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+Project Gutenberg The Lamp and the Bell, by Edna St. Vincent Millay
+#3 in our series by Edna St. Vincent Millay
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+Title: The Lamp and the Bell
+
+Author: Edna St. Vincent Millay
+
+Release Date: February, 2003  [Etext #3768]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 08/28/01]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+
+
+The Lamp And The Bell
+
+A Drama In Five Acts
+
+By Edna St. Vincent Millay
+
+
+
+
+Written on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding
+of the Vassar College Alumnae Association
+
+Dedicated to '1917'
+
+
+
+
+Lorenzo, King of Fiori           Julia Lovejoy Cuniberti '11
+Mario, King of Lagoverde         Valerie Knapp '20
+Guido, Duke of Versilia,
+Illegitimate nephew to Lorenzo   Louisa Brook Jones '07
+
+Giovanni                         Katherine Jones '20
+Luigi                            Muriel Izard '17
+Anselmo                          Lucia Cole Waram '01
+Raffaele                         Eleanor Kissan '20
+Gentlemen at the court of Lorenzo
+
+Fidelio                          Geneva Harrison '20
+Jester at the court of Lorenzo
+
+Giuseppe                         Eleanor Fatman Morgenthau '13
+Agent for the Duke's estates
+
+Cesco                            Gertrude Taylow Watkins '07
+Horatio                          Lucille Stimson Harbey '09
+Townsmen of Fiori
+
+Beppo                            Marcell Furman Newburg '19
+A little boy, son to Guiliana
+
+Rigo                             Ruth Delepenha '17
+Louis                            Emily Gallagher '21
+Little boys, sons to Leonora
+
+Clerk                            Lucy Madeira Wing '96
+
+Messenger                        Esther Saville Davis '06
+
+Octavia, Lorenzo's second wife   Montgomery Cooper '09
+
+Beatrice, "Rose-Red,"            Clifford Sellers '21
+Daughter to Lorenzo by a former marriage
+
+Bianca, "Snow-White,"            Lois Duffie '20
+Daughter to Octavia by a former marriage
+
+Laura                           Frances Stout Kellman '17
+Carlotta                        Kathleen Millay Young ex-'21
+Francesca                       Dorothy Comstock '19
+Viola                           Lillian White '18
+Lilina                          Caroline Goodrich '16
+Lela                            Sylvia Brockway '20
+Arianna                         Margaret Hughes '18
+Claudia                         Janet Lane '18
+Clara                           Jeanette Baker '18
+Lucia                           Ellen Hasbrouck '15
+Ladies at the Court of Lorenzo
+
+Grazia                          Eleanor Ray Broeniman '99
+Nurse to Beatrice and Bianca
+
+Giulietta, servant to Bianca    Virginia Archibold '17
+"Little Snow-White"             Gretchen Tonks
+"Little Rose-Red"               Joy Macracken '36
+
+Leonora                         Catherine Barr '20
+Giuliana                        Mabel Hastings Humpstone '94
+Clara                           Olive Remington '19
+Giovanitta                      Caroline Curtis Johnson '83
+Anna                            Frances Haldeman Sidwell '84
+Eugenia                         Helen Hoy Greeley '99
+Townsmen of Fiori
+
+Eleanora
+A little girl, daughter to Leonora
+
+Gilda                           Ruth Benedict '20
+A little girl, sister to Beppo
+
+Adelina, another little girl    Maiserie MacCracken '31
+Nurse                           Edith Ward
+
+Pierrot
+Harlequin
+Pant Aloon
+Polichinello
+Colombine
+Strolling players
+
+Courtiers, Ladies-in-Waiting, Soldiers, Pages, Musicians,
+Towns-people, Children
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+    [Anselmo and Luigi]
+
+ANSELMO. What think you,--lies there any truth in the tale
+The King will wed again?
+
+LUIGI. Why not, Anselmo?
+A king is no less lonely than a collier
+When his wife dies, And his young daughter there,
+For all her being a princess, is no less
+A motherless child, and cries herself to sleep
+Night after night, as noisily as any,
+You may be sure.
+
+ANSELMO. A motherless child loves not,
+They say, the second mother. Though the King
+May find him comfort in another face,--
+As it is well he should--the child, I fancy,
+Is not so lonely as she is distraught
+With grief for the dead Queen, and will not lightly
+Be parted from her tears.
+
+LUIGI. If tales be true,
+The woman hath a daughter, near the age
+Of his, will be a playmate for the Princess.
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT I
+
+Scene 1
+
+    [Scene: A garden of the palace at Fiori; four years later.]
+
+    [Discovered seated Laura, Francesca and Fidelio, Laura embroidering,
+    Fidelio strumming his flute, Francesca lost in thought.]
+
+LAURA. You,--Fool! If there be two chords to your lute,
+Give us the other for a time!
+
+FRANCESCA. And yet, Laura,
+I somewhat fancied that soft sound he made.
+'Twas all on the same tone,--but 'twas a sweet tone.
+
+LAURA. 'Tis like you. As for myself, let music change
+From time to time, or have done altogether.
+Sing us the song, Fidelio, that you made
+Last night,--a song of flowers, and fair skies,
+And nightingales, and love.
+
+FIDELIO. I know the song.
+It is a song of winter.
+
+LAURA. How is that?
+
+FIDELIO. Because it is a song of summer set
+To a sad tune.
+
+FRANCESCA. [Sadly] Ah, well,--so that it be not
+A song of autumn, I can bear to hear it.
+
+LAURA. In any case, music. I am in a mood for music.
+I am in a mood where if something be not done
+To startle me, I shall confess my sins.
+
+    [Enter Carlotta.]
+
+CARLOTTA. Ha! I will have that woman yet by the hair!
+
+LAURA. What woman, pray, Carlotta?
+
+CAR. Ho! What woman!
+Who but that scullery-wench, that onion-monger,
+That slatternly, pale bakress, that foul witch,
+The coroneted Fish-Wife of Fiori,
+Her Majesty, the Queen!
+
+FRA. Hush--hush--Carlotta!
+You could be put to death for less than that!
+
+CAR. Not I, my duck. When I am put to death
+'Twill be for more! Oh, I will have her yet
+By the hair! [For the first time noticing Fidelio.]
+Fidelio, if you breathe one word
+Of this, I will scratch the Princess into ribbons,
+Whom you love better than your wit.
+
+FID. I' faith,
+I did but hear you say you are a fish-wife,
+And all the world knows that.
+
+LAU. Fear not, Carlotta,
+He is as dumb as a prophet. Every second word
+He utters, eats the one before it. Speak,
+But softly.
+
+CAR. Nay,'tis nothing.--Nay, by my head,
+It is a townful! 'Tis the way she has
+Of saying "that should be done like this, and this
+Like that"!  The woman stirs me to that point
+I feel like a carrot in a stew,--I boil so
+I bump the kettle on all sides!
+
+LAU. My dear,
+Were you as plump as I you would not dare
+Become so angry. It would make your stays creak.
+
+CAR. Well, I am done. Fidelio, play me a dirge
+To put me in good spirits. Merry music
+Is sure to make me sad.
+
+    [Fidelio plays. Pause.]
+
+CAR. 'Tis curious
+A woman like her should have a child like that--
+So gentle and so pretty-mannered. Faith,--
+
+FID. Hush! Hush! Here come the prettiest pair of birds
+That ever sat together on a bough so close
+You could not see the sky between. How now,
+Snow-White and Rose-Red! Are you reconciled
+One to another?
+
+    [Enter Beatrice and Bianca, with their arms about one another.]
+
+BIA. Reconciled, Fidelio?
+We had not quarrelled! [Laughter from Fidelio and the ladies.]
+
+BEA. Do not listen to him,
+Bianca, 'tis but the jingling of his bells.
+
+FIDELIO. Do you make a better jest than that
+At once, or have the clappers cut from them.
+
+FID. Alas, alas,--all the good jests are made.
+I made them yesterday.
+
+CAR. If that be true,
+You would best become a wise man for a time,
+My friend,--there are plenty of wise words not yet said!
+
+FID. I shall say them all tomorrow.
+
+LAU. If you do,
+You will be stoned to death.
+
+FID. Not I. No one
+Will hear me.--Well, I am off.--I know an old man
+Who does not know the road runs past his house;
+And yet his bees make honey. [Exit Fidelio.]
+
+CAR. [Looking after him.] 'Tis the one wise fool
+We have among us.
+
+    [Enter Grazia.]
+
+GRA. Oh, here you are, my ducklings!
+Always together, like a beggar and a flea!
+I looked for you at lunch-time; I forget now
+What for; but then 'twas a matter of more weight
+Than laying siege to a city,--la, how time
+Does carry one on! An hour is like an ocean,
+The way it separates you from yourself!--
+[To Bianca and Beatrice.] What do you find to talk about all day?
+
+BEA. We do not talk all day.
+
+CAR. Nay, tis you, Grazia,
+That talk all day.
+
+BEA. We ride, and play at tennis,
+And row on the lake--
+
+GRA. I know who does the rowing!
+
+BEA. Nay, not by any means! Bianca rows
+Nearly as well as I.
+
+CAR. And do you ride
+Nearly as well as she, Bianca? [All smile.]
+
+BIA. [Ruefully.] Nay.
+
+GRA. 'Tis an unkind question. There be few in Fiori
+Might answer, "Aye." Her Highness rides like a centaur.
+
+BIA. I'd never dare to mount the horse she rides.
+
+BEA. What, Harlequin?--La, he's gentle as a kitten!
+Though he's a little young, 'tis true, not settled yet
+In his mind.
+
+LAU. As to his mind, 'twere a small matter,
+Were he a bit more settled in his legs!
+
+BIA. I'm afraid of horses, anyway, they are so much
+Bigger than I am.
+
+BEA. Oh, Bianca, horses
+Are just like people! Are you afraid of father?--
+He is bigger than you.
+
+BIA. Nay. But I'd never dare
+Prod him which way to go!
+
+BEA. Oh, la, I would!
+Father, this ditch! This four-foot wall now, father!
+And swim the brook beyond!
+
+FRA. And is there naught
+In which Bianca carries off the trophies?
+
+BEA. [Ruefully.] Ay, there is tennis.
+
+LAU. She wins from you at tennis?
+
+BEA. She flays me, Laura. She drags me at her racket
+Nine times around the court!
+
+CAR. Why, how is that?--
+She is not quicker.
+
+BEA. Nay, but she grows cool
+Whilst I grow hot, Carlotta, and freezes me
+Ere I can melt her!
+
+FRA. Is it true, Bianca?
+
+BIA. 'Tis true I win from her.--Although not always.
+
+GRA. What did I come here for?--I must go back
+To where I started, and think of it again! [Exit Grazia.]
+
+CAR. [Calling after her.]
+Are you sure that you remember where you started?
+-- -- The woman hath a head like a sieve.
+
+LAU. And yet,
+You may be sure 'tis nothing more than the thimble
+Of the matter she's forgotten. I never knew her
+Mislay the thread or the needle of a thing.
+
+BIA. We must study now, Beatrice, we really must.
+We have not opened a book since yesterday.
+
+LAU. La, as for me, I have not opened a book
+Since yesteryear,--I'd rather open a vein!
+
+CAR. Lessons,--troth, I remember well those lessons.
+As for what I learned,--troth, that's a different matter,
+
+FRA. 'Tis curious; the things that one remembers
+Are foolish things. One does not know at all
+Why one remembers them. There was a blackbird
+With a broken foot somebody found and tamed
+And named Euripides!--I can see it now.
+
+CAR. Some of the silly rhymes we used to write
+In the margins of our books, I still remember!
+
+LAU. And eating sweets behind the covers of them!
+
+FRA. And faces--faces--faces--and a little game
+We used to play, all marching in a row
+And singing!--I wish I were a child again.
+
+BEA. You are not old, Francesca. You are very young.
+And very beautiful!
+
+FRA. I have been beautiful
+Too many years to be so very young.
+
+CAR. How now, Francesca! Would you have it said
+You are enamoured of some beardless youth,
+That so you see the wrinkles suddenly?
+Have done! Have done!
+
+BIA. Where shall we study, Bice?
+
+BEA. Indoors. I cannot study out of doors.
+
+    [Exeunt Beatrice and Bianca.]
+
+LAU. I vow I never knew a pair of lovers
+More constant than those two.
+
+CAR. A pair of lovers?
+Marry, I find your figure lacking force!
+Since when were lovers true?
+
+FRA. Oh, peace, Carlotta!
+You bear too sharp a weapon against the world,--
+A split tongue full of poison, in a head
+That darts at every heel!--I'm going in. [Exit Francesca.]
+
+LAU. You should not say such things when she is with us, Carlotto.
+
+CAR. Is the woman in love?
+
+LAU. In love!
+She is so far gone she does not know which way
+To sail,--all shores are equally out of sight.
+
+    [Exeunt Laura and Carlotta.]
+
+    [Music off stage. Enter Fidelio, singing.]
+
+FID. "What was I doing when the moon stood above?
+What did I do?  What did I do?
+I lied to a lady that had given me her love,--
+I swore to be true! I swore to be true!"
+
+    [He picks up from the grass a white scarf which Beatrice was
+    wearing, and which slipped from her shoulders unnoticed as she
+    went out.]
+
+FID. My mistress!
+
+    [He thrusts the scarf under his cloak and continues his song,
+    just as Guido enters from another direction.]
+
+FID. "And what was I doing when the sun stood above?
+What did I do? What did I do?--"
+
+GUI. By my sacred word, Fidelio, I do not like your song.
+
+FID. Faith, and small wonder!--It is a song that sets the evil eye
+To staring in upon itself.
+
+GUI. [Stopping in his walk.] What mean you by that, my throaty friend?
+
+FID. I mean to say
+That, taking it all in all and by and large,
+You do not care for music.
+
+GUI. I do not care
+For yours, but it is possible Apollo
+Had a better tenor. I never heard him sing.
+
+FID. Nay, and how could you?--He died when you were born!
+
+GUI. He died, that is, in giving birth to me?
+
+FID. Aye, if you like,--you bear as much resemblance
+To him as to your mother's husband, surely.
+
+GUI. Take care, Fidelio!
+
+FID. [Lightly] So! Then it angers you
+Apollo should be deemed your sire! I told you
+[Sadly.] You did not care for music!
+
+GUI. You are a sly fool,
+My merry friend. What hide you under the cloak?
+
+FID. Why, 'tis a little patch of snow the sun
+Would lay too hot a hand on.
+
+GUI. By my life,--
+And what are you that you can keep the sun
+From shining where it will?
+
+FID. Why, by your life,--
+And a foul oath it is!--why, by your life,
+I am a cloud,--that is an easy riddle.
+
+
+
+Scene 2
+
+    [Scene: A garden with a fountain, at Fiori. Beatrice
+    and Bianca sitting side by side on a low step. Evening.]
+
+BEA. How beautiful it is to sit like this,
+Snow-White,--to think of much, and to say little.
+
+BIA. Ay, it is beautiful. I shall remember
+All my life long these evenings that we spent
+Sitting just here, thinking together. [Pause.] Rose-Red,
+It is four years today since first we met.
+Did you know that?
+
+BEA. Nay, is it?
+
+BIA. Four years today.
+I liked you from the moment that I saw you,
+Beatrice!
+
+BEA. I you, Bianca. From the very moment!
+I thought you were the prettiest little girl
+That I had ever seen.
+
+BIA. I was afraid
+Of you, a little, at first,--you were a Princess,
+You see. But you explained that being a Princess
+Was much the same as anything else. 'Twas nice,
+You  said, when people were nice, and when they were not nice
+'Twas hateful, just the same as everything else.
+And then I saw your dolls, and they had noses
+All scratched, and wigs all matted, just like mine,
+Which reassured me even more!--I still, though,
+Think of you as a Princess; the way you do things
+Is much more wonderful than the way I do them!--
+The way you speak to the servants, even the way
+You pick up something that you drop.
+
+BEA. You goose!
+'Tis not because I'm a princess you feel that way--
+I've always thought the same thing about you!--
+The way you draw your gloves on is to me
+More marvelous than the way the sun comes up!
+
+    [They both burst out laughing.]
+
+BEA. Oh, lud,--how droll we are!
+
+BIA. Oh, I shall die
+Of laughing! Think you anyone else, Rose-Red,
+Was ever half so silly?
+
+BEA. I dare wager
+There be a thousand, in this realm alone,
+Some even sillier!
+
+BIA. Here comes Fidelio! [Enter Fidelio.]
+
+BEA. Fidelio, sing to us,--there is no nightingale
+Abroad tonight, save you. And the night cries
+For music!
+
+BIA. Sing, Fidelio!
+
+FID. I have no thorn
+To lean my breast on. I've been happy all day,
+And happiness ever made a crow of me.
+
+BEA. Sing, none the less,--unless you have a cold,
+Which is a singer's only rock of refuge.
+You have no cold, or you would not be happy.
+So sing.
+
+FID. [Singing.] "Oh, little rose-tree, bloom!
+Summer is nearly over.
+The dahlias bleed and the phlox is seed,
+Nothing's left of the clover,
+And the path of the poppy no one knows,--
+I would blossom if I were a rose!
+
+Summer for all your guile
+Will brown in a week to autumn,
+And launched leaves throw a shadow below
+Over the brook's clear bottom,
+And the chariest bud the year can boast
+Be brought to bloom by the chastening frost!
+Oh, little rose-tree, bloom!"
+
+    [As he finishes the song Fidelio goes out, softly strumming
+    the last chords. Bianca and Beatrice did sit quite
+    still for a moment.]
+
+BIA. Do you know what I am thinking, Bice?
+
+BEA. You're wondering where we'll be ten years from now,
+Or something of that nature.
+
+BIA. Ay, I was wondering
+Which would be married first, and go away,
+And would we still be friends.
+
+BEA. Oh, do you doubt it,
+Snow-White?
+
+BIA. Nay, nay,--I doubt it not, my dear,--
+But I was wondering. I am suddenly sad,
+I know not why. I do not wish to leave you
+Ever.
+
+BEA. I know. I cannot bear
+To think of parting. We have been happy these four years
+Together, have we not?
+
+BIA. Oh, Beatrice! [She weeps.]
+
+BEA. Nay, do not weep!--Come, you must go to bed.
+You are tired tonight. We rode too far today.
+
+    [She draws Bianca's head down to her shoulder.]
+
+Oh, you are tired, tired, you are very tired.
+You must be rocked to sleep, and tucked in bed,
+And have your eyelids kissed to make you dream
+Of fairies! Come, dear, come.
+
+BIA. Oh, I do love you,
+Rose-Red! You are so sweet! Oh, I do love you
+So much!--so much! I never loved anyone
+The way that I love you! There is nobody
+In all the world so wonderful as you!
+
+    [She throws her arms about Beatrice and clings to her.]
+
+
+
+Scene 3
+
+    [A room in the palace at Fiori. Lorenzo and Beatrice playing
+    chess. Twilight.]
+
+LOR. You'll not be able to get out of that,
+I think, my girl, with both your castles gone.
+
+BEA. Be not so sure!--I have a horse still, father,
+And in a strong position: if I move him here,
+You lose your bishop; and if you take my bishop,
+You lose your queen.
+
+LOR. True, but with my two rooks
+Set here, where I can push them back and forth,
+My king is safe till worms come in and eat him.
+
+BEA. What say you then to this?--Will you take this pawn,
+Or will you not?
+
+LOR. [Studying the board.] Od's bones!--where did that come from?
+
+    [Enter Octavia.]
+
+OCT. La, would you lose your eyesight, both of you?--
+Fumbling about those chessmen in the dark?
+You, Beatrice, at least, should have more wit!
+
+LOR. "At least"--hm!--Did you hear her say, "at least,"
+Bice, my daughter?
+
+BEA.  Ay. But it is true
+The twilight comes before one knows it.
+
+LOR. Ay.
+'Tis true, but unimportant. Nevertheless,
+I am a tractable old fellow.--Look you,
+I will but stay to map the lay of the pieces
+Upon this bit of letter. 'Tis from a king
+Who could not tell the bishop from the board,--
+And yet went blind at forty.--A little chess
+By twilight, mark you, and all might have been well.
+
+    [Enter Bianca.]
+
+BIA. Oh,--I've been looking everywhere for you?
+
+OCT. [Drily.] For me?
+
+BIA. Nay, mother,--for Beatrice. Bice,
+The rose is out at last upon that bush
+That never blossomed before,--and it is white
+As linen, just as I said 'twould be!
+
+BEA. Why, the bud
+Was redder than a radish!
+
+BIA. Ay, I know.
+But the blossom's white, pure white. Come out and see!
+[Politely.] Would you like to see it, mother?
+
+OCT. Nay, not now, child.
+Some other time.
+
+BEA. Father, we'll end the game
+Tomorrow; and do you not be scheming at it
+All night!
+
+LOR. Nay, I will not unfold the chart.
+
+BEA. But you remember well enough without;
+Promise me not to think of it.
+
+LOR. I' faith,
+You are a desperate woman. Ay, I promise.
+
+    [Exeunt Bianca and Beatrice. Octavia seats herself. Pause.]
+
+OCT. I tell you, as I've told you often before,
+Lorenzo, 'tis not good for two young girls
+To be so much together!
+
+LOR. As you say,
+Octavia. For myself, I must confess
+It seems a natural thing, enough, that youth
+Should seek out youth. And if they are better pleased
+Talking together than listening to us,
+I find it not unnatural. What have we
+To say to children?--They are as different
+From older folk as fairies are from them.
+
+OCT. "Talking together," Lorenzo! What have they
+To talk about, save things they might much better
+Leave undiscussed?--you know what I mean,--lovers,
+And marriage, and all that--if that is all!
+One never knows--it is impossible
+To hear what they are saying; they either speak
+In whispers, or burst out in fits of laughter
+At some incredible nonsense. There is nothing
+So silly as young girls at just that age.--
+At just Bianca's age, that is to say.
+As for the other,--as for Beatrice,
+She's older than Bianca, and I'll not have her
+Putting ideas into my daughter's head!
+
+LOR. Fear not, my love. Your daughter's head will doubtless,
+In its good time, put up its pretty hair,
+Chatter, fall dumb, go moping in the rain,
+Be turned by flattery, be bowed with weeping,
+Grow grey, and shake with palsy over a staff,--
+All this, my love, as empty of ideas
+As even the fondest mother's heart could wish.
+
+OCT. You mock me, sir?
+
+LOR. I am but musing aloud,
+As is my fashion.--And indeed, my dear,
+What is the harm in lovers-and-all-that
+That virtuous maidens may not pass the time
+With pretty tales about them?--After all,
+Were it not for the years of looking forward to it
+And looking back upon it, love would be
+Only the commonest bird-song in the hedge,--
+And men would have more time to think,--and less
+To think about.
+
+OCT. That may be. But young girls
+Should not be left alone too much together.
+They grow too much attached. They grow to feel
+They cannot breathe apart. It is unhealthy.
+
+LOR. It may be true. But as for me, whom youth
+Abandoned long ago, I look on youth
+As something fresh and sweet, like a young green tree,
+Though the wind bend it double.--'Tis you, 'tis I,
+'Tis middle age the fungus settles on.
+
+OCT. Your head is full of images. You have
+No answers. I shall do as I spoke of doing,
+And separate them for a little while,
+Six months, maybe a year. I shall send Bianca
+Away within a fortnight. That will cure them.
+I know. I know. Such friendships do not last.
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT II
+
+Scene 1--Four months later.
+
+    [Scene: A garden, near the palace at Fiori. The young Duke
+    Guido is discovered standing with one foot resting on a
+    garden-bench, looking off, lost in thought. Enter Giovanni.]
+
+GIO. That is a merry face you wear, my Guido!
+Now that the young King Mario visits the court
+And walks all morning in the woods with the Princess,
+Or gives her fencing lessons,--upon my word,
+You are as gay as a gallows!
+
+GUI. She is never
+Alone with him. Laura--Carlotta--someone
+Is always there.
+
+GIO. Ah--ah--but even so,
+No matter who is there, I tell you, lovers
+Are always alone!
+
+GUI. Why do you say these things,
+Giovanni?
+
+GIO. Because I love you, you lean wolf,
+And love to watch you snuff the air. My friend,
+There was a time I thought it all ambition
+With you, a secret itching to be king--
+And not so secret, either--an open plot
+To marry a girl who will be Queen some morning.
+But now at times I wonder. You have a look
+As of a man that's nightly gnawed by rats,
+The very visage of a man in love.
+Is it not so?
+
+GUI. I do not know, Giovanni.
+I know I have a passion in my stomach
+So bitter I can taste it on my tongue.
+She hates me. And her hatred draws me to her
+As the moon draws the tide.
+
+GIO. You are like a cat--
+There never was a woman yet that feared you
+And shunned you, but you leapt upon her shoulder!
+Well, I'll be off. The prettiest girl in Fiori,--
+Unless it be Her Highness, waits for me
+By a fountain. All day long she sells blue plums,
+And in the evening what she has left of them
+She gives to me! You should love simply, Guido,
+As I do. [Exit Giovanni.]
+
+    [Guido sits on the bench and drops his head in hand.
+    Enter Francesca.]
+
+FRA. [Softly.] Guido! Guido!
+
+GUI. Who calls me?
+
+FRA. Guido!
+
+GUI. Francesca! Why do you follow me here?
+You know I do not wish to see you!
+
+FRA. Do not be angry.
+'Tis half a week since you have spoken to me,
+And over a week since you have so much as laid
+Your hand upon my arm! And do you think,
+Loving you as I do, I can do without you,
+Forever, Guido, and make no sign at all?
+I know you said you did not wish to see me
+Ever again,--but it was only a quarrel--
+And we have quarreled before!
+
+GUI. It was not a quarrel.
+I am tired of you, Francesca. You are too soft.
+You weep too much.
+
+FRA. I do not weep the less
+For having known you.
+
+GUI. So;--it will save you tears, then
+To know me less.
+
+FRA. Oh, Guido, how your face
+Is changed,--I cannot think those are the eyes
+That looked into my eyes a month ago!
+What's come between us?
+
+GUI. Nothing has come between us.
+It is the simple snapping of a string
+Too often played upon.
+
+FRA. Ah!--but I know
+Who snapped it! It will do you little good
+To look at her,--she'll never look at you!
+
+GUI. Be silent a moment!--Unless you would be silent
+Longer!
+
+FRA. Indeed! I shall speak out my mind!
+You go beyond yourself! There is proportion
+Even in a nature like my own, that's twisted
+From too much clinging to a crooked tree!
+And this is sure: if you no longer love me,
+You shall no longer strike me!
+
+MARIO. [Off stage.] Beatrice!
+Wait for me! Wait!
+
+BEA. [Off stage.] Not I! Who does not run?
+As fast as I run, shall be left behind me!
+
+GUI. They are coming here! I do not wish to see them!
+
+FRA. Oh, Guido! [She follows him off. Exeunt Guido and Francesca.]
+
+    [Enter Beatrice, running, followed by Mario.]
+
+MAR. Beatrice, you run like a boy!
+You whistle like a boy! And upon my word,
+You are the only girl I ever played
+At jousting with, that did not hold her sword
+As if it were a needle! Which of us,
+Think you, when we are married, will be King?
+
+BEA. When we are married! Sir, I'll have you know
+There's an ogre to be tamed, a gem to be pried
+From out a dragon's forehead, and three riddles
+To be solved, each tighter than the last, before
+A Princess may be wed!
+
+MAR. Even by a King?
+
+BEA. For Kings the rules are sterner!--One more riddle,
+And a mirror that will show her always young.
+
+MAR. And if I do these things, then, will you have me,
+Rose-Red?
+
+BEA. Maybe. And if you do not do them,
+Maybe. Come--I will race you to the bridge!
+
+MAR. [Catching her hand,] Nay, not so fast!--Have you no wish to be
+Beside me, ever, that you are forever running
+Ahead?
+
+BEA. Indeed, if you would have the truth
+It has come into my mind more times than once
+It would be sweet to be beside you often.
+
+MAR. Rose-Red!
+
+BEA. Come--I will race you to the bridge!
+
+    [Exeunt Beatrice and Mario.]
+
+
+
+Scene 2
+
+    [Court-yard of the palace at Fiori. Entire court assembled.
+    A band of strolling players, with a little stage
+    on wheels, are doing a Harlequinade pantomime to amuse
+    the young King Mario, the guest of honor. Beatrice sits
+    beside him. In this scene the two people who are oblivious
+    to the pantomime are Guido and Octavia. Guido is
+    apparently brooding over something. From time to time
+    he looks at Beatrice and Mario. Once, having gazed for
+    some moments at the pair, he looks at Octavia and sees
+    that she, too, is looking at them, which seems to satisfy
+    him. The Queen does not take her eyes from the two during
+    the entire scene. Beatrice and Mario do not conduct
+    themselves precisely as lovers, but they are very gay and
+    happy to be in each other's company, apparently. Lorenzo
+    watches the show with a benign, almost childish
+    interest.]
+
+    [Pantomime begins.]
+
+GIO. You, Pierrot, are you not a little thick
+For such a sorrowful fellow?
+
+PIERROT. Nay, indeed!
+Sorrow may come to all. And 'tis amazing
+How much a man may live through and keep fat.
+
+    [Pantomime continues]
+
+CAR. Ho! Now he stumbles! Look you, Pantaloon,
+If you were not so learned i' the head
+You might know better where to put your feet!
+
+LAU. [To Carlotta.] 'Tis curious how it addles a man's bones
+To think too much.
+
+CAR. Nay, truth. Wise men were ever
+Awkward in the legs.
+
+    [Pantomime continues.]
+
+RAFFAELE. Have at him, Polichinello.
+
+GIO. Lay on! Lay on!
+
+ANS. Leave not a nail of him!
+
+GIO. Dog! Would you have him write a book about you?
+
+LUIG. Spit him i' the liver! It is his only organ!
+
+BEA. [To Mario.] Nay, it is cruel. I cannot look at it.
+
+MAR. It is but play.
+
+BEA. Ay, but 'tis cruel play.
+To be so mocked at!--Come, take heart, good Doctor!
+'Tis a noisy fellow, but light withal!--Blow at him!
+
+GIO. [To Guido.] She has the softest heart that ever
+I saw
+In a hard woman. It may be, seeing she has pity
+For one rogue, she has pity for another!
+Mark you, my Guido, there is hope yet!
+
+GUI. Nay,
+There's not. I have opened up my mind to her,
+And she will none of me.
+
+GIO. [Jestingly.] That was the last thing
+You should have done!--Speak,--did she give for answer
+She loves the King?
+
+GUI. Not she. She gave for answer
+She does not love the Duke.
+
+    [Pantomime continues.]
+
+ANS. [To Colombine.] Ah, pretty lady!
+
+CAR. La, she is fickle! How she turns from one face
+To another face,--and smiles into them all!
+
+FRAN. Oh, ay, but' tis the Pierrot that she loves.
+
+    [Pantomime continues and comes to a close.]
+
+    [All applaud.]
+
+LUIGI. Well done!
+
+ANS. Bravo!
+
+GIO. A monstrous lively play!
+
+BEA. Oh, is it over?--I would it were not over!
+
+MAR. And yet it pleased you not!
+
+BEA. When it pleased me not,
+I looked at you.
+
+MAR. And when I pleased you not--?
+
+BEA. I looked at Harlequin. However, I saw him
+But fleetingly. Pray, was he dark or fair?
+
+LUIGI. Laura!
+
+LAU. Who calls? La, it is only Luigi!
+
+LUIGI. Laura, there'll be a moon tonight.
+
+LAU. I' faith,
+There was a moon last night. [She sighs.]
+
+LUIGI. At ten o'clock,
+Were I by a certain gate, would you be there?
+What say you?
+
+LAU. Ay,--if weariness overtook me,
+And I could not get further!
+
+CAR. La, 'tis sun-down!
+
+    [In the meantime the crowd has been breaking up and  dispersing.
+    The curtain falls on the disappearing spectators and on Pierrot
+    and his troupe packing up their wagon to go to the next town.]
+
+
+
+Scene 3
+
+    [Fiori. A garden with a fountain. Evening.]
+    [Enter Octavia and Ladies.]
+
+OCT. It would amuse me if I had a lily
+To carry in my hand. You there, Carlotta!
+You have a long arm,--plunge it in the pool
+And fish me forth a lily!
+
+CLAUDIA. Majesty,
+They close at night.
+
+OCT. Well--we will open them.
+
+CAR. [Going to pool and scanning it.] Go to--I am not a frog!
+
+OCT. What did you say?
+
+ARIANNA. She says she sees a frog, Your Majesty.
+
+FRAN. [Aside to Carlotta.]
+You are mad! Can you not keep your tongue in your head?
+
+CAR. Ay, I can keep it in my cheek.--There's one.
+God grant it have an eel at the end of it,--
+I'll give the dame good measure.
+
+    [While the ladies are at the pool enter Guido.]
+
+GUIDO. Greeting, madam!
+
+OCT. Who greets me?--Ah, it is the Duke.
+Good even, Guido. You seek an audience with me?
+
+GUIDO. Nay--nay--but if you send away your women,--
+We shall be more alone.
+
+OCT. [After considering him a moment.] You may leave me now,
+Laura, Francesca--all of you--and you would best go in
+At an early hour, instead of walking the gardens
+All night; I would have you with your wits
+About you in the morning.
+
+LAU. [Aside.] Oh, indeed?
+You would best go in yourself, lest the dew rust you,
+You sauce-pan! [Exeunt ladies.]
+
+OCT. Now, my good sir,--you may speak.
+
+GUI. [As if by way of conversation.]
+It is a long time, is it not, your daughter
+Is absent from the court?
+
+OCT. Why say you that?
+
+GUI. Why but to pass the time, till she returns?
+
+OCT. Nay, Guido. That is well enough for some,
+But not for me. I know the slant of your fancy;
+'Tis not in that direction.
+
+GUI. Yet me thinks
+The sooner she is back again at court
+The happier for us both.
+
+OCT. "Us both"? What "both"?
+
+GUI. You Madam, and myself.
+
+OCT. And why for me?
+
+GUI. [Carefully.] Why, are you not her mother?
+
+OCT. Hah! [Pause.] Guido,
+What festers in your mind? Do you speak out now,
+If you await some aid from me.
+
+GUI. Madam,
+I have but this to say: if I were a woman
+With a marriageable daughter, and a King rode by,
+I'd have her at the window.
+
+OCT. So. I thought so.
+
+    [With an entire change of manner.]
+
+Guido, what think you,--does she love the King,--
+I mean Lorenzo's daughter?
+
+GUI. [Between his teeth.] Ay, she loves him.
+
+OCT. And loves he her?
+
+GUI. Oh, ay. He loves the moon,
+The wind in the cypress trees, his mother's portrait
+At seventeen, himself, his future children--
+He loves her well enough. But had she blue eyes
+And yellow hair, and were afraid of snakes,
+He yet might love her more.
+
+OCT. You think so, Guido?
+I am content to learn you of that mind.
+There had occurred to me--some time ago,
+In fact--a similar fancy. And already
+My daughter is well on her way home.
+
+    [Exeunt Guido and Octavia.]
+
+    [Music, Enter Beatrice and Fidelio. Fidelio strums his lute
+    softly throughout the next conversation, up to the words
+    "and cease to mock me."]
+
+BEA. Fidelio,
+Were you ever in love?
+
+FID. I was never out of it.
+
+BEA. But truly?
+
+FID. Well. I was only out of it
+What time it takes a man to right himself
+And once again lose balance. Ah, indeed,
+'Tis good to be in love, I have often noticed,
+The moment I fall out of love, that moment
+I catch a cold.
+
+BEA. Are you in love, then, now?
+
+FID. Ay, to be sure.
+
+BEA. Oh! Oh! With whom, Fidelio?
+Tell me with whom!
+
+FID. Why, marry, with yourself,--
+That are the nearest to me,--and by the same troth,
+The farthest away.
+
+BEA. Go to, Fidelio!
+I am in earnest, and you trifle with me
+As if I were a child.
+
+FID. Are you not a child, then?
+
+BEA. Not any more.
+
+FID, How so?
+
+BEA. I am in love.
+
+FID. Oh--oh--oh, misery, misery, misery, misery!
+
+BEA. Why do you say that?
+
+FID. Say what?
+
+BEA. "Misery, misery."
+
+FID. It is a song.
+
+BEA. A song?
+
+FID. Ay, 'tis a love-song.
+Oh, misery, misery, misery, misery, oh!
+
+BEA. Nay, sweet Fidelio, be not so unkind!
+I tell you, for the first time in my life
+I am in love! Do you be mannerly now,
+And cease to mock me,
+
+FID. What would you have me do?
+
+BEA. I would have you shake your head, and pat my shoulder,
+And smile and say, "Godspeed."
+
+FID. [Doing so very tenderly.] Godspeed.
+
+BEA. [Bursting into tears.] I do not know if I am happy or sad.
+But I am greatly moved. I would Bianca
+Were here. I never lacked her near so much
+As tonight I do, although I lack her always.
+She is a long time gone.--If I tell you something,
+Will you promise not to tell.
+
+FID. Nay, I'll not promise, But I'll not tell.
+
+BEA. Fidelio, I do love so
+The King from Lagoverde! I do so love him!
+
+FID. Godspeed, Godspeed.
+
+BEA. Ay, it is passing strange;
+Last week I was a child, but now I am not.
+And I begin my womanhood with weeping;
+I know not why.--La, what a fool I am!
+'Tis over. Sing, Fidelio.
+
+FID. Would you a gay song, My Princess?
+
+BEA. Ay.--And yet--nay, not so gay.
+A simple song, such as a country-boy
+Might sing his country-sweetheart.--Is it the moon
+Hath struck me, do you think? I swear by the moon
+I am most melancholy soft, and most
+Outrageous sentimental! Sing, dear fool.
+
+FID. [Singing.]
+"Butterflies are white and blue
+In this field we wander through.
+Suffer me to take your hand.
+Death comes in a day or two.
+All the things we ever knew
+Will be ashes in that hour.
+Mark the transient butterfly,
+How he hangs upon the flower.
+Suffer me to take your hand.
+Suffer me to cherish you
+Till the dawn is in the sky.
+Whether I be false or true,
+Death comes in a day or two."
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT III
+
+Scene 1--The following summer,
+
+    [A field or meadow near Fiori. As the curtain rises voices are heard
+    off-stage singing a bridal song.]
+
+SONG: Strew we flowers on their pathway!
+Bride and bride-groom, go you sweetly.
+There are roses on your pathway.
+Bride and bride-groom, go you sweetly.
+Sweetly live together.
+
+    [Enter Viola, Lilina, Lela, Arianna and Claudia, laden with
+    garlands, flowering boughs and baskets of flowers. They met
+    Anselmo coming from another direction, also bearing flowers.]
+
+VIO. How beautiful, Anselmo! Where did you find them?
+
+ANS. Close by the brook.
+
+LIL. You gathered all there were?
+
+ANS. Not by one hundredth part.
+
+LEL. Nay, is it true?
+We must have more of them!
+
+ARI. And are they fragrant
+As well?
+
+ANS. Ay, by my heart, they are so sweet
+I near to fainted climbing the bank with them.
+
+    [The ladies cluster about Anselmo and smell the flowers.]
+
+LIL. Oh!
+
+VIO. Ah!
+
+CLA. How drowsily sweet!
+
+LEL. Oh, sweet!
+
+ARI. What fragrance!
+
+    [Enter Laura and Giovanna, followed by Carlotta and Raffaele.]
+
+LAU. La, by my lung! I am as out of breath
+As a babe new-born! Whew! Let me catch the air!
+
+    [She drops her flowers and seats herself beside them.]
+
+CAR. [to the younger ladies and Anselmo, by way of greeting.]
+How hot the sun is getting.
+
+ANS. 'Tis nigh noon, I think.
+
+GIO. 'Tis noon.
+
+CLA. We must be starting back.
+
+LAU. Not till I get my breath.
+
+RAF. Come,--I will fan you. [He fans her with a branch,]
+
+LAU. Tis good--'tis very good--oh, peace--oh, slumber--
+Oh, all good things! You are a proper youth.
+You are a zephyr. I would have you fan me
+Till you fall dead.
+
+CAR. I tell you when it comes
+To gathering flowers, much is to be said
+For spreading sheets on the grass,--it gives you less
+The backache.
+
+LAU. Nobly uttered, my sweet bird.
+
+GIO. Yet brides must have bouquets.
+
+CAR. And sit at home,
+Nursing complexions, whilst I gather them,
+
+LIL. [Running to Carlotta, along, with Lela and Viola, and throwing her
+     arms about her.]
+Nay, out upon you now, Carlotta! Cease now
+To grumble so,--'tis such a pretty day!
+
+VIO. And weddings mean a ball!
+
+LEL. And one may dance all night
+At weddings!
+
+LIL. Till one needs must dance to bed,
+Because one cannot walk there!
+
+GIO. And one eats
+Such excellent food!
+
+ANS. And drinks such excellent wine!
+
+CLA. And seldom will you see a bride and bridegroom
+More beautiful and gracious, or whom garlands
+Do more become.
+
+GIO. 'Tis so,--upon my sword!--
+Which I neglected to bring with me--'tis so,
+Upon Anselmo's sword!
+
+CAR. Nay, look you, Laura!
+You must not fall asleep! [to Raffaele] Have done, you devil!
+Is it a poppy that you have there? [to Laura] Look you,
+We must be starting back! [Laura rouses, then falls back again.]
+
+LAU. Ay, that we must.
+
+ARI. Where are the others?
+
+ANS. Scattered all about.
+I will call to them. Hola! You fauns and dryads!
+Where are you?
+
+VOICES. Here! Here! Is it time to go?
+
+ANS. Come this way! We are starting back!
+
+VOICES. We are coming!
+We'll come in a moment! I cannot bear to leave
+This place!
+
+GIO. [As they enter] A thousand greetings, Clara!
+Lucia, a thousand greetings! How now, Luigi!
+I know you, man, despite this soft disguise!
+You are no flower-girl!
+
+LUI. I am a draught-horse,
+That's what I am, for four unyielding women!
+Were I a flower-girl, I'd sell the lot
+For a bit of bread and meat--I am so hungry
+I could eat a butterfly!
+
+CAR. What ho. Francesca!
+I have not seen you since the sun came up!
+
+FRA. This is not I,--I shall not be myself
+Till it goes down!
+
+LEL. Oh, la, what lovely lilies!
+
+FRA. Be tender with them--I risked my life to get them!
+
+LIL. Where were they?
+
+FRA. Troth, I do not know. I think
+They were in a dragon's mouth.
+
+LAU. [Suddenly waking] Well, are we going? [All laugh.]
+
+LUI. No one is going that cannot go afoot.
+I have enough to carry!
+
+LAU. Nay; take me too!
+I am a little thing. What does it matter--
+One flower more?
+
+LUI. You are a thousand flowers,
+Sweet Laura,--you are a meadow full of them--
+I'll bring a wagon for you.
+
+CAR. Come. Come home.
+
+    [In the meantime the stage has been filling with girls and men
+    bearing flowers, a multitude of people, in groups and couples,
+    humming the song very softly. As Carlotta speaks several more
+    people take up the song, then finally the whole crowd. They move
+    off slowly, singing.]
+
+SONG. "Strew we flowers on their pathway," etc.
+
+
+Scene 2
+
+    [Bianca's boudoir in the palace at Fiori. Bianca with a mirror in
+    her hand, having her hair done by a maid. Several maids about,
+    holding perfume-flasks, brushes, and veils, articles of apparel of
+    one sort or another. Beatrice standing beside her, watching.]
+
+BIA. Look at me, Rose-Red. Am I pretty enough,
+Think you, to marry a King?
+
+BEA. You are too pretty.
+There is no justice in it. Marry a cobbler
+And make a king of him. It is unequal,--
+Here is one beggarly boy king in his own right,
+And king by right of you.
+
+BIA. Mario is not
+A beggarly boy! Nay, tell me truly, Beatrice,
+What do you think of him?
+
+BEA. La, by my soul!
+Have I not told you what I think of him
+A thousand times? He is graceful enough, I tell you,
+And hath a well-shaped head.
+
+BIA. Nay, is that all?
+
+BEA. Nay, hands and feet he hath, like any other.
+
+BIA. Oh, out upon you for a surly baggage!
+Why will you tease me so? You do not like him,
+I think.
+
+BEA. Snow-White! Forgive me! La, indeed,
+I was but jesting! By my sacred word,
+These brides are serious folk.
+
+BIA. I could not bear
+To wed a man that was displeasing to you.
+Loving him as I do, I could not choose
+But wed him, if he wished it, but 'twould hurt me
+To think he did not please you.
+
+BEA. Let me, then,
+Set your sweet heart at rest. You could not find
+In Christendom a man would please me more.
+
+BIA. Then I am happy.
+
+BEA. Aye, be happy, child.
+
+BIA. Why do you call me child?
+
+BEA. Faith, 'tis the season
+O' the year when I am older than you. Besides
+A bride is always younger than a spinster.
+
+BIA. A spinster! Do you come here to me, Rose-Red,
+Whilst I pinch you smartly! You, Arianna, push me
+Her Highness over here, that I may pinch her!
+[To Loretta.] Nay, is it finished?  Aye, 'tis very well.
+Though not so well, Loretta, as many a day
+When I was doing nothing!--Nay, my girl,
+'Tis well enough. He will take me as I am
+Or leave me as I was. --You may come back
+In half an hour, if you are grieved about it,
+And do it again. But go now,--all of you.
+I wish to be alone. [To Beatrice.] Not you.
+
+    [Exeunt all but Bea. and Bia.]
+
+Oh, Rose-Red,
+I trust 'twill not be long before I see you
+As happy as you see me now!
+
+BEA. Indeed,
+I could not well be happier than I am.
+You do not know, maybe, how much I love you.
+
+BIA. Ah, but I do,--I have a measure for it!
+
+BEA. Ay, for today you have. But not for long.
+They say a bride forgets her friends,--she cleaves so
+To her new lord. It cannot but be true.
+You will be gone from me. There will be much
+To drive me from your mind.
+
+BIA. Shall I forget, then, When I am old, I ever was a child?
+I tell you I shall never think of you
+Throughout my life, without such tenderness
+As breaks the heart,--and I shall think of you
+Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am
+Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
+You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
+The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you
+High in my hand against whatever darkness.
+
+BEA. You are to me a silver bell in a tower.
+And when it rings I know I am near home.
+
+Scene 3
+
+    [A room in the palace. Mario alone. Enter Beatrice.]
+
+BEA. Mario! I have a message for you!--Nay,
+You need not hang your head and shun me, Mario,
+Because you loved me once a little and now
+Love somebody else much more. The going of love
+Is no less honest than the coming of it.
+It is a human thing.
+
+MAR. Oh, Beatrice!
+What can I say to you?
+
+BEA. Nay, but indeed.
+Say nothing. All is said. I need no words
+To tell me you have been troubled in your heart,
+Thinking of me.
+
+MAR. What can I say to you!
+
+BEA. I tell you, my dear friend, you must forget
+This thing that makes you sad. I have forgotten,
+In seeing her so happy, that ever I wished
+For happiness myself. Indeed, indeed,
+I am much happier in her happiness
+Than if it were my own; 'tis doubly dear,
+I feel it in myself, yet all the time
+I know it to be hers, and am twice glad.
+
+MAR. I could be on my knees to you a lifetime,
+Nor pay you half the homage is your due.
+
+BEA. Pay me no homage, Mario,--but if it be
+I have your friendship, I shall treasure it.
+
+MAR. That you will have always.
+
+BEA. Then you will promise me
+Never to let her know. I never told her
+How it was with us, or that I cherished you
+More than another. It was on my tongue to tell her
+The moment she returned, but she had seen you
+Already on the bridge as she went by,
+And had leaned out to look at you, it seems,
+And you were looking at her,--and the first words
+She said, after she kissed me, were, "Oh, sister,
+I have looked at last by daylight on the man
+I see in my dreams!"
+
+MAR. [Tenderly.] Did she say that?
+
+BEA. [Drily.] Ay, that
+Was what she said.--By which I knew, you see,
+My dream was over,--it could not but be you.
+So that I said no word, but my quick blood
+Went suddenly quiet in my veins, and I felt
+Years older than Bianca. I drew her head
+Down to my shoulder, that she might not see my face,
+And she spoke on, and on. You must not tell her,
+Even when you both are old, and there is nothing
+To do but to remember. She would be withered
+With pity for me. She holds me very dear.
+
+MAR. I promise it, Rose-Red. And oh, believe me,
+I said no word to you last year that is not
+As true today! I hold you still the noblest
+Of women, and the bravest. I have not changed.
+Only last year I did not know I could love
+As I love now. Her gentleness has crept so
+Into my heart, it never will be out.
+That she should turn to me and cling to me
+And let me shelter her, is the great wonder
+Of the world. You stand alone. You need no shelter,
+Rose-Red.
+
+BEA. It may be so.
+
+MAR. Will you forgive me?
+
+BEA. I had not thought of that. If it will please you,
+Ay, surely.--And now, the reason for my coming:
+I have a message for you, of such vast import
+She could not trust it to a liv'ried page,
+Or even a courier. She bids me tell you
+She loves you still, although you have been parted
+Since four o'clock.
+
+MAR. [Happily.] Did she say that?
+
+BEA. Ay, Mario.
+I must return to her. It is not long now
+Till she will leave me.
+
+MAR. She will never leave you,
+She tells me, in her heart.
+
+BEA. [Happily.] Did she say that?
+
+MAR. Ay, that she did, and I was jealous of you
+One moment, till I called myself a fool.
+
+BEA. Nay, Mario, she does not take from you
+To give to me; and I am most content
+She told you that. I will go now. Farewell,
+Mario!
+
+MAR. Nay, we shall meet again, Beatrice!
+
+
+Scene 4
+
+    [The ball-room of the palace at Fiori, raised place in back,
+    surmounted by two big chairs, for Lorenzo and Octavia to sit while
+    the dance goes on. Dais on one side, well down stage, in full sight
+    of the audience, for Mario and Bianca. As the curtain rises the
+    stage is empty except for Fidelio, who sits forlornly on the bottom
+    steps of the raised place in the back of the stage, his lute across
+    his knees, his head bowed upon it. Sound of laughter and
+    conversation, possibly rattling of dishes, off stage, evidently a
+    feast going on.]
+
+LAU. [Off stage.] Be still, or I will heave a plate at you!
+
+LUIGI. [Off stage.] Nay, gentle Laura, heave not the wedding-crockery,
+At the wedding-guest! Behold me on my knees
+To tell the world I love you like a fool!
+
+LAU. Get up, you oaf! Or here's a platter of gravy
+Will add the motley to your folly!
+
+LUIGI. Hold her,
+Some piteous fop, that liketh not to see
+Fine linen smeared with goose! Oh, gracious Laura,
+I never have seen a child sucking an orange
+But I wished an orange, too. This wedding irks me
+Because 'tis not mine own. Shall we be married
+Tuesday or Wednesday?
+
+LAU. Are you in earnest, Luigi?
+
+LUIGI. Ay, that I am, if never I was before.
+
+LAU.  La, I am lost! I am a married woman!
+Water!--Nay, wine will do! On Wednesday, then.
+I'll have it as far off as possible.
+
+    [Enter from banquet-room Guido, Giovanni and Raffaele.]
+
+GIO. Well met, Fidelio! Give us a song!
+
+FID. Not I!
+
+GUI. Why, is this? You, that are dripping with song
+Weekdays, are dry of music for a wedding?
+
+FID. I have a headache. Go and sit in a tree,
+And make your own songs.
+
+RAF. Nay, Fidelio.
+String the sweet strings, man!
+
+GIO. Strike the pretty strings!
+
+GUI. Give us the silver strings!
+
+FID. Nay then, I will that!
+
+    [He tears the strings off the lute and throws them in Guido's face.]
+
+Here be the strings, my merry gentlemen!
+Do you amuse yourselves with tying knots in them
+And hanging one another!--I have a headache.
+
+    [He runs off, sobbing.]
+
+RAF. What ails him, think you?
+
+GIO. Troth, I have no notion.
+
+    [Enter Nurse.]
+
+GUI. What ho, good Grazia! I hear my uncle
+Is ill again!
+
+GRA. Where heard you that, you raven?
+
+GUI. Marry, I forget. Is't true?
+
+GRA. It is as false
+As that you have forgotten where you heard it.
+Were you the heir to his power, which I bless God
+You're not!--he'd live to hide the throne from you
+Full many a long day yet!--Nay, pretty Guido,
+Your cousin is not yet Queen,--and when she is--Faith,
+She weareth a wide petticoat,--there'll be
+Scant room for you beside her! [Exit Nurse across stage]
+
+GUI. [To his companions.] None the less
+I do believe the king is ill.
+
+RAF. Who told you?
+
+GUI. His wife. She is much exercised about him.
+
+GIO. 'Tis like enough. This woman would rather lie
+Than have her breakfast served to her in bed.
+
+    [Exeunt Guido, Giovanni and Raffaele.]
+
+    [Music. Enter Musicians and take place on stage. Enter four pages
+    and take places on either side the door as from the banquet-hall and
+    on either side the throne in the back. Enter King and Queen, that is
+    to say Lorenzo and Octavia, Lorenzo apparently quite well, and seat
+    themselves on throne in back. Enter courtiers and ladies, Carlotta
+    with Anselmo, Laura with Luigi, etc., and stand in little groups
+    about the stage, laughing and talking together. Enter Beatrice
+    alone, her train held by two pages in black. Enter twelve little
+    Cupids, running, and do a short dance in the center of the room,
+    then rush to the empty dais which is awaiting Mario and Bianca, and
+    cluster about it. Enter Bianca and Mario, she in white and silver,
+    with a deep sky blue velvet train six yards long, held up by six
+    silver pages [or Cupids]; he in black and gold, with a purple velvet
+    train of the same length held by six gold pages [or Cupids]. His arm
+    is about her waist, she is leaning back her head against him and
+    looking up into his face. They come in slowly, talking softly
+    together, as utterly oblivious of the court, the pages, the music,
+    everything, as if they were a shepherd and a shepherdess walking
+    through a meadow. They walk slowly across the stage and seat
+    themselves on the dais. The music changes, strikes up a gay pavane,
+    or the equivalent of the period of the costumes, the ladies and
+    courtiers dance. Guido, Giovanni and Raffaele re-enter just as the
+    music starts and go up to the ladies; Guido goes to Beatrice, and
+    she dances with him. In the midst of the dance Lorenzo slips a
+    little sidewise in his chair, his head drops forward on his chest;
+    he does not move again. Nobody notices for some time. The dance
+    continues,  all who are not dancing watching the dancers, save
+    Octavia, who watches with great pride and affection Bianca and
+    Mario, who in turn are looking at one another. Octavia turns finally
+    to speak to Lorenzo, stares at him, touches him, then screams.
+    Beatrice should then be in a conspicuous place in the dance. Music
+    stops in confusion on a dischord, dance breaks up wildly, everybody
+    rushes to throne.]
+
+
+Scene 5
+
+    [The same room later that evening, entirely empty, disordered.
+    Musicians' benches overturned, for example, a couple of instruments
+    left about, garlands trampled on the floor, a wing of one of the
+    Cupids clinging to the dais of Bianca and Mario. Enter Beatrice,
+    weeping, goes to her father's throne and creeps up into it, with her
+    face towards the back of it and clings there, sobbing quietly. Enter
+    Bianca and Mario,]
+
+BIA. [Softly.] Ay. She is here. I thought she would be here.
+There are so many people by his bed
+Even now, she cannot be alone with him.
+
+MAR. Is there no hope?
+
+BIA. Nay, there is none. 'Tis over.
+He was a kind old man.
+
+MAR. Come, let us go,
+And leave her to herself.
+
+BIA. Nay, Mario.
+I must not leave her. She will sit like that
+All night, unless I bid her come away,
+And put her into bed.
+
+MAR. Will you come to me
+After she sleeps?
+
+BIA. Ay. If she sleeps,
+
+MAR. And if not?
+
+BIA. I could not leave her.
+
+MAR. Bianca, do you love me?
+
+BIA. Ay, Mario!
+
+MAR. Ah, but not as I love you!
+
+BIA. You do not mean that, Mario; you know
+How much I love you. But I could not be happy
+Thinking of her awake in the darkness, weeping,
+And all alone.
+
+MAR. Oh, my sweet love.
+
+BIA. It may be
+She will sleep.
+
+MAR. I shall be waiting for you. [They embrace.]
+
+    [Exit Mario. Bianca goes to Beatrice and sits at the
+    foot of the throne, putting her head against Beatrice's
+    feet.]
+
+BIA. Sister.
+
+    [After a moment Beatrice slowly reaches down her hand, and
+    Bianca takes it.]
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV
+
+Scene 1--Five years later.
+
+    [A marketplace in Fiori, vegetables, fruits and flowers exposed for
+    sale in little stalls and wagons, crowd of townspeople moving about,
+    talking, laughing, buying. Group of children playing a game in a
+    ring. Supper time.]
+
+CHILDREN. One, two, three,
+The dough is in the oven!
+One, two, three,
+The bread is on the board!
+One, two, three.
+The dough is in the oven!
+One, two, three,
+The bread is on the board!
+One, two, three,
+All follow me!
+
+EUGENIA. Good-even, Giovanitta. Those are beautiful
+Onions you have there.
+
+GIO. Ay, it has been a good year
+For onions.
+
+EUG. I am taking seven.
+
+GIO. Each year,
+You buy another onion!
+
+EUG. Faith, each year
+I have another mouth to thrust it in!
+Beautiful carrots, too, you have.
+
+GIO. Ay, carrots
+Are well enough. One cannot complain. 'Tis a good year
+For carrots.
+
+CLARA. 'Tis a good year for many things.
+Prices are low,--but not too low for profit.
+
+GIULIANA. And there are fewer taxes than there once were
+On things one cannot live without.
+
+ANNA.  'Tis a good Queen
+We have, it must be granted.
+
+GIO. Ay, and a wise one.
+
+GILDA. And pretty, too.
+
+GIULIANA. Ho, ho! When did you see her?
+
+GILDA. This morning, mother. I was at the edge of the wood
+With Beppo, when they rode by to the hunt,
+Talking together, and laughing.
+
+BEPPO. [Calling from across the stage.] And the horses
+With feet like this!
+[Arching his hands and feet to represent a horse stepping delicately.]
+
+GILDA. And glittering in the sunshine
+In a thousand places, mother! I wanted to tell you
+When we returned, but you had gone to the brook
+With the linen. They were so near us we could hear them
+Talking.
+
+BEPPO. [Coming up.] And hear the horses breathe!
+
+ANNA. What said they?
+
+GILDA. Well, one of them said--what was the name?
+
+BEPPO. Anselmo.
+
+GILDA. Oh, ay. She said, "Anselmo, am I getting thinner
+Do you think? If I be not thinner than I was at starting,
+I shall descend at once! I like not this;
+It chatters my teeth."
+
+BEPPO. And then she said--
+
+GILDA. What said she?
+Oh, ay,--about the boat.
+
+BEPPO. She said, "Next time
+I shall go fishing instead of hunting. A boat
+Hath a more mannerly gait!"
+
+GILDA. There was one horse, mother,
+That was all white! There was not one hair upon him
+That was not white!
+
+GIULIANA. And who was riding that horse?
+
+BEPPO. A man. And riding well.
+
+GILDA. He was dressed in green,
+And had a yellow beard. And there was a lady
+With hair the color of Adelina's, bright
+Like fire. She was dressed in blue, and was most beautiful.
+
+BEPPO. And she was mounted on a dappled mare.
+
+GILDA. But, oh, it was the Queen that was more lovely--
+Than any of the rest!
+
+GIO. How did you know, now,
+It was the Queen?
+
+GILDA. Nay, but you could not help
+But know! She was not laughing like the rest,--
+Just smiling; and I would not have been afraid
+To toss a flower to her from the wood,
+If I had had a flower.
+
+BEPPO. You knew her, though,
+Because she was in scarlet. All the world knows
+She wears a scarlet mantle!
+
+GILDA. Nay, if that were all,
+It might have been the Pope!
+
+BEPPO. I would it had been.
+I never saw the Pope.
+
+GILDA. You never saw
+The Queen until this morning!--Mother, she rides
+Clothed like a man, almost!
+
+BEPPO. With sword at side!
+
+GILDA. And, oh, the sword had a jeweled--what is the name of it?
+
+BEPPO. Scabbard, of course!
+
+GILDA. A jeweled scabbard, mother!
+I wish I were a queen.
+
+BEPPO. Ho, you would make
+A proper queen, with that droll nose of yours!
+
+GILDA. I know a boy who likes my nose!
+
+BEPPO. Ho, ho!
+He must be a hunch-back!
+
+GIULIANA. You must not tease her, Beppo.
+
+GILDA. I wish I were queen. If I were a queen,
+You would not dare to say my nose is droll.
+
+BEPPO. It would be, all the same.
+
+GIO. You should be content
+With what you have, not cry to rise beyond it.
+It is a sin to covet.
+
+GIULIANA. Being a queen,
+My bird, is not all riding to the hunt
+Of a sunny morning.
+
+ANNA. Nay, 'tis riding back
+At times, of a rainy night, to such a burden
+Of cares as simple folk have little mind of.
+
+GILDA. I'd rather have a queen's cares than my own.
+
+BEPPO. Ho, ho! Your cares! What cares have you?
+
+GILDA. I have
+A brother that will be teasing me all times!
+'Tis cares enough for one, I tell you.
+
+ADELINA. [Across stage.] Beppo!
+Come help me fetch the milk!
+
+GILDA. Oh, Mister Beppo,
+Your sweetheart calls you! Run and fetch the milk!
+
+LEONORA. [From a house, coming out.] Come in to supper, children!
+
+RIGO. Oh, not just yet!
+
+ELENORA. Father's not home yet!
+
+LEONORA. You need not wait for him.
+
+LOUIS. May we come out again?
+
+LEONORA. [Joining other women.] Ay, for a time.
+Till it gets dark.
+
+RIGO. [To Louis.] 'Tis dark now, almost.
+
+LOUIS. Hush!
+She does not know it.
+
+GIULIANA. 'Tis dark now.
+
+LEONORA. Ay, I know.
+I let them play a little after dark
+Sometimes, when the weather's fine. I would not have them
+Afraid of shadows. They think I do not know
+Darkness from light.
+
+ELENORA. There's father now!
+
+RIGO. I see him!
+
+    [Elenora, Louis and Rigo run off the stage and along the path.]
+
+LEONORA. He is late home today. I cannot think
+What may have held him. 'Twill be deep night already
+In the woods.
+
+CESCO. [Off stage, harshly.] Down! Down! Do you run back to your mother!
+See you not I am in haste?--Hang not upon me!
+
+EUG. La! He is in a temper!
+
+LEO. I never knew him
+So out of patience with them.
+
+GIU. He is hungry, maybe.
+
+LEO. He is often hungry, but I never knew him
+So out of patience. [The children come running back. To Elenora.]
+Why do you weep, my heart?
+
+LUI. Father is someone else tonight.
+
+ELENORA. [Weeping.] He pushed me!
+
+    [Enter Cesco, with game on his shoulder, or a basket of mushrooms.]
+
+SEVERAL WOMEN. Good-even, Cesco.
+
+CES. [To Leonora.] Look you, Leonora,
+Have we a bed fit for a queen to lie in?
+
+LEO. Nay, faith! Not we!
+
+GIL. She can have my bed, mother.
+
+GIN. Ay, true. There is a bed in my house, Cesco.
+
+GIO. What will the queen do here?
+
+GIU. I would indeed
+She had let us know that she was coming!
+
+CES. The Queen
+Knew not herself. Nor is she coming of herself.
+They are bringing her,--on a litter of crossed boughs,
+
+GIL. She is not dead?
+
+CES. Nay. Wounded in the arm
+A little, and in a swoon. But the young King
+Of Lagoverde is no more!
+
+WOMEN. How so?
+
+CES. I tell you my two eyes have looked this day
+On a sad and useless thing!--A fine lad, young,
+And strong, and beautiful as a lad may be,
+And king of a fair country, thrust from horse
+By a foul blow, and sprawled upon the ground,--
+Legs wide asunder, fist full of brown mud,
+Hair in his eyes,--most pitiful unkingly!
+Bring me a mug of wine, good wife! [Leonora goes out.]
+
+GIO. You, Gilda!
+There is a queen you would not be tonight,
+I'll warrant you,--the Queen of Lagoverde,
+With her two fatherless babes!
+
+EUG. Nay, now, good Cesco,
+What is this matter?
+
+CES. You'll know it quick enough.
+They will be bringing the queen here ere I have breath
+To tell you. They are coming by the road,
+I took the mountain-path, and ran.
+
+GIU. I must hasten
+To put fresh sheets on. [To Gilda.] Look you,--listen well
+If he should talk, and tell me afterwards. [Exit.]
+
+EUG. Here comes Horatio! The boats are in.
+
+    [Some children rush down to the water-side.]
+
+A good day, husband?
+
+HOR. Ay, a heavy day.
+What think you of that?--A big one, eh?--Came in
+With a school of little fish,--too greedy that time!
+What happens here?--The air is full of breathing!
+
+    [The men come up from the boats with children clinging to them.
+    Beppo and Adelina return from another direction with the milk.]
+
+LEO. [Somewhat proudly.] Cesco will tell you.
+
+CES. In a word 'tis this: Today the Queen of Fiori,
+Returning from the hunt, is set upon
+By brigands; where at the King of Lagoverde,
+Being hunting in that quarter and hearing cries,
+Comes up to give his aid; in rendering which
+He gives his life as well, and at this moment,
+On other men's legs, goes heavily home to supper.
+The Queen of Fiori, wounded, and in a swoon
+Only less deep than death itself, comes this way.
+
+CROWD. Ay, here they come! [Enter Anselmo.]
+
+ANS. Make way, make way, good people--
+Fall back a little--leave a clear space--give air!
+
+    [Enter Laura and Francesca, Luigi, several gentlemen, several
+    attendants, four of them bearing a litter on which lies Beatrice, in
+    a scarlet cloak, her hair flowing. Luigi is with Laura, who clings
+    to him. If possible to arrange, several of the party may lead on
+    their horses and lead them off across the stage. The litter is set
+    down stage in full sight of the audience. Beppo comes down stage
+    near it, as does also, from another direction, Gilda. Giuliana
+    returns.]
+
+ANS. Who has a bed that we may lay her on?
+She cannot leave this place tonight.
+
+GIU. This way, sir.
+
+    [The attendants pick up the litter and go off, the crowd following.]
+
+GIL. [Stealing back.] Hist, Beppo!
+
+BEPPO. Ay?
+
+GIL. Heard you not something fall,
+When they picked her up again?
+
+BEPPO. Ay, that I did.
+
+GIL. What was it, think you? [They search.] Nay, 'twas nearer here.
+
+BEPPO. I have it.--'Tis her sword!
+
+GIL. The Queen's? Ay,--truly.
+How beautiful!
+
+BEPPO. [Slowly and with awe drawing it from its scabbard.]
+Look,--there is blood on it!
+
+
+
+Scene 2
+
+    [A room in the palace at Lagoverde. Bianca and her two little
+    daughters discovered at the rise of the curtain, she in a big chair,
+    they at her feet.]
+
+BIA. And so the fairy laid a spell on her:
+Henceforth she should be ugly as a toad.
+But the good fairy, seeing this was done,
+And having in no wise power to alter this,
+Made all toads beautiful.
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. They are not beautiful
+Now, mother!
+
+LITTLE SNOW-WHITE. That was in another country!--
+What country, mother? [Bianca, lost in thought, does not answer.]
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. Where is father, mother?--
+I have not seen him in so many days!
+
+BIA. Father is gone away.
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. Will he come back?
+
+BIA. Nay. He will not come back. But we shall go
+Where he is.
+
+LITTLE SNOW-WHITE. Soon?
+
+BIA. God grant it may be soon!
+Now---shall we play a game?
+
+    [Enter Octavia.]
+
+OCT. Bianca.
+
+BIA. Ay.
+
+OCT. It is a folly to remain indoors
+Like this. You should be out in the sunshine.
+
+BIA. Nay.
+I have no business with the sunshine.
+
+OCT. Ah,
+My daughter, say not so!--The children, then,--
+They have much need of it, and they have need
+Of you, at the same time. Take them without.
+
+BIA. I do not wish to be in the sunshine.
+
+LITTLE SNOW-WHITE. Mother,
+Come out of doors!
+
+OCT. You see, now!
+
+BIA. Do you run out, dears,
+And play at ball. Mother will join you later.
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. Where is my ball?
+
+BIA. Nay, do you not remember?
+We put it in the ear of the stone griffin,
+Because he hears too much.
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. Ay, so we did!
+
+LITTLE SNOW-WHITE. Come on, Rose-Red! [Exeunt children.]
+
+OCT. It is a curious thing
+This friend of yours you rate so monstrous high
+Has not come nigh you in your sore affliction!
+
+BIA. I beg you not to speak of that again,
+Mother. 'Tis the third time today you have said that,
+Or hinted at it. And I answer always,
+"There is some reason for it," as I should answer
+Though you cried daily till the day of doom,
+"It is a curious thing!" There is some reason,
+There is some good reason why she does not come.
+
+OCT. Oh, ay, I doubt it not! But there are reasons
+And reasons!
+
+BIA. And what am I to learn from that?
+
+OCT. 'Tis scarce by reason of too much love for you
+She leaves you friendless in your greatest need.
+
+BIA. I cannot say. 'Tis one thing or another.
+You have no words can turn me to believe
+She has forgotten me, or loves me less.
+'Tis a big thing, to leave me thus alone,--
+And there is some big reason.
+
+OCT. Ay. Oh, ay.
+'Tis possible she grieves for Mario's death
+No less than you,
+
+BIA. [Simply] Ay, it is possible.
+I mind she told me on my marriage-day
+She was as happy as I.
+
+OCT. 'Tis a curious thing,
+When he was here she came to see you often,
+But now that he is gone comes not at all.
+
+BIA. [Simply.] Ay, it is curious. [Catching Octavia's expression.]
+
+BIA. Nay, what evil thing
+Is in your mind, gives you that evil smile?
+
+OCT. Only a little thought.
+
+BIA. A little thought,
+I'll warrant you!--You'd have me to believe
+She loved my husband?
+
+OCT. Ay, I know she loved him.
+
+BIA. It is a lie!
+
+OCT. How dare you say I lie!
+
+BIA. Oh, do not be so proud! Let us speak truth
+At length, a little! We are so garnished up
+With courtesies, so over-sauced and seasoned,
+We cannot taste each other! Why do you tell me
+A thing like that?---You have no love for me!
+
+OCT. [Weeping,] I love you too much--you are the only thing
+I do love!
+
+BIA. Nay, it is not love of me
+For my own self. Else would you do the thing
+Would make me happiest. You know how I have loved her,
+Since we were children. You could not be to me
+What she was; one forgets too many things.
+You could not know my thought. I loved you dearly;
+But you were hard to love; one never knew
+Whether you would be hot or cold to touch.
+Whilst she and I,--oh, we were two young trees
+So nearly of a height we had the same world
+Ever within our vision!--Yet all these years,
+Even from the time we first went to Fiori,
+You have been bearing me your little tales,--
+"She had done this and that, she was thus and so--",
+Seeking to stir and poison the clear water
+Of my deep love for her! And now this thing.
+Which is not true. But if it had been true,
+It would not be so out of all reason cruel
+As that you should have told me of it now.
+Nay, do not weep. All day 'tis one of us
+Making the other weep. We are two strange,
+Unhappy women. Come, let us be at peace.
+
+    [Pause. Bianca rises suddenly.]
+
+Mother, farewell a little while. I go now
+To her, seeing that she does not come to me.
+But not to question her, not to demand,
+"How comes it this? What can you say to that?"
+Only to sit beside her, as in the old days,
+And let her lay her quiet on my heart.
+
+
+
+Scene 3
+
+    [The garden at Fiori, same as in Act I, Scene 1. Discovered seated
+    on a stone bench in the sunshine, Beatrice, clad in a loose gown,
+    looking very ill. Fidelio sings off stage.]
+
+FID. [Singing.]
+"Let the little birds sing,
+Let the little lambs play.
+Spring is here, and so 'tis spring,--
+But not in the old way.
+
+I recall a place
+Where a plum-tree grew,--
+There you lifted up your face
+And blossoms covered you.
+If the little birds sing,
+And the little lambs play,
+
+Spring is here, and so 'tis spring,--
+But not in the old way.
+
+BEA. It is a pretty song. There be some things
+That even the tortured heart's profoundest anguish
+Cannot bring down from their high place. Music
+Is one of them. [Enter Grazia carrying a bowl.]
+
+GRA. Now, will you drink this broth,
+Or will you not? I swear upon my shroud--
+And 'tis a solemn oath--I never nursed
+So vaporous a patient!--Come, my bird!
+
+BEA. [Taking the bowl, then setting it down.] Nay, Nurse, I cannot.
+
+GRA. Oh, alackaday!
+What shall I do with you? Come now, and drink me
+The pretty broth, my dear!
+
+BEA. I will drink it later.
+'Tis too hot.
+
+GRA. Ay, and in a moment 'twill be
+Too cold! And you'll not drink it! I could cry!
+
+    [Exit Grazia.]
+    [Enter Fidelio.]
+
+BEA. Fidelio, as you love me, do you drink this,
+And quickly, man!
+
+FID. [With grief.] Oh, my dear mistress!
+
+BEA. Drink!
+
+FID. [Sadly, drinking.] I best would leave a little, else she'll know
+'Twas never you.
+
+BEA. Ay, so you would. I' faith,
+It is a knave's trick, but I cannot touch it.
+Go now, Fidelio, ere she come again.
+
+    [Exit Fidelio.]
+    [Enter Bianca.]
+
+BIA. [Softly.] Rose-Red.
+
+    [Beatrice looks up and listens, thinking it a dream.]
+
+BIA. Rose-Red, dear sister!
+
+BEA. [Bowing her head and weeping.] Oh, my heart!
+
+BIA. [Coming towards her.] Why do you weep?
+
+BEA. [Looking up startled and seeing her, jumping to her feet.]
+Oh, no! Oh, God above!
+Go back! Go back!
+
+BIA. [Amazed, quietly.] Beatrice, are you mad?
+'Tis I, Bianca.
+
+BEA. [More quietly.] Ay, I know 'tis you.
+And you must go away.
+
+BIA. [Breaking down.] You are mad, my dear!
+
+BEA. I would I were. For madmen have their moments
+Of light into the brain.--Hear me. Bianca,
+You must return at once to Lagoverde,
+And come to me no more, and think of me
+No more.
+
+BIA. Ay. I will go. But ere I go
+Tell me you do not love me, 'Tis apparent
+You do not. I but wish to hear the words.
+
+BEA. Nay, that I will not say. It would be well,
+To say it, and let it be. But I'll not say it,
+It is not true.
+
+BIA. You love me still?
+
+BEA. I love you
+More than all else on earth. But I have wronged you
+So hugely that I cannot think of it
+And stand here talking with you--I am ill--[She staggers.]
+You must pardon me--I have been very ill--
+
+BIA. Then it is true?
+
+BEA. [With a cry as of relief.] Ay, it is true! Who told you?
+
+BIA. My mother told me. I said it was not true.
+But if 'tis true--I pity you, Rose-Red,
+I pity him. I pity us all together.
+
+BEA. [Feverishly.] Ah, I can see it now!--the quiet road
+In the deep wood's gathering darkness, the reins loose
+On the horses' necks, that nodded, nodded, and we
+Speaking from time to time, and glad to think
+Of home,--and suddenly out of nowhere,--fury,
+And faces, and long swords, and a great noise!
+And even as I reached to draw my sword,
+The arm that held the scabbard set on fire,
+As if the sleeve were burning!--and my horse
+Backing into the trees, my hair caught, twisted,
+Torn out by the roots! Then from the road behind
+A second fury! And I turned, confused,
+Outraged with pain, and thrust,--and it was Mario!
+
+BIA. [Wildly.] What are you saying? What are you saying? What is this
+You are telling me? That it was you? Your hand--?
+Oh, God have mercy upon me! Let me go!
+
+BEA. [Pitifully, reaching out her arms towards her.]
+Snow-White! Snow-White!--farewell!
+
+BIA. [Without turning.] Oh, God have mercy!
+
+    [Exit Bianca.]
+
+    [Beatrice falls unconscious to the floor.]
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT V
+
+Scene 1
+
+    [A room in the palace at Fiori. Anselmo and Luigi.]
+
+LUIGI. Nay, is that true, Anselmo?
+
+ANS. Aye, 'tis true.
+But no one saw save me, I drew her sword
+Out of his heart and thrust it in its scabbard,
+Where she lay senseless.
+
+LUI. Oh, unhappy Queen!
+
+ANS. Ay, she does not forget. Has it not struck you
+She rides no more? Her black horse stands in stable,
+Eating his head off. It is two years now
+Since she has visited Lagoverde; and the Queen
+Of Lagoverde comes not nigh this place.
+
+LUI. There's not the reason that there was to come
+Before Octavia's death.
+
+ANS. Nay, 'tis not that.
+
+LUI. Think you that Beatrice told her?
+
+ANS. Ay,
+I doubt it not.
+
+LUI. 'Tis hard. They were close friends.
+
+ANS. And since that day her hand upon the scepter
+Trembles,--and Guido sees. She goes too much
+Among the people, nursing them. She loves them;
+Their griefs are hers, their hearts are hers, as well.
+But Guido has a following in this court
+That hangs upon his word, and he has taught them
+Her gentleness is weakness, and her love
+Faint-hearted womanish whims, till they are eager
+To pull her down, and see a man in place of her.
+
+LUI. Her throne is like a raft upon a sea,
+That shifts, and rights itself, and may go down
+At any moment.
+
+ANS. The more especially
+For all these drowning beggars that cling to it,
+Chattering for help. She will not strike them off.
+
+LUI. Unhappy Queen. And there's a storm approaching,
+If ever I smelled wind.
+
+ANS. I fear it Luigi.
+
+    [Exeunt Anselmo and Luigi. Enter Guido and Francesco.]
+
+FRA. How do I know you love her still?--I know,
+The way you fall a-tapping with your fingers,
+Or plucking at your eye-brows, if her name
+Is spoken, or she move across the court.
+How do I know?--Oh, Guido, have I learned you
+So little, then, in all these bitter years?
+I know you very well.
+
+GUI. You know too much
+I'll have an end of this, I tell you!
+
+FRA. Ay.
+You've told me that before.--An end of what?
+What is this thing you'll put this mighty end to?
+'Fore God I would I know. Could I but name it,
+I might have power to end it then, myself!
+
+GUI. I'll have an end of these soft words at twilight,
+And these bad mornings full of bile! I'll have an end
+Of all this spying on me!
+
+FRA. [Gently.] 'Tis not so.
+I do not spy upon you. But I see you
+Bigger than other men, and your least gesture--
+A giant moving rocks.--Oh, Guido, tell me
+You do not love her! Even though I know
+You lie, I will believe you,--for I must!
+
+GUI. [Pause.] Nay, I am done with you. I will tell you nothing.
+Out of my way!--I have that on my mind
+Would crush your silly skull like the shell of an egg!
+Od's body, will you keep your ugly claws
+From scratching at my sleeve?
+
+    [He thrusts her roughly aside and rushes out.]
+
+FRA. [Creeping away, sobbing.] Oh, God--oh, God--
+I would whatever it is, that were over.
+
+    [Exit.]
+
+    [Enter Fidelio, and crosses the stage, singing.]
+
+FID. [Singing.]
+"Rain comes down
+And hushes the town.
+_And where is the voice that I heard crying_?
+Snow settles
+Over the nettles.
+_Where is the voice that I heard crying_?
+Sand at last
+On the drifting mast.
+_And where is the voice that I heard crying_?
+Earth now
+On the busy brow.
+_And where is the voice that I heard crying_?
+
+    [Exit Fidelio.]
+
+Scene 2
+
+    [The court-room in the palace at Fiori, extremely crowded with restless
+    and expectant people. The crowd is arranged on both sides of the stage,
+    in such a way that a broad avenue is left in the middle, leading from
+    the footlights to the back of the stage and gradually narrowing to a
+    point at Beatrice's throne. On the extreme right and left of the stage,
+    along the back of the crowd, stands the guard, a large body of armed
+    soldiers, at attention, in double row. On either side the throne stands
+    an armed soldier. As the curtain rises the court is all standing and
+    looking off stage in a certain direction. Enter the Queen, Beatrice,
+    from that direction, walks in, looking straight ahead, goes to the
+    throne and seats herself. The court sits. The clerk begins to read.]
+
+CLERK. The first case to be heard is that of Lisa,
+A widow with two small children, who resides
+Near the Duke's wood, and has been caught in the act
+Of cutting trees there, and hauling them home to burn.
+
+BEA. Stand, Lisa. You are a widow, I am told.
+With two small children.
+
+LISA. Ay, your Majesty,
+Two little boys.
+
+BEA. I know another widow, Lisa,
+With two small children,--but hers are little girls.
+Have you been cutting trees on the Duke's land?
+
+LISA. No, Majesty. I could not cut a tree.
+I have no axe.
+
+BEA. And are you strong enough
+To break a tree with your hands?
+
+LISA. No, Majesty.
+
+BEA. I see. What do you do, then? There must be
+Some reason for this plaint.
+
+LISA. I gather wood
+That's dead,--dried boughs, and underbrush that's been
+A long time on the ground, and drag it home.
+
+BEA. Have you a wood-pile?
+
+LISA.  Nay. I gather enough
+Each day for the day's need. I have no time
+To gather more.
+
+BEA. And does the dry wood burn
+As well as other wood?
+
+LISA. Oh, better!
+
+BEA. I see.
+You would as lief, then, have this wood you gather,
+This dead wood, as a green tree freshly cut?
+
+LISA. Ay, I would liefer have it, Majesty.
+I need a fire quickly. I have no time
+To wait for wood to season.
+
+BEA. You may sit down,
+
+LISA. Is the Duke's agent here?
+
+AGENT. Ay, here.
+
+BEA. What is it the Duke's custom to have done
+With this dead wood on his estate?
+
+AGENT. He burns it,
+Your Majesty.
+
+BEA. You mean to say, I think,
+He pays a price to have it gathered and burned.
+
+AGENT. Ay, Majesty.
+
+BEA. Where is it burned?
+
+AGENT. In a clearing.
+
+BEA. And what is cooked upon it?
+
+AGENT. Nothing is cooked.
+The Duke is not a gypsy. [With irritation.]
+
+    [Pause.]
+    [Slight titter in court-room, instantly hushed into profound silence.]
+
+BEA. [Evenly.] If he were,
+He would be shrewder, and not be paying money
+For what this woman is glad to do for naught.
+Nothing is cooked, and nobody is warmed,--
+A most unthrifty fire! Do you bid the Duke,
+Until he show me sounder cause for plaint,
+Permit this woman to gather unmolested
+Dead wood in his forest, and bear it home.--Lisa,
+Take care you break no half-green boughs.--The next case?
+
+CLERK. Is that of Mario, a miller, accused
+Of stealing grain. A baker, by name Pietro,
+Brings this complaint against him,
+
+MESSENGER. [Rushing in and up to throne.] Majesty,
+Bianca of Lagoverde lies a-dying,
+And calls for you!
+
+BEA. [Rising.] She calls for me?
+
+MESSENGER. Ay, Majesty.
+
+    [Beatrice stands very still a moment, then turns to the townspeople.]
+
+BEA. [Earnestly and rapidly,] You people, do you go now and live kindly
+Till I return. I may not stay to judge you;
+Wherefore I set you free. For I would rather
+A knave should go at large than that a just man
+Be punished. If there be a knave among you,
+Let him live thoughtfully till I return.
+
+    [She steps down from the throne, and is immediately
+    seized by the arm on either side by the two guards who
+    have been standing beside the throne.]
+
+BEA. Why, what is this, Enrico? [Looking up at the soldier on her right.]
+Nay, it is not
+Enrico! [Looking to other side.] Nor is it Pablo! How is this?
+
+    [From each side of the stage one row of the double
+    row of soldiers detaches itself, marches down around the
+    front of the stage and up towards the throne, making an
+    armed alley for the Queen to walk down, and entirely
+    surrounding the crowd.]
+
+Nay, all new faces. So! Upon my word,
+And keep your fingers from me!--I see you there,
+Angelo! Do not turn your head aside!
+And you, Filippo!--Is the sick hand better
+I bound the bandage on?--Is't well enough
+To draw a sword against me?--Nay, I am sick.
+I, that have loved you as your mothers love you--
+And you do this to me! Lead me away.
+
+    [The two guards lead out the Queen. Nobody else moves. The
+    townspeople cower and stare. The two little pages that bore her
+    train as she entered remain back of the throne, not knowing what to
+    do. As she goes by them, her train dragging on the ground, the two
+    ragged little boys of Lisa, the wood-gatherer, run out from the
+    group of citizens, pick up the ends of her train, and go out,
+    holding it up, one of them with his arm over his eyes.]
+
+
+
+Scene 3
+
+    [A dungeon. Beatrice alone, sitting on a bench, her head bowed in
+    her hands. Enter Guido]
+
+BEA. Guido, is't you!
+
+GUI. Ay, it is I, my Queen.
+You sent for me, am I mistake not?
+
+BEA. Ay.
+Guido, you will not keep me when I tell you
+Snow-White is dying and calls my name!
+
+GUI. I knew that.
+
+BEA. You knew that, and you hold me here. Oh, Heaven!
+What are you?
+
+GUI. I am a man. You should have thought
+Of that before. I could have been your friend
+If it had pleased you. Failing that, I am
+Your enemy. I am too aware of you,
+And have been ever, to hold me in at less.
+
+BEA. Guido. I beg of you upon my knees
+To let me go!
+
+GUI. And why should I do that?
+
+BEA. For pity's sake!
+
+GUI. I do not know the word.
+
+BEA. Then for the sake of my sworn hand and seal
+Upon a paper yielding fair to you
+This sovereignty you prize. It is to me
+Little enough tonight. I give it gladly.
+
+GUI. You have no power to give what I have taken
+Already, and hold upon my hand, Rose-Red,
+
+BEA. Oh, do not call me that! Oh, Guido, Guido,
+I cannot suffer further! Let me go!
+If only for a moment, let me go!
+I will return,--I will but take her hand,
+And come away! I swear it! Let me go!
+
+GUI. On one condition only.
+
+BEA. Ay! 'Tis granted,
+Ere it is spoken!
+
+GUI. That upon returning
+You come to me, and give yourself to me,
+To lie in my arms lovingly. [She is stricken speechless.] You hear?
+To lie in my arms lovingly.
+
+BEA. Oh, God!
+
+GUI. It is my only word.
+
+BEA. Oh, God! Oh, God!
+
+GUI. 'Tis granted?
+
+BEA. Nay,--I cannot! I will die
+Instead. Oh, God, to think that she will lie there
+And call for me, and I will never come!
+
+GUI. Goodnight. [He goes to door.]
+
+BEA. [In a quiet voice.] Guido!
+It shall be as you say.
+
+GUI. [Rushing to her.] Ah, Beatrice!
+
+BEA. Nay, touch me not yet.
+I will return. [She laughs like a child.] Why,--'tis a simple matter!
+I wonder now that even for a moment
+I held myself so dear! When for her sake
+All things are little things!--This foolish body,
+This body is not I! There is no I,
+Saving the need I have to go to her!
+
+
+
+Scene 4
+
+    [A room at Lagoverde. Bianca lying in bed, ill to death. The children
+    clinging to the bed, their nurse trying to draw them away, Giulietta
+    a maid, in the background. Possibly other attendants about.]
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. Tell us a story, mother!
+
+NURSE. Come away, now!
+
+LITTLE SNOW-WHITE. Tell us a story!
+
+BIA. Do you go away with nurse
+A little while. You will bring them back to me
+Later?
+
+NURSE. [Weeping.] Ay, madam.
+
+    [She goes out with the children.]
+
+BIA. Later--not much later,
+I think.--Hear you no sound of horses yet,
+Giulietta, galloping this way?
+
+GIU. Nay, not yet.
+
+BIA. [To herself.] I will not go until she comes. I will not.
+Still,--if I should--Giulietta!
+
+GIU. [Coming quickly to the bed.] Ay, my mistress!
+
+BIA. She will come, I tell you!
+
+GIU. Ay, I doubt it not.
+
+BIA. Ay, she will come. But if she should come late,
+And I no longer be here to receive her,
+Show her all courtesy, I conjure you.
+She will be weary, and mightily distraught.
+Make her take wine,--and bring the children to her.
+And tell her, they are hers now. She is their mother.
+
+    [Giulietta starts to go back to the window.]
+
+And say to her--wait!--I have a message for her.
+Say to her this, Giulietta: The foot stumbles,
+The hand hath its own awkward way; the tongue
+Moves foolishly in the mouth; but in the heart
+The truth lies,--and all's well 'twixt her and me.
+Can you remember that?
+
+GIU. Ay, madam, I think so.
+If not the words, at least the gist of it.
+
+BIA. Forget it all, my good child, but forget not:
+All's well 'twixt her and me.
+
+GIU. Nay, that I have.
+
+BIA. I will sleep now a little. Do you leave me.
+But go not far. [She lies still for a moment, then starts up.]
+I hear the sound of hoof-beats!
+
+GIU. Nay, madam.
+
+BIA. Ay, I tell you! I can hear them!
+My face upon the pillow brings my ear
+Nearer the ground! She is coming! Open the door!
+
+    [She kneels up in bed and holds out her arms towards the door,
+    maintaining this position till Beatrice comes. Giulietta, weeping,
+    opens the door, and stands in it, shaking her head sadly.]
+
+GIU. [Suddenly lifting her head and listening.] Nay, it is so! I hear it
+  now myself!
+Ay, there's a horse upon the bridge!
+
+BIA. She's coming!
+Stand back! Stand out of the doorway! [Pause.]
+
+SERVANT. [Entering.] Majesty,
+The Queen is here.
+Ay, ay! Stand out of the doorway! [Pause.]
+
+GIU. She is here! She is in the court! She has leapt from horse!
+Madam, Oh, God be praised! This way!
+
+BIA. Sister!
+
+    [Beatrice enters in her riding clothes, leaps to the bed, Bianca
+    throws her arms about her neck, and dies.]
+
+BEA. [After a moment, looking down at her.]
+Snow-White! Oh, no! Oh, no! Snow-White! [She screams.] Ah-h! Help me!
+She is dying!
+
+    [Attendants and nurses rush in, also the children.]
+
+LITTLE SNOW-WHITE. Mother, wake up!
+
+LITTLE ROSE-RED. Come out of doors!
+
+BEA. Take them away. Snow-White! [Leaning over the bed.]
+
+NURSE. Nay, it is over,
+Madam.
+
+BEA. Leave me. Leave me alone with her.
+
+    [Exeunt all but Beatrice. She kneels beside the bed.]
+
+
+
+Scene 5
+
+    [A room at Lagoverde, The next day. Beatrice alone.]
+
+BEA. In sooth, I do not feel the earth so firm
+Under my feet as yesterday it was.
+All that I loved are gone to a far land,
+And left me here alone, save for two children
+And twenty thousand enemies, and the thing
+Of horror that's in store for me. Almost
+I feel my feet uprooted from the earth,
+There's such a tugging at me to be gone.
+Save for your children, [Looking off stage towards Bianca's room.]
+  'twould be simple enough
+To lay me down beside you in your bed,
+And call on Death, who is not yet out of hearing,
+To take me, too. [Enter Fidelio.]
+
+FID. Mistress I have news for you.
+Guido is dead!
+
+BEA. Is dead?
+
+FID. Ay, he is dead,
+Dead of a dagger i' the back,--and dead enough
+For twenty. Scarce were you gone an hour's time
+We came upon him cold. And in a pool
+Nearby, the Lady Francesca floating drowned,
+Who last was seen a-listening like a ghost
+At the door of the dungeon, 'Tis a marvelous thing!
+But that's not all!
+
+BEA. Why, what more can there be?
+
+FID. Mistress, in the night the people of Fiori
+Rose like a wind and swept the Duke's men down
+Like leaves! Your throne is empty,--and awaits you!
+
+    [Enter Giulietta,]
+
+GIU. Madam.
+
+BEA. Ay, Giulietta.
+
+GIU. Madam, last night,
+Before you came, she bade me tell you something,
+And not forget. 'Tis this: That the foot stumbles,
+The hand doth awkward things, and the foolish tongue
+Says what it would not say,--but in the heart
+Truth lies,--and all is well 'twixt her and you.
+
+    [She starts to go out, and turns back at the door.]
+
+She bade me above all things to forget not
+The last: that all is well 'twixt her and you. [Exit.]
+
+BEA. [Slowly and with great content.]
+She is not gone from me. Oh, there be places
+Farther away than Death! She is returned
+From her long silence, and rings out above me
+Like a silver bell!--Let us go back, Fidelio,
+And gather up the fallen stones, and build us
+Another tower.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg The Lamp and the Bell, by Edna St. Vincent Millay
+
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