him not, for he will</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beguile you to some ravening belief.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span> (<i>going up to</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span>, <i>staring at him in suppressed excitement</i>): A lover! a lover! and he loves in vain!<span class='pagenum'>[ 58 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wilt go? There is a cave—(<i>taking his hand</i>), we'll curse her—come!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Out! out! (<i>Throws him from the dais.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus:</span> Christ save all men but— (<i>Seeking vacantly.</i>) Ah, the Shadow!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has no one seen him? none?—the Shadow? none?<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>Goes dazed. Guests whisper, awed.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> He is obsessed—vile utterly!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">A Guest:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">O duke,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pray, good-night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Another:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">And I, my lord.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Another:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">And I——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Another:</span> And——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Friends, you shall not—no. This pall will pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My hospitality is up, you shall not!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Another:</span> Pardon, O duke, we——<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 59 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Though some grudging wind</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blows us away from mirth, 'tis still in view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We've lute and dance that yet shall bring us in.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">1st Lady:</span> O, dance!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Cecco, our Circes from the Nile.</span><br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">2d Lady:</span> The Nile! Ah, Cleopatra's Nile?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Her own;</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sinuous as Nile water is their grace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter two Egyptian girls, who dance, then go.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Guests</span> (<i>applauding</i>): Bravely!—O, brave!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Do they not whirl it lithe?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With limbs like swallow wings upon the blue?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">1st Lady:</span> 'Twas witchery!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">3d Lady:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Such eyes! such hair!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">2d Lady:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">And thus,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Did Cleopatra thus steal Antony?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wrap him about with motion that would seize<span class='pagenum'>[ 60 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">His senses to an ecstasy? O, oh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To dance so!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so steal an Antony?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">We'll frame a law on thieving of men's heart's!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">2d Lady:</span> Then, vainly! 'tis a theft men like the most.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> When in its stead the thief has left her own—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But shall we woo no boon of mirth save dance?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lute! a lute! (<i>One is gone for.</i>) Some new lay, Hæmon, come!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every word must dip its syllables<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In Pindar's spring to trip so lightly forth.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> I have no lay.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> The lute! (<i>It is offered</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span>.)<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Sing us of love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That builds a Paradise of kisses, thinks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Infinite bound up in an embrace.<span class='pagenum'>[ 61 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose sighs seem to it hurricanes of pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose tears as seas of molten misery.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> I have none—cannot.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Now will you fright off</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Again our timid cheer?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">While she, my sister—!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>The lute is offered again.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I cannot, will not!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Will not? will not? Look!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I had an honor pluckt to laurel it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A wreath of noble worth, a thing to tell——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Honor upon dishonor sits not well.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>not hearing</i>): Heat me not with denial. Is new bliss<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Raised from the dead in me but to fall back<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As stone ere it has breathed? Have I so frequent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drained you? Be slow to tempt me—In me moves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Peril that has a passion to leap forth!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 62 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Antonio, speak! Where's innocence and where<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Begins deceit?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>aside</i>): Ask it not, or you step<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On waiting hazard and calamity.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> New fret? and new confusion? In the blind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Power and passing of this night is there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Conspiracy?—plot of some here? or of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That One whose necromancy wields the world?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I care not!—I care not! We must have mirth!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have mirth! though it be laughter at damned souls.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> And I must wake it? I with laugh and lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doting upon dishonor?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">What means he?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Give me again my sister from these walls,<span class='pagenum'>[ 63 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since might is yours, strip from me wealth and life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And more, and all—but let her not, no, no,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meet here the touch and leprosy of shame!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>laughing</i>): Said I not, said I, friends, we should have mirth?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You shall laugh with me laughter bright as wine.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> But, sir, this is not good for laughter! Sir!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> (<i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>): Ah, put the lamb on—bleat mock sympathy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>still laughing</i>): Fulvia, O, he foots it in the tracks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of your own fear! and wanders to delusion!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Will you laugh at me, fiend!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Boy!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">Had I but</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Omnipotence a moment and could dash<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Annihilation on you and your race!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Throws his glove in</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio's</span> <i>face</i>.)<span class='pagenum'>[ 64 ]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Hæmon!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>restraining her</i>): No, Helena.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Omnipotence?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And could Omnipotence make such a fool?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There must be two Gods in the world to do it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> She shall not——!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Attempts to kill</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>preventing</i>): Fury!—Ah! what would you do?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Such things can be? A sister, yet he strikes? (<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>is seized</i>.)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> O let me speak with him, sir, let me speak!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Not now, girl, no, not now—lest in his breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be venom for thee! (<i>To soldiers.</i>) Shut him from our gates<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till he repent this fever.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>goes quietly out</i>.)<span class='pagenum'>[ 65 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>To guests who are suspicious and undetermined.</i>) If you stare so<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will the skies stop! Have I not arm in arm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Friended this youth and meant him honor still?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave me. I had a thing to tell; but it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must wait more seasonable festivity.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span>.) See to thy mistress, child. Antonio, stay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>All go but</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span>, <i>who +leaves his chair slowly and with dejection</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Father——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>unheeding</i>): Did I not humble me?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Father——?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Or ask more than a brevity of joy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bud on my life's withering close?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">But, sir——!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> If it bud not——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">What thought impels and wrings</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">These angers from your eyes?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 66 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>slowly, gazing at him</i>): You're like your mother.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> In trouble for your peace, more than in feature.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Peace—peace? Antonio, a dream has come:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To stir—to wake—to learn it is a dream—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must not, will not look on such abyss.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You love me, boy?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sir, well: you cannot doubt it.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> There has been darkness in me—and it seems<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such night as would put out a heaven of hope,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quench an eternity of flaming joy!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have sunk down under the world and hit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On nethermost despair: flown blind across<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An infinite unrest!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Forget it, now.</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 67 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Had I drunk Lethe's all 'twould not have stilled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The crying of my desolation's want.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within me tenderness to iron turned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gladness to worm and gloom.—But 'tis o'erpast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A rift, a smile, a breath has come—blown me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From torture to an ecstasy.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">To——?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Ecstasy!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such as surrounds Hyperion on his sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or Pleiads sweeping seven-fold the night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> And you—this breath——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Is—you are pale!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And press your lips from trembling!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">No—yes—well—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This ecstasy?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Is love! is love that— How?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You feign! distress and groaning tear in you!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> No. She you love——<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 68 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">O, Eve new-burst on Eden,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">All pure with the prime beauty of God's breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was not so!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> She is Helena?—the Greek?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> She—Still you do not ail?—Yes, Helena,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who—But you are not well and cannot share<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This ravishment!—I will not ask it—now.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This ravishment!—Ah, she has stayed the tread<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And stilled the whispering of death: has called<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echoes of youth from me! and all I feared....<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I think—you are not well. Shall we go in?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Curtain.</span></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 69 ]</span></p> +<h2>ACT THREE</h2> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><i>Scene.—The gardens of the castle. Paths meet +under a large lime in the centre, where seats +are placed. The wall of the garden crosses +the rear, and has a postern. It is night of +the same day, and behind a convent on a near +hill the moon is rising. A nightingale sings.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Giulia</span>, <span class="smcap">Cecco</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Naldo</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> That bird! Always so noisy, always vain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of gushing. Sing, and sing, sing, sing, it must!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As if nobody else would speak or sleep.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Let the bird be, my jaunty. 'Tis no lie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shrew and nightingale were never friends.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> No more were shrew and serpent.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Well what would</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You scratch from me?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 70 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">If there is anything</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To be got from you, then it must be scratched.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Yet shrews do not scratch serpents.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">If they're caught</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where they can neither coil nor strike?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Well, <i>I</i></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Begin to coil.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And I'll begin to scotch</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You ere 'tis done.—Give me the postern key.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Your lady's voice—but you are not your lady.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> And were I you not long would be your lord's.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give me the key.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">I coil—I coil! will soon</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be ready for a strike, my tender shrew.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> Does the duke know you've hidden from his ear<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 71 ]</span><span class="i0">Antonio's passion? does he?—ah?—and shall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I tell him? ah?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">You heard then——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">He likes well</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">What's kept so thriftily.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span> (<i>scowling</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You want the key</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To let in Boro to chuck your baby face<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And moon with you! He's been discharged—take care.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> The duke might learn, too, you're not clear between<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His ducats and your own.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">There then (<i>gives key</i>), but——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia</span> (<i>as he goes</i>): <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Oh?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shrews do not scratch serpents? You may spy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But others are not witless, I can tell you!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now, Naldo (<i>gives him key and writing</i>), do not lose the writing. But<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 72 ]</span><span class="i0">Should you, he must not come till two. For 'tis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At twelve the Greek will meet Antonio.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Naldo</span> <i>goes, through the postern:</i> <span class="smcap">Giulia</span> <i>to the castle</i>.</p> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span> <i>from another part of the gardens</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> At twelve, said he, at twelve, beside the arbor?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> Yes, mistress.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">I were patient if the moon</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would slip less sadly up. She is so pale—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With longing for Endymion her lover.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> Has she a lover? Oh, how strange. Is it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So sweet to love, my lady? I have heard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Men die and women for it weep themselves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the grave—yet gladly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Sweet? Ah, yes,</span><br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 73 ]</span><span class="i0">To terror! for the edge of fate cares not<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How quick it severs.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">On my simple hills</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">They told of one who slew herself on her<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dead lover's breast. Would you do so?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would you, my lady?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">There's no twain in love.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My heart is in my lord Antonio's<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To beat, Paula, or cease with it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">But died</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He far away?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Far sunders flesh not souls.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Across all lands the hush of death on him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would sound to me; and, did he live, denial,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though every voice and silence spoke it, could<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not reach my rest!—But he is near.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">O no,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not yet, my lady.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then some weariness</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 74 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has pluckt the minutes' wings and they have crept.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> But 'tis not twelve, else would we hear the band<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of holy Basil from their convent peace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dreamily chant.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nay, hearts may hear beyond</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hark of ears! Listen! to me his step<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thrills thro' the earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<span class="smcap">Antonio</span> <i>approaches and enters the postern</i>.)<br /></span> +<span class="i12">'Tis he! Go Paula, go:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But sleep not.<br /></span> +<span class="i12">(<span class="smcap">Paula</span> <i>hastens out</i>.)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>Going to him.</i>) My Antonio, I breathe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now no betiding fell athwart thy path<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To stay thee from me!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Stronger than all betiding</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This hour has reached and drawn me yearning to thee! (<i>Takes her in his arms.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 75 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> And may all hours!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">All! tho' we two will still</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be more than destiny—which cannot grasp<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beyond the grave.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Tis sadly put, my lord.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Ah, sadly, loathly; but, my Helena—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> I would not sink from it, the simple sun—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fade to a tomb! What dirging hast thou heard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mind thee of it?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Love is a bliss too bright</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To rest on earth. With it God should give us<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ever to soar above mortality.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But you must know——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Not yet, tell me not yet!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dimly I see the burden in your eyes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But dare not take it yet into my own.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us a little look upon the moon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forgetting. (<i>They seat themselves.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 76 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>musingly</i>): These hands—this hair—(<i>Caressing them.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Like a farewell</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your touch falls on them.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>moved</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">To a father yield them?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Antonio?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>still caressing</i>): No, no! It cannot be!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> This dread—and shrinking—let me have it!—speak!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You mean—look on me!—mean, your father?—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 14em;">Ah!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It must not! must not!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Do you mean—he—No!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let him not touch me even in thy thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To me come nearer than a father may!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> He's swept by the sweet contagion of you, wrapt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a fierce spell by your effulgent youth.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 77 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Say, say it not! To him I but smiled up—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But smiled!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> He knew not that such smiles could dawn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In a bare world. And now is flame; would take<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your tenderness into his arms and hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seized to him the warm music of your heart.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O, I could be for him—he is my father—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prometheus stormed and gnawed on Caucasus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tantalus ever near the slipping wave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or torn and tossed to burning martyrdom—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But not—not this!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Then, flight! In it we may</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find haven and new nurture for our bliss.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Snap from his hunger this one hope, so he<span class='pagenum'>[ 78 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must starve? Push him who has but learned there's light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back into yawning blindness? Ah, not flight!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> I know he is your father, and my days<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have been all fatherless, tho' I have made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Me child to every wind that had caress<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to each lonely tree of the deep wood—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oft envious of those who touch gray hairs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or spend desire on filial grief and pang.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And most have you a softness in him kept,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Been to him more than empire's tyranny—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But baffled none can measure him nor trust!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Yet must we wait.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">When waiting shall but goad</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The speed of peril?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Still: and strain to win</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him from this brink.—If vainly, then birth, pity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And memory shall fall from me!—all, all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But fierceness for thy peace!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 79 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">My Antony!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> And fierceness without falter!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">I am thine,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thine more than immortality is God's!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hear, does the nightingale not tell it thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stars do they not tremble it, the moon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Murmur it argently into thine eyes?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Ah, sorceress! You need but breathe to put<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abysm from us; but build words to float us<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On infinite ecstasy. (<i>Kisses her.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">How, how thy kisses</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sing in me!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> From my heart they do but send<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Echoes born of thy beauty mid its strings!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Then would I lean forever at thy lips,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lose no reverberance, no ring, no waft,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hear nothing everlastingly but them!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>A mournful chant is borne from the Convent. They slowly unclasp, awed.</i>)</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 80 ]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Weary with vigil does it swell and sink,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Moaning the dead.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Ah, no! There are no dead</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-night in all the world. Could God see them<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lie cold and wondrous still, while we are rich<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In warmth and throb!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Yet, hear. The funeral tread</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the old sea sighs in each strain, and breaks.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> As I were drowned and heard it over me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It cometh—cometh!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Her head droops back on his arm. A pause.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>touching her face</i>): Cold! cold!—your lips—your brow!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you are pale as with a prophecy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> Oh—oh!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 81 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Your spirit is not in you but</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Afar and suffering!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">A vision sweeps me.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> Awake from it!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span> (<i>recovering</i>): A waste of waves that beat<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon a cliff—and beat! Yet thou and I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had place in it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Come to yon arbour, come.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moon has looked too long on the sad earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And can reflect but sorrow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Ah, I fear!</span><br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>They go clinging passionately together.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> And yet it is a little thing to sleep—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just to lie down and sleep. A child may do it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> If my lord would, here's sleep for him wrapped in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A quiet powder.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 82 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sleep is ever mate</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of peace and should go with it. I have slept<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the wild arms of battle when the winds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of souls departing fearfully shook by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the breast of dizzy danger cradled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Softly been lulled. Potions should be for them<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who wrestle and are thrown by misery.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> And is my lord at peace?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Strangely.—Yet seem</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">For sleep too coldly calm.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">So were you, sir—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I keep your words lest you may need of them—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the same night young Hæmon's father went<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The secret way to death.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Of that!—of that?—</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Pardon, I but——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Smirker!—Yet, was it so?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That night indeed?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Sir, surely.</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 83 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">And the moon's</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Scutcheon hung stainless up the purple east?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Half, sir; even as now.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>as to himself</i>): Since that hour's close<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To this I have not stood in so much calm.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still was he not in every vein of him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And breath, a traitor? A Greek who—I'll not say it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since she is Greek I must forget the word<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sounds the diapason of perfidy.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> My lord thinks of the gentle Helena?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> And if I do?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Why, sir——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">Well?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Nothing: but——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Subtle! your nothing harboreth some theft<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of spial.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sir, I—no—that is——</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 84 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">That is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It does! Must I—persuade it from your throat?<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>Makes to choke him.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> It was of lord Antonio——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Speak then.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Have you not marked him sundry of his moods?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Well?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> On his back in the wood as if the leaves<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sung fairy balladry; then riding wild<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nowhither and alone; about the castle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yearning, yet absent to soft speech and arms!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He'll drink, sir, and not know if it be wine!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> So is he! but to-day he bold unsheathed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His skill and bravery.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">And did not crave</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A boon of you?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 85 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">None. But you put not ill</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My thought to it. His aspiration flags——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Ah, flags.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">New wings it needs and buoyancy.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My trust in him is ripe: the fruit of it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He shall be lord of Arta—total lord.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> He begged no softer boon?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Cunning! again?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sleek questions of a sleeker consequence?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> It was, sir, only of Antonio.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Worm, you began so. Stretch now to the end,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or—will you?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I would say—would ask—and hope</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is no thorny hint in it to vex you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To prick your humor—may not he be sick,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amorous, mellow sick upon some maid?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Have you so labored to this atom's birth?<span class='pagenum'>[ 86 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is a boy's passion so new under the moon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You gape at it?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">But if, sir——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">I had thought</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Would start up in your words some Titan woe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No human catapult could war upon!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some dread colossal doom, frenzied to fall!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were it he's traitor gnawing at my throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or ready with some potent cruelty<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To blight this tenderness new-sprung in me—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would—even have listened!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Noise is heard at the postern. It is unlocked.</i> +<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>enters, and stops in consternation</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Keys? To—this?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> I—have excuse.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Perchance also you have</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Them to my gems and secrecies? Shall I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not show their hiding?—rubies, and fair gold?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 87 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Mistake me not, my lord.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">I could not: you</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have come at midnight—a most honest hour.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enter this postern—a most honest way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And seem most honest—Why, I could not, sir!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> You wrong me, and have wronged me. I but come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To loose my sister.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">As to-day you would</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have loosed her with a piercing—into death?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Rather, could I! Antonio—yet neither.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Since you, not he, are here, my passion melts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into a plea. Humbly as manhood may—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> This fever still?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">This fever! Must I be</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">As ice while soiling flames leap out at her?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And passionless—as one cold in a trance?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rigid while she in stealth is drugged to shame?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be voiceless and be vain, unstung, and still?<span class='pagenum'>[ 88 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must wait softly while her innocence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is drained as virgin freshness from the morn?—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though he were twice Antonio and your son,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An emperor and a god, I would not!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Ever,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And ever bent upon Antonio?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be not a torrent, boy, of rush and foam.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Be not, of roar!—Yet—look: Antonio?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You said Antonio?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Yes.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>troubled</i>): <span style="margin-left: 4em;">You did ill</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To say it! He's my son.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">I care not.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 13em;">Have</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You cause—a ground—some reason? Men should when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Suspicions curve their lips.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Cause! reason!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 14em;">No:</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 89 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He is my son. His flesh has memories<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That would cry out and curdle him to madness,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Palsy and strangle every pregnant wish,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or bring in him compassion like a flood.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> (<i>contemptuous</i>): O——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Never!—Yet, a lurking at my brain!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span>, <i>hurriedly</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> My lord Antonio! my lady! (<i>Seeing</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span>.) O!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>strangely</i>): Come here.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">O, sir!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>taking her wrist</i>): Were you not in a haste?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I—I—I do not know.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Girl!—Why do you</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drop fearful to your knees?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">'Tis late, sir, late,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let me go in!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">You have a mistress who</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 90 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keeps quick temptation in her eyes and hair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A shy mole too lies pillowed on her cheek—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Does she rest well?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">My lord——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Ah, you would say</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">She sometimes walks asleep: and you have come<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To fetch her?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Loose me, sir!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Or she has left</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her kerchief in some nook: you seek it?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">O,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your eyes! your eyes!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">I have a son: are his</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not like them?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">My wrist, sir!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">It was night, then—night?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You could not see him clearly?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Mercy!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>looking about</i>): <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Yet</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 91 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perchance he too walks in his sleep. Were it<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quite well if they have met—these two that walk?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula:</span> My lady, my sweet lady!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>releasing her</i>): <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Go, for she</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still wonderful may lie upon her couch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One arm dropt whitely. If you prayed for her—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If you should pray for her—Something may chance:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is so much may chance—we cannot know!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Paula</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>Disturbed.</i>) This child who hath but dwelt about her, touched<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And coiled the mystery of her hair, has might<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Almost too much!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You cloud me with these words.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were they Antonio's——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">If I but think</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Helena" must you link "Antonio" to it!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can they not be, yet be apart? Will winds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not bear them, and not sound them separate!<span class='pagenum'>[ 92 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">If angels cry one at the stars will they<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But echo back the other?—This is froth—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The froth and fume of folly. You are thick<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In falsity, and in disquietude.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Another rapture rules Antonio's eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not Helena.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You know it—yet have led</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her to his arms?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">His arms! Ah, mole to burrow</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thus under blind and muddy misbelief!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To mine is she come here. (<i>Terribly.</i>) Were he a seraph,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And did from Paradise desire to fold her—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No mercy!—But, I will speak as a child,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As he who woke with Ruth fair at his feet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Long have I gleaned amid the years and lone.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She shall glean softly now beside me—softly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till sunset fail in me and I am night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> This is a gin, a net, and I am fast!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 93 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> A net to snare what never has been free?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Still must it be this tenderness lives false<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon your lips.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> "Must," say you, "must," yet stand——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Then shall he rest—lie easy down and rest In treachery?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> He——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Yes.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">You mean——?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Yes!—yes!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Antonio?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Is it not open?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>confusedly</i>): <span style="margin-left: 6em;">No:</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glooms start around me, glooms that seethe and cling.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 94 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> This maid who called, did she come idly here?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You stir? you rouse?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">A coldness runs in me.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> And have not I come strangely on the hour!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> It 'gins to burn!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Not entered a strange way?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> You pause and ever pause upon my patience.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twill heave unbearably!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Then hear me, hear!—</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Senseless against a bank I found a boy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hurled by some ruthless hoof. Near him this key<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And writing——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Tell it!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">That avows, mid lines</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clandestine of purport, Antonio<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Helena, under these shades at twelve——<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 95 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> You bring on me a furious desolation.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Fulvia, ah, she——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Not there is trust!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">She is aware and aids in his deceit.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This writing says it of her.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Fulvia? No!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">No, no!—Though she had sudden whispers for him!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lie—Yet fast belief fixes its fangs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On me and will not loose me—for against<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My hope she set a coldness and a doubt!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O woman woven through all fibres of me!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>Starting up.</i>) But he——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ah then, it runs in you, the rush</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And pang that answer mine?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>quietly</i>): <span style="margin-left: 3em;">If they are still——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Under these shades?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">And—lips to lips——</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 96 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">Ah, God!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You will?—you will?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hush! something—No, it was</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But fate cried out in me, not any voice.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> We must be swift.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">It cries again. I will</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not listen! He's not flesh of me—not flesh!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A traitor is no son, nor was nor shall be!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though it shriek desolation utterly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will not listen!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Do not!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">And to-day</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">He shook, ashen and clenched, remembering<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The guilty secret in him!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Still he's free.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> My words fell warm as tears—"A rift has come,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A rift, a smile, a breath"—men speak so when<span class='pagenum'>[ 97 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">They creep from madness up into some space<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose element is love.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">And will you sink</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">To a weak palsy—who should o'erwhelm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With penalty!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>rousing</i>): No! all and ever false<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was he who's so when most he should be true!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will make treachery bitter to all time.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring dread on all to whom are given sons!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Down generations shall they peer and tremble,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Look on me as on majesties accursed!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Search every shade—search, search! You stand as death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am in famine till he gives me groan!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>They go in opposite directions.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>, <i>distressed, and</i> <span class="smcap">Giulia</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> He was with Hæmon?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">On that seat.</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 98 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Convulsed,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet passionless?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">His words were low</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Why were</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You not asleep?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Did he beat his hands</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Briefly—and then no more?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">I was behind——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> And could not see? But heard their names?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Greek is still without?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Giulia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">My lady, yes.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Your voice is guilty. How came Hæmon in?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Answer me, answer! No, go quickly! If<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The duke has entered now and sleeps! Or if——!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Words and swords are heard, then a shriek +from</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>. <span class="smcap">Charles</span> <i>rushes in furious</i> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 99 ]</span><i>and wounded in the arm, followed +by</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span>, <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>, <i>who is dazed, and +from the Castle side by</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span>, <i>guards, +etc.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> You, you, sir? father? I knew it not, so swift<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your rage fell on me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>to a guard</i>): Gaping, ghastly fool!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Do you behold him murderous and lay<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No hand on him!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">But, sir——!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Let him not fawn</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">About me! Seize him! God forgives not Hell.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not this blood only but my soul's be on him.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena:</span> O, do not, he——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Stand! stand! Touch me not with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your voice or eyes or being! They are soft<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With perfidy, and stole me to believe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's sweetness in a flower, light in air,<span class='pagenum'>[ 100 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And beauty in the innocence of earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bind him! Leucadia's just cliff awaits<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All traitors—'tis the law, they must be flung<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out on the dizzy and supportless wind.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> But this shall never be! No, though your looks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heave out with hate upon me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>convulsed, then coldly</i>): You are dead,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And speak to me. Once you were Fulvia—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more! And once my friend, now but a ghost<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whom I must gaze upon forgetlessly.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Obey, at once! and at to-morrow's sunset!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<span class="smcap">Antonio</span> <i>is taken and led out</i>.)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Helena</span> (<i>falling at</i> <span class="smcap">Charles'</span> <i>feet</i>): You cannot, will not—O, he is your son<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And loves you much!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Touch me not! touch me not!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span>.) Lead her away—and quickly,<span class='pagenum'>[ 101 ]</span> quickly, quickly! (<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>goes with</i> <span class="smcap">Helena</span> <i>through the postern</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Friends—friends—(<i>unsteadily</i>) I am—quite—friendless now—? (<i>Clutching his wounded arm.</i>) Ah—quite! (<i>He faints.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Charles! Charles! my lord! return!—A numbness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has barred the way of soothing to his breast!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Curtain.</span></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 102 ]</span></p> +<h2>ACT FOUR</h2> + +<div class="sblockquot"> +<p><i>Scene.—A chamber in the Castle, opening on the +right to a hall, curtained on the left from another chamber. In the rear +is a window through which may be seen silvery hills of olive resting +under the late afternoon sun: by it a shrine. Enter the</i> +<span class="smcap">Captain</span> <i>of the Guard and a</i> +<span class="smcap">Soldier</span> <i>from the Hall</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier:</span> There is no more?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Not if you understand.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier:</span> That do I—every link of it! I've served<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under the bold de Montreal, and he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For stratagems—well, Italy knows him!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> You must be quick and secret.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 103 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">As the end</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the world!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> Our duty's with the duke. But then<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio has our love.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">That has he! Ah,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That has he!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> Well, be close. None must escape,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Remember, none be hurt. As for the princess,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We'll hear the chink of ducats with her thanks.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier:</span> Madonna save her!—The Judas of a father<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who robs her rest!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain</span> (<i>looking down the hall</i>): 'Tis she who comes this way.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So go, and haste. But fail not.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">If I do,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bury me with a pagan, next a Turk!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>Goes.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> Princess—<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 104 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our plans grow to fulfilment—are</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">No way misplanted?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Lady, all seems now</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Seasonable for their expected fruit.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> No accident appears to threat and thwart them?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> Doubt not a fullest harvest of your hope.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The duke himself shall for this deed at last<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have benediction.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">May it be! He's quick,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though quicker in forgetting. I will move<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him as I may.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Captain:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The kind and wise assaults</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your words shall make must move him, gracious lady.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> I seek the duke.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 105 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>dismissing</i> <span class="smcap">Captain</span> <i>with a gesture</i>):<br /></span> +<span class="i8">You would seek penitence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were you less far in folly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> (<i>as going</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">O—if he's</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not here, then——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Sorrow too would strain your lips,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not cold defiance.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Pardon: if you know,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where is he?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was it easy to o'erwhelm</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under the ruin of her dreams a sister?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Better beneath her dreams than under shame.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Your rashness cloaks itself in that excuse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your ruth, and your suspicion that has doomed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One innocent.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">One innocent! His thought</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had but betrayal for her!<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 106 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">'Tis the Greek</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">In you avows it, no true voice.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Then 'tis</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My father murdered whose last moan I hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Driven about me in this castle's gray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cold spaces. And the dead speak not to lie.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> No, no. You cannot brave your action with<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The spur of that belief.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">What want you of me?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> This: ache and restlessness are on you.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> (<i>impatiently</i>): <span style="margin-left: 8em;">No.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> And doubt begins in you that as a wolf<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will scent the wounded quarry of your conscience.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> After he lured and wooed her under night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And secrecy?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 107 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Not running there will you</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Escape its dread pursuit.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">He frauded—duped</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">His father's trust!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Or there! But one refuge</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have you against its bitter ceaseless tooth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that above the wilds of self-deceit.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> Why do you wind so sinuously about me?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No refuge can be from an hour that's done.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall we invert the glass or tilt the dial<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bring it back?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">But if there were?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Where is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The duke—I will not bauble.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">If there were?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> I will no longer listen to the worm,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You set to feed upon me—torturing!<span class='pagenum'>[ 108 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun melts to an end, and with the night<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio will not be.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Yet there is time.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> The duke is fixed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">No matter: 'gainst the swell</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And power of this peril you must lean.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> I——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yes.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Hæmon:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">You have a plan?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">One that is sure. (<i>Steps are heard.</i>)</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But through those curtains, quick. For more seek out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Captain of the guard. The duke comes hither.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>goes through the curtains</i>.</p> + +<p class="stdirc2"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> <i>enters, worn, dishevelled, and followed by</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span>. +<i>He sees</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> <i>and pauses</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> I come to plead.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 109 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> (<i>turning away</i>): Ah! Nature should have pled<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With her your mother, 'gainst conception.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Your trust is causelessly withdrawn. Yet for<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A breath again I beg it—for a moment!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> A moment were too much—or not enough.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is trust a flower of sudden birth we may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bid bloom with a command?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Ah, that it were,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or bloomed as amaranth in those we love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beyond all drought and withering of ill!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But hear me——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Leave these words.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Will you not turn</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of this rage?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Leave them, I say, and cease!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still down the vortex of this destiny<span class='pagenum'>[ 110 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I would not farther have you drawn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Then from</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It draw yourself!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Myself am but a hulk</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose treasures have already been engulfed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Yet shrink from it!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">A son, a friend, a—No,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">She was not mine!—I will not turn.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">It is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your fury that distorts us into guilt.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Although he will not render up his heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But flings you stony and unfilial speech,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fearing for her——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Leave!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">We——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Thrice have I said it!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia:</span> Yet must I not until your will is wasted.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 111 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>angrily</i>): Ah!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> <i>sighs then goes slowly</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Cecco!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">My lord?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">The hour?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span> (<i>going to window</i>): <span style="margin-left: 1em;">It leans to sunset.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> The sky—the sky?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">A murk moves slowly up.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>wearily</i>): There should be storm—gloating of wind and grind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of hopeless thunders. Lightnings should laugh out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As tongues of fiends. There should be storm.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>His head sinks on his breast.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i8">(<i>Suddenly.</i>) Yet!—yet!——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> My lord?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The glow and glory of her seem</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dead in me!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of—the Greek?</span><br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 112 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span style="margin-left: 6em;">And yearning has</span></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grown impotent—as 'twere a moment's folly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A left and quickly quenched desire of youth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kindled in me!—To youth alone love's sudden.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> Sir, dare I speak?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Speak.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">When Antonio——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Cease: but a whisper of his name and I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Am frenzy—frenzy—though the stillness burns<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bursts with it!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>steps back. A pause.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The sun, how hangs it now?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span> (<i>going to window</i>): Above the bloody waving of the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eager to dip.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>staggering up</i>): Ah, I was in a foam——<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bitten by hounds of fury and despair!<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 113 ]</span><span class="i0">Did you not, Fulvia, pleading for them say<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They quailed but would not flee and leave me waste?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> She is not here, my liege.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Antonio!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, boy! thou ever wast to me as wafts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of light, of song, of summer on the hills!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soft now I feel thy baby arms about me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the burgeon of thy youth, ere proud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And cruel years grew in me, comes again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On wings and stealing winds of memory!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> O, then, sir——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> Yes. Fly, fly! and stay the guard!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He must not—Ah!—down fearful fathoms, down<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the roar!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>starts. He stops him.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Yet he has flung me from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Immeasurable peaks, and I have sunk<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forevermore beneath hope's horizon.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who falls so close the grave can rise no more.<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 114 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> This your despair would wound him more than death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forget the girl.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">She? Ah, my sullen, wild,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gloomy pulse beat with a rightful scorn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against the hours that sieged it. Stony was<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its solitude and fierce, bastioned against<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All danger of quick blisses—till, with fury<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For that mute tenderness which women's love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lays on the desolation of the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She ravished it!—Yet now 'tis still and cold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> But 'twas unknowingly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">A woman's smile</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never was luring, never, but she knew it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As hawk the cruel rapture of his wings.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco:</span> She though is young, and youth——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles:</span> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Must pay with moan</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shriving!—Ah, the sun—the sun—where burns it?<br /></span> +</div><span class='pagenum'>[ 115 ]</span><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: Upon a cloud whence it must spring to night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: So low?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sir, yes.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ah, 'tis? so low?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Red now</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It rushes forth.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 1em;">A breathing of the world,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then!—Antonio!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Again a cloud</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Withholds.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Antonio!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">It dips, my lord.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>frenzied</i>): O, will great Christ upon it lay no fear!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let it swoon down as if its sinking sent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No signal unto Death—and plunge, plunge thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio, forever from the day!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has He no miracle will seize it yet!<span class='pagenum'>[ 116 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor will lend now His thunder to cry hold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His lightning to flame off the hands that grasp,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bidden to hurl thee o'er!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">'Tis sunk!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>rushing to window</i>): <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes!—Yes! (<i>Starting back horrified.</i>) The vision of it! Ah,—see you not, see!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">They lift him, swing him—Now! down, down, down, down!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rocks! the lash! the foam!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Sinks exhausted in his chair.</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>pours +out wine</i>.)</p> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter hurriedly</i>, <i>a</i> <span class="smcap">Soldier</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Great lord!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">What now!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is ill-timed!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Great lord, there's mutiny!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: And where?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hear me, great sir, there's mutiny!</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 117 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: The town? the town?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>rousing</i>): <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Ay——?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Mutiny! your haste!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: O, mutiny.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Sir, yes!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">And do the ranks</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of hell roar up at me?—It is not strange.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span> (<i>confused</i>): The ranks of—pardon, lord.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Do the skies rage——?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">They were else dead to madness.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Sir, it is</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your guard beyond the gates.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">'Tis every throat</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of earth and realm unearthly has a cry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against me and against!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">No, but a few——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: You doubt it?—Are my eyes not bloody? Say!<span class='pagenum'>[ 118 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: Sir! sir!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: My lips then are not pale with murder<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bitterly done?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Pale—no.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Yet have I killed;</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spoke death with them—not reasonless—yet death.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the lost have echoes of it: hear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You not a spirit clamor on the air?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ploughing as storms of pain it passes through me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mutiny? Go. I could call chaos fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fawn on infinite ruin—fawn and praise.<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Soldier</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet will not yield! (<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span>.) My robes and coronet!<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>goes to obey</i>.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'll sit in them and mock at greatness that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A passion may unthrone. If we weep not<span class='pagenum'>[ 119 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Calamity will leave to torture us,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fate for want of tears will thirst to death!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ah, priestly sir.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Infuriate man!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Speak so.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I lust for bitterness.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">What have you done!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>shuddering, then smiling</i>): Watched the sun set. Did it not, think you, bleed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unwontedly along the waves?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">O horror!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Horrible when a father slays and smiles!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Not so, lord Cardinal, not so!—but when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He slays and smileth not.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Beyond all mercy!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Therefore I smile. Men should not mid the trite<span class='pagenum'>[ 120 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Enchanting and vain trickery of earth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till they no longer hope of it, or want.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smiles should be kept for life's unbearable.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: Murderer!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Ah!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Heretic!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Well.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Goes to shrine and casts it out the window.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Fool! fool!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: There are no wise men, O lord Cardinal.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: Heaven let Antonio's death under the sea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make every wave a tongue against your rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And 'gainst the rock of this impenitence!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<span class="smcap">Charles</span> <i>listens as to something afar off</i>.)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No wind should blow that has not sting of it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No light stream that it stains not!<span class='pagenum'>[ 121 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>sighing</i>): <span style="margin-left: 4em;">You have loosed</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your robe, lord prelate—see.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">O stone! thou stone!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Have peace. A keener cry comes up to me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than frenzy can invoke: a vaster pain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than justice from Omnipotence may call.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: My lips shall learn it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: "Father" moans it. "Father!"——<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is my ears' inheritance forever.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Fulvia</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Lord Cardinal, one of your servants has<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In quarrel been struck, and mortally 'tis feared.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quickly to him: then I may plead of you<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Escort to Rome.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">I do not understand.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: But shall.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">To Rome?</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 122 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Do not pause here to learn</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">With the dear minutes of a dying man.<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Cardinal</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: You baffle and bewilder.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Well.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">You—?—Yes!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am beat off by it.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Ten years of shelter</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have you held over me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Ten years——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Whose days,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose every moment else had borne a torture.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Now——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">I, perhaps, must go.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Must?—Still I grope.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Must go! Though in this castle's aged calm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And melancholy dusk no shadow is<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or niche but may remember prayer for thee.<span class='pagenum'>[ 123 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: To Rome? You must?—I am under a spell.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: We, thou and I, after the battle's foam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or chase's tired return, often have breathed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The passionate deep hours away in rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And sympathy.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Say on. Your voice—I marvel——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: And at the dawn have looked and sighed, then slow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With quiet clasp of fingers turned apart.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: You go?—But, on!—your tone—in it I feel——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Have we not fast been friends?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">What hath your voice?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Such friends have we not been as grow up from<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eternity?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You say it, and I wake.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Such friends—till yesterday you——<span class='pagenum'>[ 124 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 14em;">Ah!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Changed sudden as the sea when cometh storm.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: I had forgot—forgot!—the sun!—the sea!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sea!—Antonio!—The cliff—the surf!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shroud and funeral fury of the waves!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Be calm.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>rising excitedly</i>): I'll stay it! Cecco, our fleetest foot!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A rain of ducats if he shall outspeed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This doom on us. More! more! a flood of them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If he——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span> (<i>drawing him to his chair</i>): Be patient—calm.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">I—I—remember,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis night!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yes, night.</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 125 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">The sun's no more! It hath</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gone down beyond all mercy and recall.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Beyond?—Ah!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>quickly</i>): Fulvia?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">'Tis hard to think!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: You utter and he seemeth still of life.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: He was a child in mimic mail clad out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When first this threshold poured its welcome to me.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Softly you muse it, and call to your eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No quailing nor a flame of execration!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You do not burst out on me? from me do<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not shrink as from an executioner?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: I am a woman who in tears came to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your strength, in tears depart.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">And will not judge?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">But fear me—fear, and flee?—You shall not go!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Perhaps<span class='pagenum'>[ 126 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Again "perhaps"—this calm "perhaps!"——<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Rome?—I say you shall not.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Yet should he,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio, from those curtains come——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Should—should?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You speak not reasonably. Why do you say<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"If he should come?"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Because——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">You've touched</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And led me trembling from reality!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Those curtains?—those?—just those?—You shall not go.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: I will not then.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">But something breaks from you,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as an air of resurrection stirs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Speak; on your words I wait unutterably.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Did not a soldier lately come, my lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Breathless with eager speech of mutiny——?<span class='pagenum'>[ 127 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Well—well——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Within your guard?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">My guard? No—yes——</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">What do I see yet cannot in your words?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: The mutiny was roused at my command.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Say it—say all!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">To save you the mad blot</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of a son's blood.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Antonio——?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Lives!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Low—low——</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Joy come too furious has piercing peril.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He lives?—You have done this? With these soft hands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These little hands, held off the shears of Fate?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Have dared? and have not feared?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Your danger was</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">My fear—that, and no more.<span class='pagenum'>[ 128 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">He lives?—I have</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">No worth, no gratitude, no gift that may<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Answer this deed—no glow, no eloquence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But would ring poor in rarest words of earth.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He lives?—Years yet are mine. Too brief they'll be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To muse with love of this!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">No, no, my lord.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: But where is he? Belief, tho' risen, strains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In me as if 'twere fast in cerements<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That seeing must unbind.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Turn then, and see.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<span class="smcap">Antonio</span> <i>steps from the curtains</i>.)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Antonio!—boy! boy!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">My father! (<i>They embrace.</i>)</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Re-enter</i> <span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Princess,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">If your decision and desire are still——<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Sees</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>.)<span class='pagenum'>[ 129 ]</span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: Your eyes look upon flesh, lord Cardinal.<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>A cry is heard, then weeping.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>startled</i>): Whose pain is this?—strangely it hurts me—strangely!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>hastily, bearing robe and coronet</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: My lord, the lady Helen's little maid——<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Sees</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>. <i>Shrinks from him.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: What of her? Are you horrified to stone!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her maid?—There are than risen dead worse things<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And worse to dread!—her maid?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">Sir——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Forth with it!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">She direness of her mistress brings? some tale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That earth elsewhere abyssless gaped her up?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That butterfly or bud turn asp to bite her?<span class='pagenum'>[ 130 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cecco</span>: Sir—she—the maid craves audience with the duke.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Fetch her, and quickly.<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<span class="smcap">Cecco</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Reason, Antonio.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">She will but whimper, tell what overmuch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of grief her mistress makes for you: of tears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your sunny coming will dry in her.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>putting her aside</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">These</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hours come not of any good, but are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Infected with resolved adversity.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This dread!——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 1em;">They ever dread who have but quit</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The shadow of some doom and the dismay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Re-enter</i> <span class="smcap">Cecco</span>, <i>with</i> <span class="smcap">Paula</span> <i>weeping</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Girl! girl! Thy mistress?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span> (<i>shrinking</i>): <span style="margin-left: 8em;">O!——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">I am no ghost.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy mistress?<span class='pagenum'>[ 131 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Mary, Mother! (<i>Sinks praying.</i>)</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>lifting her up</i>): Look on me. See!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I have not been down in the grave, nor ev'n<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A moment beyond earth. Do you not hear!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span> (<i>looking at him</i>): Sir!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Tell me.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span> (<i>hysterically</i>): <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Go to her, O, go to her.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: But, child——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">She, O!—go seek her, O, she is——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Where, Paula?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: Blind all day she moaned and wept.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: My Helena!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">And when the sun was gone,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came quiet, kissed me—O, go seek her, sir!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Kissed you——?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then to me gave these jewels. O!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And darkly cloaked stole out into the night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Alone?<span class='pagenum'>[ 132 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whither, quick, whither?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: <span style="margin-left: 11em;">Ah, I do</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not know: but she——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Pray, pray, tell out your dread.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: Last night she said, "My heart is in my lord<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio's to beat or cease with it."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I learned her words—they seemed so pretty.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Charles (<i>gasping</i>): <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Ah!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: Why do you gasp?—Paula——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">If she—the cliff!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: The cliff! The—?<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>Staggers dizzily, then rushes out.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Let one go with him—bring</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Us what hath passed—hath passed.<br /></span> +<span class="r0">(<i>A</i> <span class="smcap">Soldier</span> <i>goes</i>.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span> (<i>with uncontrollable terror</i>): My lady!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Child,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">I cannot bear thy voice upon my heart!<span class='pagenum'>[ 133 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">It hath a tone—a clutch—no more, no more!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I cannot bear it! We must wait. No hap<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has been—no hap, I think—surely no hap.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Bardas</span> <i>deprecatingly, followed by</i> <span class="smcap">Antonio</span>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: Antonio! not in the sea? You live?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: I say, where is she?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">You are mortal?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>groaning with impatience</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">O</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This utter superstition! (<i>Pricking his arm.</i>) Is it not blood?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: You live! and live? but let her think your death!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You let her! still devising for yourself<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Safety and preservation!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">She's not safe?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: O, safe—if she had shrift!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>hoarsely</i>): <span style="margin-left: 3em;">The dead are so!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: Ay, so.<span class='pagenum'>[ 134 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: And none above the grave?—no answer?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: She came unto the cliff amid her tears—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her being all into one want was fused,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You down the wave to follow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">But you grasped——?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">You held her?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Then—well?</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">She had a phial.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: God! God!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Out of her breast she drew it swift,</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">And instant of it drank.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Drank? and she fell?</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">No?—no?—Ah but you dashed it from her lips?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She did but taste?——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: Only: and then——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">More? more?</span><span class='pagenum'>[ 135 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: "Is 't not enough," she pled to me, "Enough<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That I must wander the cold way of death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unto his arms? Go hence! There is no rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will go down and clasp him, drift with him<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To some unhabited gray ocean vale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God hath forgot. There will we dwell away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From destiny and weeping, from despair!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: You left her?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 5em;">As I held her piteous hand</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came revellers who saw us—jested her<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of taking a new love. She broke my grasp——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: And leapt?—down the wide air?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Swifter than all</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prevention.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Helena! O Helena!</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">That all thy loveliness should fare to this,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy glory go in dark calamity!<span class='pagenum'>[ 136 ]</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: I saw her as she leapt and until death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall see no more.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Antonio</span> (<i>drawing</i>): Blot it from you! Her face,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her sorrow and her fairness shall not stand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imprisoned in your eye, tho' 'twere to cry<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Relentlessly your crime.—But no—but no!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Sheathing his sword, he pauses, then staggers suddenly out.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span>: Let me go to my lady!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 8em;">Still her! She</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forever hath a fluttering, a cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Undurably. It presses the lone air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With sensitive and aching agony.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Paula</span> (<i>witlessly, in tears</i>): I know thy song, my lady, I know, I know!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twas pretty and 'twas strange, but now I know.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">(<i>Sings.</i>) Sappho! Sappho!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">In maiden woe<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'>[ 137 ]</span><span class="i2">(Let alone love, it spurns and burns!)<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Wept—wept, and leapt—<br /></span> +<span class="i6">O love is so!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">(Let alone love, it burns!)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My lady! O my lady! my sweet lady!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>She is led out.</i>)</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: This is most sad—most sad, and pitiful.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: I cannot bear her voice upon my heart<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdirc"><i>Enter</i> <span class="smcap">Agabus</span> <i>gazing into the air</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Again this monk? this dog of death?—and now?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Agabus</span>: My trusty Shadow (<i>Laughs madly.</i>) Ha, he has been here!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My king o' the worms and all corruption!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>Approaching</i> <span class="smcap">Charles</span>.) Lovers, and lovers! O she leapt as 'twere<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Christ and not sin's Pit! And he is gone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To follow her! The devil's nine wits are<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Too many!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="stdir">(<i>Wanders about.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'>[ 138 ]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: My lord! Your limbs are frozen,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bloodlessly you stand! Move, rouse, O breathe!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It is not truth but madness that he speaks.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="stdir"><p>(<i>A cry and clanking of armor are heard +in the Hall. A</i> <span class="smcap">Soldier</span> <i>bursts into the chamber</i>.)</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: O duke! O duke! (<i>Sinks to his knee.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: (<i>gazes at him, struggling to speak</i>): Rise—go—and, if thou canst—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To pray.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: O sir——!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: <span style="margin-left: 4em;">You have no tidings.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Soldier</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Sir——</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>desperately</i>): None, fool! but come to say what silence groans,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What earth numb and in deadness raves to me.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To tell Antonio hath gone out and o'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A precipice hath stepped for sake of love.<span class='pagenum'>[ 139 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">This is not tidings—hath it not on me<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Been fixed forever? It is older than<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Despair, as old as pain! (<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Hæmon</span>, <i>who has entered</i>.) Your sister——<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Bardas</span>: <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Hæmon——!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cardinal</span>: Hold him not in this anguish.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 10em;">She and our</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Antonio have left us to our tears.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="stdir"><p>(<span class="smcap">Hæmon</span> <i>stands motionless</i>.)</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span>: Let no one groan. I say let no one groan—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fury on him that groans! (<i>He blindly rocks to and fro.</i>)<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Fulvia</span>: <span style="margin-left: 7em;">My lord!</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Charles</span> (<i>taking her hand</i>): <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Well—come.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i3">(<i>As in a trance.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's much to do. We will think of the dead.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Perchance 'twill keep them near us: speak to them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And they may answer while we wait, may float<span class='pagenum'>[ 140 ]</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dim words on moonbeams to us. O for one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That shall sound of forgiveness and of rest!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">(<i>More wildly.</i>)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O I have started on the mountain's brow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A tremor that has loosed the avalanche;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And penitence too late—too late—too late—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was powerless as flowers along its path!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="stdir"><p>(<i>He sinks back into his chair and stares +hopelessly before him.</i>)</p></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Curtain.</span></h4> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles Di Tocca, by Cale Young Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES DI TOCCA *** + +***** This file should be named 34055-h.htm or 34055-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/0/5/34055/ + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Charles Di Tocca + A Tragedy + +Author: Cale Young Rice + +Release Date: October 11, 2010 [EBook #34055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES DI TOCCA *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + _CHARLES DI TOCCA_ + + _A Tragedy_ + + _By_ + + _Cale Young Rice_ + + + _McClure, Phillips & Co._ + _New York_ + 1903 + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY + CALE YOUNG RICE + + Published, March, 1903, R + + + + _To My Wife_ + + + + _CHARLES DI TOCCA_ + + + + +CHARLES DI TOCCA + +_A Tragedy_ + + + CHARLES DI TOCCA _Duke of Leucadia, Tyrant of Arta, etc._ + ANTONIO DI TOCCA _His son._ + HAEMON _A Greek noble._ + BARDAS _His friend._ + CARDINAL JULIAN _The Pope's Legate._ + AGABUS _A mad monk._ + CECCO _Seneschal of the Castle._ + FULVIA COLONNA _Under the duke's protection._ + HELENA _Sister to Haemon._ + GIULIA _Serving Fulvia._ + PAULA _Serving Helena._ + LYGIA } + PHAON } _Revellers._ + ZOE } + BASIL } + + NARDO, a boy, and DIOGENES, a philosopher. + + A Captain of the Guard, Soldiers, Guests, Attendants, etc. + + _Time_: _Fifteenth Century._ + + + + +ACT ONE + + +_Scene._--_The Island Leucadia. A ruined temple of Apollo near the town +of Pharo. Broken columns and stones are strewn, or stand desolately +about. It is night--the moon rising. ANTONIO, who has been waiting +impatiently, seats himself on a stone. By a road near the ruins FULVIA +enters, cloaked._ + + ANTONIO (_turning_): Helen----! + + FULVIA: A comely name, my lord. + + ANTONIO: Ah, you? + My father's unforgetting Fulvia? + + FULVIA: At least not Helena, whoe'er she be. + + ANTONIO: And did I call you so? + + FULVIA: Unless it is + These stones have tongue and passion. + + ANTONIO: Then the night + Recalling dreams of dim antiquity's + Heroic bloom worked on me.--But whence are + Your steps, so late, alone? + + FULVIA: From the Cardinal, + Who has but come. + + ANTONIO: What comfort there? + + FULVIA: With doom + The moody bolt of Rome broods over us. + + ANTONIO: My father will not bind his heresy? + + FULVIA: You with him walked to-day. What said he? + + ANTONIO: I? + With him to-day? Ah, true. What may be done? + + FULVIA: He has been strange of late and silent, laughs, + Seeing the Cross, but softly and almost + As it were some sweet thing he loved. + + ANTONIO (_absently_): As if + 'Twere some sweet thing--he laughs--is strange--you say? + + FULVIA: Stranger than is Antonio his son, + Who but for some expectancy is vacant. + (_She makes to go._) + + ANTONIO: Stay, Fulvia, though I am not in poise. + Last night I dreamed of you: in vain you hovered + To reach me from the coil of swift Charybdis. + + (_A low cry, ANTONIO starts._) + + Fulvia: A woman's voice! + (_Looking down the road._) + And hasting here! + + ANTONIO: Alone? + + FULVIA: No, with another! + + ANTONIO: Go, then, Fulvia. + 'Tis one would speak with me. + + FULVIA: Ah? (_She goes._) + +_Enter HELENA frightedly with PAULA._ + + HELENA: Antonio! + + ANTONIO: My Helena, what is it? You are wan + And tremble as a blossom quick with fear + Of shattering. What is it? Speak. + + HELENA: Not true! + O, 'tis not true! + + ANTONIO: What have you chanced upon? + + HELENA: Say no to me, say no, and no again! + + ANTONIO: Say no, and no? + + HELENA: Yes; I am reeling, wrung, + With one glance o'er the precipice of ill! + Say his incanted prophecies spring from + No power that's more than frenzied fantasy! + + ANTONIO: Who prophesies? Who now upon this isle + More than visible and present day + Can gather to his eye? Tell me. + + HELENA: The monk-- + Ah, chide me not!--mad Agabus, who can + Unsphere dark spirits from their evil airs + And show all things of love or death, seized me + As hither I stole to thee. With wild looks + And wilder lips he vented on my ear + Boding more wild than both. "Sappho!" he cried, + "Sappho! Sappho!" and probed my eyes as if + Destiny moved dark-visaged in their deeps. + Then tore his rags and moaned, "So young, to cease!" + Gazed then out into awful vacancy; + And whispered hotly, following his gaze, + "The Shadow! Shadow!" + + ANTONIO: This is but a whim, + A sudden gloomy surge of superstition. + Put it from you, my Helena. + + HELENA: But he + Has often cleft the future with his ken, + Seen through it to some lurking misery + And mar of love: or the dim knell of death + Heard and revealed. + + ANTONIO: A witless monk who thinks + God lives but to fulfil his prophecies! + + HELENA: You know him not. 'Tis told in youth he loved + One treacherous, and in avenge made fierce + Treaty with Hell that lends him sight of all + Ills that arise from it to mated hearts! + Yet look not so, my lord! I'll trust thine eyes + That tell me love is master of all times, + And thou of all love master! + + ANTONIO: And of thee? + Then will the winds return unto the night + And flute us lover songs of happiness! + + HELENA: Nor dare upon a duller note while here + We tryst beneath the moon? + + ANTONIO: My perfect Greek! + Athene looks again out of thy lids, + And Venus trembles in thy every limb! + + HELENA: Not Venus, ah, not Venus! + + ANTONIO: Now; again? + + HELENA: 'Twas on this temple's ancient gate she found + Wounded Adonis dead, and to forget, + Like Sappho leaped, 'tis said, from yonder cliff + Down to the waves' oblivion below. + + ANTONIO: And will you read such terror in a tale? + + HELENA: Forgive me, then. + + ANTONIO: Surely you are unstrung, + And yet there is---- (_Turns away from her._) + + HELENA: Is what? Antonio? + + ANTONIO: Nothing: I who must ebb with you and flow + A little was moved. + + HELENA: Not you, not you! I'll change + My tears to laughter, if but fantasy + May so unmettle you! Not moved, indeed! + Not moved, Antonio? + + ANTONIO: Well, let us off, + My Helena, with these numb awes that wind + About our joy. + + HELENA: Thy kiss then, for it can + Drive all gloom out of the world! + + ANTONIO: And thine, my own, + On Fate's hard brow would shame it of all frown! + + HELENA: Yet is thine mightier, for no frown can be + When no more gloom's in the world! + + ANTONIO: But 'tis thy lips + That lend it might. If I pressed other---- + + HELENA: Other! + You should not know that any other lips + Could e'er be pressed; I'll have no kiss but his + Who is all blind to every mouth but mine! + (_Breaks from him._) + + ANTONIO: Oh?--Well. + + HELENA: "Oh--well?"--Then it is well I go! + + ANTONIO: Perhaps. + + HELENA: "Perhaps!" (_Makes to go._) + + ANTONIO: Good-night. + + HELENA (_returning_): Antonio----? + + ANTONIO: Ah! still----? + + HELENA: There's gloom in the world again. + + ANTONIO (_kissing her_): 'Tis gone? + + HELENA: Not all, I think. + + ANTONIO: Two for so small a gloom? + (_Kisses her again._) + + HELENA: So small! + + ANTONIO: And still you sigh? + + HELENA: The vainest glooms + To-night seem ominous--as cloud-flakes flung + Upward before the heaving of the west. + (_In fright_) Oh! + + ANTONIO: Helena! + + HELENA: See, see! 'tis Agabus! + +_Enter AGABUS unkempt and distracted._ + + AGABUS: O--lovers! lovers! Lord have none of them! + + ANTONIO: Good monk---- + + AGABUS: O--yes, yes, yes. You'd give me gold + To pray for your two souls. (_Crossing himself._) Not I! Not I! + Know you not love is brewed of lust and fire? + It gnaws and burns, until the Shadow--Sir, (_Searching about the + air._) + Have you not seen a Shadow pass? + + ANTONIO: A Shadow? + + AGABUS: Silent and cold. A-times they call him Death: + I'd have him for my brain--it shakes with fever. + (_Goes searching anxiously._ + + HELENA: Antonio---- + + ANTONIO: You're calm? + + HELENA: Yes, very calm-- + Of impotence--as one who in a tomb + Awakes and waits? + + ANTONIO: He is but mad. + + HELENA: But mad. + + ANTONIO: Yet fear you? still? + + (_A shout is heard._) + + HELENA: Who is it? soldiers come + From Arta? + + ANTONIO: Yes. + + HELENA: And by this road!--They must + Not see us! + + ANTONIO: No. But quick, within this breach! + + (_They conceal themselves in the breach. The soldiers pass + across the stage. The last, as all shout "DI TOCCA!" + strikes a column near him. It falls, and HELENA starts + forward shuddering._) + + HELENA: Fallen! Ah, fallen! See, Antonio! + + ANTONIO: What now! + + HELENA (_swaying_): It is as if the earth were wind + Under my feet! + + ANTONIO: Are all things thus become + Omen and dread to you? + + HELENA: O, but it is + The pillar grieving Venus leant upon + Ere to forget she leapt, and wrote, + When falls this pillar tall and proud + Let surest lovers weave their shroud. + + ANTONIO: Mere myth! + + HELENA: The shroud! It coldly winds about us--coldly! + + ANTONIO: Should a vain hap so desperately move you? + + HELENA: The breath and secret soul of all this night + Are burdened with foreboding! And it seems-- + + ANTONIO: You must not, Helena! + + HELENA: My love, my lord-- + Touch me lest I forget my natural flesh + In this unnatural awe! (_He takes her to him._) + Ah how thy arms + Warm the cold moan and misery of fear + Out of my veins! + + ANTONIO: You rave, but in me stir + Again the attraction of these dim portents. + Nay, quiver not! 'tis but a passing mist, + And this that runs in us is worthless dread! + + HELENA: But ah, the shroud! the shroud! + + ANTONIO: We'll weave no shroud, + But wedding robes and wreaths and pageantry! + And you shall be my Sappho--but through joys + Such as shall legend ecstasy about + Our knitted names when distant lovers dream. + + HELENA: I'll fear no more, then---- + + ANTONIO: Yet? + + HELENA: My lord, let us + Unloose this strangling secrecy and be + Open in love. My brother, Haemon, let + Our hearts betrothed exchange and hope be told + Him and thy father! + + ANTONIO: This cannot be--now + + HELENA: It cannot be, and you a god? I'll bow + Before your eyes no more!--say that it can! + + ANTONIO: Not yet--not now. Haemon's suspicious, quick, + And melancholy: must be won with service. + And you are Greek, a name till yesterday + I never knew pass in the portal to + My father's ear, but it came out his mouth + Headlong and dark with curses. + + HELENA: Yet of late + He oft has smiled upon me as he passed. + + ANTONIO: On you--my father? O, he only dreamt, + And saw you not. + + HELENA: Then have you also dreamt! + He looked as you, when, moonlight in my hair, + You call me---- + + ANTONIO: Stay: I'll call you so no more. + + HELENA: You'll call me so no more? + + ANTONIO: No more. + + HELENA: Why do + You say so--is it kind? + + ANTONIO: Why?--why? Because + Words were they miracles of beauty could + As little reveal you as a taper's ray + The lone profundity and space of night! + + HELENA: And yet---- + + ANTONIO: And yet? + + HELENA: I'll hold you not too false + If sometimes they trip out upon your lips. + + ANTONIO: Or to my father's eye? + + HELENA: If he but look + Upon me for thy sake. + + ANTONIO: He smiled, you say? + + HELENA: Gently, as one might in forgetting pain. + + ANTONIO: Perhaps: for some unwonted softness seems + Near him. But yesterday he called for song, + Dancing and wine. + + HELENA: Then tell him! These are years + So dyed in crime that secrecy must seem + Yoke-mate of guilt. + + ANTONIO: Fear has bewitched you--shame! + + HELENA: Antonio, love's wave has cast us high + I would do all lest now it turn to fate + Under our feet and draw us out---- + + ANTONIO: 'Twill not! + +_Enter PAULA._ + + PAULA: My lady, some one comes. + + HELENA: And is the world + Not space enough but he must needs come here! + If it were----? + + ANTONIO: Haemon?--'Twere perhaps not ill. + + HELENA: I know not! Broodings smoulder from his moods + Feverous bitter. + + ANTONIO: Kindness then shall quench them. + But now, away. Forget this dread and be you + By day my lark, by night my nightingale, + Not a sad bird of boding! + + HELENA: With the day + All will be well. + + ANTONIO: Remember then you are + Only a little slept from your life's shore + Out on the infinite of love, whose air + Is awe and mystery. + + HELENA: I go, my lord. + Think of me oft! + + ANTONIO (_taking her in his arms_): My Helena! + + (_She goes with PAULA. He steps aside and watches the + approaching forms._) + + 'Tis Haemon! + My father! + +_Enter CHARLES friendly, with HAEMON._ + + CHARLES: So, no farther? you'll stop here? + + HAEMON: Sir, if you grant it. I---- + + CHARLES (_twittingly_): Some rendezvous? + Who is she? Ah, young blood and Spring and night! + + HAEMON: No rendezvous, my lord. + + CHARLES: Some lay then you + Would muse on? + + HAEMON: Yes, a lay. + + CHARLES: And one of love? + The word, you see, founts easy to my lips. + (_With confidential archness._) 'Tis recent in my thought--as + you will learn. + + HAEMON: How, sir, and when? + + CHARLES: O, when? Be not surprised!-- + Well, to the lay! + (_He goes._ + + HAEMON: Cruel! His soldiers waste + The bread of honesty, the hope of age! + Are drunken, bloody, indolent, and lust + To tear all innocence away and robe + Our loveliest in shame!--Yet me, a Greek, + He suddenly befriends! + + ANTONIO (_coming forward_): Haemon---- + + HAEMON: Ah, you? + + ANTONIO: There's room between your tone and courtesy. + + HAEMON: And shall be while I'm readier to bend + Over a beggar's pain than prince's fingers. + + ANTONIO: And yet you know me better---- + + HAEMON: Than to believe + You're not Antonio, son of Charles di Tocca? + + ANTONIO: I'd be your friend. + + HAEMON: So would he: and he smiles. + + ANTONIO: There are deep reasons for it. + + HAEMON: With him too! + Against a miracle, you are his heir! + + ANTONIO: I think it would be well for you to listen. + My confidence once curbed---- + + HAEMON: May bite and paw? + Let it! for fools are threats, and cowards. Were + You Tamerlane and mine the skull should cap + A bloody pyramid of enemies, + I'd----! + + ANTONIO: Hear me. Will you be so blind? + + HAEMON: To your + Fair graces? No, my lord--not so. Your sword + And doublet are sublimely worn! sublimely! + Your curls would tempt an empress' fingers, and---- + + ANTONIO: Why is my anger silent? + + HAEMON: Let it speak + And not this subtle pride! You would be friend, + A friend to me--a friend!--Did not your father + Into a sick and sunless keep cast mine + Because he was a Greek and still a Greek, + And would not be a slave? His cunning has + Not whispered death about him as a pest? + He--he, my friend? and you?--And I on him + Should lean, and flatter----? + + ANTONIO: Cease: though he has stains + The times are tyrannous and men like beasts + Find mercy preservation's enemy. + You're heated with suspicion and old wrong, + But take my hand as pledge---- + + HAEMON (_refusing it_): That you'll be false? + +_Enter BARDAS._ + + BARDAS: I've sought you, Haemon. Antonio? We are + Well met then: to your doors my want was bent + With a request. + + ANTONIO: Which gladly I shall hear + And if I can will grant. + + BARDAS: My haste is blunt-- + As is my tongue. + + HAEMON: Then yield it us at once, + Our mood is so. + + BARDAS: Haemon, I love your sister. + Not love: I am idolatrous before + Her foot's least print, and cannot breathe or pray + But where she's sometime been and left a heaven! + + HAEMON: Therefore you'll cry it maudlin at the streets? + + BARDAS: Necessity's not over delicate. + Antonio, sue for me. You have been apt + In all love's skill they say. My oath on it + Your words once sown upon her listening + Would not lie fruitless did they bid her yield + More than her most. + + HAEMON: Bardas! Do you--Does such + Unseemliness run in your thought? + + BARDAS: Peace, Haemon. + Antonio, speak. + + ANTONIO: You're strange in this request. + Helena, whom I've seen, would little thank + The eyes that told her own where they should love. + + BARDAS: I saved your life, my lord. + + ANTONIO: And I've besought + Occasion oft for loaning of some chance + Worthily to repay you. If 'tis this, + I am distrest. I cannot plead your suit. + + BARDAS: You cannot or you will not? + + ANTONIO: I have said. + Ask me for service on your foes, for gold, + Faith or devotion, friendship you're aloof to, + For all that will and honor well may render + With nicety, and I'll be wings and heart, + More--drudge to your desire. + + HAEMON: Nobly, my lord! + Bardas, you must atone---- + + BARDAS: Peace, Haemon. + + HAEMON: Peace + Is goad and gall! Why do you burn my cheek + With this indignity? + + BARDAS: Do you ask why? (_to ANTONIO._) + A little since one of your father's guard + Gave his command in seal to Helena + Upon the streets, to instantly repair + Unto his halls--which she must henceforth _honor_. + You knew it not? + + ANTONIO: My father? + + BARDAS: O, well feigned. + Be sure none will suspect he is too old + For knightly feat like this--and that he has + A son! + + ANTONIO: To Helena! my father! sealed! + + HAEMON: Bardas, you bring the truth?--And so, my lord, + You stab me through another--you, my _friend_? + + ANTONIO (_to BARDAS_): Do you mean that----? + + BARDAS: Until this hour I held + The race of Charles di Tocca bold, or other + But empty of all lies in deed or speech, + It grows--a little low? + + ANTONIO: Why you are mad! + Are mad! I'm naked of this thing, and hide + No guilt behind the wonder of my face. + For Paradises brimming with all Beauty + I would not lay one fancy's weight of shame + On her you name! + + BARDAS: A pretty protest--but + A breath too heavenly. + + ANTONIO: Leave sneering there! + You have repaid yourself--cast on me words + Intolerable more than loss of life. + You both shall learn this night's entangling. + But know, between her, Helena, and shame + I burn with flaming heart and fearless hand! + (_Goes angrily._ + + HAEMON: He can be false and wear this mien of truth? + + BARDAS: I'll not believe! + + HAEMON: But, what: my sister seized? + + BARDAS: Ah, what!--"He burns with flaming heart!"--have we + No flesh to understand this passion then? + Bound to the wings of wide ambition he + Will choose undowered worth?--To the ordeal + Of mere suspicion's flaming I'd not trust + The fairness of his name; but doubts in me + Are sunk with proofs. + + HAEMON: No, no! + + BARDAS: Unyielding. + + HAEMON: Proof? + He could not. No! he dare not! + + BARDAS: Yet the rogue + Cecco, the duke's half-seneschal, half-spy, + I passed upon the streets o'ermuch in wine, + Leaning upon a tipsier jade and spouting + With drunken mockery, + + "'Sweet Helena! Fair Helena!' Pluck me, wench, but the lord Antonio + knows sound nuts! And sly! Why hear you now! he gets the duke to + seize on the maid! The fox! The rat! Have I not heard him in his + chamber these thirty nights puff her name out his window with as + many honeyed drawls of passion as--as--as--June has buds? 'Sweet + Helena!'--la! 'Fair Helena!'--O! 'Dear Helena! my rose! my queen! + my sun and moon and stars! Thy kiss is still at my lips, thy breast + beats still on mine! my Helena!'--Um! Oh, 'tmust be a rare damsel. + I'll make a sluice between her purse and mine, wench; do you hear?" + + HAEMON: Well--well? + + BARDAS: No more. When I had struck him down, + He swore it was unswerving all and truth. + Hasting to warn I found Helena ta'en + And sought you here. + + HAEMON (_grasping his brows_): Ah! + + BARDAS: Helena who is + All purity! + + HAEMON: Ah sister, child!--Have I + With strength been father and with tenderness + A mother been to her unfolding years + But to see now unchastest cruelty + Pluck her white bloom to ease his idle sense + One fragrant hour?--If it be so, no flowers + Should blossom; only weeds whose withering + Can hurt no heart! + + BARDAS: These tears should seal fierce oaths + Against him! + + HAEMON: And they shall! until God wrecks + Him in the tempest raised of his outrage! + + BARDAS: Then may I be the rock on which he breaks! + But hear; who comes? (_Revellers are heard approaching._) + We must aside until + This mirth is past. (_They conceal themselves._) + +_Enter revellers dressed as bacchanals and bacchantes, dancing and +singing._ + + Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo! + The vine! a fig for the rest! + With locks green-crowned and lips red-warm-- + The vine! the vine's the best! + He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo! + The vine! a maiden's breast! + He pressed the grape, and kissed the maid!-- + The cuckoo builds no nest! + + (_All go dancing, except LYDIA and PHAON, who clasps and + kisses her passionately_) + + LYDIA (_breaking from him_): Do you think kisses are so cheap? You + must know mine fill my purse! A pretty gallant from Naples, with + laces and silks and jewels gave me this ring last year for but one. + And another lover from Venice gave me this (_a bracelet_)--but he + looked so sad when he gave it. Ah, his eyes! I'd not have cared if + he had given me naught. + + PHAON: Here, here, then! (_Offers jewel._) + + LYDIA (_putting it aside_): They say the ladies in Venice ride with + their lovers through the streets all night in boats: and the very + moon shines more passionately there. Is it true? + + PHAON: Yes, yes. But kiss me, Lydia! Take this jewel--my last. Be + mine to-night, no other's! We'll prate of Venice another time. + + LYDIA: Another time we'll prate of kisses. I'll not have the jewel. + + PHAON: Not have it! Now you're turning nun! a soft and virgin, silly + nun! With a gray gown to hide these shoulders that--shall I whisper + it? + + LYDIA: Devil! they're not! A nice lover called them round and + fair last night. And I've been sick! And--I--cruel! cruel! cruel! + (_Revellers are heard returning._) There, they're coming. + + PHAON: Never mind, my girl. But you mustn't scorn a man's blood when + it's afire. + +_Re-enter Revellers singing_ + + Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo! etc. + (_After which all go, except ZOE and BASIL._ + + ZOE: O! O! O! but 'tis brave! Wine, Basil! Wine, my knight, my + Bacchus! Ho! ho! my god! you wheeze like a cross-bow. Is it years, + my wooer, years?--Ah! (_She sighs._) + + BASIL: Sighs--sighs! Now look for showers. + + ZOE: Basil--you were my first lover--except the duke Charles. Ah, + did you see how that Helena looked when they gave her the duke's + command? I was like that once. (_HAEMON starts forward._) + + BASIL: Fiends, nymphs and saints! it's come! tears in your eyes! + Zoe, stop it. Would you have mine leak and drive me to a monastery + for shelter! + + ZOE (_sings sadly and absently_): + + She lay by the river, dead, + A broken reed in her hand + A nymph whom an idle god had wed + And led from her maidenland. + + BASIL: O, had I been born a heathen! + + ZOE: He told me, Basil, I should live, a great lady, at his castle. + And they should kiss my hand and courtesy to me. He meant but + jest--I feared.--I feared! But--I loved him! + + BASIL: Now, my damsel--! + + ZOE (_sings_): + + The god was the great god Jove, + Two notes would the bent reed blow, + The one was sorrow, the other love + Enwove with a woman's woe. + + BASIL: Songs and snakes! Give me instead a Dominican's funeral! + I'd as lief crawl bare-kneed to Rome and mouth the Pope's heel. + O blessed Turks with their remorseless harems!--Zoe! + + ZOE (_sings_): + + She lay by the river dead; + And he at feasting forgot. + The gods, shall they be disquieted + By dread of a mortal's lot? + + (_She wipes her eyes, trembles, looks at him and laughs + hysterically._) + + Bacchus! my Bacchus! with wet eyes! Up, up, lad! there's many a cup + for us yet! + + (_They go, she leading and singing._ + + He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo! + The vine! a maiden's breast! etc. + + (_HAEMON and BARDAS look at each other, then start after them + terribly moved._) + + +CURTAIN. + + + + +ACT TWO + + +_Scene._--_An audience hall in the castle of CHARLES DI TOCCA; the next +afternoon. The dark stained walls have been festooned with vines and +flowers. On the left is the ducal throne. On the right sunlight through +high-set windows. In the rear heavily draped doors. Enter CHARLES, who +looks around and smiles with subtle content, then summons a servant._ + +_Enter servant._ + + CHARLES: The princess Fulvia. + + SERVANT: She comes, sir, now. + (_Goes._ + +_Enter FULVIA._ + + FULVIA: My lord, flowers and vines upon these walls + That seem always in dismal memory + And mist of grief? What means it? + + CHARLES: That sprung up, + A greedy multitude upon the fields, + Citron and olive were left hungry, so + I quelled them! + + FULVIA: Magic ever dwells in flowers + To waft me back to childhood. (_Taking some._) + Poor pluckt buds + If they could speak like children torn from the breast. + + CHARLES: You're full of sighs and pity then? + + FULVIA: Yes, and-- + Of doubt. + + CHARLES: What so divides you? + + FULVIA: Helena-- + This Greek--I do not understand. + + CHARLES: Nor guess? + You have not seen nor spoken to her? + + FULVIA: No. + + CHARLES: We'll have her. (_Motions servant._) + Go. Say that we wait her here, + The lady Helena. (_Servant goes._ + She's frighted--thinks + 'Tmay be her father found too deep a rest + Within our care: yet has a hope that holds + The tears still from her lids. I've smiled on her, + Smiled, Fulvia, and she--Why do you cloud? + + FULVIA: I would this were undone. + + CHARLES: Undone? Undone? + You would it were----? + +_Enter HELENA._ + + Ah, Greek! Our Fulvia, + Who is as heart and health about our doors, + Has speech for you. And polities + Untended groan for me. (_He goes._ + + FULVIA (_looking sadly at her_): Girl--child-- + + HELENA: Why do + You call me so with struggle on your breast? + + FULVIA: You're very fair. + + HELENA: And was so free I thought + The world brimmed up with my full happiness. + + FULVIA: But find it is a sieve to all but grief? + + HELENA: Is it then grief? I have not any tears, + Yet seem girt by an emptiness that aches, + Surrounds and whispers, what I dare not think + Or, shapened, see. + + FULVIA: It stains too as a shroud + The morrow's face? + + HELENA: You look at me--I think + You look at me, as if----? + + FULVIA: No child. + + HELENA: Why am + I in this place? You fear for me? + + FULVIA: Fear? + + HELENA: Yes! + A dumb dread trembles from you sufferingly. + + FULVIA: It is not fear. Or--no!--has vanished quite, + Ashamed of its too naked idleness. + + HELENA (_shuddering_): He cannot, will not!--Yet you feared! + + FULVIA: Be calm: + Beauty is better so. + + HELENA: Ah, you are cold! + See a great shadow reach and wrap at me, + Yet lend no light! By gentleness I pray you, + What said he? + + FULVIA: Child---- + + HELENA: Child!--Ah, a moment's dread + Brings age on us!--If not by gentleness, + Then by that love that women bear to men, + By happiness too fleeting to tread earth, + I pray you tell the fear your heart so hides! + + FULVIA: You are the guest of Charles di Tocca. + + HELENA: Guest? + Ah, guests are bidden, not commanded.--Where, + Where can Antonio be gone. All day + No token, quieting! + + FULVIA: Antonio, girl? + Antonio?--Is it true? + +_Re-enter CHARLES._ + + CHARLES: So eager?--Truth + Has brewed more tears than lies. But, Fulvia, + Why doth it mated with Antonio's name + Wring thus your troubled hands? + + FULVIA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: You falter? + No matter--now. (_To HELENA._) But you, my fair one, put + More merriment upon your lips and lids, + And this (_giving pearls_) upon the lustre of your throat. + Hither our guests come soon. Be with us then, + And at your beauty's best. Now; trembling so?-- + Yet is the lily lovelier in the wind! + (_He looks after, musingly, as she goes._ + + FULVIA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: True, Fulvia--as titles go. + + FULVIA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: Twice--but I'm not two lords. + + FULVIA: To-night + I think you are. But quench your jests. + + CHARLES: In tears? + And groans? Where borrow them? + + FULVIA (_turning away_): So let it be. + + CHARLES: Why do you say so be it and sigh as + Nought could again be well? + + FULVIA: O---- + + CHARLES: Now you frown? + + FULVIA: The hope you nurse, then, if it prove a pang + Of serpent bitterness---- + + CHARLES: Prove pang? I then + But for an "if" must pluck it from me? + + FULVIA: So + I must believe. + + CHARLES: Pluck it from me! Will you-- + Now will you have me mouth and foam and thresh + The quiet in me to a maelstrom! This + Is mine, this joy; and still is mine, though I + To keep it must bring on me bitterness + And bleeding and--I rage! + + FULVIA: Then shall I cease, + And say no more? No, you are on a flood + Whose sinking may be rapid down to horror. + And she--this girl! It has been long since you + Gave license rein upon your will, and spur. + Do not so now. + + CHARLES: License? + + FULVIA: She is all morn + And dream and dew: make her not dark! + + CHARLES: You think--! + + FULVIA: Wake her not, ah, not suddenly on terror! + + CHARLES: On terror! (_Laughing._) + + FULVIA: You've laughed nobler. + + CHARLES: Fulvia, + Friend of my unrepaying years, dream you + I who in empire youth too soon forgot, + Who on my brow surprise the wafted dew, + The presages of age and death, shake not? + + FULVIA: I knew not, but have waited oft such words. + + CHARLES: Ah what! this hope, this leaping in me, this + White dawn across my turbulence and night, + From license?--Hear me. I have sudden found + A door to let in heaven on my heart. + Had I not laughed to see your dread upon it + Write "license," perilous had been my frown. + + FULVIA: You will----? + + CHARLES: Yes--yes! About her brow shall curl + The coronet! Her wishes shall be sceptres + Waving a swift fulfilment to her feet! + Her pity shall leave ready graves unfilled, + Her anger open earth for all who offend! + She shall---- + + FULVIA: Ah cease, infatuate man! Will you + Build kingdoms on the wind, and empires on + A girl's ungiven heart? + + CHARLES (_slowly_): Unto such love + As mine all things are given. + + FULVIA: All things but love. + + CHARLES: Stood she not as in pleading? Yes--and to + Her cheeks came hurried roses from her heart. + And her large eyes, did they not drift to mine + Caressing?--yet as if in them they found + The likeness of some visitant dear dream. + + FULVIA: The likeness of some dream? + + CHARLES: Question no more. + She is set in the centre of my need + As youth and fiercest passion could not set her. + Supernally as May she has burst on + My barren age. Pain, envious decay, + And doubt that mystery wounds us with, and wrong, + Flee from the gleam and whisper of her name. + + FULVIA: And if your coronet and heat avail + Not with her as might charm of equal years + And beauty? + + CHARLES: Then--why then--why there may slip + An avalanche of raging and despair + Out of me! Hope of her once taken, all + The thwarted thunders of my want would rush + Into the void with lightnings for revenge! + +_Enter ANTONIO._ + + ANTONIO: Sir, I'm returned. + + CHARLES: With lightnings that shall--(_Sees him._) You? + Antonio? My eyes had other thought. + Open your news--but mind 'tis not of failure. + + ANTONIO: We seized the murderous robbers in their cove + And o'er the cliff, as our just law commands, + To death flung them. + + CHARLES: So with all traitors be it. + + ANTONIO: So should it. + + CHARLES: Well, 'twas swift. In you there is + More than your mother's gentleness. + + ANTONIO: Else were + My name di Tocca, sir, and not myself. + + CHARLES: You have my love.--But as you came met you + The cardinal? + + ANTONIO: So close he should by this + Be at our gates. + + CHARLES: He'll miss no welcome, and-- + Perhaps--we shall-- (_Smiles on them._) Give me that cross you wear, + My Fulvia. It may---- + + ANTONIO: Sir, this is good! + We earnestly beseech of you to hear + The Pope's embassador with yielding. + + CHARLES: Ah?-- + But you, boy, draw out of this solitude + And musing moodiness. You should think but + On silly sighs and kisses, rhymes and trysts! + Must I yet teach your coldness youth? + (_A trumpet, and sound of opening gates._) + Draw out! + + ANTONIO: I have to-day desired some words of this. + +_Enter CECCO._ + + CHARLES: Well, who----? + + CECCO: The Cardinal, your grace. + + CHARLES: Then go, + And bid our guests. Bring too Diogenes, + Our most amusing raveller of all + Philosophies. Say that the duke, his brother, + Humbly desires it! (_CECCO goes._ + + FULVIA: And Helena? + + CHARLES (_to ANTONIO_): Why do + You start, sir?--Fulvia, we must look to + This callow god our son. Yet, had our court + Two eyes of loveliness to drown his heart, + I'd think on oath 'twere done. + (_Goes to the throne._) + + FULVIA (_low to ANTONIO_): Listen. No word + Of Helena! + + CHARLES: Now! is it secrets? + + FULVIA: Sir, + He scorns to spill a drop of confidence + On my too thirsty questions. + + CHARLES: Does he so + Tightly seal up his spirits? + + FULVIA: Put the rogue + To prison on stale bread, my lord: I half + Believe he's full of treasons. + + CHARLES (_laughing_): Do you hear! + Because you are the son and scout our foes + Justice is not impossible upon you! + +_The guests enter, among them HAEMON and BARDAS, following the CARDINAL +JULIAN and his suite, and last HELENA, whom FULVIA leads aside._ + + CARDINAL: Peace, worthy duke! + + CHARLES: And more, lord Cardinal, + We would to-day enlarge our worthiness + With you and with great Rome. + + CARDINAL: Firmly I crave + It may be so. + + CHARLES: Here unto all our guests + We then do disavow our heresies---- + For faith's as air, as ease to life--and seek + At your absolving lips release from our + Rough disobedience. Nor shall we shun + The lash and needed weight of penitence. + + (_A murmur of approval._) + + JULIAN: These words, great lord, fall wise and soothing well. + Who so confesses, plants beneath his foot + A step to scale all impotence and wrong. + Our royal Pope's conditions shall be told, + Pledge them consenting seal and you shall be + Briefly and fully free. (_Motions his secretary._) + + SECRETARY (_opens and reads_): "Whereas the duke + Di Tocca has offended----" + + CARDINAL: Pass the offence. + Be it oblivion's. On, the penalty. + + SECRETARY: "Therefore the duke di Tocca humbling himself + Must pay into our vaults two hundred ducats--" + + CHARLES: It shall be three. + + SECRETARY: "And send a hundred men + Armed 'gainst the foes that threaten Italy." + + CHARLES: See to it, yes, Antonio, ere a dawn. + + SECRETARY: "He must also yield up the princess Fulvia + Who's fled her father's house and rightful marriage." + + FULVIA (_to JULIAN_): You told me not of this--no word, my lord! + + CARDINAL: My silence as my speech is not my own. + + CHARLES: We'll more of it--a measure more. + Read on. + + SECRETARY: "And for the better amity and weal + Of Italy and Christ's most Holy Church, + He is enjoined to wed with Beatrice + Of Florence. If his wilful boldness grants + Obedience, his sins shall melt to rest + Under the calm of full forgiveness. He----" + + CHARLES: A mild, a courteous, O a modest Pope! + I must tear from my happiness a friend + Who fled a father's searing cruelty, + And cast her back in the flames! And I must bind + My crippled years that fare toward the grave + In the cold clasp of an unloving hand! + No! No! + Then, sir, and Cardinal, 'tis not enough! + I pray you swift again to Rome and plead + Most suppliantly that I for penance may + Swear my true son is shame-begot, or lend + My kin to drink clean of its fouling damp + Some pestilent prison! And 'tis impious too + That any still should trust my love. Beseech + His Holiness' command for death upon them! + + CARDINAL: This is your answer? + + CHARLES (_rises_): A mite! a mite of it! + The rest is I will wed where I will wed + Though every hill of earth raise up its pope + To bellow at me thunderous damnation! + I will--I will-- (_Falls back convulsed._) + + FULVIA (_hastening to him_): Charles, ah! Wine for him, wine! (_It + is brought._) + + ANTONIO: Lord Cardinal, spare yourself more and go. + You shall learn if a change may loose this strain. + + (_The CARDINAL goes with his suite amid timid reverence._) + + CHARLES (_struggling_): I will--this frenzy--off my throat--! + I-- (_Recovering._) Ah, + Thou, Fulvia? 'Twas as a fiend swung on me. + And shame! fear oozes out upon my brow, + And I----. (_Rises and calms himself._) Forgive, friends, this + so sudden wrench + Upon your pleasure. One too quick made saint, + Stands feebly: but at once wilt I atone. + Where is Diogenes--where is he? His + Tangled fantastic wisdom shall divert us. + + (_DIOGENES, who has stood unconscious of all that has + passed, is pushed forward._) + + Ah, peer of Socrates and perfect Plato, + Leave your unseeing silence now and tell us---- + +_Enter AGABUS gazing anxiously and wildly before him._ + + Who's this? + + AGABUS (_hoarsely_): Where went he--the Shadow?--whither? + + CHARLES: Who's this broke from his grave upon us? + + AGABUS (_searching still_): Where? + I followed him--he sped and there was cold! + Behind him blows a horror! + (_Stops in fascinated awe before HELENA._) + Ah, on her head! + His touch! his earthless finger!--and she rots + To dust! to dust! + + ANTONIO: Ill monk! are there no men + That you must wring a woman so with fear? + + AGABUS: Ha, men? Christ save all men but lovers! all! (_Crosses + himself._) + + CHARLES: Antonio, how speaks he? + + ANTONIO: Sir, most mad + With the pestilence of evil prophecy. + (_To guards._) Forth with him! + + CHARLES: Stay. + + ANTONIO: Let him not, for he will + Beguile you to some ravening belief. + + AGABUS (_going up to CHARLES, staring at him in suppressed + excitement_): A lover! a lover! and he loves in vain! + Wilt go? There is a cave--(_taking his hand_), we'll curse + her--come! + + CHARLES: Out! out! (_Throws him from the dais._) + + AGABUS: Christ save all men but-- (_Seeking vacantly._) Ah, the + Shadow! + Has no one seen him? none?--the Shadow? none? + (_Goes dazed. Guests whisper, awed._ + + CHARLES: He is obsessed--vile utterly! + + A GUEST: O duke, + I pray, good-night. + + ANOTHER: And I, my lord. + + ANOTHER: And I---- + + ANOTHER: And---- + + CHARLES: Friends, you shall not--no. This pall will pass, + My hospitality is up, you shall not! + + ANOTHER: Pardon, O duke, we---- + + CHARLES: Though some grudging wind + Blows us away from mirth, 'tis still in view, + We've lute and dance that yet shall bring us in. + + 1ST LADY: O, dance! + + CHARLES: Cecco, our Circes from the Nile. + (_CECCO goes._ + + 2D LADY: The Nile! Ah, Cleopatra's Nile? + + CHARLES: Her own; + And sinuous as Nile water is their grace. + +_Enter two Egyptian girls, who dance, then go._ + + GUESTS (_applauding_): Bravely!--O, brave! + + CHARLES: Do they not whirl it lithe? + With limbs like swallow wings upon the blue? + + 1ST LADY: 'Twas witchery! + + 3D LADY: Such eyes! such hair! + + 2D LADY: And thus, + Did Cleopatra thus steal Antony? + Wrap him about with motion that would seize + His senses to an ecstasy? O, oh, + To dance so! + + CHARLES: And so steal an Antony? + We'll frame a law on thieving of men's heart's! + + 2D LADY: Then, vainly! 'tis a theft men like the most. + + CHARLES: When in its stead the thief has left her own-- + But shall we woo no boon of mirth save dance? + A lute! a lute! (_One is gone for._) Some new lay, Haemon, come! + And every word must dip its syllables + In Pindar's spring to trip so lightly forth. + + HAEMON: I have no lay. + + CHARLES: The lute! (_It is offered HAEMON._) + Sing us of love + That builds a Paradise of kisses, thinks + The Infinite bound up in an embrace. + Whose sighs seem to it hurricanes of pain, + Whose tears as seas of molten misery. + + HAEMON: I have none--cannot. + + CHARLES: Now will you fright off + Again our timid cheer? + + HAEMON: While she, my sister--! + (_The lute is offered again._) + I cannot, will not! + + CHARLES: Will not? will not? Look! + I had an honor pluckt to laurel it, + A wreath of noble worth, a thing to tell---- + + HAEMON: Honor upon dishonor sits not well. + + CHARLES (_not hearing_): Heat me not with denial. Is new bliss + Raised from the dead in me but to fall back + As stone ere it has breathed? Have I so frequent + Drained you? Be slow to tempt me--In me moves + Peril that has a passion to leap forth! + + HAEMON: Antonio, speak! Where's innocence and where + Begins deceit? + + FULVIA (_to HAEMON aside_): Ask it not, or you step + On waiting hazard and calamity. + + CHARLES: New fret? and new confusion? In the blind + Power and passing of this night is there + Conspiracy?--plot of some here? or of + That One whose necromancy wields the world? + I care not!--I care not! We must have mirth! + Have mirth! though it be laughter at damned souls. + + HAEMON: And I must wake it? I with laugh and lay, + Doting upon dishonor? + + CHARLES: What means he? + + HAEMON: Give me again my sister from these walls, + Since might is yours, strip from me wealth and life + And more, and all--but let her not, no, no, + Meet here the touch and leprosy of shame! + + CHARLES (_laughing_): Said I not, said I, friends, we should + have mirth? + You shall laugh with me laughter bright as wine. + + ANTONIO: But, sir, this is not good for laughter! Sir! + + HAEMON (_to ANTONIO_): Ah, put the lamb on--bleat mock sympathy! + + CHARLES (_still laughing_): Fulvia, O, he foots it in the tracks + Of your own fear! and wanders to delusion! + + HAEMON: Will you laugh at me, fiend! + + CHARLES: Boy! + + HAEMON: Had I but + Omnipotence a moment and could dash + Annihilation on you and your race! + (_Throws his glove in ANTONIO'S face._) + + HELENA: Haemon! + + FULVIA (_restraining her_): No, Helena. + + CHARLES: Omnipotence? + And could Omnipotence make such a fool? + There must be two Gods in the world to do it. + + HAEMON: She shall not----! + (_Attempts to kill HELENA._) + + ANTONIO (_preventing_): Fury!--Ah! what would you do? + + CHARLES: Such things can be? A sister, yet he strikes? + (_HAEMON is seized._) + + HELENA: O let me speak with him, sir, let me speak! + + CHARLES: Not now, girl, no, not now--lest in his breath + Be venom for thee! (_To soldiers._) Shut him from our gates + Till he repent this fever. + (_HAEMON goes quietly out._) + (_To guests who are suspicious and undetermined._) If you stare so + Will the skies stop! Have I not arm in arm + Friended this youth and meant him honor still? + Leave me. I had a thing to tell; but it + Must wait more seasonable festivity. + (_To PAULA._) See to thy mistress, child. Antonio, stay. + + (_All go but ANTONIO and CHARLES, who leaves his chair + slowly and with dejection._) + + ANTONIO: Father---- + + CHARLES (_unheeding_): Did I not humble me? + + ANTONIO: Father----? + + CHARLES: Or ask more than a brevity of joy + To bud on my life's withering close? + + ANTONIO: But, sir----! + + CHARLES: If it bud not----! + + ANTONIO: What thought impels and wrings + These angers from your eyes? + + CHARLES (_slowly, gazing at him_): You're like your mother. + + ANTONIO: In trouble for your peace, more than in feature. + + CHARLES: Peace--peace? Antonio, a dream has come: + To stir--to wake--to learn it is a dream-- + I must not, will not look on such abyss. + You love me, boy? + + ANTONIO: Sir, well: you cannot doubt it. + + CHARLES: There has been darkness in me--and it seems + Such night as would put out a heaven of hope, + Quench an eternity of flaming joy! + I have sunk down under the world and hit + On nethermost despair: flown blind across + An infinite unrest! + + ANTONIO: Forget it, now. + + CHARLES: Had I drunk Lethe's all 'twould not have stilled + The crying of my desolation's want. + Within me tenderness to iron turned, + Gladness to worm and gloom.--But 'tis o'erpast. + A rift, a smile, a breath has come--blown me + From torture to an ecstasy. + + ANTONIO: To----? + + CHARLES: Ecstasy! + Such as surrounds Hyperion on his sun, + Or Pleiads sweeping seven-fold the night. + + ANTONIO: And you--this breath----? + + CHARLES: Is--you are pale! + And press your lips from trembling! + + ANTONIO: No--yes--well-- + This ecstasy? + + CHARLES: Is love! is love that-- How? + You feign! distress and groaning tear in you! + + ANTONIO: No. She you love---- + + CHARLES: O, Eve new-burst on Eden, + All pure with the prime beauty of God's breath, + Was not so! + + ANTONIO: She is Helena?--the Greek? + + CHARLES: She--Still you do not ail?--Yes, Helena, + Who--But you are not well and cannot share + This ravishment!--I will not ask it--now. + This ravishment!--Ah, she has stayed the tread + And stilled the whispering of death: has called + Echoes of youth from me! and all I feared.... + I think--you are not well. Shall we go in? + + +CURTAIN. + + + + +ACT THREE + + +_Scene._--_The gardens of the castle. Paths meet under a large lime in +the centre, where seats are placed. The wall of the garden crosses the +rear, and has a postern. It is night of the same day, and behind a +convent on a near hill the moon is rising. A nightingale sings._ + +_Enter GIULIA, CECCO, and NALDO._ + + GIULIA: That bird! Always so noisy, always vain + Of gushing. Sing, and sing, sing, sing, it must! + As if nobody else would speak or sleep. + + CECCO: Let the bird be, my jaunty. 'Tis no lie + The shrew and nightingale were never friends. + + GIULIA: No more were shrew and serpent. + + CECCO: Well what would + You scratch from me? + + GIULIA: If there is anything + To be got from you, then it must be scratched. + + CECCO: Yet shrews do not scratch serpents. + + GIULIA: If they're caught + Where they can neither coil nor strike? + + CECCO: Well, _I_ + Begin to coil. + + GIULIA: And I'll begin to scotch + You ere 'tis done.--Give me the postern key. + + CECCO: Your lady's voice--but you are not your lady. + + GIULIA: And were I you not long would be your lord's. + Give me the key. + + CECCO: I coil--I coil! will soon + Be ready for a strike, my tender shrew. + + GIULIA: Does the duke know you've hidden from his ear + Antonio's passion? does he?--ah?--and shall + I tell him? ah? + + CECCO: You heard then---- + + GIULIA: He likes well + What's kept so thriftily. + + CECCO (_scowling_): You want the key + To let in Boro to chuck your baby face + And moon with you! He's been discharged--take care. + + GIULIA: The duke might learn, too, you're not clear between + His ducats and your own. + + CECCO: There then (_gives key_), but---- + + GIULIA (_as he goes_): Oh? + And shrews do not scratch serpents? You may spy, + But others are not witless, I can tell you! + (_CECCO goes_. + Now, Naldo (_gives him key and writing_), do not lose the + writing. But + Should you, he must not come till two. For 'tis + At twelve the Greek will meet Antonio. + + (_NALDO goes, through the postern: GIULIA to the castle._ + +_Enter HELENA and PAULA from another part of the gardens._ + + HELENA: At twelve, said he, at twelve, beside the arbor? + + PAULA: Yes, mistress. + + HELENA: I were patient if the moon + Would slip less sadly up. She is so pale-- + With longing for Endymion her lover. + + PAULA: Has she a lover? Oh, how strange. Is it + So sweet to love, my lady? I have heard + Men die and women for it weep themselves + Into the grave--yet gladly. + + HELENA: Sweet? Ah, yes, + To terror! for the edge of fate cares not + How quick it severs. + + PAULA: On my simple hills + They told of one who slew herself on her + Dead lover's breast. Would you do so? + Would you, my lady? + + HELENA: There's no twain in love. + My heart is in my lord Antonio's + To beat, Paula, or cease with it. + + PAULA: But died + He far away? + + HELENA: Far sunders flesh not souls. + Across all lands the hush of death on him + Would sound to me; and, did he live, denial, + Though every voice and silence spoke it, could + Not reach my rest!--But he is near. + + PAULA: O no, + Not yet, my lady. + + HELENA: Then some weariness + Has pluckt the minutes' wings and they have crept. + + PAULA: But 'tis not twelve, else would we hear the band + Of holy Basil from their convent peace + Dreamily chant. + + HELENA: Nay, hearts may hear beyond + The hark of ears! Listen! to me his step + Thrills thro' the earth. + (_ANTONIO approaches and enters the postern._) + 'Tis he! Go Paula, go: + But sleep not. + (_PAULA hastens out._) + (_Going to him._) My Antonio, I breathe, + Now no betiding fell athwart thy path + To stay thee from me! + + ANTONIO: Stronger than all betiding + This hour has reached and drawn me yearning to thee! + (_Takes her in his arms._) + + HELENA: And may all hours! + + ANTONIO: All! tho' we two will still + Be more than destiny--which cannot grasp + Beyond the grave. + + HELENA: 'Tis sadly put, my lord. + + ANTONIO: Ah, sadly, loathly; but, my Helena-- + + HELENA: I would not sink from it, the simple sun-- + Fade to a tomb! What dirging hast thou heard + To mind thee of it? + + ANTONIO: Love is a bliss too bright + To rest on earth. With it God should give us + Ever to soar above mortality. + But you must know----! + + HELENA: Not yet, tell me not yet! + Dimly I see the burden in your eyes, + But dare not take it yet into my own. + Let us a little look upon the moon, + Forgetting. (_They seat themselves._) + + ANTONIO (_musingly_): These hands--this hair-- + (_Caressing them._) + + HELENA: Like a farewell + Your touch falls on them. + + ANTONIO (_moved_): To a father yield them? + + HELENA: Antonio? + + ANTONIO (_still caressing_): No, no! It cannot be! + + HELENA: This dread--and shrinking--let me have it!--speak! + You mean--look on me!--mean, your father?-- + + ANTONIO: Ah! + It must not! must not! + + HELENA: Do you mean--he--No! + Let him not touch me even in thy thought, + To me come nearer than a father may! + + ANTONIO: He's swept by the sweet contagion of you, wrapt + In a fierce spell by your effulgent youth. + + HELENA: Say, say it not! To him I but smiled up-- + But smiled! + + ANTONIO: He knew not that such smiles could dawn + In a bare world. And now is flame; would take + Your tenderness into his arms and hear + Seized to him the warm music of your heart. + O, I could be for him--he is my father-- + Prometheus stormed and gnawed on Caucasus, + Tantalus ever near the slipping wave, + Or torn and tossed to burning martyrdom-- + But not--not this! + + HELENA: Then, flight! In it we may + Find haven and new nurture for our bliss. + + ANTONIO: Snap from his hunger this one hope, so he + Must starve? Push him who has but learned there's light + Back into yawning blindness? Ah, not flight! + + HELENA: I know he is your father, and my days + Have been all fatherless, tho' I have made + Me child to every wind that had caress + And to each lonely tree of the deep wood-- + Oft envious of those who touch gray hairs, + Or spend desire on filial grief and pang. + And most have you a softness in him kept, + Been to him more than empire's tyranny-- + But baffled none can measure him nor trust! + + ANTONIO: Yet must we wait. + + HELENA: When waiting shall but goad + The speed of peril? + + ANTONIO: Still: and strain to win + Him from this brink.--If vainly, then birth, pity, + And memory shall fall from me!--all, all, + But fierceness for thy peace! + + HELENA: My Antony! + + ANTONIO: And fierceness without falter! + + HELENA: I am thine, + Thine more than immortality is God's! + Hear, does the nightingale not tell it thee? + The stars do they not tremble it, the moon + Murmur it argently into thine eyes? + + ANTONIO: Ah, sorceress! You need but breathe to put + Abysm from us; but build words to float us + On infinite ecstasy. (_Kisses her._) + + HELENA: How, how thy kisses + Sing in me! + + ANTONIO: From my heart they do but send + Echoes born of thy beauty mid its strings! + + HELENA: Then would I lean forever at thy lips, + Lose no reverberance, no ring, no waft, + Hear nothing everlastingly but them! + + (_A mournful chant is borne from the Convent. They slowly + unclasp, awed._) + + ANTONIO: Weary with vigil does it swell and sink, + Moaning the dead. + + HELENA: Ah, no! There are no dead + To-night in all the world. Could God see them + Lie cold and wondrous still, while we are rich + In warmth and throb! + + ANTONIO: Yet, hear. The funeral tread + Of the old sea sighs in each strain, and breaks. + + HELENA: As I were drowned and heard it over me, + It cometh--cometh! + (_Her head droops back on his arm. A pause._) + + ANTONIO (_touching her face_): Cold! cold!--your lips--your brow! + And you are pale as with a prophecy! + + HELENA: Oh--oh! + + ANTONIO: Your spirit is not in you but + Afar and suffering! + + HELENA: A vision sweeps me. + + ANTONIO: Awake from it! + + HELENA (_recovering_): A waste of waves that beat + Upon a cliff--and beat! Yet thou and I + Had place in it. + + ANTONIO: Come to yon arbour, come. + The moon has looked too long on the sad earth, + And can reflect but sorrow. + + HELENA: Ah, I fear! + (_They go clinging passionately together._ + +_Enter CHARLES and CECCO._ + + CHARLES: And yet it is a little thing to sleep-- + Just to lie down and sleep. A child may do it. + + CECCO: If my lord would, here's sleep for him wrapped in + A quiet powder. + + CHARLES: Sleep is ever mate + Of peace and should go with it. I have slept + In the wild arms of battle when the winds + Of souls departing fearfully shook by, + And on the breast of dizzy danger cradled + Softly been lulled. Potions should be for them + Who wrestle and are thrown by misery. + + CECCO: And is my lord at peace? + + CHARLES: Strangely.--Yet seem + For sleep too coldly calm. + + CECCO: So were you, sir-- + I keep your words lest you may need of them-- + On the same night young Haemon's father went + The secret way to death. + + CHARLES: Of that!--of that?-- + + CECCO: Pardon, I but---- + + CHARLES: Smirker!--Yet, was it so? + That night indeed? + + CECCO: Sir, surely. + + CHARLES: And the moon's + 'Scutcheon hung stainless up the purple east? + + CECCO: Half, sir; even as now. + + CHARLES (_as to himself_): Since that hour's close + To this I have not stood in so much calm. + Still was he not in every vein of him, + And breath, a traitor? A Greek who--I'll not say it, + Since she is Greek I must forget the word + Sounds the diapason of perfidy. + + CECCO: My lord thinks of the gentle Helena? + + CHARLES: And if I do? + + CECCO: Why, sir---- + + CHARLES: Well? + + CECCO: Nothing: but---- + + CHARLES: Subtle! your nothing harboreth some theft + Of spial. + + CECCO: Sir, I--no--that is---- + + CHARLES: That is + It does! Must I--persuade it from your throat? + (_Makes to choke him._) + + CECCO: It was of lord Antonio---- + + CHARLES: Speak then. + + CECCO: Have you not marked him sundry of his moods? + + CHARLES: Well? + + CECCO: On his back in the wood as if the leaves + Sung fairy balladry; then riding wild + Nowhither and alone; about the castle + Yearning, yet absent to soft speech and arms! + He'll drink, sir, and not know if it be wine! + + CHARLES: So is he! but to-day he bold unsheathed + His skill and bravery. + + CECCO: And did not crave + A boon of you? + + CHARLES: None. But you put not ill + My thought to it. His aspiration flags---- + + CECCO: Ah, flags. + + CHARLES: New wings it needs and buoyancy. + My trust in him is ripe: the fruit of it, + He shall be lord of Arta--total lord. + + CECCO: He begged no softer boon? + + CHARLES: Cunning! again? + Sleek questions of a sleeker consequence? + + CECCO: It was, sir, only of Antonio. + + CHARLES: Worm, you began so. Stretch now to the end, + Or--will you? + + CECCO: I would say--would ask--and hope + There is no thorny hint in it to vex you, + To prick your humor--may not he be sick, + Amorous, mellow sick upon some maid? + + CHARLES: Have you so labored to this atom's birth? + Is a boy's passion so new under the moon + You gape at it? + + CECCO: But if, sir---- + + CHARLES: I had thought + Would start up in your words some Titan woe, + No human catapult could war upon! + Some dread colossal doom, frenzied to fall! + Were it he's traitor gnawing at my throne, + Or ready with some potent cruelty + To blight this tenderness new-sprung in me-- + I would--even have listened! + + (_Noise is heard at the postern. It is unlocked. HAEMON + enters, and stops in consternation._) + + CHARLES: Keys? To--this? + + HAEMON: I--have excuse. + + CHARLES: Perchance also you have + Them to my gems and secrecies? Shall I + Not show their hiding?--rubies, and fair gold? + + HAEMON: Mistake me not, my lord. + + CHARLES: I could not: you + Have come at midnight--a most honest hour. + Enter this postern--a most honest way, + And seem most honest--Why, I could not, sir! + + HAEMON: You wrong me, and have wronged me. I but come + To loose my sister. + + CHARLES: As to-day you would + Have loosed her with a piercing--into death? + + HAEMON: Rather, could I! Antonio--yet neither. + Since you, not he, are here, my passion melts + Into a plea. Humbly as manhood may-- + + CHARLES: This fever still? + + HAEMON: This fever! Must I be + As ice while soiling flames leap out at her? + And passionless--as one cold in a trance? + Rigid while she in stealth is drugged to shame? + Be voiceless and be vain, unstung, and still? + I must wait softly while her innocence + Is drained as virgin freshness from the morn?-- + Though he were twice Antonio and your son, + An emperor and a god, I would not! + + CHARLES: Ever, + And ever bent upon Antonio? + Be not a torrent, boy, of rush and foam. + Be not, of roar!--Yet--look: Antonio? + You said Antonio? + + HAEMON: Yes. + + CHARLES (_troubled_): You did ill + To say it! He's my son. + + HAEMON: I care not. + + CHARLES: Have + You cause--a ground--some reason? Men should when + Suspicions curve their lips. + + HAEMON: Cause! reason! + + CHARLES: No: + He is my son. His flesh has memories + That would cry out and curdle him to madness, + Palsy and strangle every pregnant wish, + Or bring in him compassion like a flood. + + HAEMON (_contemptuous_): O----? + + CHARLES: Never!--Yet, a lurking at my brain! + +_Enter PAULA, hurriedly._ + + PAULA: My lord Antonio! my lady! (_Seeing CHARLES._) O! + + CHARLES (_strangely_): Come here. + + PAULA: O, sir! + + CHARLES (_taking her wrist_): Were you not in a haste? + + PAULA: I--I--I do not know. + + CHARLES: Girl!--Why do you + Drop fearful to your knees? + + PAULA: 'Tis late, sir, late, + Let me go in! + + CHARLES: You have a mistress who + Keeps quick temptation in her eyes and hair. + A shy mole too lies pillowed on her cheek-- + Does she rest well? + + PAULA: My lord---- + + CHARLES: Ah, you would say + She sometimes walks asleep: and you have come + To fetch her? + + PAULA: Loose me, sir! + + CHARLES: Or she has left + Her kerchief in some nook: you seek it? + + PAULA: O, + Your eyes! your eyes! + + CHARLES: I have a son: are his + Not like them? + + PAULA: My wrist, sir! + + CHARLES: It was night, then--night? + You could not see him clearly? + + PAULA: Mercy! + + CHARLES (_looking about_): Yet + Perchance he too walks in his sleep. Were it + Quite well if they have met--these two that walk? + + PAULA: My lady, my sweet lady! + + CHARLES (_releasing her_): Go, for she + Still wonderful may lie upon her couch, + One arm dropt whitely. If you prayed for her-- + If you should pray for her--Something may chance: + There is so much may chance--we cannot know! + (_PAULA goes._ + (_Disturbed._) This child who hath but dwelt about her, touched + And coiled the mystery of her hair, has might + Almost too much! + + HAEMON: You cloud me with these words. + Were they Antonio's---- + + CHARLES: If I but think + "Helena" must you link "Antonio" to it! + Can they not be, yet be apart? Will winds + Not bear them, and not sound them separate! + If angels cry one at the stars will they + But echo back the other?--This is froth-- + The froth and fume of folly. You are thick + In falsity, and in disquietude. + Another rapture rules Antonio's eye, + Not Helena. + + HAEMON: You know it--yet have led + Her to his arms? + + CHARLES: His arms! Ah, mole to burrow + Thus under blind and muddy misbelief! + To mine is she come here. (_Terribly._) Were he a seraph, + And did from Paradise desire to fold her-- + No mercy!--But, I will speak as a child, + As he who woke with Ruth fair at his feet; + Long have I gleaned amid the years and lone. + She shall glean softly now beside me--softly, + Till sunset fail in me and I am night. + + HAEMON: This is a gin, a net, and I am fast! + + CHARLES: A net to snare what never has been free? + + HAEMON: Still must it be this tenderness lives false + Upon your lips. + + CHARLES: "Must," say you, "must," yet stand---- + + HAEMON: Then shall he rest--lie easy down and rest In treachery? + + CHARLES: He----? + + HAEMON: Yes. + + CHARLES: You mean----? + + HAEMON: Yes!--yes! + + CHARLES: Antonio? + + HAEMON: Is it not open? + + CHARLES (_confusedly_): No: + Glooms start around me, glooms that seethe and cling. + + HAEMON: This maid who called, did she come idly here? + You stir? you rouse? + + CHARLES: A coldness runs in me. + + HAEMON: And have not I come strangely on the hour! + + CHARLES: It 'gins to burn! + + HAEMON: Not entered a strange way? + + CHARLES: You pause and ever pause upon my patience. + 'Twill heave unbearably! + + HAEMON: Then hear me, hear!-- + Senseless against a bank I found a boy, + Hurled by some ruthless hoof. Near him this key + And writing---- + + CHARLES: Tell it! + + HAEMON: That avows, mid lines + Clandestine of purport, Antonio + And Helena, under these shades at twelve---- + + CHARLES: You bring on me a furious desolation. + But Fulvia, ah, she---- + + HAEMON: Not there is trust! + She is aware and aids in his deceit. + This writing says it of her. + + CHARLES: Fulvia? No! + No, no!--Though she had sudden whispers for him! + A lie--Yet fast belief fixes its fangs + On me and will not loose me--for against + My hope she set a coldness and a doubt! + O woman woven through all fibres of me! + (_Starting up._) But he----! + + HAEMON: Ah then, it runs in you, the rush + And pang that answer mine? + + CHARLES (_quietly_): If they are still---- + + HAEMON: Under these shades? + + CHARLES: And--lips to lips---- + + HAEMON: Ah, God! + You will?--you will? + + CHARLES: Hush! something--No, it was + But fate cried out in me, not any voice. + + HAEMON: We must be swift. + + CHARLES: It cries again. I will + Not listen! He's not flesh of me--not flesh! + A traitor is no son, nor was nor shall be! + Though it shriek desolation utterly + I will not listen! + + HAEMON: Do not! + + CHARLES: And to-day + He shook, ashen and clenched, remembering + The guilty secret in him! + + HAEMON: Still he's free. + + CHARLES: My words fell warm as tears--"A rift has come, + A rift, a smile, a breath"--men speak so when + They creep from madness up into some space + Whose element is love. + + HAEMON: And will you sink + To a weak palsy--who should o'erwhelm + With penalty! + + CHARLES (_rousing_): No! all and ever false + Was he who's so when most he should be true! + I will make treachery bitter to all time. + Bring dread on all to whom are given sons! + Down generations shall they peer and tremble, + Look on me as on majesties accursed!-- + Search every shade--search, search! You stand as death. + I am in famine till he gives me groan! + (_They go in opposite directions._ + +_Enter FULVIA, distressed, and GIULIA._ + + FULVIA: He was with Haemon? + + GIULIA: On that seat. + + FULVIA: Convulsed, + Yet passionless? + + GIULIA: His words were low + + FULVIA: Why were + You not asleep? + + GIULIA: I---- + + FULVIA: Did he beat his hands + Briefly--and then no more? + + GIULIA: I was behind---- + + FULVIA: And could not see? But heard their names? + The Greek is still without? + + GIULIA: My lady, yes. + + FULVIA: Your voice is guilty. How came Haemon in? + Answer me, answer! No, go quickly! If + The duke has entered now and sleeps! Or if----! + + (_Words and swords are heard, then a shriek from HELENA. + CHARLES rushes in furious and wounded in the arm, followed + by HELENA, ANTONIO, who is dazed, and from Castle side by + HAEMON, guards, etc._) + + ANTONIO: You, you, sir? father? I knew it not, so swift + Your rage fell on me. + + CHARLES (_to a guard_): Gaping, ghastly fool! + Do you behold him murderous and lay + No hand on him! + + ANTONIO: But, sir----! + + CHARLES: Let him not fawn + About me! Seize him! God forgives not Hell. + Not this blood only but my soul's be on him. + + HELENA: O, do not, he---- + + CHARLES: Stand! stand! Touch me not with + Your voice or eyes or being! They are soft + With perfidy, and stole me to believe + There's sweetness in a flower, light in air, + And beauty in the innocence of earth. + Bind him! Leucadia's just cliff awaits + All traitors--'tis the law, they must be flung + Out on the dizzy and supportless wind. + + FULVIA: But this shall never be! No, though your looks + Heave out with hate upon me. + + CHARLES (_convulsed, then coldly_): You are dead, + And speak to me. Once you were Fulvia-- + No more! And once my friend, now but a ghost + Whom I must gaze upon forgetlessly. + Obey, at once! and at to-morrow's sunset! + + (_ANTONIO is taken and led out._) + + HELENA (_falling at CHARLES' feet_): You cannot, will not--O, he + is your son + And loves you much! + + CHARLES: Touch me not! touch me not! + (_To HAEMON._) Lead her away--and quickly, quickly, quickly! + (_HAEMON goes with HELENA through the postern._ + Friends--friends-- (_unsteadily_) I am--quite--friendless now--? + (_Clutching his wounded arm._) Ah--quite! (_He faints._) + + FULVIA: Charles! Charles! my lord! return!--A numbness + Has barred the way of soothing to his breast! + + +CURTAIN. + + + + +ACT FOUR + + +_Scene._--_A chamber in the Castle, opening on the right to a hall, +curtained on the left from another chamber. In the rear is a window +through which may be seen silvery hills of olive resting under the +late afternoon sun: by it a shrine. Enter the CAPTAIN of the Guard +and a SOLDIER from the Hall._ + + SOLDIER: There is no more? + + CAPTAIN: Not if you understand. + + SOLDIER: That do I--every link of it! I've served + Under the bold de Montreal, and he + For stratagems--well, Italy knows him! + + CAPTAIN: You must be quick and secret. + + SOLDIER: As the end + Of the world! + + CAPTAIN: Our duty's with the duke. But then + Antonio has our love. + + SOLDIER: That has he! Ah, + That has he! + + CAPTAIN: Well, be close. None must escape, + Remember, none be hurt. As for the princess, + We'll hear the chink of ducats with her thanks. + + SOLDIER: Madonna save her!--The Judas of a father + Who robs her rest! + + CAPTAIN (_looking down the hall_): 'Tis she who comes this way. + So go, and haste. But fail not. + + SOLDIER: If I do, + Bury me with a pagan, next a Turk! + (_Goes._ + +_Enter FULVIA._ + + CAPTAIN: Princess-- + + FULVIA: Our plans grow to fulfilment--are + No way misplanted? + + CAPTAIN: Lady, all seems now + Seasonable for their expected fruit. + + FULVIA: No accident appears to threat and thwart them? + + CAPTAIN: Doubt not a fullest harvest of your hope. + The duke himself shall for this deed at last + Have benediction. + + FULVIA: May it be! He's quick, + Though quicker in forgetting. I will move + Him as I may. + + CAPTAIN: The kind and wise assaults + Your words shall make must move him, gracious lady. + +_Enter HAEMON._ + + HAEMON: I seek the duke. + + FULVIA (_dismissing CAPTAIN with a gesture_): + You would seek penitence + Were you less far in folly. + + HAEMON (_as going_): O--if he's + Not here, then---- + + FULVIA: Sorrow too would strain your lips, + Not cold defiance. + + HAEMON: Pardon: if you know, + Where is he? + + FULVIA: Was it easy to o'erwhelm + Under the ruin of her dreams a sister? + + HAEMON: Better beneath her dreams than under shame. + + FULVIA: Your rashness cloaks itself in that excuse, + Your ruth, and your suspicion that has doomed + One innocent. + + HAEMON: One innocent! His thought + Had but betrayal for her! + + FULVIA: 'Tis the Greek + In you avows it, no true voice. + + HAEMON: Then 'tis + My father murdered whose last moan I hear + Driven about me in this castle's gray + Cold spaces. And the dead speak not to lie. + + FULVIA: No, no. You cannot brave your action with + The spur of that belief. + + HAEMON: What want you of me? + + FULVIA: This: ache and restlessness are on you. + + HAEMON (_impatiently_): No. + + FULVIA: And doubt begins in you that as a wolf + Will scent the wounded quarry of your conscience. + + HAEMON: After he lured and wooed her under night + And secrecy? + + FULVIA: Not running there will you + Escape its dread pursuit. + + HAEMON: He frauded--duped + His father's trust! + + FULVIA: Or there! But one refuge + Have you against its bitter ceaseless tooth, + And that above the wilds of self-deceit. + + HAEMON: Why do you wind so sinuously about me? + No refuge can be from an hour that's done. + Shall we invert the glass or tilt the dial + To bring it back? + + FULVIA: But if there were? + + HAEMON: Where is + The duke--I will not bauble. + + FULVIA: If there were? + + HAEMON: I will no longer listen to the worm, + You set to feed upon me--torturing! + The sun melts to an end, and with the night + Antonio will not be. + + FULVIA: Yet there is time. + + HAEMON: The duke is fixed. + + FULVIA: No matter: 'gainst the swell + And power of this peril you must lean. + + HAEMON: I----? + + FULVIA: Yes. + + HAEMON: You have a plan? + + FULVIA: One that is sure. + (_Steps are heard._) + But through those curtains, quick. For more seek out + The Captain of the guard. The duke comes hither. + (_HAEMON goes through the curtains._ + +_CHARLES enters, worn, dishevelled, and followed by CECCO. He sees +FULVIA and pauses._ + + FULVIA: I come to plead. + + CHARLES: (_turning away_): Ah! Nature should have pled + With her your mother, 'gainst conception. + + FULVIA: Your trust is causelessly withdrawn. Yet for + A breath again I beg it--for a moment! + + CHARLES: A moment were too much--or not enough. + Is trust a flower of sudden birth we may + Bid bloom with a command? + + FULVIA: Ah, that it were, + Or bloomed as amaranth in those we love, + Beyond all drought and withering of ill! + But hear me----! + + CHARLES: Leave these words. + + FULVIA: Will you not turn + Out of this rage? + + CHARLES: Leave them, I say, and cease! + Still down the vortex of this destiny + I would not farther have you drawn. + + FULVIA: Then from + It draw yourself! + + CHARLES: Myself am but a hulk + Whose treasures have already been engulfed. + + FULVIA: Yet shrink from it! + + CHARLES: A son, a friend, a--No, + She was not mine!--I will not turn. + + FULVIA: It is + Your fury that distorts us into guilt. + Although he will not render up his heart, + But flings you stony and unfilial speech, + Fearing for her---- + + CHARLES: Leave! + + FULVIA: We---- + + CHARLES: Thrice have I said it! + + FULVIA: Yet must I not until your will is wasted. + + CHARLES (_angrily_): Ah! + + (_FULVIA sighs then goes slowly._) + + CHARLES: Cecco! + + CECCO: My lord? + + CHARLES: The hour? + + CECCO (_going to window_): It leans to sunset. + + CHARLES: The sky--the sky? + + CECCO: A murk moves slowly up. + + CHARLES (_wearily_): There should be storm--gloating of wind and + grind + Of hopeless thunders. Lightnings should laugh out + As tongues of fiends. There should be storm. + (_His head sinks on his breast._) + (_Suddenly._) Yet!--yet!---- + + CECCO: My lord? + + CHARLES: The glow and glory of her seem + Dead in me! + + CECCO: Of--the Greek? + + CHARLES: And yearning has + Grown impotent--as 'twere a moment's folly, + A left and quickly quenched desire of youth + Kindled in me!--To youth alone love's sudden. + + CECCO: Sir, dare I speak? + + CHARLES: Speak. + + CECCO: When Antonio---- + + CHARLES: Cease: but a whisper of his name and I + Am frenzy--frenzy--though the stillness burns + And bursts with it! + + (_CECCO steps back. A pause._) + + CHARLES: The sun, how hangs it now? + + CECCO (_going to window_): Above the bloody waving of the sea, + Eager to dip. + + CHARLES (_staggering up_): Ah, I was in a foam---- + Bitten by hounds of fury and despair! + Did you not, Fulvia, pleading for them say + They quailed but would not flee and leave me waste? + + CECCO: She is not here, my liege. + + CHARLES: Antonio! + Ah, boy! thou ever wast to me as wafts + Of light, of song, of summer on the hills! + Soft now I feel thy baby arms about me, + And all the burgeon of thy youth, ere proud + And cruel years grew in me, comes again + On wings and stealing winds of memory! + + CECCO: O, then, sir---- + + CHARLES: Yes. Fly, fly! and stay the guard! + He must not--Ah!--down fearful fathoms, down + Into the roar! + (_CECCO starts. He stops him._) + Yet he has flung me from + Immeasurable peaks, and I have sunk + Forevermore beneath hope's horizon. + Who falls so close the grave can rise no more. + + CECCO: This your despair would wound him more than death. + Forget the girl. + + CHARLES: She? Ah, my sullen, wild, + And gloomy pulse beat with a rightful scorn + Against the hours that sieged it. Stony was + Its solitude and fierce, bastioned against + All danger of quick blisses--till, with fury + For that mute tenderness which women's love + Lays on the desolation of the world, + She ravished it!--Yet now 'tis still and cold. + + CECCO: But 'twas unknowingly. + + CHARLES: A woman's smile + Never was luring, never, but she knew it, + As hawk the cruel rapture of his wings. + + CECCO: She though is young, and youth---- + + CHARLES: Must pay with moan + The shriving!--Ah, the sun--the sun--where burns it? + + CECCO: Upon a cloud whence it must spring to night. + + CHARLES: So low? + + CECCO: Sir, yes. + + CHARLES: Ah, 'tis? so low? + + CECCO: Red now + It rushes forth. + + CHARLES: A breathing of the world, + And then!--Antonio! + + CECCO: Again a cloud + Withholds. + + CHARLES: Antonio! + + CECCO: It dips, my lord. + + CHARLES (_frenzied_): O, will great Christ upon it lay no fear! + Let it swoon down as if its sinking sent + No signal unto Death--and plunge, plunge thee, + Antonio, forever from the day! + Has He no miracle will seize it yet! + Nor will lend now His thunder to cry hold, + His lightning to flame off the hands that grasp, + Bidden to hurl thee o'er! + + CECCO: 'Tis sunk! + + CHARLES (_rushing to window_): Yes!--Yes! + (_Starting back horrified._) The vision of it! Ah,--see + you not, see! + They lift him, swing him--Now! down, down, down, down! + The rocks! the lash! the foam! + + (_Sinks exhausted in his chair. CECCO pours out wine._) + +_Enter hurriedly, a SOLDIER._ + + SOLDIER: Great lord! + + CECCO: What now! + It is ill-timed! + + SOLDIER: Great lord, there's mutiny! + + CECCO: And where? + + SOLDIER: Hear me, great sir, there's mutiny! + + CECCO: The town? the town? + + CHARLES (_rousing_): Ay----? + + SOLDIER: Mutiny! your haste! + + CHARLES: O, mutiny. + + SOLDIER: Sir, yes! + + CHARLES: And do the ranks + Of hell roar up at me?--It is not strange. + + SOLDIER (_confused_): The ranks of--pardon, lord. + + CHARLES: Do the skies rage----? + They were else dead to madness. + + SOLDIER: Sir, it is + Your guard beyond the gates. + + CHARLES: 'Tis every throat + Of earth and realm unearthly has a cry + Against me and against! + + SOLDIER: No, but a few---- + + CHARLES: You doubt it?--Are my eyes not bloody? Say! + + SOLDIER: Sir! sir! + + CHARLES: My lips then are not pale with murder + Bitterly done? + + SOLDIER: Pale--no. + + CHARLES: Yet have I killed; + Spoke death with them--not reasonless--yet death. + And all the lost have echoes of it: hear + You not a spirit clamor on the air? + Ploughing as storms of pain it passes through me. + Mutiny? Go. I could call chaos fair, + And fawn on infinite ruin--fawn and praise. + (_SOLDIER goes._ + Yet will not yield! (_To CECCO._) My robes and coronet! + (_CECCO goes to obey._ + I'll sit in them and mock at greatness that + A passion may unthrone. If we weep not + Calamity will leave to torture us, + And fate for want of tears will thirst to death! + +_Enter CARDINAL._ + + Ah, priestly sir. + + CARDINAL: Infuriate man! + + CHARLES: Speak so. + I lust for bitterness. + + CARDINAL: What have you done! + + CHARLES (_shuddering, then smiling_): Watched the sun set. Did + it not, think you, bleed + Unwontedly along the waves? + + CARDINAL: O horror! + Horrible when a father slays and smiles! + + CHARLES: Not so, lord Cardinal, not so!--but when + He slays and smileth not. + + CARDINAL: Beyond all mercy! + + CHARLES: Therefore I smile. Men should not mid the trite + Enchanting and vain trickery of earth + Till they no longer hope of it, or want. + Smiles should be kept for life's unbearable. + + CARDINAL: Murderer! + + CHARLES: Ah! + + CARDINAL: Heretic! + + CHARLES: Well. + (_Goes to shrine and casts it out the window._) + + CARDINAL: Fool! fool! + + CHARLES: There are no wise men, O lord Cardinal. + + CARDINAL: Heaven let Antonio's death under the sea + Make every wave a tongue against your rest, + And 'gainst the rock of this impenitence! + (_CHARLES listens as to something afar off._) + No wind should blow that has not sting of it, + No light stream that it stains not! + + CHARLES (_sighing_): You have loosed + Your robe, lord prelate--see. + + CARDINAL: O stone! thou stone! + + CHARLES: Have peace. A keener cry comes up to me + Than frenzy can invoke: a vaster pain + Than justice from Omnipotence may call. + + CARDINAL: My lips shall learn it. + + CHARLES: "Father" moans it. "Father!"---- + It is my ears' inheritance forever. + +_Enter FULVIA_ + + FULVIA: Lord Cardinal, one of your servants has + In quarrel been struck, and mortally 'tis feared. + Quickly to him: then I may plead of you + Escort to Rome. + + CARDINAL: I do not understand. + + FULVIA: But shall. + + CARDINAL: To Rome? + + FULVIA: Do not pause here to learn + With the dear minutes of a dying man. + (_CARDINAL goes._ + + CHARLES: You baffle and bewilder. + + FULVIA: Well. + + CHARLES: You--?--Yes! + I am beat off by it. + + FULVIA: Ten years of shelter + Have you held over me. + + CHARLES: Ten years---- + + FULVIA: Whose days, + Whose every moment else had borne a torture. + + CHARLES: Now----? + + FULVIA: I, perhaps, must go. + + CHARLES: Must?--Still I grope. + + FULVIA: Must go! Though in this castle's aged calm + And melancholy dusk no shadow is + Or niche but may remember prayer for thee. + + CHARLES: To Rome? You must?--I am under a spell. + + FULVIA: We, thou and I, after the battle's foam + Or chase's tired return, often have breathed + The passionate deep hours away in rest + And sympathy. + + CHARLES: Say on. Your voice--I marvel---- + + FULVIA: And at the dawn have looked and sighed, then slow + With quiet clasp of fingers turned apart. + + CHARLES: You go?--But, on!--your tone--in it I feel---- + + FULVIA: Have we not fast been friends? + + CHARLES: What hath your voice? + + FULVIA: Such friends have we not been as grow up from + Eternity? + + CHARLES: You say it, and I wake. + + Fulvia: Such friends--till yesterday you---- + + CHARLES: Ah! + + FULVIA: Changed sudden as the sea when cometh storm. + + CHARLES: I had forgot--forgot!--the sun!--the sea! + The sea!--Antonio!--The cliff--the surf! + The shroud and funeral fury of the waves! + + FULVIA: Be calm. + + CHARLES (_rising excitedly_): I'll stay it! Cecco, our fleetest + foot! + A rain of ducats if he shall outspeed + This doom on us. More! more! a flood of them, + If he---- + + FULVIA (_drawing him to his chair_): Be patient--calm. + + CHARLES: I--I--remember, + 'Tis night! + + FULVIA: Yes, night. + + CHARLES: The sun's no more! It hath + Gone down beyond all mercy and recall. + + FULVIA: Beyond?--Ah! + + CHARLES (_quickly_): Fulvia? + + FULVIA: 'Tis hard to think! + + CHARLES: You utter and he seemeth still of life. + + FULVIA: He was a child in mimic mail clad out + When first this threshold poured its welcome to me. + + CHARLES: Softly you muse it, and call to your eyes + No quailing nor a flame of execration! + You do not burst out on me? from me do + Not shrink as from an executioner? + + FULVIA: I am a woman who in tears came to + Your strength, in tears depart. + + CHARLES: And will not judge? + But fear me--fear, and flee?--You shall not go! + + FULVIA: Perhaps---- + + CHARLES: Again "perhaps"--this calm "perhaps!"---- + To Rome?--I say you shall not. + + FULVIA: Yet should he, + Antonio, from those curtains come---- + + CHARLES: Should--should? + You speak not reasonably. Why do you say + "If he should come?" + + FULVIA: Because---- + + CHARLES: You've touched + And led me trembling from reality! + Those curtains?--those?--just those?--You shall not go. + + FULVIA: I will not then. + + CHARLES: But something breaks from you, + And as an air of resurrection stirs. + Speak; on your words I wait unutterably. + + FULVIA: Did not a soldier lately come, my lord, + Breathless with eager speech of mutiny----? + + CHARLES: Well--well----? + + FULVIA: Within your guard? + + CHARLES: My guard? No--yes---- + What do I see yet cannot in your words? + + FULVIA: The mutiny was roused at my command. + + CHARLES: Say it--say all! + + FULVIA: To save you the mad blot + Of a son's blood. + + CHARLES: Antonio----? + + FULVIA: Lives! + + CHARLES: Low--low---- + Joy come too furious has piercing peril. + He lives?--You have done this? With these soft hands, + These little hands, held off the shears of Fate? + Have dared? and have not feared? + + FULVIA: Your danger was + My fear--that, and no more. + + CHARLES: He lives?--I have + No worth, no gratitude, no gift that may + Answer this deed--no glow, no eloquence + But would ring poor in rarest words of earth. + He lives?--Years yet are mine. Too brief they'll be + To muse with love of this! + + FULVIA: No, no, my lord. + + CHARLES: But where is he? Belief, tho' risen, strains + In me as if 'twere fast in cerements + That seeing must unbind. + + FULVIA: Turn then, and see. + + (_ANTONIO steps from the curtains._) + + CHARLES: Antonio!--boy! boy! + + ANTONIO: My father! (_They embrace._) + +_Re-enter CARDINAL._ + + CARDINAL: Princess, + If your decision and desire are still---- + + (_Sees ANTONIO._) + + FULVIA: Your eyes look upon flesh, lord Cardinal. + + (_A cry is heard, then weeping._) + + ANTONIO (_startled_): Whose pain is this?--strangely it hurts + me--strangely! + +_Enter CECCO hastily, bearing robe and coronet._ + + CECCO: My lord, the lady Helen's little maid---- + + (_Sees ANTONIO. Shrinks from him._) + + ANTONIO: What of her? Are you horrified to stone! + Her maid?--There are than risen dead worse things + And worse to dread!--her maid? + + CECCO: Sir---- + + ANTONIO: Forth with it! + She direness of her mistress brings? some tale + That earth elsewhere abyssless gaped her up? + That butterfly or bud turn asp to bite her? + + CECCO: Sir--she--the maid craves audience with the duke. + + ANTONIO: Fetch her, and quickly. + (_CECCO goes._ + + FULVIA: Reason, Antonio. + She will but whimper, tell what overmuch + Of grief her mistress makes for you: of tears + Your sunny coming will dry in her. + + ANTONIO (_putting her aside_): These + Hours come not of any good, but are + Infected with resolved adversity. + This dread!---- + + FULVIA: They ever dread who have but quit + The shadow of some doom and the dismay. + +_Re-enter CECCO, with PAULA weeping._ + + ANTONIO: Girl! girl! Thy mistress? + + PAULA (_shrinking_): O!---- + + ANTONIO: I am no ghost. + Thy mistress? + + PAULA: Mary, Mother! (_Sinks praying._) + + ANTONIO (_lifting her up_): Look on me. See! + I have not been down in the grave, nor ev'n + A moment beyond earth. Do you not hear! + + PAULA (_looking at him_): Sir! + + ANTONIO: Tell me. + + PAULA (_hysterically_): Go to her, + O, go to her. + + ANTONIO: But, child----? + + PAULA: She, O!--go seek her, O, she is---- + + ANTONIO: Where, Paula? + + PAULA: Blind all day she moaned and wept. + + ANTONIO: My Helena! + + PAULA: And when the sun was gone, + Came quiet, kissed me--O, go seek her, sir! + + ANTONIO: Kissed you----? + + PAULA: Then to me gave these jewels. O! + And darkly cloaked stole out into the night. + + CHARLES: Alone? + + ANTONIO: Whither, quick, whither? + + PAULA: Ah, I do + Not know: but she---- + + ANTONIO: Pray, pray, tell out your dread. + + PAULA: Last night she said, "My heart is in my lord + Antonio's to beat or cease with it." + I learned her words--they seemed so pretty. + + Charles (_gasping_): Ah! + + ANTONIO: Why do you gasp?--Paula---- + + CHARLES: If she--the cliff! + + ANTONIO: The cliff! The--? + (_Staggers dizzily, then rushes out._ + + CHARLES: Let one go with him--bring + Us what hath passed--hath passed. + (_A SOLDIER goes._ + + PAULA (_with uncontrollable terror_): My lady! + + CHARLES: Child, + I cannot bear thy voice upon my heart! + It hath a tone--a clutch--no more, no more! + I cannot bear it! We must wait. No hap + Has been--no hap, I think--surely no hap. + +_Enter BARDAS deprecatingly, followed by ANTONIO._ + + BARDAS: Antonio! not in the sea? You live? + + ANTONIO: I say, where is she? + + BARDAS: You are mortal? + + ANTONIO (_groaning with impatience_): O + This utter superstition! (_Pricking his arm._) Is it not blood? + + BARDAS: You live! and live? but let her think your death! + You let her! still devising for yourself + Safety and preservation! + + ANTONIO: She's not safe? + + BARDAS: O, safe--if she had shrift! + + CHARLES (_hoarsely_): The dead are so! + + BARDAS: Ay, so. + + ANTONIO: And none above the grave?--no answer? + + BARDAS: She came unto the cliff amid her tears-- + Her being all into one want was fused, + You down the wave to follow. + + ANTONIO: But you grasped----? + You held her? + + BARDAS: Yes---- + + ANTONIO: Then--well? + + BARDAS: She had a phial. + + ANTONIO: God! God! + + BARDAS: Out of her breast she drew it swift, + And instant of it drank. + + ANTONIO: Drank? and she fell? + No?--no?--Ah but you dashed it from her lips? + She did but taste?---- + + BARDAS: Only: and then---- + + ANTONIO: More? more? + + BARDAS: "Is 't not enough," she pled to me, "Enough + That I must wander the cold way of death + Unto his arms? Go hence! There is no rest. + I will go down and clasp him, drift with him + To some unhabited gray ocean vale + God hath forgot. There will we dwell away + From destiny and weeping, from despair!" + + CHARLES: You left her? + + BARDAS: As I held her piteous hand + Came revellers who saw us--jested her + Of taking a new love. She broke my grasp---- + + ANTONIO: And leapt?--down the wide air? + + BARDAS: Swifter than all + Prevention. + + ANTONIO: Helena! O Helena! + That all thy loveliness should fare to this, + Thy glory go in dark calamity! + + BARDAS: I saw her as she leapt and until death + Shall see no more. + + ANTONIO (_drawing_): Blot it from you! Her face, + Her sorrow and her fairness shall not stand + Imprisoned in your eye, tho' 'twere to cry + Relentlessly your crime.--But no--but no! + + (_Sheathing his sword, he pauses, then staggers suddenly + out._) + + PAULA: Let me go to my lady! + + CHARLES: Still her! She + Forever hath a fluttering, a cry, + Undurably. It presses the lone air + With sensitive and aching agony. + + PAULA (_witlessly, in tears_): I know thy song, my lady, I know, I + know! + 'Twas pretty and 'twas strange, but now I know. + + (_Sings._) Sappho! Sappho! + In maiden woe + (Let alone love, it spurns and burns!) + Wept--wept, and leapt-- + O love is so! + (Let alone love, it burns!) + + My lady! O my lady! my sweet lady! + + (_She is led out._) + + FULVIA: This is most sad--most sad, and pitiful. + + CHARLES: I cannot bear her voice upon my heart + +_Enter AGABUS gazing into the air._ + + Again this monk? this dog of death?--and now? + + AGABUS: My trusty Shadow (_Laughs madly._) Ha, he has been here! + My king o' the worms and all corruption!-- + (_Approaching CHARLES._) Lovers, and lovers! O she leapt as 'twere + To Christ and not sin's Pit! And he is gone + To follow her! The devil's nine wits are + Too many! + (_Wanders about._) + + FULVIA: My lord! Your limbs are frozen, + And bloodlessly you stand! Move, rouse, O breathe! + It is not truth but madness that he speaks. + + (_A cry and clanking of armor are heard in the Hall. A + SOLDIER bursts into the chamber._) + + SOLDIER: O duke! O duke! (_Sinks to his knee._) + + CHARLES: (_gazes at him, struggling to speak_): Rise--go--and, + if thou canst-- + To pray. + + SOLDIER: O sir----! + + CHARLES: You have no tidings. + + SOLDIER: Sir---- + + CHARLES (_desperately_): None, fool! but come to say what silence + groans, + What earth numb and in deadness raves to me. + To tell Antonio hath gone out and o'er + A precipice hath stepped for sake of love. + This is not tidings--hath it not on me + Been fixed forever? It is older than + Despair, as old as pain! (_To HAEMON, who has entered._) Your + sister---- + + BARDAS: Haemon----! + + CARDINAL: Hold him not in this anguish. + + FULVIA: She and our + Antonio have left us to our tears. + + (_HAEMON stands motionless._) + + CHARLES: Let no one groan. I say let no one groan-- + Fury on him that groans! (_He blindly rocks to and fro._) + + FULVIA: My lord! + + CHARLES (_taking her hand_): Well--come. + (_As in a trance._) + There's much to do. We will think of the dead. + Perchance 'twill keep them near us: speak to them, + And they may answer while we wait, may float + Dim words on moonbeams to us. O for one + That shall sound of forgiveness and of rest! + (_More wildly._) + O I have started on the mountain's brow + A tremor that has loosed the avalanche; + And penitence too late--too late--too late-- + Was powerless as flowers along its path! + + (_He sinks back into his chair and stares hopelessly before + him._) + + +CURTAIN. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles Di Tocca, by Cale Young Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES DI TOCCA *** + +***** This file should be named 34055.txt or 34055.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/0/5/34055/ + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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