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diff --git a/39133-h/39133-h.htm b/39133-h/39133-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5bb8cff --- /dev/null +++ b/39133-h/39133-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18111 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mary Tudor; Marion de Lorme; Esmeralda, by Victor Hugo +</title> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {padding-right: 10%; padding-left: 10%;} +div#titlepage {text-align: center; line-height: 2.0; margin-top: 4em;} +h2, .title {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.7em; +padding-top: 5em; word-spacing: 1ex;} +h3 {text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-style:italic; font-size: 1.4em; padding-top: 2em;} +h4 {text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1em;} +.speaker {text-align: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-indent: -1em;} +.staging {margin-left: 2em;} +.grouping {font-style: italic; text-align: center; width: 10em;} +.center, .scene {text-align: center;} +div#tnotes {border: dashed 1px; padding: 0.5em; margin: 2em 10%;} +div.imgcenter {text-align: center; margin: 1em auto;} +.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal;} + .verse {margin: 1em 0em 0em 5%; text-align: left; } + .stanza {margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0em;} + .stanza br, .dialog br {display: none;} +.dialog p {margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} +span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} +span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} +span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} +span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} +span.m2 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} +span.m3 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} +span.m4 {display: block; margin-left: 9em;} +span.m5 {display: block; margin-left: 12em;} +--> +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dramas of Victor Hugo, by Victor Hugo + +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: The Dramas of Victor Hugo + Mary Tudor, Marion de Lorme, Esmeralda + +Author: Victor Hugo + +Release Date: March 14, 2012 [EBook #39133] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRAMAS OF VICTOR HUGO *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="imgcenter" id="img00"> +<img width="364" height="611" src="images/titlepage.png" alt="" /> +</div> + +<div id="titlepage"> + +<p>THE DRAMAS<br /> + +<span style="font-size:90%">OF</span><br /> + +<span style="font-size:150%;letter-spacing:0.5ex;">VICTOR HUGO</span></p> + +<h1>MARY TUDOR<br /> + +MARION DE LORME<br /> + +ESMERALDA</h1> + +<p>Profusely Illustrated with Elegant<br /> +Wood Engravings</p> + +<p><i>VOLUME TWENTY-ONE</i></p> + +<div style="margin-top:2em;font-size:smaller;"> +<p>NEW YORK</p> + +<p class="sc">Peter Fenelon Collier, Publisher</p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<p>CONTENTS</p> + + +<p><i>VOLUME TWENTY-ONE</i></p> +<ul> + <li><a href="#play01">Mary Tudor</a></li> + + <li><a href="#play02">Marion de Lorme</a></li> + + <li><a href="#play03">Esmeralda</a></li> +</ul> + +<p>ILLUSTRATIONS</p> +<ul> +<li><a href="#img01">The Rendezvous</a> <span class="sc">Frontispiece</span></li> + +<li><a href="#img02">Marion de Lorme</a></li> +</ul> + +<div class="imgcenter" id="img01"> +<img width="371" height="624" src="images/mary3.jpg" alt="[Illustration: The Rendezvous.]" /> +</div> + + + +<h2 id="play01">MARY TUDOR</h2> + + + + +<p>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</p> +<ul> + <li class="sc">Mary, The Queen.</li> + <li class="sc">Jane.</li> + <li class="sc">Gilbert.</li> + <li class="sc">Fabiano Fabiani.</li> + <li class="sc">Simon Renard.</li> + <li class="sc">Joshua Farnaby.</li> + <li class="sc">A Jew.</li> + <li class="sc">Lord Clinton.</li> + <li class="sc">Lord Chandos.</li> + <li class="sc">Lord Montague.</li> + <li class="sc">Master Eneas Dulverton.</li> + <li class="sc">Lord Gardiner.</li> + <li class="sc">A Jailer.</li> +</ul> +<p><i>Lords, Pages, Guards, the Executioner.</i></p> + +<p>LONDON, 1553.</p> + + + + +<p class="title">MARY TUDOR</p> + +<h3>FIRST DAY</h3> + +<p class="center">A MAN OF THE PEOPLE</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>Border of the Thames. A deserted strand. An old parapet in +ruins, conceals the borders of the water. To the right, a house of +mean appearance. At the corner of this house, a statuette of the +Virgin, at whose feet burns a wick in an iron lattice. In the +background, beyond the Thames, London. Two high buildings are +seen—the Tower of London and Westminster. The sun is setting</i></p> + + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + + +<p class="scene"><i>Several men are grouped here and there on the Strand, among whom are +<span class="sc">Simon Renard, John Bridges, Baron Chandos, Robert Clinton, Anthony +Brown, Viscount of Montague</span></i></p> + + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>You are right, my lord, this damned Italian must have bewitched the +Queen. She can't exist without him; she lives only for him, finds +pleasure only in him, listens only to him. If a day passes without +seeing him, her eyes droop as they did when she loved Cardinal Polus, +you remember?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>She is very much in love, it is true, and, consequently, very +jealous.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>The Italian has bewitched her.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD MONTAGUE.</p> + +<p>For a fact, they say that people of his nationality have philters for +that purpose.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>The Spanish are clever at poisons which kill people, the Italians are +clever at poisons which make people fall in love.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>Then Fabiani is Spanish and Italian, at the same time. The Queen is +in love and is ill. He has made her drink both.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD MONTAGUE.</p> + +<p>As to that, is he really Spanish or Italian?</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>It appears certain that he was born in Italy, in the Capitanate, and +that he was brought up in Spain. He claims to be connected with a +great Spanish family. Lord Clinton has the story at his finger-tips.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>An adventurer—neither Spanish nor Italian, and still less English, +thank God! These men without a country have no pity on a country, +when they become powerful.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD MONTAGUE.</p> + +<p>Didn't you say the Queen was ill, Chandos? That does not hinder her +from leading a very gay life with her favorite!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>A gay life! A gay life! The people weep while the Queen laughs and +the favorite is gorged. This man eats silver and drinks gold! The +Queen has given him the estates of Lord Talbot, the great Lord +Talbot! The Queen has made him Earl of Clanbrassil and Baron of +Dinasmonddy, this Fabiano Fabiani who says he belongs to the Spanish +family of Peñalver, and who lies when he says it. He is an English +peer like you, Montague, like you, Chandos, like Stanley, like +Norfolk, like myself, like the King! He has the garter, the same as +the Infante of Portugal, as the King of Denmark, as Thomas Percy, +seventh Earl of Northumberland. And what a tyrant is this tyrant who +rules us from his bed! Never did such a curse rest upon England! And +yet I have seen much—I, who am old! There are seventy new gallows at +Tyburn; the stakes are always embers and never ashes; the +executioner's ax is sharp every morning and blunted every night. +Every day some great nobleman is slaughtered; the day before +yesterday it was Blantyre, yesterday Northcurry, to-day South-Reppo, +to-morrow Tyrconnel. Next week it will be you, Chandos, and next +month it will be I. My lords, my lords, it is shameful and outrageous +that all these honest English heads should fall to please a miserable +adventurer who does not even belong to our country! It is a frightful +and unbearable thing, to think that a Neapolitan favorite can drag as +many blocks as he likes from under this Queen's bed. These two lead a +gay life, you say? By Heaven, it is infamous! Ah, they lead a gay +life, these lovers, while the headsman, at their door, makes widows +and orphans! Oh, their Italian guitar is too well accompanied by the +clank of chains! Madame Queen! you send to the chapel of Avignon for +your singers; every day in your palace, you have comedies, plays, and +a stage crowded with musicians! Upon my life, madame, less joy at +your house and less mourning at ours, if you please; fewer dancers +there, and fewer executioners here; fewer farces at Westminster, and +fewer scaffolds at Tyburn!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD MONTAGUE.</p> + +<p>Have a care, my Lord Clinton! We are loyal subjects! Not a word +against the Queen, everything against Fabiani.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>laying his hand on <span class="sc">Lord Clinton's</span> shoulder</i>).</p> + +<p>Have patience!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>Patience! That is easy enough for you to say, Mr. Simon Renard! You +are bailiff of Amont in Franche-Comte, subject of the Emperor, and +his embassador at London. You represent the Prince of Spain, the +Queen's future husband. Your person is sacred to the favorite. But it +is different with us. You see, for you, Fabiani is the lover; for us +he is the butcher! [<i>It is night.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>This man troubles me as much as you! You tremble only for your life. +I tremble for my power. That means much more. I do not talk; I act. I +feel less anger than you, perhaps, but I feel more hate. I will +destroy the favorite.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD MONTAGUE.</p> + +<p>Yes! but how to do it! I think of it all day.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>It is not in the daytime that the favorites of queens are made and +unmade; it is at night.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>This night is dark and frightful.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>I find it good for what I wish to do.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>What do you mean to do?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>You shall see. My Lord Chandos, when a woman reigns, caprice reigns. +Politics are no longer a matter of calculation then, but of chance. +You can count upon nothing. To-day does not logically bring +to-morrow. Public affairs are no longer like a game of chess, but a +game of cards.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>That is all very well; but let us come to the point. When will you +deliver us from the favorite? Time is pressing. To-morrow Tyrconnel +will be beheaded.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>If I find the man I am looking for, to-night, Tyrconnel will sup with +you to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>What do you mean? What will have become of Fabiani?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Have you good eyes, my lord?</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>Yes, although I am old and the night is dark.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Do you see London on the other side of the water?</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>Yes. Why?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Look well! From here you can see the height and the depth of every +favorite's fortune—Westminster and the Tower of London.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>Well?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>If God is with me, there is a man who at this moment is yet there +[<i>pointing to Westminster</i>], and who to-morrow, at the same time, +will be here [<i>pointing to the Tower</i>].</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>Pray God be with you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD MONTAGUE.</p> + +<p>The people hate him no less than we do. What a festival will his fall +make in London!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>We have placed ourselves in your hands, Sir Bailiff. Dispose of us. +What must we do?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>indicating a house, near to the water</i>).</p> + +<p>You all see that house. It is the house of Gilbert the engraver. Do +not lose sight of it. Now go away with your people, but don't go too +far. Above all, do nothing without me.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>It is agreed. [<i>They all exit at different sides.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>The man I need is not easy to find.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He exits. <span class="sc">Jane</span> and <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> enter, arm in arm; they go toward +the house. <span class="sc">Joshua Farnaby</span>, enveloped in a long cloak, accompanies +them.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><span class="sc">Jane, Gilbert, Joshua Farnaby</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I must leave you here, my good friends. It is midnight, and I must go +back to my post of turnkey of the Tower of London. I am not as free +as you are, you see! A turnkey is only another kind of prisoner! +Good-by, Jane! Good-by, Gilbert. Ah, my friends, how glad I am to see +you happy! When is the wedding, Gilbert?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>In one week, isn't it, Jane?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Faith! day after to-morrow is Christmas. This is the day of good +wishes and presents. But I have nothing to wish you. It would be +impossible to wish more beauty to the bride or more love to the +bridegroom. You are fortunate.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Good Joshua! And you, are you not happy?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Neither happy nor unhappy. As for me, I have given up everything. +Look you, Gilbert [<i>opening his cloak and disclosing a bunch of keys +hanging to his belt</i>], prison keys always jingling at your side, talk +to you, suggest all sorts of philosophical ideas to you. When I was +young, I was like the rest—in love for a day, ambitious for a month, +mad a whole year. It was during the reign of Henry VIII. that I was +young. Strange man that Henry VIII.! A man who changed his wives as a +woman changes her dresses. He repudiated the first, had the second +beheaded, had the third's womb cut open; as for the fourth, he had +mercy on her—he sent her off; but for revenge he had the fifth's +head cut off! This isn't the story of Bluebeard I am telling you, my +beautiful Jane; it is the history of Henry VIII. In those days I +interested myself in the religious wars; I fought first for one side +and then for the other. That was the wisest thing to do. The whole +business was very ticklish. It was whether to be for or against the +Pope. The King's officers hanged those who were for, but they burned +those who were against. The neutral people—those who neither were +for nor against—they hanged them or they burned them +indiscriminately. We managed as we could. Yes, the rope; no, the +fagot. I, who am speaking to you, I smelled of burning very often, +and I am not sure that I was not un-hanged two or three times. Those +were great times; very much like the times now. The devil take me if +I know now whom I fought for or what I fought about. If people speak +to me now about Master Luther and Pope Paul III., I shrug my +shoulders. You see, Gilbert, when a man has gray hairs he shouldn't +go back to the opinions he fought for nor the women he loved when he +was twenty. The women and the opinions will seem very ugly, very old, +very paltry, very silly, very much wrinkled and out of date. Such is +my history. Now I am through with public affairs. I am no longer the +King's soldier nor the Pope's soldier; I am jailer of the Tower of +London. I don't fight any more for anybody, and I put everybody under +lock and key. I am turnkey and I am old. I have one foot in a prison +and the other in the grave. I am the one who picks up the remnants of +all the ministers and favorites who go to pieces in the Queen's +palace. It is very amusing. I have also a little child whom I love, +and you both whom I love too; and if you are happy, I am happy also.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>If that is the case, you can be happy; can't he, Jane?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I can't do anything to add to your happiness, but Jane can do +everything. You love her. I may never be able to do anything for you. +Fortunately for you, you are not high and mighty enough to ever need +the help of the turnkey of the Tower of London. Jane will pay my debt +at the same time that she pays her own, because she and I owe +everything to you. Jane was but a poor child, a forsaken orphan; you +took her home and brought her up. I was drowning in the Thames, one +fine day, and you dragged me out of the water.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Why do you always talk about that, Joshua?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>In order to tell you that our duty, Jane's and mine, is to love you. +I, as a brother; and she, not as a sister.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>No, as a woman. I understand you, Joshua. [<i>She sinks back into her +reverie.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Look at her, Joshua! Is she not beautiful and attractive, and is she +not worthy of a king? If you only knew! You cannot imagine how I love +her!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Be careful! It is dangerous. A woman should not be loved so much as +that. With a child, it is different.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>What do you mean?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Nothing. I will be at your wedding next week. I hope State affairs +will leave me a little liberty then, and that everything will be +finished.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>How? What will be finished?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Ah, these things do not interest you, Gilbert. You are in love; you +belong to the people. What do the intrigues of the high-born matter +to you, who are happy among the low-born? But since you ask me, I +will tell you that within one week, perhaps within twenty-four hours, +it is hoped that Fabiano Fabiani's place near the Queen will be +filled by another.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Who is Fabiano Fabiani?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>The Queen's lover: a very celebrated and a very fascinating +favorite—a favorite who has had his enemies' heads chopped off with +greater dispatch than a procuress can repeat an "Ave"; the best +favorite that the executioner of the Tower of London has had for ten +years. For you must know that every great lord's head that falls, +brings in ten silver crowns to the executioner—sometimes twice as +much, when the head is very distinguished. The fall of this Fabiani +is greatly desired; though, I must say, during my duties at the +Tower, it is only the bad-tempered people whom I hear find fault with +him—the discontented people; those whose heads are to fall next +month.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Let the wolves rend each other! What do we care about the Queen and +the Queen's favorite? Isn't it so, Jane?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>There is a big conspiracy against Fabiani; if he escapes, he will be +lucky. I should not be surprised if they were to strike some blow +to-night. I just saw Master Simon Renard prowling about here, very +much absorbed.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Who is Master Simon Renard?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Is it possible that you don't know? He is the Emperor's right hand at +London. The Queen is to marry the Prince of Spain, and Simon Renard +is his embassador to her. The Queen hates him, this Simon Renard; but +she is afraid of him, and she can't do anything to him. He has +already destroyed two or three favorites. It seems to be his instinct +to destroy favorites. He clears up the palace from time to time. He +is a shrewd and spiteful man; he knows all that goes on, and he digs +two or three subterranean rows of intrigues under every event. As for +Lord Paget—didn't you ask me who was Lord Paget?—he is a crafty +nobleman who helped to manage affairs under Henry VIII. He is a +member of the secret council. He has such an ascendency that the +other ministers do not dare to breathe in his presence—except, +however, the chancellor, my Lord Gardiner, who detests him. A violent +man, this Gardiner, and well born. As for Paget, he was nobody—a +cobbler's son. He is to be made Baron Paget of Beaudesert in +Stafford.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>How glibly he tells all these things, this Joshua.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>My faith! It's from hearing the prisoners of State talk.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> appears at the back of stage.</i></p> + +<p>You see, Gilbert, the man who knows most about the history of these +times is the turnkey of the Tower of London.</p> + +<p>Simon Renard (<i>who overhears these last words</i>).</p> + +<p>You are mistaken, my master; it is the executioner!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>low to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> and <span class="sc">Jane</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Let us move back a little!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> goes off slowly; when he has disappeared.</i></p> + +<p>That is Master Simon Renard himself.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I don't like to have all these men prowling about my house.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>What the devil is he doing here? I must hurry back; I think he is +getting work ready for me. Good-by, Gilbert! Good-by, my beautiful +Jane, I knew you when you were no bigger than that, all the same!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Good-by, Joshua! What are you hiding there under your cloak?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I've got my conspiracy, too!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>What conspiracy?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>O lover who forgets everything else! I have just reminded you that +the day after to-morrow is the time for Christmas presents. The +nobles are plotting a surprise for Fabiani. Well, I am plotting a +surprise too. The Queen may give herself the present of a brand-new +favorite. I am going to give my child a doll. [<i>He takes a doll from +his cloak.</i>] Brand-new, too! We will see which will be the first to +break her toy. God keep you, my friends.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Good-by, Joshua!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<span class="sc">Joshua</span> <i>departs</i>. <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> <i>takes</i> <span class="sc">Jane's</span> <i>hand and kisses it +with passion</i>.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>from back of stage</i>).</p> + +<p>How wise is Providence! She gives to each one his plaything. The doll +to the child, the child to the man, the man to the woman, and the +woman to the devil. [<i>Exits.</i></p> + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Gilbert, Jane</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I must go, too. Good-by, Jane: sleep well.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>You are not coming in with me to-night, Gilbert?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I can't. You know, I told you before, Jane, I have some work to do in +my shop to-night. I must engrave the handle of a dagger for some Lord +Clanbrassil, whom I have never seen, and who wants it to-morrow +morning.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Then good-night, Gilbert. Until to-morrow!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>No, Jane, wait a moment. Heaven! how it hurts me to leave you, even +for a few hours. How true it is that you are my life and my joy. Yet +I have to work—we are so poor. I won't go in, because I should stay; +and yet I can't leave you, weak man that I am. Let us sit down by the +door a few moments, on this bench. I think it will be easier to go +from here than if I went into the house, and, above all, into your +room. Give me your hand.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He sits and takes her hands in his; she stands.</i></p> + +<p>Jane, do you love me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, I owe you everything, Gilbert. I know it, although you have +concealed it from me a long time! When I was little, almost in my +cradle, my parents abandoned me, and you took me. For sixteen years +your hand has worked for me as if you were a father; your eyes have +watched over me like a mother. What would I be without you, just +Heaven! All I have, you have given me; all I am, you have made me.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Jane, do you love me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What devotion yours has been, Gilbert! You work for me, night and +day; you wear your eyes out, you kill yourself for me. You are going +to sit up all night again to-night. And never a reproach to me, never +an unkindness, never an angry word! You are very poor, yet you +remember all my small womanly vanities; you gratify them. Gilbert, +whenever I think about you, my eyes fill with tears. You have often +gone without bread; I have never gone without my ribbons.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Jane, do you love me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Gilbert, I would like to kneel down and kiss your feet.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Do you love me, do you love me? All that does not prove that you love +me. I want that word, Jane! Gratitude, always gratitude! Oh, I stamp +it underfoot, your gratitude. I want love or nothing! Die! Jane, you +have been my daughter for sixteen years; now you are to be my wife. I +adopted you; now I am to marry you—in one week. You know, you +promised me; you have consented; you are my betrothed. You loved me +when you promised that. Oh, Jane, there was a time—do you remember +it?—when you told me, "I love you," and you lifted your sweet eyes +to heaven. That is the way I want you to be. For some months now, you +have seemed different, especially during these last three weeks that +my work has kept me away from here nights. Jane, I must have you love +me! I am used to it. You were always so light-hearted; now you are +sad and absent-minded—not cold, my poor child (you try your best not +to be), but I feel your loving words do not come as tenderly and as +naturally as they used. What is the matter? Don't you love me any +more? I know I am an honest man, I know I am a good workman; but I +would rather be a robber and an assassin, and be loved by you. Jane, +if you knew how much I love you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>I know it, Gilbert, and it makes me weep.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>For joy, isn't it? Say it is for joy! Oh, I need to believe it. There +is only that in the world—to be loved. I have only a poor +workingman's heart, but my Jane must love me. Why do you always talk +to me about what I have done for you? One single word of love from +you puts all the gratitude on my side. I will damn myself and commit +a crime, whenever you wish it. You will be my wife, won't you, and +you love me? Oh, Jane, for one look of your eyes I would give my work +and my labor; for one smile, my life; for one kiss, my soul.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What a noble heart you have, Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Listen to me, Jane—laugh at me if you will; I am mad, I am jealous! +I will tell you why. Do not get angry! It seems to me, for some time +I have seen several young lords prowling around here. Do you know, +Jane, I am thirty-two years old. For a poor, clumsy, badly-dressed +workman like myself, who am no longer young, who am not handsome, +what a misery it is to love a charming, beautiful girl of seventeen, +who attracts all the handsome, gold-bedizened young nobles around +her, as a light attracts the butterflies. Oh, I suffer; indeed, I do! +But I never blame you, even in my thoughts! You, so honest, so pure; +you, whose brow has never been touched, except by my lips. I only +feel, sometimes, that you look on the Queen's cavalcades and retinues +with too much pleasure, that you enjoy too much the fine suits of +velvet and satin, under which there are no hearts, no souls. Forgive +me. My God! why do so many young noblemen come around here? Why am I +not handsome, young, noble, rich? Gilbert the engraver—that is all I +am! They are Lord Chandos, Lord Gerard Fitz-Gerard, Earl of Arundel, +the Duke of Norfolk! Oh, how I hate them! I spend my life engraving +the handles of their swords, which I would like to plunge into their +bowels.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Gilbert!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I beg your pardon, Jane! Love makes us very wicked, doesn't it?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>No, very good; for you are good, Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Oh, how much I love you! It increases every day. I would like to die +for you! Love me or not, you can do as you please. I am mad. Forgive +all that I have said. It is late: I must leave you! Good-by! Oh, how +I hate to leave you! Go in! Haven't you your key?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>No; I haven't had it for several days.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Take mine. Until to-morrow morning! Jane, don't forget this! To-day I +am still your father: in one week I shall be your husband.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He kisses her on the forehead and exits.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>My husband! Oh, no! I will never commit that crime. Poor Gilbert! he +loves me truly; and the other—ah, provided I have not preferred +vanity to love! Unhappy woman that I am, into whose power have I +fallen! Oh, I am most thankless and most guilty! I hear footsteps! +Let me get in quickly. [<i>Goes into house.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Gilbert, A Man</span> enveloped in cloak and wearing a yellow cap. <span class="sc">The +Man</span> holds <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> by the hand</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes, I recognize you; you are the Jewish beggar who has been prowling +around this house for several days. What do you want with me? Why +have you taken hold of my hand, and why have you brought me back +here?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Because what I have to say to you, I can only say here.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Well, what is it? Speak! Hurry!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Listen, young man. One night, sixteen years ago, Lord Talbot, Earl of +Waterford, was beheaded by torchlight, for the crimes of popery and +rebellion, while his followers were cut to pieces in the city of +London by Henry VIII.'s soldiers. They shot in the streets all night. +That night a very young workman, who was much more interested in his +labor than in the battle, was working in his stall. It was the first +stall from the entrance of London Bridge; a low door on the right, +the remains of some old red paint on the wall. It might have been two +o'clock in the morning. They were fighting all around there. The +balls hissed across the Thames. Suddenly some one knocked at the door +of the stall, through which the workman's lamp threw a glimmer. The +workman opened it. A man he did not know, entered. This man carried +in his arms a baby in long clothes, who was much frightened and was +crying. The man put the child down on the table and said, "Here is a +creature who has neither father nor mother." Then he went out slowly +and closed the door after him. Gilbert, the workman, had neither +father nor mother himself. The workman accepted the child: the orphan +adopted the orphan. He took it, watched over it, clothed it, fed it, +tended it, brought it up, loved it. He gave himself entirely to this +poor little creature whom civil war had thrown into his stall. He +forgot everything for her—his youth, his love-affairs, his +pleasures; he made this child the sole object of his work, his +affections, his life: and it has lasted sixteen years. Gilbert, the +workman was you; the child—</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Was Jane. All that you say is true; but what are you driving at?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I forgot to say that on the child's swaddling-clothes a paper was +pinned, on which was written: "Have pity upon Jane."</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>It was written in blood. I have kept that paper. I always carry it +about me. But you torture me. What is your purpose, tell me.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>This. You see that I am acquainted with your affairs. Gilbert, watch +over your house to-night.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>What do you mean?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Not another word. Don't go to your work; stay around the house: +watch! I am neither your friend nor your enemy; this is only a piece +of advice that I give you. Now, for your own sake, leave me! Go down +that side, and come back if you hear me call for help.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>What does this mean? [<i>Goes off slowly.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE V</h4> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>The matter is well arranged now. I needed some one young and strong +to help me if it was necessary. This Gilbert is just the man I want. +I think I hear the sound of oars and a guitar on the water. Yes.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to the parapet. A guitar and distant singing are heard.</i></p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">When you sing soft at night, love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Clasped in my arms so fond,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Can you not hear the tender thoughts</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Which to your voice respond?</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Your song brings back unto my heart</span><br /> + <span class="i0">The happy days of yore;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Then sing, my beauty, sing, my love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Sing on for evermore!</span></div> +</div> + + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>That is my man!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The voice draws nearer with each verse.</i></p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">When you laugh, on your lips, dear,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Love's sweetest shadows play;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">And doubt and cruel unbelief</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Are sudden chased away.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">For laughter proves we're loyal</span><br /> + <span class="i0">And faithful to the core;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Then laugh, my beauty, laugh, my love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Laugh on for evermore!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">When you sleep, calm and pure, love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">In shadow, 'neath my eyes,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">And your soft breathing gives my heart</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Its tenderest replies,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">On your sweet form my eyes can feast,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Oh, beauty's priceless store!</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Then sleep, my beauty, sleep, my love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Sleep on for evermore!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">And when you say, "I love you,"</span><br /> + <span class="i0">In truth it seems to be</span><br /> + <span class="i0">As if God's heaven were opening</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Especially for me.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">I see dreams hidden in your eyes</span><br /> + <span class="i0">That we've not dreamed before;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Then love me, oh, my beauty,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Love me for evermore!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">You see, the whole of life, dear,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Lies in those words, just four—</span><br /> + <span class="i0">All things that people envy,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">All things that men adore,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">All things that are seductive,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">On which our heart sets store.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">To sing, to laugh, my beauty,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">To sleep, to love, no more!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>He lands! Good! He sends off the boatmen. Excellent!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Comes back to the front of the stage.</i></p> + +<p>Here he comes.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Fabiano Fabiani</span> enters, enveloped in a cloak; he goes toward the +door of the house.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VI</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">The Man, Fabiano Fabiani</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN (<i>stopping</i> <span class="sc">Fabiani</span>).</p> + +<p>A word with you, if you please.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I believe some one is speaking to me. Who is this knave? Who are you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Whatever you wish me to be.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>This lantern is not very bright, but you wear a yellow cap, it seems +to me—a Jew's cap. Are you a Jew?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Yes, a Jew. I have something to tell you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>What is your name?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I know your name, and you don't know mine. I have the advantage. +Permit me to keep it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>You know my name? That isn't true.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I know your name. At Naples you were called Signor Fabiani; at +Madrid, Don Fabiano; at London you are called Lord Fabiano Fabiani, +Earl of Clanbrassil.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>The devil take you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>God keep you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I will have you cudgeled. I do not wish my name to be known when I go +abroad by night.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Especially when you go where you are going.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>What do you mean?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>If the Queen knew!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I am going nowhere in particular.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Oh, yes, my lord! You are going to see the fair Jane, the betrothed +of Gilbert the engraver.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>The devil! This is a dangerous man.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Shall I tell you more? You have seduced this girl, and during the +last month she has received you twice in her house at night. This is +the third time. The beauty is waiting for you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Keep still. Do you want hush-money? How much do you want?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>We will see about that by-and-by. Now, my lord, shall I tell you why +you have seduced this girl?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>By my faith! because I was in love with her.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>No. You were not in love with her.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I wasn't in love with Jane.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>No more than with the Queen! Love, oh, no! calculation, yes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Why, fool, you are no man at all! You are my conscience dressed up +like a Jew.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I will speak to you as if I were your conscience. This is your plan. +You are the Queen's favorite. The Queen has given you the garter, an +earldom, and a lordship—empty things, all of them. The garter is a +rag; the earldom is a word; the lordship is the right to have your +head cut off. You wanted something more. You wanted fine lands, fine +bailiwicks, fine castles, fine revenues in fine English pounds. Well, +King Henry VIII. confiscated the estates of Lord Talbot, who was +beheaded sixteen years ago. You got Queen Mary to give you Lord +Talbot's estates. But, to make the gift valid, it is necessary that +Lord Talbot should have died without heirs. And since Lord Talbot +died for Queen Mary and for her mother, Catherine of Aragon, since +Lord Talbot was a Papist, and since the Queen is a Papist, it is not +at all doubtful, if there existed such an heir or an heiress, that +Queen Mary would take back the estates from you, great favorite +though you are, and out of duty, gratitude and religion, return them +to the heir or heiress. You were quite easy on that score, for Lord +Talbot had never had but one little daughter; she disappeared from +her cradle at the time of her father's execution, and all England +believed her to be dead. But your spies have lately discovered that +during the night in which Lord Talbot and his partisans were +exterminated by Henry VIII., a child was mysteriously brought to an +engraver on London Bridge, and that it was probable that this child, +reared under the name of Jane, was Jane Talbot, the little girl who +had disappeared. It is true that the written proofs of her birth were +lacking, but they might be found any day. The discovery was +unpleasant. It would be hard to see one's self forced some day to +give back Shrewsbury, Wexford, which is a fine city, and the +magnificent earldom of Waterford, to a little girl! What was to be +done? You searched for a way to set aside this young girl, and to +destroy her. An honest man would have had her killed or poisoned. +You, my lord, have done better—you have dishonored her.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Insolent fool!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>It is your conscience which is speaking, my lord. Another man would +have taken this young girl's life; you have taken her honor, and, +consequently, her future. Queen Mary is a prude, although she has +lovers herself.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>This man goes to the bottom of everything.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>The Queen's health is bad; the Queen may die, and then you, the +favorite, will fall shattered on her tomb. The actual proofs of this +young girl's rank may be found; and then, if the Queen is dead, Jane +Talbot, dishonored though she be, will be recognized as Lord Talbot's +heiress. You have foreseen that too. You are a handsome young +cavalier; you have won her love; she has given herself to you; at the +worst, you can marry her. Don't deprecate your scheme, my lord; I +consider it sublime. If I were not myself, I would like to be you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Thank you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>You have managed the matter very skillfully. You have concealed your +name. You are safe as far as the Queen is concerned. The poor girl +thinks she has been seduced by a nobleman from Somerset county, named +Amyas Pawlet.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>All—he knows it all! Well, come to the point. What do you want of +me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>My lord, suppose some one had in his possession the papers which +prove the birth, existence, and rights of Talbot's heiress! It would +make you as poor as my ancestor Job, Don Fabiano, and would leave you +no better castles than your castles in Spain, which would be very +hard for you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes! But no one has those papers.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Yes. Some one has them.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Who?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>You, miserable wretch! It isn't true! Jew speaks, Jew lies.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I have got the papers.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>You lie! Where have you got them?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>In my pocket.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I don't believe you. Are they all in order? Nothing lacking?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Nothing is lacking.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Then I must have them.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Gently.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Jew, give me those papers!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Excellent! Jew, miserable beggar who crawls through the streets, give +me the city of Shrewsbury, give me the city of Wexford, give me the +earldom of Waterford! Charity, if you please!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Those papers are everything to me and nothing to you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Simon Renard and Lord Chandos would pay me pretty high for them.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Simon Renard and Lord Chandos are two dogs between whom I will have +you hanged.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>You have nothing else to say to me? Then farewell.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Come back! What do you want me to give you for those papers?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Something which you have with you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>My purse?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Out upon you! Do you want mine?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>What then?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>There is a parchment which never leaves you. It is a signature in +blank which the Queen gave you, and in which she swears, upon her +Catholic crown, to grant any favor he may ask, to the one who +presents it. Give me that signature in blank, and you shall have Jane +Talbot's titles. Paper for paper.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>What do you want to do with this signature in blank?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I will explain. Cards on the table, my lord. I have told you your +affairs; now I will tell you mine. I am one of the principal +money-dealers in Kantersten Street, Brussels. I lend money; it is my +business. I lend ten and get back fifteen. I lend to every one: I +would lend to the devil; I would lend to the Pope. Two months ago one +of my creditors died, without paying me. It was an old exiled servant +of the Talbot family. The poor man left nothing but a few rags: I +seized them. Among these rags I found a box, and in the box some +papers—Jane Talbot's papers, my lord, giving her entire history in +detail and furnishing proofs for better times. The Queen of England +had just given you Jane Talbot's estates. I was in great need of the +Queen of England at that time, for I wanted to make a loan of ten +thousand gold marks. I realized that I might do business with you. I +came to England in this disguise; I made myself a spy upon you, upon +Jane Talbot. I did it all myself. In this way I learned everything, +and here I am. You shall have Jane Talbot's papers if you give me the +Queen's signature in blank. I will write upon it that the Queen shall +give me ten thousand gold marks. They owe me something at the +excise-office, but I won't haggle. Ten thousand gold marks—nothing +more. I don't ask you for the sum, because only a crowned head could +pay it. I am speaking frankly, you see. Two men as clever as we are, +my lord, have nothing to gain by deceiving each other. If frankness +were banished from the earth, it would be re-discovered in a +<i>tête-à-tête</i> between two rogues.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Impossible! I can't give you this signature in blank. Ten thousand +gold marks! What would the Queen say? And then, to-morrow I may be +disgraced: this signature in blank is my safeguard. This signature in +blank is my head.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>What does that matter to me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Ask me for something else.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>I want that.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Jew, give me Jane Talbot's papers.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>My lord, give me the Queen's signature in blank.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Accursed Jew, I will have to yield. [<i>Draws a paper from his pocket.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Show me the Queen's signature in blank.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Show me Talbot's papers.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Afterward.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They go close to the lantern. <span class="sc">Fabiani</span> stands behind the Jew, and +with his left hand holds the paper under the Jew's eyes; he examines +it. <span class="sc">The Man</span> reads.</i></p> + +<p>"We, Mary, Queen—" It is well. You see, my lord, I am like you. I +have calculated upon everything. I have foreseen everything.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>draws a dagger with his right hand and plunges it into the +Jew's throat</i>).</p> + +<p>Except this!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN.</p> + +<p>Oh, traitor! Help!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He falls. In falling he throws a sealed packet into the darkness +behind him; <span class="sc">Fabiani</span> does not perceive it.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>leaning over the body</i>).</p> + +<p>Faith! I believe he is dead. Quick, the papers. [<i>He searches the +Jew.</i>] What! he hasn't got them. He has nothing—nothing at all about +him! Not a paper! He was lying, the old wretch! He deceived me: he +wanted to rob me. Is it possible, you accursed Jew! No, he has +nothing. That is clear. I have killed him for nothing. They are all +alike, these Jews. To lie and steal, that is all they can do. Come, +let us get rid of this corpse; I can't leave it here at the door. +[<i>Goes up stage.</i>] I will see if the boatman is still there; he can +help me throw it into the Thames.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He descends, and disappears behind the parapet.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>enters from the opposite side</i>).</p> + +<p>I thought I heard a cry!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He perceives the body stretched upon the ground under the lantern.</i></p> + +<p>Some one has been assassinated! The beggar!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE MAN (<i>lifting himself half-way up</i>).</p> + +<p>Ah, you come too late, Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He points to the place where he threw the packet.</i></p> + +<p>Take them. They are the papers which prove that Jane, your betrothed, +is daughter and heiress of the last Lord Talbot. My assassin is Lord +Clanbrassil, the Queen's favorite. Oh, I suffocate! Gilbert, avenge +me! Avenge yourself! [<i>He dies.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Dead! Avenge myself? What does he mean? Jane, daughter to Lord +Talbot? Lord Clanbrassil! The Queen's favorite? Oh, I am lost in +wonder! [<i>Shaking the body.</i>] Speak! One word more! He is indeed +dead!</p> + + +<h4>SCENE VII</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Gilbert, Fabiani</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>returning</i>).</p> + +<p>Who goes there?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>A man has been assassinated.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>No, a Jew.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Who killed him?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Faith! You or I.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Sir?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>No witnesses. A corpse on the ground. Two men beside it. Which is the +assassin? There is nothing to prove it is one rather than the +other—I rather than you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Miserable man! You are the assassin!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Well, yes! To be frank, I am. What of it?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I am going to call the constables.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>You are going to help me throw the body into the water.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I will have you seized and punished.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>You will help me throw the body into the water.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You are insolent.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Do as I say! Let us destroy all traces of this. Believe me, you are +more interested in the matter than I am.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Upon my soul!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>One of us two did the deed. I am a great lord, a nobleman. You are a +passer-by, a peasant, a man of the people. A noble who kills a Jew +pays a fine of four sous; a man of the people who kills one of his +fellow-creatures is hanged.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You would dare—</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>If you denounce me, I will denounce you. I will be believed sooner +than you. At any rate, the chances are unequal. Four sous fine for +me, and the gallows for you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>No witnesses! No proofs! Oh, my brain is bewildered! This miserable +man is right, he has me in his power.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Shall I help you throw the corpse into the river?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You are a demon!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Gilbert</span> takes the body up by the head, <span class="sc">Fabiani</span> by the feet; +they carry it to the parapet.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes. Faith, my friend, I can no longer exactly tell which of us +killed this man!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They go down behind the parapet. <span class="sc">Fabiani</span> re-appears.</i></p> + +<p>It is done. Good-night, comrade! Go your way!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He starts toward the house, but turns back, seeing that <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> +follows him.</i></p> + +<p>Well, what do you want? Money for your trouble? In truth, I don't owe +you anything, but here, take this.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He gives his purse to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span>, whose first impulse is to refuse +it, but who accepts it afterward with the air of a man who has +reflected.</i></p> + +<p>Well, go! What more are you waiting for?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Nothing.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Then stay, if it pleases you. You can have the fine starlight while I +have the pretty girl. God be with you!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He starts toward the door of the house and is about to open it.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Where are you going?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Faith, into my house!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>How? Into your house!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>That is what I said.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Which of us two is dreaming? A short time ago you told me that I was +the Jew's assassin! Now you tell me that that house is yours.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Or that of my mistress, which amounts to the same thing.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Repeat what you have just said.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>My friend, I say, since you wish to know, that this house belongs to +a beautiful girl named Jane, who is my mistress.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>And I tell you, my lord, that you lie! I tell you that you are a liar +and an assassin! I tell you that you are an insolent knave! I tell +you, you have pronounced some fatal words which will kill us +both—you, for having said them: me, for having heard them.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Dear me! Who the devil is this man?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I am Gilbert the engraver. Jane is my betrothed.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>And I am the Chevalier Amyas Pawlet. Jane is my mistress.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You lie, I tell you! You are Lord Clanbrassil, the Queen's favorite. +Don't you think I know that, fool!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>Everybody seems to know me to-night. Another dangerous man, whom we +must get rid of.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Tell me instantly that you have lied like a coward, and that Jane is +not your mistress!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Do you know her writing?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He takes a note from his pocket.</i></p> + +<p>Read this!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Aside, while <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> tremblingly unfolds the paper.</i></p> + +<p>If he would go in and quarrel with Jane, it would give my people time +to get here.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>reading</i>).</p> + +<p>"I will be alone to-night. You can come." Malediction! My lord, you +have dishonored my betrothed, you are an infamous wretch! I demand my +revenge.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>putting his hand to his sword</i>).</p> + +<p>Willingly! Where is your sword?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Oh, fury! To be one of the people! To have nothing—neither sword nor +dagger. Well, you can go; but I will wait for you at night, in a +corner of the street, and I will stick my nails into your throat, and +I will assassinate you, you villain!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Dear me! How violent you are, my friend.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I will be revenged upon you, my lord!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>You! Revenged upon me? You so low, upon me so high! You are crazy! +I defy you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You defy me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You shall see.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>To-morrow's sun must not rise for this man. [<i>Aloud.</i>] Friend, listen +to me. Go into your house. I am sorry you found it out, but I leave +the beauty to you. Go in.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He throws a key down at <span class="sc">Gilbert's</span> feet.</i></p> + +<p>There is a key, if you haven't got one. Or, if you like it better, +you can knock against the shutter three times and Jane will think it +is I, and let you in. Good-night. [<i>He goes off.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VIII</h4> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>He is gone. He is no longer here. I did not grind and crush him +beneath my feet. I had to let him go. Not a weapon about me.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He sees on the ground the dagger with which <span class="sc">Lord Clanbrassil</span> +killed the Jew; he picks it up with fearful haste.</i></p> + +<p>Ah, you come too late; you can probably kill no one but myself. All +the same, whether you fall from heaven or are vomited up from hell, I +bless you. My Jane has betrayed me! Jane has given herself to this +infamous man. Jane is the heiress of Lord Talbot. Jane is lost to me! +O God! more terrible things have come to me in this hour than my +brain can stand.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> appears in the darkness at the back.</i></p> + +<p>Oh, to be revenged on that man! To be revenged on this Lord +Clanbrassil! If I go to the Queen's palace, the lackeys will kick me +out as if I were a dog. I am mad! My head will burst! I am willing to +die, but I want to be revenged. I would give my blood for revenge! +Will nobody in the world make this bargain with me? Who will give me +vengeance on Lord Clanbrassil and take my life in payment?</p> + + +<h4>SCENE IX</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Gilbert, Simon Renard</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>taking a step forward</i>).</p> + +<p>I will.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You? Who are you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>The man you want.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Do you know who I am?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>You are the man I need.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>There is no longer but one thought in my mind, do you know that? To +be revenged on Lord Clanbrassil and to die!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>You shall be revenged on Lord Clanbrassil and you shall die.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Who ever you may be, I thank you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Yes, you shall have the vengeance you desire. But do not forget upon +what condition. I must have your life.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Take it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>It is agreed?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Follow me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Where?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>You shall know.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Remember that you have promised to avenge me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Remember that you have promised to die.</p> + + + +<h3>SECOND DAY</h3> + +<p class="center">THE QUEEN</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>A room in the royal apartment. The gospel open on a +prie-Dieu. The royal crown upon a stool. Side doors. A large door in +the center. A portion of the background concealed by a large +tapestry, representing a grand tournament</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">The Queen</span>, splendidly dressed, reclining upon a couch; <span class="sc">Fabiano +Fabiani</span> seated on a folding-chair. Magnificent costume. The garter</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>a guitar in his hands, singing</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">When you sleep, calm and pure, love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">In shadow, 'neath my eyes,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">And your soft breathing gives my heart</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Its tenderest replies;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">On your sweet form my eyes can feast,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Oh, beauty's priceless store!</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Then sleep, my beauty, sleep, my love,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Sleep on, for evermore!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">And when you say, "I love you,"</span><br /> + <span class="i0">In truth, it seems to be</span><br /> + <span class="i0">As if God's heaven were opening</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Especially for me.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">I see dreams hidden in your eyes</span><br /> + <span class="i0">That we've not dreamed before;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Then love me, oh, my beauty,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Love me for evermore!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">You see, the whole of life, dear,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Lies in those words, just four—</span><br /> + <span class="i0">All things that people envy,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">All things that men adore,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">All things that are seductive</span><br /> + <span class="i0">On which our hearts set store,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">To sing, to laugh, my beauty,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">To sleep, to love, no more!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He puts down his guitar.</i></p> + +<p>Oh, I love you more than I can tell, madame! But this Simon +Renard—this Simon Renard, who is more powerful here than you +yourself—I hate him!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>I can't help it, my lord; you know that. He is here as the ambassador +of the Prince of Spain, my future husband.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Your future husband!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Come, my lord, let us not speak of that. I love you! What more do you +wish? Moreover, it is time for you to go, now.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>One moment more, Mary!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>It is time for the secret council to meet. Until now, there has been +only a woman here. We must let the Queen enter.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I wish the woman would keep the Queen waiting at the door.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You wish, do you? You wish, do you? Look at me, my lord! Fabiani, you +have a young and beautiful head!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>It is you who are beautiful, madame. You need only your beauty to be +all-powerful. There is something on your head which tells me you are +the Queen; but it is written plainer on your brow than on your crown!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Flatterer!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I love you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You love me, do you not? You love only me? Say it to me again, just +like that, with the same eyes! Alas! we poor women, we never know +just what is passing in a man's heart. We have to trust your eyes; +and the handsomest eyes, Fabiani, are often the most false. But +yours, my lord, are so full of loyalty, so full of candor, so full of +good faith, they could not deceive, those eyes—could they? Yes, my +beautiful page, your glances are artless and sincere. Oh, it would be +shameful to take such heavenly eyes to betray with! Your eyes are the +eyes either of a devil or an angel!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Neither angel nor devil. A man who loves you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Who loves the Queen?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Who loves Mary.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Listen to me, Fabiani. I love you, too. You are young; there are many +beautiful women who smile tenderly on you—I know it. People get +tired of queens as well as of other women.—Don't interrupt me!—If +you ever fall in love with another woman, I want you to tell me about +it.—Don't interrupt me, dear!—I may forgive you, if you tell me +about it. You don't know how much I love you. I don't know myself. It +is true, there are moments when I would rather see you dead than +happy with another; but there are also moments when I would rather +have you happy. Indeed, I don't know why they try to make me out such +a wicked woman!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I can only be happy with you, Mary! I love no one but you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Are you sure? Look at me! Are you sure? Oh, I am jealous sometimes! I +imagine—where is the woman who does not think of these +things?—sometimes I imagine that you are false to me. I would like +to be invisible, so that I might follow you, and always know what you +are doing, what you are saying, where you are! In fairy stories they +tell about a ring which makes one invisible; I would give my crown to +have such a ring as that. I keep thinking that you go to see the +beautiful women in the city. Oh, you must not deceive me—indeed, you +must not!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Banish such thoughts from your mind, madame. I false to you, my love, +my queen, my kind mistress! To do that, I would have to be the most +thankless, the most miserable of men. And I have given you no reason +to think me the most thankless, the most miserable of men. I love +you, Mary; I adore you! I could not even look at another woman! I +love you, I say; but don't you see it in my eyes? There must be some +way to persuade you! Look at me well! Do I look like a man who is +false? When a man deceives a woman, you can see it at once. Women are +seldom mistaken about that. And what a time you choose to tell me +these things—the one moment in my life when I love you the most! It +is true, I am sure I never loved you so much as I do to-day. I am not +speaking to the Queen. What do I care about the Queen? What can she +do to me? She can have my head cut off; what does that amount to? +You, Mary, can break my heart. It isn't your sovereignty that I love, +it is yourself. It is your beautiful white and soft hand that I love +to kiss; it isn't your scepter, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Thank you, my Fabiano. Good-by! Ah, my lord, how young you are! What +beautiful black hair, what a graceful head you have! Come back to me +in an hour.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>What you call an hour, I call a century!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes out. As soon as he is gone, <span class="sc">The Queen</span> rises hastily, goes +to a concealed door, opens it, and ushers in <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span>.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">The Queen, Simon Renard</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Come in, Sir Bailiff! Well, did you stay there? Did you hear him?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What do you say to it? Oh, of all men on earth he is the most false, +the most deceitful! What do you say to it?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>I say, madame, that it is plain to be seen his name ends in <i>i</i>.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Are you sure that he goes to this woman at night? Did you see him?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>I myself, Chandos, Clinton, Montague. Ten witnesses!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Oh, it is indeed infamous!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>The whole affair will be still better proved to the Queen in a short +time. The young woman is here, as I told your Majesty. I had her +brought from her house last night.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Isn't this a sufficient crime for his execution, sir?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>What! To go to see a pretty girl by night! Oh, no, madame! Your +Majesty had Frogmorton tried for a similar crime. Frogmorton was +acquitted.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>I punished Frogmorton's judges.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Try not to have to punish Fabiani's judges.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>How shall I revenge myself on this traitor?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Your Majesty wants only a certain kind of revenge?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>The only kind worthy of me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Frogmorton was acquitted, madame. There is only one way. I have +explained it to your Majesty. The man who is there!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Will he do whatever I wish?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>If you do all that he wishes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Will he give his life?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>He will make his own conditions, but he will give his life.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What does he want? Do you know?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>What you yourself want—revenge!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Bid him come in, but stay you out there, within call, Sir Bailiff.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>coming back</i>).</p> + +<p>Madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Tell my Lord Chandos to hold himself in the next room, with six men +of my ordinance, in readiness to appear. And the woman also, let her +be ready to appear. Go.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> goes out.</i></p> + +<p>Oh! it would be frightful!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Queen</span> alone. A side door opens; <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> and <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> +enter.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">The Queen, Gilbert, Simon Renard</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Before whom do I stand?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Before the Queen.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>The Queen!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, the Queen. I am the Queen. There is no time for astonishment. +You, sir, are Gilbert, a workman, an engraver. You live somewhere +beyond the borders of the river, with a woman named Jane, who is your +betrothed, and who deceives you, whose lover is a man named Fabiano, +who deceives me. You want revenge, so do I. In order to get it, I +must be able to make any disposition I please of your life. It is +necessary that you should say what I command you to say, no matter +what it is. For you, there must be no longer either false or true, +good or bad, justice or injustice—nothing but my vengeance and my +will. I shall require you to let me act, and to let yourself be acted +upon. Do you consent?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Madame—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You shall have your revenge; but I warn you, it will cost you your +life—that is all. Make your conditions. If you have an old mother +and you want her tablecloth covered with ingots of gold, speak, I +will do it. Sell me your life as dear as you please.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I am no longer willing to die, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I have been thinking about it all night. Nothing is proved yet. I saw +a man who boasted that he was Jane's lover. How do I know that he did +not lie? I saw a key! How do I know that he did not steal it? I saw a +letter! How do I know that she was not forced to write it? I don't +even know whether it was her writing; it was dark, I was excited, I +could not see. I can't give up my life, which is her life, like that. +I don't believe any of it, I am not sure of any of it, I have not +seen Jane!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>It is easy to see that you love. You are like me, you refuse all the +proofs. But if you see her, your Jane, if you hear her confess the +crime, will you do what I wish?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes, upon one condition.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Tell it to me afterward. [<i>To <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span>.</i>] Bring this woman here +at once.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> goes out. <span class="sc">The Queen</span> places <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> behind a +curtain which covers part of the background of the apartment.</i></p> + +<p>Stand there!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Jane</span> enters, pale and trembling.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">The Queen; Jane; Gilbert</span> behind the curtain</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Approach, young woman. You know who we are?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You know who is the man who seduced you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>He deceived you. He passed himself off for a nobleman called Amyas +Pawlet?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You know now that it is Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Last night, when they seized you in your house, you had given him a +rendezvous, you were waiting for him?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>wringing her hands</i>).</p> + +<p>Heavens, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Answer!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>with feeble voice</i>).</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You understand that there is no more hope, neither for him nor for +you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Nothing but death! That is a hope!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Tell me all about it. Where did you meet this man first?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>The first time I saw him was— But what is the use? A poor wretched +girl of the people, frivolous and vain, in love with jewels and fine +clothes, a girl dazzled with the handsome looks of a great lord—that +is all. I am seduced, I am dishonored, I am lost. There is nothing to +add to that. My God, madame, don't you see that each word I speak is +killing me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Enough.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Your anger is terrible, I know it, madame. My head bends now beneath +the punishment you have prepared for me.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Punishment for you? Do you think I concern myself about you, +simpleton? Who are you, wretched creature, that the Queen should +concern herself about you? Oh, no! Fabiano is my affair. As for you, +madame, some one else will look out for your punishment.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Well, madame, whoever that one may be, whatever the punishment, I +will endure all without a murmur. I will even thank you if you will +listen to one prayer I am about to make. There is a man who took me +in, an orphan from my birth, who adopted me, brought me up, nourished +me, loved me, and who loves me still; a man of whom I am most +unworthy, toward whom I have been most guilty, and yet whose image +lies at the bottom of my heart, beloved, revered, sacred as is that +of God; a man who now, while I am speaking to you, finds his home +empty, deserted, robbed, who can't understand it, and who rends his +garments in anguish. Well, madame, what I ask of your Majesty is that +he may never understand, that I may disappear without his knowing +what has become of me, what I have done, or what you have done with +me. Alas, kind Heaven, I do not know how to make you understand, but +you ought to feel that I have a friend in him—a noble, generous +friend. Poor Gilbert! yes, it is true, he respects me and believes me +pure, and I do not want him to hate me and despise me! Oh, you +understand me, don't you, madame? That man's respect is a great deal +more to me than my life. And then it will make him suffer so +much—such a surprise! He won't believe it at first. No, he will not +believe it. My God! Poor Gilbert. Oh, madame, have pity on him and on +me! He has done you no harm! In the name of Heaven, keep him from +knowing the awful truth! In the name of Heaven, don't let him know +that I am guilty. He will kill himself. Don't let him know that I am +dead. He will die too.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>The man you are speaking of is here; he is listening to you; he will +judge you, he will punish you! [<i><span class="sc">Gilbert</span> appears.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Heavens! Gilbert!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>to the <span class="sc">Queen</span></i>).</p> + +<p>My life belongs to you, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Good. Have you any conditions to make?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What are they? We give you our royal word that we will grant them.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>This, madame. It is very simple. It is a debt of gratitude I pay to +one of your noble lords, who employed me a great deal in my capacity +as engraver.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Speak!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>This lord has a secret liaison with a woman whom he cannot marry +because she belongs to a proscribed family. This woman, who up to the +present time has lived in concealment, is the only daughter and +heiress of the last Lord Talbot, beheaded under King Henry VIII.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What? Are you sure of what you are saying? You say, John Talbot, the +good Catholic lord, the loyal defender of my mother of Aragon, has +left a daughter? Upon my crown, if that is true, this child is my +daughter. And what John Talbot did for the mother of Mary of England, +Mary of England will do for the daughter of John Talbot.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Then, of course, it will be a pleasure to your Majesty to give back +Lord Talbot's estates to his daughter?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, truly, and to take them away from Fabiano. But are there proofs +that this heiress exists?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>There are!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>And if there are not, we will make them! We are not a queen for +nothing!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Your Majesty will give back to Lord Talbot's daughter the estates, +lands, rank, coat-of-arms, and device of her father. Your Majesty +will remove her from all proscription, and will guarantee that her +life shall be safe. Your Majesty will marry her to this lord, who is +the only man she can marry. Upon these conditions, madame, you can +dispose of me, of my liberty, of my life, and of my will as you see +fit.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Good! I will do what you have asked.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Your Majesty will do what I have asked? The Queen of England swears +it to me, Gilbert the engraver, upon her crown which is here, and +upon the open gospel which is there?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Upon the royal crown which is here, and the divine gospel which is +there, I swear it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>The compact is concluded, madame. Have a tomb prepared for me and a +nuptial bed prepared for the lovers. The lord I speak of is Fabiani, +Earl of Clanbrassil. Talbot's heiress, behold her!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What does he say?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Am I dealing with a fool? What do you mean? Have a care, sir! You are +bold to mock the Queen of England! In the royal chambers people +should look to their words; there are times when the lips bring the +head to the block!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You have my head, madame; I have your oath.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You do not mean to say you are speaking seriously? This Fabiano—this +Jane! Come, come!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>This Jane is the daughter and the heiress of Lord Talbot.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Bah! Nonsense! Delusion! Fancy! Have you got the proofs?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Complete!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He takes a packet from his breast.</i></p> + +<p>Read these papers.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Have I time to read your papers? Did I ask for your papers? What do +your papers matter to me? If they prove anything, upon my soul, I +will throw them into the fire and nothing will be left of them.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Nothing but your oath, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>My oath, my oath!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Upon the crown and upon the gospel, madame; that is to say, on your +head and your soul—on your life in this world, and on your life in +the next.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>But what do you want? Oh, I swear you are mad!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>What do I want? Jane has lost her rank, give it back to her! Jane has +lost her honor, give it back to her! Proclaim her the daughter of +Lord Talbot and the wife of Lord Clanbrassil, and then take my life.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Your life! What do you want me to do with your life then? I didn't +want it except to use for vengeance on this man—this Fabiano. You +can't understand anything at all, can you? Well! I can't understand +you, either. You talked about vengeance! That is the way you avenge +yourself, is it? These men of the people are stupid! And after all, +do you suppose I believe your ridiculous story about an heiress of +Talbot? The papers! You show me papers! I won't look at them. Oh, a +woman wrongs you, and you play the magnanimous. Well, do it if it +suits you! I am not magnanimous! No! My heart is full of rage and +hate. I will avenge myself and you shall help me! Oh, but this man is +mad, mad, mad! My God! why do I need him? It is exasperating to have +to deal with people like this, at such a serious time.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I have your word, as Catholic Queen. Lord Clanbrassil has seduced +Jane; he shall marry her!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>And if he refuses to marry her?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You will force him to do it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, no! Have pity upon me, Gilbert!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Well, then, if this infamous wretch refuses, your Majesty can do what +she pleases with him and with me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>with joy</i>).</p> + +<p>Ah, that is all I ask!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>In that case, I will do everything the Queen commands, provided the +crown of the Countess of Waterford is solemnly replaced by the Queen +on the sacred and inviolable head of Jane, who stands here!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Everything?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Everything! Even a crime, if it is a crime you want. I will not stop +at treachery, which is more than a crime; nor at infamy, which is +more than treachery.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You will say what I want you to say? You will die the death that I +want you to die?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>The death that you want me to die!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, my God!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You swear it?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I swear it!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Then it is settled. It is enough! I have your word, you have mine! It +is agreed.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She seems to reflect a moment.</i></p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Jane</span>.</i>] You are not needed here: go out. I will send for you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, Gilbert, what is this you have done? Oh, Gilbert, I am a wretched +creature, and I don't dare to raise my eyes to you. Oh, Gilbert, you +are more than an angel, for you have the virtues of an angel and a +man's passions at the same time. [<i>She goes out.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE V</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">The Queen, Gilbert</span>, afterward <span class="sc">Simon Renard, Lord Chandos</span>, and +the Guards</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Have you a weapon about you? A knife, a dagger, anything!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>drawing from his breast <span class="sc">Lord Clanbrassil's</span> dagger</i>).</p> + +<p>A dagger? Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Good! Hold it in your hand!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She seizes his arm quickly.</i></p> + +<p>Sir bailiff D'Amont! Lord Chandos!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Enter <span class="sc">Simon Renard, Lord Chandos</span>, and Guards.</i></p> + +<p>Seize this man! He has threatened my life, with his dagger! I seized +his arm as he was about to strike me. He is an assassin!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>low to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Have you forgotten your agreement so soon? Is this the way you let me +use you? [<i>Aloud.</i>] You are all witnesses that he had a dagger in his +hand. Sir Bailiff, what is the name of the executioner of the Tower +of London?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>He is an Irishman called Mac Dermot.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Send for him. I want to speak to him.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Yourself?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Myself.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>The Queen will speak to the executioner!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, the Queen will speak to the executioner. The head will speak to +the hand! Send for him.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A Guard goes out.</i></p> + +<p>My Lord Chandos, and you, gentlemen, will answer to me for this man. +Keep him there among you, back of you. Certain things are about to +happen here which he must witness. Sir Lieutenant d'Amont, is Lord +Clanbrassil in the palace?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>He is there, in the painted chamber, awaiting the Queen's good +pleasure to see him.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Does he suspect anything?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Nothing.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>to <span class="sc">Lord Chandos</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Let him come in!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>The entire Court is also waiting there. Will nobody be admitted +before Lord Clanbrassil?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Who are those among our nobles who hate Fabiani?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>All!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Which hate him the most?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Clinton, Montague, Somerset, Earl of Derby, Gerard Fitz-Gerard, Lord +Paget, and the Lord Chancellor.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>to <span class="sc">Lord Chandos</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Admit them all—except the Lord Chancellor. Go! [<i><span class="sc">Chandos</span> goes +out.</i></p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span>.</i>] The worthy Bishop Chancellor is not any fonder +of Fabiani than the rest, but he is a more scrupulous man.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Noticing the papers which <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> left upon the table.</i></p> + +<p>Ah, I must look over these papers!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>While she is examining them, the door in the background opens. +Those lords designated by <span class="sc">The Queen</span> enter, making profound +salutations.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VI</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Lord Clinton</span> and the other lords.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Good-day, gentlemen! God be with you, my lords! [<i>To <span class="sc">Lord +Montague</span>.</i>] Anthony Brown, I do not forget that you held your own +most worthily against John of Montmorency and the Count of Toulouse +during my negotiations with my uncle, the Emperor! Lord Paget, to-day +you will receive your letters patent of Baron Paget de Beaudesert in +Stafford. And this is our old friend, Lord Clinton. We are always +your good friend, my lord. It was you who exterminated Thomas Wyatt +in St. James's Field. Let us all remember it, my lords. The crown of +England was saved that day by a bridge which enabled my troops to +reach the rebels, and by a wall which prevented the rebels from +reaching me! The bridge was London Bridge. The wall was my Lord +Clinton!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON (<i>low to <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span></i>).</p> + +<p>The Queen has not spoken to me for six months. How kind she is +to-day!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>low to <span class="sc">Lord Clinton</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Patience, my lord. She will be kinder still, by-and-by.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>to <span class="sc">Lord Chandos</span></i>).</p> + +<p>My Lord Clanbrassil may enter. [<i>To <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span>.</i>] After he has +been here a few moments—</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She speaks to him in a low voice and indicates the door through +which <span class="sc">Jane</span> passed.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>I understand, madame. [<i><span class="sc">Fabiani</span> enters.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VII</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Fabiani</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Ah, here he is!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She continues to speak to <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> in a low voice.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>everybody salutes him; he looks around him. Aside</i>).</p> + +<p>What does this mean? There are only my enemies here, this morning! +The Queen is speaking in a low tone to Simon Renard. The devil! She +is laughing! It is a bad sign.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>graciously to <span class="sc">Fabiani</span></i>).</p> + +<p>God be with you, my lord!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>seizing her hand which he kisses</i>).</p> + +<p>Madame— [<i>Aside.</i>] She smiled at me! The danger is not for me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>still graciously</i>).</p> + +<p>I want to speak to you.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She advances to the front of the stage with him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>And I also, I want to speak to you, madame. I have a right to +reproach you! To keep me away, to exile me so long! Ah, it wouldn't +be thus if you thought of me during these hours of absence as I think +of you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You are unjust. Since you left me, I have thought of no one but you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Is that really true? Does so much happiness belong to me? Say it to +me again!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>always smiling</i>).</p> + +<p>I swear it to you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Then you do indeed love me as I love you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, my lord! Truly, I have thought of no one but you. So much so, +that I have tried to plan a pleasant surprise for your return.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>What do you mean? What surprise?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>A meeting which will give you pleasure!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>A meeting with whom?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Guess! Can't you guess?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>No, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Turn around!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He turns and sees <span class="sc">Jane</span> on the threshold of the little door, which +is half open.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>Jane!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>It is he!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>with the same smile</i>).</p> + +<p>My lord, do you know this young woman?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>No, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Young woman, do you know this lord?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Truth before life! Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>So, my lord, you do not know this woman?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Madame, this is a conspiracy. I am surrounded by enemies. This woman +is doubtless in league with them. I do not know her, madame! I do not +even know who she is, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>rising and striking him in the face with her glove</i>).</p> + +<p>Ah, you are a coward! You betray one and disown the other! You don't +even know who she is? Do you want me to tell you? This woman is Jane +Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, the good Catholic lord who perished +on the scaffold for my mother. This woman is Jane Talbot, my cousin: +Jane Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, Countess of Wexford, Countess of +Waterford, peeress of England. That is who she is, this woman! Lord +Paget, you are commissioner of the private seal; you will remember +our words. The Queen of England solemnly recognizes this woman here +present, as Jane, daughter and sole heiress of the last Earl of +Waterford. [<i>Showing the papers.</i>] Here are the titles and the +proofs, which you will have sealed with the great seal. It is our +will.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Fabiani</span></i>] Yes, Countess of Waterford, and it is proved! And +you will give back her estates, you wretched man! Ah, you don't know +this woman? You don't know who she is? Well, I am telling you! It is +Jane Talbot. Shall I tell you more yet?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Looking him in the face, in a low voice, between her teeth.</i></p> + +<p>Coward, she is your mistress!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>That is what she is! Now, this is what you are! You are a man without +soul, a man without heart, a man without brains. You are a liar and a +villain! You are—By my faith, gentlemen, you need not draw away. I +am quite willing you should hear what I have to say to this man. I am +not lowering my voice, it seems to me. Fabiano, you are a wretch; a +traitor to me, a coward to her; a lying lackey, the most vile, the +lowest of all men. Yet it is true, I made you Earl of Clanbrassil, +Baron of Dinasmonddy and what more? Baron of Darmouth in Devonshire. +Ah, well! I was an idiot! My lords, I ask your pardon for having +forced you to be elbowed by that man there. You, a knight! you, a +noble! you, a lord! Compare yourself a little with those who are +such. Look! look around you! There stand noblemen. There is Bridges, +Baron Chandos; there is Seymour, Duke of Somerset. There are the +Stanleys, who have been Earls of Derby since 1485. There are the +Clintons, who have been barons since 1298. Do you imagine you are +like these people—you? You say that you are allied to the Spanish +family of Peñalver, but it is not true; you are only a bad Italian. +Nothing—worse than nothing! Son of a shoemaker in the village of +Larino! Yes, gentlemen, the son of a shoemaker! I knew it, and I did +not tell it; I concealed it, and I made believe I credited this man +when he talked about his nobility. That is the way we are, we women. +Oh, Heaven! I wish there were women here; it would be a lesson to +them all. This scoundrel! this scoundrel! he betrays one woman and +disowns the other. Infamous creature! Oh, yes, indeed you are +infamous. What! I have been speaking all this time and he is not yet +on his knees? On your knees, Fabiani! My lords, force this man to +kneel!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Your Majesty—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>This creature whom I have loaded with benefits! this Neapolitan +lackey whom I have made a noble knight and a proud earl of England. +Ah, I ought to have expected this! But I am always like that; I am +obstinate, and afterward I see that I am wrong. It is my fault. +Italian stands for liar: Neapolitan for coward. Every time that my +father made use of an Italian, he repented of it. This Fabiani! You +see Lady Jane, unfortunate child, to what a man you have surrendered +yourself! But I will avenge you. Oh, I ought to have known it from +the first. You will find nothing in an Italian's pocket but a +stiletto, nothing in his soul but treachery.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Madame, I swear to you—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Good! Now he will perjure himself; he will descend to the depths of +infamy; he will make us blush to our finger-tips before these men—we +women who have loved him. He will not even lift up his head!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame, I will lift it up! I am lost; I see it clearly. My death +is decided. You will make use of every means, dagger, poison—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>taking hold of both his hands and dragging him violently +to the front of the stage</i>).</p> + +<p>Poison! Dagger! What are you saying, Italian? A treacherous +vengeance, a disgraceful vengeance—a vengeance from the back, a +vengeance such as you take in your country? No, Signor Fabiani, +neither dagger nor poison. Do I have to conceal myself? Do I have to +hide in the corners of the street at night and make myself small when +I want revenge? No, by my faith, I want the daylight! Do you hear, my +lord?—the full noonday, the bright sun, the public square, the ax +and the stake, the crowds in the street, the crowds at the windows, +the crowds on the roofs! A hundred thousand witnesses! I want people +to be afraid, do you hear, my lord? I want them to think it splendid, +frightful, magnificent. I want them to say, "It is a woman who has +been wronged, but it is a Queen who takes revenge!" This much envied +favorite, this handsome, insolent young man, whom I have dressed in +velvets and satins, I want to see him bent double, terrified and +trembling, on his knees before a black cloth, with naked feet, with +manacled wrists, hissed by the people, fingered by the executioner. +On this white neck, where I have put a golden collar, I want to put a +rope. I have seen how Fabiani looks upon a throne, I want to see how +he looks upon a scaffold.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Madame—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Not a word! Not a word! You are indeed lost, as you say. You will +mount the scaffold as did Suffolk and Northumberland. This will be a +festival such as I have given before to my good city of London. You +know how she hates you, this good city of mine! Faith, when one wants +vengeance, it's a good thing to be Mary, Queen of England, daughter +of Henry VIII. and mistress of four seas. When you are on the +scaffold, you can make a long speech to the people, if you like, as +Northumberland did, or a long prayer to God, as Suffolk did, in order +to give pardon the time to arrive; but God is my witness that you are +a traitor, and the pardon will not come. This wretched liar who +talked of love to me, and this morning even said "thou" to me—Eh, +gentlemen, it seems to amaze you that I talk thus openly before you; +but I repeat it, what do I care?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Lord Somerset</span>.</i>] My lord duke, you are constable of the Tower; +demand this man's sword!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Here it is; but I protest. Admitting that it is proved that I +deceived or seduced a woman—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What does it matter to me whether you have seduced a woman? Do I +concern myself about that? These gentlemen are witnesses, it is a +matter of indifference to me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>The seduction of a woman is not a capital offense, madame. Your +Majesty could not procure Frogmorton's condemnation upon the same +accusation!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>I believe he defies us now! The worm has become a serpent. Who says +you are accused of that?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Of what else am I accused? I am not an Englishman; I am no subject of +your Majesty. I am a subject of the King of Naples and a vassal of +the Holy Father. I will appeal to his embassador, the eminent +Cardinal Polus, to save me. I will defend myself, madame. I am a +stranger! I cannot be tried unless I have committed a crime—a real +crime. What is my crime?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You ask what your crime is?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You all hear this question that he has asked, my lords? You shall +hear the answer. Listen, and look out for yourselves, all of you, +however great you may be, because you will see that I need only stamp +upon the earth with my foot to bring from out of it a scaffold. +Chandos, open that folding-door. Call the Court—every one! Bid every +one enter.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The door at the back is opened. The entire Court enters.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VIII</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. The <span class="sc">Lord Chancellor</span>, all the Court</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Enter, enter, my lords! I am truly pleased to see you to-day. Good! +good! The officers of the law this way: nearer, nearer! Where are the +sergeants-at-arms of the House of Lords? Harriot and Herbert? Ah, +there you are, gentlemen! Be welcome! Draw your swords. Good! Place +yourselves at the right and at the left of that man. He is your +prisoner.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Madame, what is my crime?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>My Lord Gardiner, my learned friend, you are chancellor of England. +We order you and the twelve lord commissioners of the Star Chamber, +whom we regret not to see here, to assemble yourselves in haste. +Strange things are passing in this palace. Listen, my lords! Madame +Elizabeth has raised more than one enemy to our crown. We have had +the Pietro Caro plot—that man who started the Exeter movement, and +who communicated with Madame Elizabeth by means of a cipher cut on +her guitar. We have had the treachery of Thomas Wyatt who roused the +county of Kent. We have had the rebellion of the Duke of Suffolk, who +was captured in the hollow of a tree, after his followers were +defeated. To-day we have a new attempt. Listen, all of you. To-day, +this morning, a man presented himself at my audience. After a few +words, he drew his dagger on me. I stopped his hand in time. Lord +Chandos and the bailiff D'Amont seized the man. He says that he was +urged to the crime by Lord Clanbrassil.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>By me! It is not true! This is a frightful thing! This man does not +exist. This man cannot be found! Who is he? Where is he?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>He is here!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>coming out from among the soldiers, behind whom he has been +hidden up to this time</i>).</p> + +<p>I am the man!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>According to this man's declarations, we Mary, Queen, accuse before +the Star Chamber this other man, Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of +Clanbrassil, of high treason, and of an attempt of regicide upon our +imperial and sacred person.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Regicide? I? This is monstrous. Oh, my brain is bewildered! I cannot +see clear! What is this trap? Whoever you may be, wretched creature, +dare you affirm that what the Queen says is true?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>I urged you to regicide?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes, always yes! Malediction! Oh, it is impossible for you to know +how false that is, gentlemen. That man comes from hell! Unfortunate +wretch, you want to ruin me, but don't you see that you ruin yourself +in the same breath? The crime you charge upon me falls upon you too. +You will send me to the block, but you will die also. Madman, with a +single word you cause two heads to fall! Did you know that?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I know it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>My lords, this man is bribed—</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>By you. Here is the purse full of gold which you paid me for the +crime. Your crest and your monogram are embroidered upon it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Just Heaven! But you don't show me the dagger with which this man, it +is said, attempted to strike the Queen. Where is the dagger?</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CHANDOS.</p> + +<p>Here it is!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>to <span class="sc">Fabiani</span></i>).</p> + +<p>It is yours. You gave it to me for that purpose. They will find the +sheath at your house!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE LORD CHANCELLOR.</p> + +<p>Earl of Clanbrassil, what reply do you make? Do you recognize this +man?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>No!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>In truth, he only saw me by night. Let me whisper two words to him, +madame, they will help his memory. [<i>He approaches <span class="sc">Fabiani</span>.</i>] My +lord, you appear to recognize no one to-day—neither the man you have +wronged, nor the woman you have seduced. Ah, the Queen avenges +herself; but the man of the people, he avenges himself also. You +defied me to do it, I think. Behold yourself caught between a double +vengeance, my lord! What do you say to that? I am Gilbert the +engraver!</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Yes, I recognize you. My lords, I recognize this man. Since it is +with him I have to deal, I have nothing more to say.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>He confesses!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE LORD CHANCELLOR (<i>to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span></i>).</p> + +<p>According to Norman law and Statute 25, Henry VIII., in a case of +high treason of the first degree, a confession does not save the +accomplice. Do not forget, it is a case wherein the Queen has not the +right of mercy, and you will die upon the scaffold as well as the man +you accuse. Therefore reflect! Do you confirm all you have said?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I know that I shall die, and I confirm it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>My God! if this is a dream, it is very horrible.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE LORD CHANCELLOR (<i>to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Are you willing to repeat your statements with your hand upon the +gospel?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He presents the gospel to <span class="sc">Gilbert</span>, who puts his hand upon it.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>With my hand upon the gospel, and my approaching death before my +eyes, I swear that this man is an assassin; that this dagger, which +is his, was used for the crime; that this purse, which is his, was +given to me in payment for the crime. May God help me! It is the +truth!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE LORD CHANCELLOR (<i>to <span class="sc">Fabiani</span></i>).</p> + +<p>My lord, what have you to say?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FABIANI.</p> + +<p>Nothing! I am lost.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>low to <span class="sc">The Queen</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Your Majesty sent for the executioner. He is there!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Good! Let him come in!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The row of noblemen divides and the Executioner appears; he is +dressed in red and black, and on his shoulder bears a long sword in +its scabbard.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IX</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Executioner</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>My lord Duke of Somerset, these two men to the Tower! My Lord +Gardiner, our chancellor, let their trial before the twelve peers of +the Star Chamber commence to-morrow, and may God keep watch over +England. We expect them to be judged, both of them, before we leave +for Exford, where we are to open Parliament, and for Windsor, where +we are to spend Easter.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To the <span class="sc">Executioner</span>.</i>] Approach! I am glad to see you! You are a +faithful servant. You are old; you have already witnessed three +reigns. It is customary for the sovereigns of this kingdom to make +you as costly a gift as possible, upon their ascension. My father, +Henry VIII., gave you the diamond clasp of his cloak. My brother, +Edward VI., gave you a goblet of chased gold. It is my turn now; I +have not given you anything yet. I must give you a present. Come +nearer! [<i>Indicating <span class="sc">Fabiani</span>.</i>] Do you see that head—that young, +adorable head; that head, which, up to this morning, was the dearest, +the most precious thing to me, in all my kingdom? Well! that +head—look at it well—I give it to you!</p> + + + +<h3>THIRD DAY</h3> + +<p class="center">PART I</p> + +<p class="center">WHICH OF THE TWO?</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>Hall in the interior of the Tower of London. Pointed arch +upheld by large pillars. To the right and to the left two low doors +to two cells. To the right a dormer-window, which is supposed to +overlook the Thames. To the left a dormer-window, which is supposed +to overlook the streets. On each side a door concealed in the wall. +In the background, a gallery with a sort of balcony shut in by glass +and overlooking the exterior courts of the Tower</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Gilbert, Joshua</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Well?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Alas!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>No more hope?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>No more hope. [<i><span class="sc">Gilbert</span> goes to the window.</i></p> + +<p>You won't see anything from the window.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You inquired, didn't you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I am only too sure.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>It is for Fabiani?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>It is for Fabiani.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>How fortunate that man is! Maledictions on me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Poor Gilbert! Your turn will come! To-day, it is he; to-morrow it +will be you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>What do you say? We are not thinking of the same thing. What are you +talking about?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>About the scaffold which they are building.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>And I—I am speaking of Jane!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Of Jane?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Yes, of Jane! Only of Jane. What does the rest matter to me? You have +forgotten, have you? You don't remember that for one whole month, +glued to the bars of my cell, from which I can look into the street, +I have watched her, pale and sad, wandering around the base of this +tower, which holds two men, Fabiani and me. You have forgotten all +about my anguish, have you, and my doubts, my misgivings? For which +of us does she come? Poor wretch, I ask myself this question day and +night. I asked you, Joshua; and last night you promised to try to see +her, and speak to her. Oh, tell me! Did you learn anything! Is it for +me she comes, or is it for Fabiani?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I learned that Fabiani is certainly to be beheaded to-day, and you +to-morrow, and from that moment I confess I lost my head, Gilbert. +The scaffold drove Jane entirely out of my thoughts. Your death—</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>My death! What do you mean by that word! My death is that Jane loves +me no longer. From the day that I was no longer beloved, I was dead. +Oh, yes! truly dead. Joshua, what has remained of me since that time +won't be worth taking to-morrow. Oh, Joshua, you don't know, you +can't understand what a man is when he loves. If any one had said to +me, two months ago, "Jane, your Jane without reproach, your Jane so +pure, your love, your pride, your lily, your treasure, Jane will give +herself to another; will you take her then?" I should have said, "No, +I will not have her! rather death a thousand times for her and for +myself." And I should have crushed under my feet any one who had +dared to speak to me like that. If I would take her?—To-day, you +know, Jane is no longer the Jane without stain, whom I adored, the +Jane whose brow I hardly dared touch with my lips. Jane has given +herself to another—to a wretch! I know it—and—well, it's all the +same to me. I love her! My heart is broken, but I love her! I would +kiss the hem of her dress, and I would ask her pardon, if she would +only take me. She might be in the gutter with those who belong there, +and I would take her out, and I would hold her close to my heart, +Joshua! Joshua, I would give, not a hundred years of life, since I no +longer possess one day, but the eternity which will be mine +to-morrow, just to see her smile at me once more—just once more +before my death—and to have her say to me those dear words she used +to say, "I love you." Joshua, Joshua, that is the way a man's heart +is, when he loves. You think you would kill the woman who betrays +you? No, you wouldn't kill her; you would lie at her feet afterward, +the same as before, only you would be sad. You think I am weak? What +should I have gained in killing Jane? Oh, my heart will burst with +all these unbearable thoughts! If she only loved me now, what would +it matter to me, what she has done? But she loves Fabiani! But she +loves Fabiani! It is for Fabiani that she comes here! There is one +thing that is sure, it is that I want to die. Have pity on me, +Joshua!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Fabiani will die to-day.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>And I to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>God is above all.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I will be revenged on him to-day. To-morrow, he will be revenged on +me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>My brother, here is the second constable of the Tower, Master Eneas +Dulverton. You must go in. I will see you again to-night.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Oh, to die without being beloved! To have no one to weep for us! +Jane! Jane! Jane!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Re-enters his cell.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Poor Gilbert! Good God! Who could have foretold that what has +happened would happen?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Goes out. Enter <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> and <span class="sc">Master Eneas</span>.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Simon Renard, Master Eneas Dulverton</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>As you say, it is very extraordinary. But what can you expect? The +Queen is crazy. She doesn't know what she wants. You can't count upon +anything. She is a woman. I would like to know what she is here for. +Well! a woman's heart is a riddle of which King Francis I. wrote the +solution on that pane of glass at Chambord—</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">"A woman's heart is most capricious;</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Who trusts her, finds life not propitious."</span></div> +</div> + +<p>Listen to me, Master Eneas. We are old friends; we must get through +with this thing to-day. Everything here depends upon you. If you are +ordered—[<i>He whispers to Eneas</i>] be slow about it; let it fall +through skillfully. Let me have two clear hours before me to-night, +and what I want will be accomplished; to-morrow there will be no +favorite. I shall be all-powerful, and you will be baronet and +lieutenant of the Tower the day after. Do you understand?</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>I understand.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Very well. Some one is coming. We must not be seen together. Go out +that way. I am going to meet the Queen. [<i>They separate.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">A Jailer</span> enters with caution, then ushers in <span class="sc">Lady Jane</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<p>You are where you wished to be, my lady. Here are the doors to the +two cells. My recompense, now, if you please.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Jane</span> unfastens her diamond bracelet and gives it to him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>There it is.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<p>Thanks. Don't compromise me.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes out.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>Kind Heaven! What shall I do? It is I who have destroyed him. I must +be the one to save him! I can never do it, never! A woman can do +nothing! The scaffold— The scaffold! Oh, it is horrible! Come, no +more tears; let us have action! I never can do it! I never can do it! +Have mercy on me, my God! I think some one is coming. Whose voice is +that? I recognize it. It is the Queen's voice! Ah, all is lost!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She hides behind a pillar. <span class="sc">The Queen</span> and <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> enter.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">The Queen; Simon Renard; Jane</span>, concealed</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Ah, the change surprises you? I am no longer myself? Well, what does +that matter to me? It is the truth! I don't want him to die—now!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Yet yesterday, your Majesty ordered the execution to take place +to-day.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>As I ordered the day before, that the execution should take place +yesterday. As I ordered Sunday that the execution should take place +Monday. To-day I ordered the execution to take place to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, since the second Sunday in Advent, when the +decision was pronounced in the Star Chamber, and the two criminals +came back to the Tower preceded by the executioner with the ax turned +toward them—and that was three weeks ago—every day since then your +Majesty has put the matter off until to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Well, can't you understand what that means, sir? Must I explain +everything, and must a woman be forced to show her naked heart to +you, because she is a Queen—unfortunate woman that she is—and +because you represent the Prince of Spain, her future husband? You +don't understand, you men, that with a woman the heart has its +chastity as well as the body. Well, then, yes—since you want to +know, since you make believe that you don't understand anything—yes, +every day I put off Fabiani's execution until to-morrow, because +every morning my courage fails me when I think that the bell of the +Tower of London will ring out his death-knell; because to think they +are sharpening an ax for that man, breaks my heart; because it kills +me to think they will nail a coffin over him; because I am a woman, +because I am weak, because I am insane, because I love him yet, my +God! There! have you got enough? Are you satisfied? Do you understand +now? Oh, some day, my lord, I will have my revenge on you, for all +these things you have made me tell you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Yet it ought to be about time to get through with this Fabiani! You +expect to marry my royal master, the Prince of Spain, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>If the Prince of Spain is not satisfied, let him say so; we will +marry somebody else. Suitors are not lacking. The son of the King of +the Romans, the Prince of Piedmont, the Infante of Portugal, Cardinal +Polus, the King of Denmark, and Lord Courtenay are as good noblemen +as he!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Lord Courtenay! Lord Courtenay!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>An English baron is worth a Spanish prince, my lord. Besides, Lord +Courtenay is descended from the emperors of the East. Oh, get mad if +you like!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Fabiani has made himself hated by every one in London who has got a +heart.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Except by me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Peasants and lords are united against him, and if he is not executed +this very day, as your Majesty has promised—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Well!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>There will be an uprising among the people.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>I've got my lansquenets.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>There will be a conspiracy among the nobles.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>I have the executioner.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Your Majesty swore upon your mother's prayer-book that you would not +pardon him.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Here is a signature in blank which he has sent to me, in which I +swear on my imperial crown that I will pardon him! My father's crown +is worth as much as my mother's prayer-book. One oath destroys the +other. But who says that I will pardon him?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>He has boldly betrayed you, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What does that matter? All men are alike about that. I don't want him +to die. Listen, my lord—I mean Sir Bailiff. Good God! you confuse my +mind so much that I can't even tell whom I am talking to. Oh, I know +all that you want to say to me! I know he is a vile, degraded, +contemptible man. I know it as well as you, and I blush for it. But I +love him! What do you want me to do about it? I would probably love a +better man less. Moreover, who are you—all of you—great as you may +be? Are you any better than he? You will tell me that he is a +favorite, and the English nation detests favorites! Don't I know that +you only want to overthrow him to put the Earl of Kildare—that fool, +that Irishman—in his place, that he may have twenty heads a day cut +off? What does that matter to you? Don't talk to me about your Prince +of Spain; you make light enough of him. Don't talk to me about the +anger of M. de Noailles, the French embassador! M. de Noailles is an +idiot, and I will tell him so to his face. As for me, I am a woman; I +want things, and then I don't want them. I am not made all in one +piece. That man's life is necessary to my life. Oh, I beg of you, +don't put on that air of virginal sincerity and good faith. I know +all your intrigues. Between us two, you know as well as I that he +didn't commit the crime for which he is condemned. Well, it is +settled. I don't want Fabiani to die. Am I the mistress, or am I not? +Come, Sir Bailiff, let us talk about something else, will you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>I withdraw, madame. All your nobles have spoken to you through my +voice.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What do I care for my nobles!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>Suppose we try the people!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes out with respectful salutation.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>He went out with a singular expression. That man is capable of +arousing a rebellion. I must hurry off to the City Hall. What ho! +Some one! [<i><span class="sc">Master Eneas</span> and <span class="sc">Joshua</span> appear.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE V</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same, without <span class="sc">Simon Renard. Master Eneas, Joshua</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Is it you, Master Eneas? This man and you, you must attend to it that +the Earl of Clanbrassil makes his escape at once.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Madame—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Very well! I won't trust you; I remember you are one of his enemies. +Are there none but enemies of the man I love, around me? I will wager +that this turnkey, whom I don't even know, he hates him too.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>You are right, madame.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>My God! My God! This Simon Renard is more a king than I am a queen! +What! not one person to trust? No one to whom I can give power to +plan his escape?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>coming out from behind the pillar</i>).</p> + +<p>Yes, madame, I!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>Jane!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You! Who are you? Ah, it is you, Jane Talbot. What are you doing +here? Never mind, you are here! You have come to save Fabiani; thank +you! I ought to hate you, Jane; I ought to be jealous of you. I have +reason enough to be! But I'm not! I love you for loving him! In front +of the scaffold there is no more jealousy—nothing but love! You are +like me, you forgive him. I understand; men don't understand these +things. Lady Jane, let us have it clearly understood. We are both of +us miserable, are we not? We must save Fabiani! I have no one but +you. I must let you do it! At least, I am sure, you will do it with +all your heart. Take charge of it, gentlemen, both of you. Do +everything that Lady Jane directs you to do, and upon your heads, you +will be answerable for the execution of her orders. Embrace me, young +woman!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>The Thames washes the base of the Tower on this side. I noticed a +secret passage. A boat at that place, and the escape might be made by +the Thames. It is the safest way.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>It will be impossible to get a boat there, before an hour.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>That is very long.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>It will soon pass! It will be dark, too. That will be better if her +Majesty wishes to keep the escape secret.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you are right. In one hour then. I leave you, Lady Jane. I +must go to the City Hall. Save Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Make yourself easy, madame!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Queen</span> goes out; <span class="sc">Jane</span> follows her with her eyes.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>front of stage</i>).</p> + +<p>Gilbert was right; she loves Fabiani!</p> + + +<h4>SCENE VI</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same, without <span class="sc">The Queen</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>to <span class="sc">Master Eneas</span></i>).</p> + +<p>You have heard the Queen's commands. A boat, there, at the base of +the Tower, the keys of the secret corridors, a cap, and a cloak.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Impossible to get all that before night. In one hour, my lady.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Very well! Go! Leave me with this man.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Master Eneas</span> goes out. <span class="sc">Jane</span> follows him with her eyes.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>aside, at front stage</i>).</p> + +<p>"This man!" It is very natural. One who has forgotten Gilbert will +not remember Joshua.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to <span class="sc">Fabiani's</span> cell and is about to open it.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What are you doing there?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Forestalling your wishes, my lady. I am opening this door.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What door is that?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>The door of my Lord Fabiani's cell.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>And that one?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>It is the door to another man's cell.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Who is he—that other?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Another who is condemned to death; some one whom you do not know—a +workman named Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Open that door!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>after having opened it</i>).</p> + +<p>Gilbert!</p> + + +<h4>SCENE VII</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Jane, Gilbert, Joshua</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>from the interior of his cell</i>).</p> + +<p>What is wanted?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He appears on the threshold, sees <span class="sc">Jane</span>, leans trembling against +the wall.</i></p> + +<p>Jane! Lady Jane Talbot!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>on her knees, without lifting her eyes to him</i>).</p> + +<p>Gilbert, I have come to save you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Save me!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Listen to me! Pity me! Do not crush me! I know all that you would +say. It is all true; but don't say it to me. I must save you. +Everything is ready. The escape is safe. Let yourself be saved by me, +just as if I were anybody else. I don't ask any more. You need never +recognize me again. You need never know who I am! Don't forgive me! +Just let me save you. Will you?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Thank you! It is useless. Why wish to save my life, Lady Jane, if you +do not love me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>with joy</i>).</p> + +<p>Oh, Gilbert, is that what you ask me, truly? Gilbert, do you deign to +think of what is passing in this poor girl's heart? Gilbert, is it +possible that the love I have for you can interest you, can seem +worth thinking about? Oh, I thought it was quite indifferent to +you—that you despised me too much to wonder what I did with my +heart. Gilbert, if you only knew how these words you have spoken make +me feel! Oh, it is an unhoped-for gleam of sunshine in my dark night. +Oh, listen to me! If I dared to draw near to you, if I dared to touch +your garments, if I dared to take your hand in mine, if I dared once +more to lift mine eyes to you and to Heaven, as I did once—do you +know what I would say to you? On my knees, prostrate, weeping at your +feet, with sobs on my lips and the joy of angels in my heart, I would +say, "Gilbert, I love you!"</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>taking her to his heart with rapture</i>).</p> + +<p>You love me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Yes, I love you!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You love me! My God! she loves me. It is indeed true! She has said it +herself; her lips have spoken it. God in heaven!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>My Gilbert!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>You say all is prepared for my escape? Quick—let us hurry! Life! I +want to live! Jane loves me! This roof descends on my head and +crushes it. I want air! I suffocate here! Let us fly quickly. Let us +go, Jane! I want to live! I want to live! I am beloved.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Not yet. We must have a boat. We must wait until night. But be easy. +You are saved. In less than an hour we will be outside. The Queen is +at the City Hall and will not come back so soon as that. I am +mistress here. I will explain it all to you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Wait an hour? That is long. Oh, I yearn to get back to life and +happiness. Jane, Jane, you are there; I will live! You love me! I am +come back from hell! Restrain me. I will do something mad. I will +laugh, I will sing. Ah, you do love then?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Yes, I love you! yes, I love you! And listen, Gilbert, believe me; +this is the truth as though I were on my death-bed: I have never +loved any one but you. Even in my fall, even in the midst of my sin, +I loved you. Scarcely had I fallen into the arms of that demon who +ruined me, when I wept for my angel.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Forgotten! forgiven! Never speak of it again, Jane! What do I care +for the past? Who could resist your voice, who would do other than I +am doing? Yes, I pardon everything, my well-beloved child. The +foundation of love is mercy and pardon, Jane; jealousy and despair +burned the tears in my eyes, but I pardon you, but I thank you! You +are the only truly bright thing in this world; at each word that you +speak, I feel grief dies, and joy is born in my soul. Jane, lift your +head, stand up straight before me there and look at me! I tell you +that you are my child.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Always generous! Gilbert, my well-beloved.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>I wish I were outside now: in our flight, far away: free, with you! +Oh, this night, which will never come! The boat is not there. Jane, +we will leave London at once, this night. We will leave England; we +will go to Venice. Men of my trade make a great deal of money there. +You will belong to me! Oh, my God! I am insane! I have forgotten the +name you bear. It is too proud a one, Jane.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What do you mean?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Daughter of Lord Talbot.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>I know one prouder still.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Which?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Wife of the workman Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Jane!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, no! Don't think I ask so much as that. I know I am unworthy of +that. I do not lift my eyes so high. I would never take such an +advantage of your pardon. The poor engraver Gilbert shall make no +mesalliance with the Countess of Waterford. No, I will follow you, I +will love you, I will never leave you; I will lie all day at your +feet, all night at your door. I will watch you work, I will help +you, I will give you all you need. I will be to you something less +than a sister, something more than a dog. And if you ever marry, +Gilbert—because God will want you to find somebody, some pure woman, +without stain and worthy of you—well, if you marry, and if your wife +is good, if she will let me, I will be your wife's servant. If she +won't have me, I will go off, far off, to die where I can. That is +the only way I shall ever leave you. If you do not marry I will +stay with you, always; I will be gentle and patient—oh, you shall +see!—and if people think ill of me because I am with you—well, they +can think what they please. I have no longer the right to blush, you +see—I am only an unfortunate woman!</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>falling at her feet</i>).</p> + +<p>You are an angel! You are my wife!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Your wife? Ah, you are like God—your pardon purifies me. Be blessed, +Gilbert, for putting this crown upon my brow.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Gilbert</span> takes her up and folds her to his heart. While they stand +thus in each other's arms, <span class="sc">Joshua</span> takes <span class="sc">Jane's</span> hand.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>It is Joshua, Lady Jane!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Good Joshua!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>You did not know me a little while ago.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>No, I had to begin with him.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Joshua</span> kisses her hand.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>pressing her in his arms</i>).</p> + +<p>Ah, what happiness! But is it real, all this happiness?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>For some time a distant noise has been heard; confused voices, a +tumult. It grows dark.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>What is that noise?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to the window which overlooks the street.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh! My God! Let nothing happen!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>There is a great crowd off there. Pick-axes, pikes, torches. The +Queen's pensioners on horseback, and fighting. They are all coming +this way! What cries! The devil! It looks like a public revolt.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>If it is only not against Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">DISTANT CRIES.</p> + +<p>Fabiani! Death to Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Can you hear?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What are they saying?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I can't distinguish!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, my God! My God!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Master Eneas</span> and a boatman enter hastily through the concealed +door.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VIII</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Master Eneas</span>, a Boatman</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>My Lord Fabiani! My lord, not an instant to lose! The people know the +Queen wanted to save your life. There is a revolt of the London +populace against you. In a quarter of an hour you will be torn to +pieces. My lord, save yourself. Here is a cloak and a cap. Here are +the keys. Here is a boatman. Don't forget that you owe it all to me. +My lord, make haste! [<i>Low to Boatman.</i>] Remember, you are not to +hurry.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>hastily covers <span class="sc">Gilbert</span> with the cloak and cap; low to +<span class="sc">Joshua</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Heaven! If this man will only not recognize him.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS (<i>looking into <span class="sc">Gilbert's</span> face</i>).</p> + +<p>What! this is not Lord Clanbrassil. You are not fulfilling the +Queen's orders, my lady. You are helping another to escape.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>All is lost! I ought to have foreseen this! Ah, sir, it is true! Have +mercy—</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS (<i>low to <span class="sc">Jane</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Silence! Go on! I have said nothing! I have seen nothing!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes up stage with an air of indifference.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What does he say? Ah, Providence befriends us. Everybody wants to +save Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>No, my lady, everybody wants to destroy Fabiani.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>During the entire scene the cries have increased outside.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>We must hurry, Gilbert. Come quickly.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Let him go alone!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Leave him!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Only for a moment. No woman in the boat, if you want it to arrive +safe. It is too light yet; your dress is white. After the peril is +over, you will find each other again. Come this way with me. Let him +go that way.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Joshua is right. Where will I find you, my Gilbert?</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT.</p> + +<p>Under the first arch of London Bridge.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Good! Go quickly. The tumult increases. Oh, I wish you were safe +away!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Here are the keys. There are twelve doors to open and shut between +here and the water's edge. It will take you a good quarter of an +hour.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour! Twelve doors! That is frightful.</p> + +<p class="speaker">GILBERT (<i>embracing her</i>).</p> + +<p>Good-by, Jane! A few more moments of separation and we will rejoin +each other for a life-time!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>For eternity. [<i>To the Boatman.</i>] Sir, I place him in your care!</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS (<i>low to Boatman</i>).</p> + +<p>For fear of accident, don't hurry.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Gilbert</span> goes out with the Boatman.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>He is saved! Now for us! We must shut this cell.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He shuts the door of <span class="sc">Gilbert's</span> cell.</i></p> + +<p>All right! Come quickly; this way!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes out, with <span class="sc">Jane</span>, through the other concealed door.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<p>Fabiani remains in the trap. Now, there is a shrewd little woman whom +Simon Renard would have paid a good deal for. How will the Queen take +all this? Provided the consequences do not fall on my shoulders!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Queen</span> and <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> enter with rapid steps. The tumult +outside has steadily increased. It is night. Cries of death, torches, +lights, sounds of moving masses; the click of arms, shots, the +stamping of horses. Several noblemen with daggers in their hands +accompany <span class="sc">The Queen</span>. Among them are the herald of England, +Clarence, bearing the royal banner, and the herald of the Order of +the Garter, Jarretiere, bearing the banner of that order.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IX</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">The Queen, Simon Renard, Master Eneas, Lord Clinton</span>, the two +heralds, lords, pages, etc.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">The Queen</span> (<i>low to <span class="sc">Master Eneas</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Has Fabiani escaped?</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Not yet!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Not yet! [<i>Giving him a terrible look.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<p>The devil!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE (<i>outside</i>).</p> + +<p>Death to Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>You must make your decision on the spot, madame. The people demand +this man's death! The Tower is besieged. The revolt is formidable. +Your nobles have been cut to pieces on London Bridge. Your Majesty's +pensioners hold their own yet; but, just the same, your Majesty has +been chased street by street, from the City Hall to the Tower of +London. Madame Elizabeth's followers have joined the people. You can +tell that by the venom of the mob. All this is serious. What does +your Majesty command?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Fabiani! Death to Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They grow louder, and come nearer.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Death to Fabiani! Do you hear that howling populace, my lords? You +must throw a man out to them. The rabble is hungry!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>What does your Majesty command?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>By heaven, my lords! it seems to me you all stand trembling around +me! Upon my soul! must a woman show you your duty as noblemen? To +horse, my lords, to horse! Are you afraid of the rabble? Are swords +afraid of clubs?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Don't let things go any further. Yield, madame, while there is yet +time. You can yet say "the rabble"; in an hour you will have to say +"the people"!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The cries increase, the noise comes nearer.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>In an hour!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>going to gallery and returning</i>).</p> + +<p>In a quarter of an hour, madame. The first wall of the Tower is +broken down. One more step, the mob will be here.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>To the Tower! to the Tower! Fabiani! death to Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>How right they are who call the people terrible! Fabiano!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Do you want to see him torn to pieces before your eyes?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Do you know this is infamous, that not one of you stirs? In the name +of Heaven, defend me, my lords!</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>You? yes, madame. Fabiano? no!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Very well, I will tell you all then, so much the worse for you. +Fabiano is innocent. Fabiano never committed the crime for which he +was condemned. It was I, and this man here, and the engraver Gilbert. +We did it all; we invented it all; we imagined it all. It was all a +farce! Contradict me if you dare, Sir Bailiff! Now, gentlemen, will +you defend him? He is innocent; I swear it. On my head, on my crown, +on my God, on my mother's soul, he is innocent of the crime. It is as +true as that you stand there, Lord Clinton! Defend him! Annihilate +these wretches as you annihilated Tom Wyatt, my brave Clinton, my old +friend, my good Robert! I swear to you that it is false that Fabiano +tried to assassinate the Queen.</p> + +<p class="speaker">LORD CLINTON.</p> + +<p>There is another Queen whom he tried to assassinate—England!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The cries continue outside.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>The balcony! Open the balcony. I myself will prove to the people that +he is not guilty.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Prove to the people that he is not Italian.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>When I think it is Simon Renard, one of Cardinal Granvelle's +creatures, who dares to speak to me like this! Well, open that door! +open that cell! Fabiano is there. I want to see him; I want to speak +to him.</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<p>What are you doing? For his own sake, you needn't let everybody know +where he is.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Death to Fabiani! Long live Elizabeth!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>They cry long live Elizabeth, now!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>My God! My God!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Choose, madame [<i>with one hand he points to the cell</i>], this head to +the people [<i>with the other hand he designates the crown which <span class="sc">the +Queen</span> wears</i>] or that crown to Madame Elizabeth.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Death! Death! Fabiani! Elizabeth!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A stone breaks through a pane of glass near <span class="sc">The Queen</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Your Majesty is destroying herself without saving him! The second +court is reached. What does the Queen command?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You are all cowards, and Clinton is the worst of all. Ah, Clinton, I +will remember this, my friend!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>What does the Queen command?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Oh, to be abandoned by all of you! to have confessed all without +obtaining anything! What sort of creatures are these noblemen here? +That populace is infamous! I would like to crush them under my feet. +There are times then, when a queen is nothing but a woman? You will +pay dear for this, gentlemen!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>What does the Queen command?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>crushed</i>).</p> + +<p>Whatever you will. Do what you like. You are an assassin. [<i>Aside.</i>] +Oh, Fabiano!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Clarence! Jarretiere! Come here! Master Eneas, open the great balcony +of the gallery.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The balcony in the back opens. <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> steps out upon it, +<span class="sc">Clarence</span> at his right, <span class="sc">Jarretiere</span> at his left. Immense tumult outside.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Fabiani! Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>on the balcony, turned toward the people</i>).</p> + +<p>In the Queen's name!</p> + +<p class="speaker">HERALDS.</p> + +<p>In the Queen's name!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Profound silence outside.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>People, the Queen bids you know this: To-day, this very night, one +hour after the curfew, Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil, covered +with a black veil from head to foot, bound with an iron gag, a yellow +wax candle weighing three pounds in his hand, will be led, by +torchlight, from the Tower of London, through Charing Cross, to the +old Market-Place of the city, there to be publicly punished and +beheaded, for the crimes of high treason and attempt of regicide on +the imperial person of the Queen!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Immense applause outside.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Long live the Queen! Death to Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>continuing</i>).</p> + +<p>And, in order that no one in this city of London shall ignore it, +this is what the Queen orders during the entire journey, which the +criminal must make from the Tower of London to the old Market-Place: +The great bell of the Tower shall toll; at the moment of the +execution, three cannon-shots will be fired—the first, when he +mounts the scaffold; the second, when he kneels upon the black cloth; +the third, when his head falls. [<i>Applause.</i>]</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Illuminate! Illuminate!</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>This night the Tower and the city of London will be illuminated with +lights and torches, in sign of joy. I have spoken. [<i>Applause.</i>] God +protect the old charter of England!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE TWO HERALDS.</p> + +<p>God protect the old charter of England.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Death to Fabiani! Long live Mary! Long live the Queen!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The balcony is closed. <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> approaches <span class="sc">The Queen</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>What I have just done will never be forgiven me by the Princess +Elizabeth!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Nor by Queen Mary. Leave me, sir.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She dismisses them all with a gesture.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>low to <span class="sc">Master Eneas</span></i>).</p> + +<p>Master Eneas, look to the execution!</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Count upon me!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> goes out. As <span class="sc">Master Eneas</span> is about to go, <span class="sc">The +Queen</span> rushes to him, seizes him by the arm and drags him violently +to the front of the stage.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE X</h4> + +<p class="scene">The Queen, Master Eneas</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE (<i>outside</i>).</p> + +<p>Death to Fabiani! Fabiani! Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Whose head is worth most at this moment, do you think—Fabiani's or +yours?</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You are a traitor!</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Madame! [<i>Aside.</i>] The devil!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>No explanations! I swear by my mother, if Fabiano dies, you die!</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>But, madame—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Save Fabiano, and you save yourself—not otherwise!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<p>Death to Fabiani! Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Save the Earl of Clanbrassil? But the people are out there! It is +impossible! By what means?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Find some!</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>What could I do?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Do what you would for yourself.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>The people will keep armed until after the execution. To satisfy +them, somebody must be beheaded!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Anybody you please.</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>Anybody I please? Wait, madame! The execution will be at night, by +torchlight; the criminal covered with a black veil, gagged; the +people kept a long way from the scaffold by the pike-men, the same as +always. It is enough, if the people see a head fall. The thing is +possible. If only the boatman is there yet! I told him not to hurry.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to the window which overlooks the Thames.</i></p> + +<p>There he is, but we're just in time!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He leans out of the window, a torch in his hand, waving his +handkerchief, then he turns to <span class="sc">The Queen</span>.</i></p> + +<p>All right! I will answer for Lord Fabiani, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>On your head?</p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>On my head!</p> + + + +<h3>THIRD DAY</h3> + +<p class="center">PART II</p> + + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>A hall or room into which lead two staircases, one +ascending and the other descending. The entrance to each of these +staircases fills a portion of the back of the stage. The one which +ascends ends at the frieze; the one which descends ends +underneath—neither the beginning nor the end is visible</i></p> + +<p><i>The room is draped with black in a peculiar fashion. The wall on the +right, the wall on the left, and the ceiling are covered with a black +cloth on which is a large white cross; the background, which faces +the spectator, with a white cloth and large black cross. These black +and white draperies continue until they are lost to sight under the +staircases. To the right and to the left, there is an altar draped +with black and white, decorated as if for a funeral. Tall candles. No +priests. A few funeral lamps, hanging here and there from the vaulted +roof, light the room and the staircases feebly. What really lights +the room is the great white cloth in the background, through which +a reddish light shines as if there were a fiery furnace behind. The +room is paved with tombstones. As the curtain rises, the motionless +figure of <span class="sc">The Queen</span> is seen in black outline on this transparent cloth</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Jane, Joshua.</span> They enter cautiously through a little door behind +the black draperies, which they push aside</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Where are we, Joshua?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>On the great landing of the staircase down which the criminals go to +execution. It was draped in this way under Henry VIII.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>No way of getting out of the Tower?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>The people are on guard at every exit. They want to be sure of +getting their criminal this time. No one can go out before the +execution.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>The proclamation they made from the balcony rings in my ears yet. +This is a horrible thing, Joshua.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Oh, I've seen many such!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>If only Gilbert has been able to escape. Do you think he is safe, +Joshua?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>I am sure of it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>You are sure of it, good Joshua?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>The Tower wasn't surrounded on the waterside. Then, when he started, +the riot wasn't as bad as it was afterward. It was a fine riot, if +you but knew it.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>You are sure that he is safe?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>And waiting for you under the first arch of London Bridge, where you +will meet him before midnight.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Heaven! He will be anxious too.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Seeing the shadow of <span class="sc">The Queen</span>.</i></p> + +<p>My God! what is that, Joshua?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA (<i>low, taking her hand</i>).</p> + +<p>Silence! It is the lioness, on the watch.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>While <span class="sc">Jane</span> looks at this figure in horror, a distant voice, which +seems to come from above, pronounces these words slowly and +distinctly.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VOICE.</p> + +<p>The man, covered with a black veil, who follows me, is the very high +and mighty Lord Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil, Baron of +Dinasmonddy, Baron of Darmouth in Devonshire, who is to be beheaded +at the London Market-Place, for the crimes of regicide and high +treason. God have mercy on his soul!</p> + +<p class="speaker">ANOTHER VOICE.</p> + +<p>Pray for him!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>trembling</i>).</p> + +<p>Joshua, do you hear?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Yes, I hear such things every day.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A funeral procession appears at the head of the staircase, and +gradually forms itself on the steps as it descends. A man dressed in +black is at the head, bearing a white banner with black cross. Next +comes <span class="sc">Master Eneas Dulverton</span>, wearing a great black cloak, holding +his Constable's baton in his hand. Then a group of halberdiers, +dressed in red; then a man in white, bearing black banner with white +cross. To the right and to the left, halberdiers bearing torches.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Do you see?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>Yes, I see such things every day.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>As they are about to reach the stage the procession stops.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MASTER ENEAS.</p> + +<p>The man, covered with a black veil, who follows me, is the very high +and mighty Lord Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil, Baron of +Dinasmonddy, Baron of Darmouth in Devonshire, who is to be beheaded +at the London Market-Place, for the crimes of regicide and high +treason. God have mercy on his soul!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE TWO STANDARD-BEARERS.</p> + +<p>Pray for him!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The procession slowly crosses the back of the stage.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>This is a terrible thing we are looking at, Joshua. It freezes my +blood.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>That abominable Fabiani!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Peace, Joshua! Very abominable, but very unfortunate.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The procession reaches the other staircase: <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span>, who +appeared at the entrance of this staircase, some moments before, and +has observed everything, moves aside to let them pass. The procession +goes under the arch of the staircase, and gradually disappears. +<span class="sc">Jane</span>, terrified, follows it with her eyes.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD (<i>after the procession has disappeared</i>).</p> + +<p>What does this mean? Is that really Fabiani? I thought him not so +tall. Has Master Eneas?—It seems to me the Queen kept him near her +for a moment. Let us see!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He disappears under the staircase, following the procession.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VOICE (<i>which grows fainter and fainter</i>).</p> + +<p>The man, covered with a black veil, who follows me, is the very high +and mighty Lord Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil, Baron of +Dinasmonddy, Baron of Darmouth in Devonshire, who is to be beheaded +at the London Market-Place, for the crimes of regicide and high +treason.</p> + +<p class="speaker">OTHER VOICES (<i>almost indistinct</i>).</p> + +<p>Pray for him!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>The great bell will announce his exit from the Tower, presently. +Perhaps you can make your escape now: I must try to find a way. Wait +for me here: I will come back.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Are you going to leave me, Joshua? I will be afraid here, all alone.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JOSHUA.</p> + +<p>It will be dangerous for you to wander over the Tower with me. I must +get you away from here. Remember Gilbert is waiting for you.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Gilbert? Everything for Gilbert. Go!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Joshua</span> goes out.</i></p> + +<p>Oh, what a terrible sight!—when I think that it might have been like +this for Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She kneels on one of the altar steps.</i></p> + +<p>Oh, thank you! You are indeed God the Saviour. You have saved +Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The cloth at the back opens. <span class="sc">The Queen</span> appears: she comes slowly +to the front of the stage, without seeing <span class="sc">Jane</span>, who turns around.</i></p> + +<p>The Queen! My God!</p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Jane, The Queen. Jane</span> clings to the altar, with horror, and fixes +a look of stupor and terror on <span class="sc">The Queen's</span> face</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>she stands a few seconds at the front of the stage, her +glance fixed, pale, as if absorbed in gloomy thoughts. At last she +sighs profoundly</i>).</p> + +<p>Oh, the people!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She looks around with anxiety and sees <span class="sc">Jane</span>.</i></p> + +<p>Some one is here. Oh, it is you, young woman! It is you, Lady Jane. I +frighten you. Don't be afraid. You know the turnkey Eneas betrayed +us. Don't be afraid. I have already told you, child, you have nothing +to fear from me. What was your ruin a month ago is your salvation +to-day. You love Fabiano. There are only you and I in the whole world +to-day who have a heart like that. Only you and I love him. We are +sisters.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Madame—</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, you and I—two women, we are all he has! Every one else is +against him; a whole city, a whole nation, a whole world. Unequal +struggle of love against hate. Love for Fabiano is a sad thing, a +fatal, a horror-stricken thing: it has a pallid brow like yours, +tear-filled eyes like mine; it hides itself close to a funereal +altar; it entreats with your lips, it curses with mine. But hate for +Fabiano is a proud thing, radiant, triumphant: it is well-armed and +victorious; it has the Court, the people, the crowded streets; it +munches cries of death and cries of joy at the same time; it is +magnificent, haughty, powerful; it illuminates a whole city +surrounding a scaffold. Love, here it is—two women weeping in a +tomb! Hate, there it is!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She pulls the white cloth violently aside, which reveals a balcony, +and beyond the balcony, almost out of sight, the whole city of +London, brilliantly illuminated. What is visible of the Tower of +London is also illuminated. <span class="sc">Jane</span> fixes her amazed eyes on this +startling scene, the reflection of which lights up the theater.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Oh, infamous city; rebellious city; accursed city; monstrous +city—who soaks her holiday dress in blood, and who holds the torch +for the executioner! You are afraid of it, aren't you, Jane? Doesn't +it seem to you, as it does to me, that it cowardly defies us both; +that it is watching us with its hundred thousand flaming eyes—us, +feeble, forsaken women that we are, alone and lost in this sepulcher? +Jane, do you hear it howl and laugh—that horrible city? Oh, England, +all England to him who will destroy London! Would that I could change +those torches into fiery brands, those lights into flames, and that +illuminated city into a city of <i>fire</i>!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A tremendous outburst from the people outside—applause, confused +cries, "There he is! There he is! Death to <span class="sc">Fabiani</span>—" The great +bell of the Tower begins to toll. At this sound, <span class="sc">The Queen</span> breaks +into a terrible peal of laughter.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>God! The unfortunate man is leaving the Tower!—You laugh, madame!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, I laugh! [<i>She laughs.</i>] Yes, and you will laugh, too. Let me +drop those hangings first. It seems to me all the time as if we were +not alone, as if that frightful city could see and hear us.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She drops the white curtain and comes back to <span class="sc">Jane</span>.</i></p> + +<p>Now that he is gone, now that there is no more danger, I can tell you +about it. Laugh, laugh, let us both laugh at those execrable people +who drink blood! Oh, it is grand, Jane! Jane, you tremble for +Fabiano? Be at ease, laugh with me, I tell you. Jane, the man they've +got, the man who is going to die, the man they think is Fabiano—is +not Fabiano.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She laughs.</i>]</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Not Fabiano?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>No!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Then who is it?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>The other!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>What other?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>You know well enough! You know him—that workman—that man. Besides, +what does it matter?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>trembling with terror</i>).</p> + +<p>Gilbert?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Yes, Gilbert! That is the name.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Madame! Oh, no, madame! Don't say that, madame! Gilbert—it would be +too horrible! He has escaped!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>He was escaping when they seized him. They put him under the black +veil in Fabiano's place. It is night. The people won't know. Rest +easy.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>with a frightful cry</i>).</p> + +<p>Ah, madame! But the man I love—it is Gilbert!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What? What do you say? Are you going crazy? Did you deceive me, too? +Ah, it is Gilbert whom you love! Well, what does that matter to me?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE (<i>at <span class="sc">The Queen's</span> feet, broken-hearted, sobbing, dragging +herself on her knees, her hands clasped: the great bell tolls through +all this scene</i>).</p> + +<p>Madame—just for pity! Madame, in the name of Heaven! Madame, by your +crown, by your mother, by the angels! Gilbert, Gilbert—it will make +me mad! Madame, save Gilbert! That man, he is my life; that man, he +is my husband; that man— I have told you that he did everything for +me, that he brought me up, that he adopted me, that beside my cradle +he took the place of my father, who died for your father. Madame, you +see that I am a poor, wretched creature, and it isn't right to be too +hard on me. What you said to me just now struck such a terrible blow +that I don't truly see how it is I have strength to speak to you. I +am just saying what I can, you see. But you must stop the +execution—right away! Stop the execution! Put it off until +to-morrow. Just time to have things understood, that is all. The +people can wait until to-morrow, I know. We will see what we can do. +No! don't shake your head! There is no danger for your Fabiano. You +can put me in his place—under the black veil—at night. Who will +know? But you must save Gilbert. What difference does it make whether +it be he or I? And since—since I want to die! Oh, my God, that bell, +that frightful bell! Every knell of that bell is a step toward the +scaffold. Every knell of that bell strikes me full in the heart. Do +it, madame. Be merciful! No danger for your Fabiano! Let me kiss your +hands. I love you, madame. I never said it before—but I love you +dearly. You are a great queen. See, how I kiss your beautiful hands! +Give an order to stop the execution. There is time yet. I am sure we +can do it. They go so slowly. It is a long way from the Tower to the +old Market-Place. The man on the balcony said they would pass through +Charing Cross. There is a quicker way. A man on horseback could get +there. In Heaven's name, madame, be merciful! Try to put yourself in +my place. Imagine that I am Queen and you the poor young woman; and +you would weep as I do, and I would pardon. Pardon! Pardon! Oh, that +is what I was afraid of, that my tears would hinder me from speaking! +Oh, right away!—stop the execution! There won't be any trouble, +madame; no danger for Fabiano, I swear it to you. Don't you really +think you ought to do what I say, madame?</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>touched and lifting her up</i>).</p> + +<p>I wish I could, poor girl. Ah, yes, you are weeping as I wept; what +you feel I have just felt myself, and my anguish makes me understand +yours. Look! I am weeping too. It is very sad, my poor child. It +seems to me, too, they might have taken somebody else—Tyrconnel, for +instance. But he is too well known: they had to have some obscure +man. He was the only one they could get hold of. I explain all this +so that you can understand, don't you see? My God, there are +fatalities like that: we get caught. We can't do anything.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>I am listening to you, madame. I am like you. I have got many things +to say. But I would like to have the order to suspend the execution +signed, and the man sent off. You see it would be finished then. We +could talk better afterward. Oh, that bell! forever, that bell!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What you want is impossible, Lady Jane.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Oh, no, it is possible!—a man on horseback. There is a very short +way—by the wharf. I can go—I— It is quite possible! It is easy! You +see I talk very quietly.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>But the people won't have it. They will come back here and massacre +everybody in the Tower. And Fabiano is here yet. Can't you +understand? You are trembling, poor child. I am like you—I tremble +also. In your turn, put yourself in my place. I might easily not take +the trouble to explain all this to you. You see I do what I can. +Don't think about this Gilbert any more. Jane, it is over— Resign +yourself.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Over! No, it is not over! No—as long as that horrible bell tolls, it +is not over! Resign myself to Gilbert's death? Do you think I am +going to let Gilbert die like that? No, madame! Ah, I am wasting my +time! Ah, you won't listen to me! Very well, if the Queen won't hear +me, the people will. They are good, the people—if you but knew it! +They are in the court yet. You can do what you like with me +afterward. I am going to tell them they are cheated; and that it is +not Fabiani, it's a poor workman, named Gilbert—a workman like +themselves!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Stop, you wretched child!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She seizes her arm and looks at her fixedly and resentfully.</i></p> + +<p>This is the way you thank me, is it? I am patient and gentle with +you, I weep with you—and all at once, you get wild and furious! +Well, my love is just as great as yours, and my hand is more +powerful! You shall not stir! Your lover!—what do I care for your +lover? Are all the girls in England coming to ask me about their +lovers, now? By my soul, I save my own as well as I can, and at the +cost of everything which stands in his way. You must look after +yours.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Let me go! Oh, I curse you, you wretched, wicked woman!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Hush!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>I will not hush! Do you want me to tell you what I'm thinking of now? +I don't believe the man who is going to die out there is my Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What are you saying?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>I don't know, but I saw him pass by under that black veil; and if it +had been my Gilbert, something would have stirred in me, something +would have roused itself in my heart, and would have cried out to me, +"Gilbert—it is Gilbert." But I felt nothing at all; it is not +Gilbert.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>What are you saying? Ah, my God! you are crazy. What you have said is +idiotic, but it terrifies me just the same. Ah, you have roused one +of the secret terrors of my own heart! Why did that riot prevent me +from looking after him myself? Why did I intrust to any one but +myself the safety of my Fabiano? Eneas Dulverton is a traitor. +Perhaps Simon Renard was there. What if I have been betrayed a second +time by Fabiano's enemies? What if it is Fabiano himself? What, ho! +quick—some one—come—some one!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Two Jailers appear.</i></p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To the first.</i>] You—run! Here is my royal signet. Tell them to +suspend the execution. To the old Market-Place; to the old +Market-Place! There is a shorter way, you said, Jane.</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>By the wharf.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN (<i>to Jailer</i>).</p> + +<p>By the wharf. A horse—go quick!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Jailer goes out.</i></p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To the second Jailer.</i>] You—go at once to Edward the Confessor's +Tower. The two cells of the condemned criminals are there. There is a +man in one of them. Bring him here at once.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Jailer goes out.</i></p> + +<p>I tremble; my knees sink under me; I have not strength enough to go +myself. Ah, you have made me as mad as yourself! Miserable girl, you +have made me as wretched as yourself. I curse you as you cursed me. +My God, will the man get there in time? What a torturing anxiety! I +can't see anything more. All is trouble in my soul. Does the bell +toll yet? Is it for Gilbert? Is it for Fabiano?</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>The bell ceases.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Then the procession is on the place for the execution. Will the man +get there in time?</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A cannon-shot is heard.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>Heaven!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>He is ascending the scaffold! [<i>Second cannon.</i> He is kneeling!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>It is horrible! [<i>Third cannon.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">BOTH.</p> + +<p>Ah!</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>There is only one alive now. In a moment we will know which one. My +God, let the man who comes in be Fabiano!</p> + +<p class="speaker">JANE.</p> + +<p>My God, let it be Gilbert!</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The curtain at the back opens. <span class="sc">Simon Renard</span> appears, holding +<span class="sc">Gilbert</span> by the hand.</i></p> + +<p>Gilbert! [<i>They rush into each other's arms.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>And Fabiano?</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>Dead.</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE QUEEN.</p> + +<p>Dead! Dead! Who has dared—</p> + +<p class="speaker">SIMON RENARD.</p> + +<p>I have dared. I have saved the Queen of England.</p> + + + + +<h2 id="play02">MARION DE LORME</h2> + + + + +<p>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</p> +<table summary="Dramatis personæ"> +<tr><td class="sc">Marion de Lorme.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Didier.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Louis XIII.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Marquis de Saverny.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Marquis de Nangis.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">L'Angely.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">M. de Laffemas.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Marquis de Brichanteau,</td><td> } +</td><td rowspan="6" class="grouping">Officers of the Regiment of Anjou.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Count de Gassé,</td><td> }</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Viscount de Bouchavannes,</td><td>}</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Chevalier de Rochebaron,</td><td>}</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Count de Villac,</td><td>}</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Chevalier de Montpesat,</td><td> }</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Duke de Beaupréau.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Viscount de Rohan.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Abbé de Gondi.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Count de Charnacé.</td><td></td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Scaramouche,</td><td>} +</td><td rowspan="3" class="grouping">Provincial comedians.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Gracieux,</td><td> } </td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Taillebras,</td><td> }</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" class="sc">Councilor of the Great Chamber.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Town Crier.</td><td></td><td class="sc">Captain.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">A Jailer.</td><td></td><td class="sc">A Registrar.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">The Executioner.</td><td></td><td class="sc">First Workman.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">Second Workman.</td><td></td><td class="sc">Third Workman.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sc">A Lackey.</td><td></td><td class="sc">Dame Rose.</td></tr> +</table> +<p><i>Provincial Comedians, Guards, Populace, Nobles, Pages.</i></p> + +<p>1638.</p> + + + + +<p class="title">MARION DE LORME</p> + + + + +<h3>ACT I</h3> + +<p class="center">THE MEETING</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>Blois. A bed-chamber. A window opening on a balcony at the +back. To the right, a table with a lamp, and an armchair. To the left a +door, covered by a portière of tapestry. In the background a bed</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Marion de Lorme</span>, in a very elegant wrapper, sitting beside the table, +embroidering. <span class="sc">Marquis de Saverny</span>, very young man, blonde, without +mustache, dressed in the latest fashion of 1638</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>approaching <span class="sc">Marion</span> and trying to embrace her</i>).</p> +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Let us be reconciled, my sweet Marie!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>pushing him away</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Not such close reconciliation, please!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>insisting</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Just one kiss!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>angrily</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Marquis!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">What a rage! Your mouth</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had sweeter manners, not so long ago!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ah, you forget!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">No, I remember, dear.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The bore! the tiresome creature!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Speak, fair one!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What does this swift, unkind departure mean?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">While all are seeking you at Place Royale,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why do you hide yourself at Blois? Traitress,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What have you done here all these two long months?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I do what pleases me, and what I wish</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is right. I'm free, my lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Free! Yes. But those</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whose hearts you've stolen, are they also free?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I? Gondi, who omitted half his Mass</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The other day, because he had a duel</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon his hands for you? Nesmond, D'Arquien,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The two Caussades, Pressigny, whom your flight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has left so wretched, so morose, even</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Their wives wish you were back in Paris, that</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They might have gayer husbands!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>smiling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Beauvillain?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Is still in love.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Cereste?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Adores you yet.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">And Pons?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Oh, as for him, he hates you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Proof</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He is the only one who loves me! Well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The President?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Laughing.</i>] The old man! What's his name?</span><br /> +<p class="staging">[<i>Laughing more heartily.</i></p> +<span class="i0">Leloup!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He's waiting for you, and meanwhile</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He keeps your portrait and sings odes to it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He's loved me two years now, in effigy.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He'd much prefer to burn you. Tell me how</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You keep away from such dear friends.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>serious, and lowering her eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">That's just</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The reason, Marquis; to be frank with you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Those brilliant follies which seduced my youth</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have given me much more misery than joy.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In a retreat, a convent cell, perhaps,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I want to try to expiate my life.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I'll wager there's a love-tale behind that.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You dare to think—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">That never a nun's veil</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Surmounted eyes so full of earthly fire.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It could not be. You love some poor provincial!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For shame! To end a fine romance with such</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A page!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">It isn't true!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Let's make a wager!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Dame Rose, what time is it?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DAME ROSE (<i>outside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Almost midnight!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Midnight!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">That is a most ingenious way</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of saying, "Time to go."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I live retired,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Receiving no one, and unknown to all.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Besides, 'tis dangerous to be out late:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The street is lonely, full of robbers.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They can rob me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">And oftentimes they kill!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good! they can kill me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">But—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">You are divine!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But I'll not stir one foot before I know</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who this gay shepherd is, who's routed us!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">There's no one!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I will be discreet. We courtiers,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whom people think so mad, so curious</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And spiteful, are maligned. We gossip, but</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We never talk! You're silent?</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Sits down.</i>] Then I'll stay!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What does it matter? Well, it's true! I love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm waiting for him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">That's the way to talk!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That's right! Where is it you expect him?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Here!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">When?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Now! [<i>She goes to the balcony and listens.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m3">Hark! that is he perhaps.</span><br /> +<span class="m4">[<i>Coming back.</i>] 'Tis not.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now are you satisfied?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Not quite!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Please go!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I want to know his name, this proud gallant,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For whose reception I am thus dismissed.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Didier is all the name I know for him.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Marie is all the name he knows for me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Is't true?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Yes, true!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">This is a pastoral,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And no mistake. 'Tis Racan, pure! To enter,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have no doubt he scales the wall.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Perhaps.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Please go! [<i>Aside.</i>] He wearies me to death!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>becoming serious</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Of course</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's noble.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I don't know.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>, who is gently pushing him toward the door.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">I am going! [<i>Coming back.</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0">Just one word more! I had forgotten. Look!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He draws a book out of his pocket and gives it to <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">An author who is not a fool, did this.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It's making a great stir.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>reading the title</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">"Love's Garland"—ah!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"To Marion de Lorme."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">They talk of nothing</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But this in Paris. That book and "The Cid"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are the successful efforts of the day.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>taking the book</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's very civil of you; now, good-night!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is the use of fame? Alack-a-day!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To come to Blois and love a rustic! Bah!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>calling to <span class="sc">Dame Rose</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Take care of the Marquis, and show him out!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>saluting her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ah, Marion, you've degenerated! [<i>He goes out.</i></span> +</div> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Marion</span>, afterward <span class="sc">Didier</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>alone, shuts the door by which <span class="sc">Saverny</span> went out</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Go—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go quickly! Oh, I feared lest Didier—</span><br /> +<p class="staging">[<i>Midnight strikes.</i></p> +<span class="m5">Hark!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It's striking midnight! Didier should be here!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She goes to the balcony and looks into the street.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">No one!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She comes back and sits down impatiently.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">Late! To be late—so soon!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A young man appears behind the balustrade of the balcony, jumps over +it lightly, enters, places his cloak and sword on the armchair. Costume +of the day: all black: boots. He takes one step forward, pauses</i> <i>and +contemplates <span class="sc">Marion</span>, sitting with her eyes cast down.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">At last!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Reproachfully.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">To let me count the hour alone!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>seriously</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I feared</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To enter!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>hurt</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Ah!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>without noticing it</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Down there, outside the wall,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I was o'ercome with pity. Pity? yes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For you! I, poor, accursed, unfortunate,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Stood there a long time thinking, ere I came!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Up there an angel waits," I thought, "in virgin grace,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Untouched by sin—a being chaste and fair,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To whose sweet face shining on life's pathway</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Each passer-by should bend his knees and pray.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I, who am but a vagrant 'mongst the crowd,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why should I seek to stir that placid stream?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why should I pluck that lily? With the breath</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of human passion, why should I consent</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To cloud the azure of that radiant soul?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since in her loyalty she trusts to me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since virtue shields her with its sanctity,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have I a right to take her gift of love,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To bring my storms into her perfect day?"</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">This is theology, it seems to me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I wonder if he is a Huguenot?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">But when your tender voice fell on my ear,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I wrestled with my doubts no more—I came.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, then you heard me speaking—that is strange!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes; with another person.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>quickly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">With Dame Rose!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She talks just like a man, don't you think so?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Such a strong voice! Ah, well, since you are here</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am no longer angry! Come, sit down.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating a place at her side.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Sit here!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">No! at your feet.</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He sits on a stool at <span class="sc">Marion's</span> feet and looks at her for some +moments in complete silence.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Hear me, Marie!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have no name but Didier—never knew</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My father nor my mother. I was left,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A baby, on the threshold of a church.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A woman, old, belonging to the people,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Preserved me, was my mother and my nurse.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She brought me up a Christian, then she died</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And left me all she had—nine hundred francs</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A year, on which I live. To be alone</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At twenty is a sad and bitter thing!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I traveled—saw mankind: I learned to hate</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A few and to despise the rest. For on</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This tarnished mirror we call human life,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I saw nothing but pride and misery</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And pain; so that, although I'm young, I'm old,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And am as weary of the world as are</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The men who leave it. Never touched a thing</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That did not tear and lacerate my soul!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Although the world was bad, I found men worse.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Thus I have lived; alone and poor and sad,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Until you came, and you have set things right.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I hardly know you. At the corner of</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A Paris street you first appeared to me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then afterward I met you, and I thought</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your eyes were sweet, your speech was beautiful!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I was afraid of loving you, and fled!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But destiny is strange: I found you here,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I find you everywhere, as if you were</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My guardian angel. So at last, my love</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Grew powerful, resistless, and I felt</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I must talk with you. You were willing. Now</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They're at your service, both my heart and life.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will do anything that you wish done.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If there is any man or anything</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That troubles you, or you have any whim</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And somebody must die to satisfy it—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Must die, and make no sign—and feel 'twas worth</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Death any time to see you smile; if you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Need such a man, speak, lady: I am here!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>smiling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You've a strange nature, but I love you so!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You love me! Ah, take care! One dare not say</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Such words in any careless way! Love me?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, do you know what loving means? What 'tis</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To feel love take possession of our blood,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Become our daily breath? To feel this thing</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which long has smoldered burst to flame, and rise</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A great, majestic, purifying fire?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To feel it burn up clean within our hearts</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The refuse other passions have left there?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This love, hopeless indeed, but limitless,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which outlives all things, even happiness—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is this the kind of love you mean?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>touched</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Indeed!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You do not know it, but I love you so!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From that first time I saw you, my dark life</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Was shot with sunlight streaming from your eyes;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since then all's different. To me you seem</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Some wonderful creation, not of earth.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My life, in whose dark gloom I groaned so long,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Grows almost beautiful when you are by.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For 'til you came, I'd wandered, suffered, wept;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd struggled, fallen—but I had not loved.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Poor Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Speak, Marie!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Well, then, I do.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I love with just this love—love you as much</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And maybe more than you love me! It was</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not destiny that brought me here. 'Twas I</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who came, who followed you, and I am yours!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>falling on his knees</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, do not cheat me! Give me truth, Marie!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If to my ardent love your love responds,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The world holds no possession rich as mine!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My whole life, kneeling at your feet, will be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">One sigh of speechless, blinding ecstasy.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But do not cheat me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Do you want a proof</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of love, my Didier?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Then speak!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You are—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Quite free?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>embarrassed</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Free? Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Then take me for a brother,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For a protector—be my wife?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">His wife!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ah, why am I not worthy?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">You consent?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I—can—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Don't say it, please—I understand!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">An orphan, without fortune! What a fool!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Give back my pain, my gloom, my solitude!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Farewell!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He starts to go; <span class="sc">Marion</span> holds him back.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Didier, what are you saying?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She bursts into tears.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">True!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But why this hesitation? [<i>Going back to her.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m4">Can't you feel</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The ecstasy of being, each to each, a world,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A country, heaven; in some deserted spot</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To hide a happiness kings could not buy.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It would be heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Will you have it? Come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] Accursed woman! [<i>Aloud.</i>] No, it cannot be.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She tears herself from out his arms, and falls on the armchair.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>freezingly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The offer was not generous, I know.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You've answered me. I'll speak of it no more!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Good-by!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION. (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alack, the day I pleased him! [<i>Aloud.</i>] Stay!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll tell you. You have hurt me to the soul.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will explain—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>coldly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">What were you reading, madame,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When I came?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Takes the book from the table and reads.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">"To Marion de Lorme.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Love's Garland!" Yes, the beauty of the day!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Throwing the book violently to the floor.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Vile creature! a dishonor to her sex!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION. (<i>trembling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">But—she—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">What are you doing with such books?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How came they here?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION. (<i>inaudibly, and looking down</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">They came by chance.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Do you—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You who have eyes so pure, a brow so chaste—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do you know what she is—this woman? Well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She's beautiful in body, and deformed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In soul! A Phryne, selling everywhere,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To every man, her love, which is an insult,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">An infamy!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>her head in her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A noise of footsteps, a clashing of swords outside, and cries.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VOICE IN THE STREET.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Help! Murder! Help!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>surprised</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What noise is that out there upon the square?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Cries continue.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VOICE IN THE STREET.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Help! Murder! Help!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>looking from the balcony</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">They're killing some one! Ha!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He takes his sword and step's over the balustrade. <span class="sc">Marion</span> rises, +runs to him and tries to hold him back by his cloak.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Don't, Didier, if you love me! They'll kill you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Don't go!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>jumping down into the street</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He is the one they're going to kill!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Poor man! [<i>Outside, to combatants.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m2">Stand off! Hold firmly, sir, and push!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Clashing of swords.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">There, wretch!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Noise of swords, voices, and footsteps.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION. (<i>on the balcony, terrified</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Just Heaven! They are six 'gainst two!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VOICE IN THE STREET.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0"> +This man—he is the devil!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The clashing of swords subsides little by little, then entirely +ceases. The sounds of footsteps become indistinct. <span class="sc">Didier</span> reappears +scaling the balcony.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>outside of the balcony and turned toward the street</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">You are safe;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now go your way!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>from outside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Not 'til I've grasped your hand—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not 'til I've thanked you, if you please!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Pass on!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will consider myself thanked.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Not so!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I mean to thank you. [<i>Scaling balcony.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Can't you speak from there</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And say "I thank you" without coming up?</span> +</div> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Marion, Didier, Saverny</p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>jumping into the room, sword in hand</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Upon my soul! 'Tis a strange chivalry</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To save my life and push me from the door!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The door—that is to say, the window! No,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They shall not say one of my family</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Was bravely rescued by a nobleman</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And did not in return say "Marquis—" Pray,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What is your name?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Didier.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Didier—of what?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Didier, of nothing! People kill you, and</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I help you—that is all! Now go!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Indeed!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That's your way, is it? Why not have let</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Those traitors kill me? 'Twould have pleased me more.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For without you I'd be a dead man now.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Six thieves against me! Dead! Of course! What else?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Six daggers against one thin sword—</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Perceiving <span class="sc">Marion</span>, who has been trying to avoid him.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">Oh, ho!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You're not alone! At last I understand!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm robbing you of pleasure. Pardon me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] I'd like to see the lady!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Approaches <span class="sc">Marion</span>, who is trembling: he recognizes her.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">It is you!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Then he's the one!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Hush! You will ruin all!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Madame!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I love for the first time!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">'Sdeath!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That man is looking at her with bold eyes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He overturns the lamp with a blow.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You put the lamp out, sir?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">It would be wise</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For us to leave together, and at once.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">So be it, then! I follow you!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>, whom he salutes profoundly.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">Madame,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Farewell!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">What a rare coxcomb!</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>Aloud to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i>] Come, sir, come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You're brusk, but I'm in debt to you for life.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If ever you should need fraternal friendship,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Count upon me, Marquis de Saverny,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Paris, Hôtel de Nesle.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Enough, sir! Come!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] To see her thus examined by a fool!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They go out by the balcony. The voice of <span class="sc">Didier</span> is heard outside.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Your road lies that way. Mine lies here!</span> +</div> + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Marion, Dame Rose</p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>remains absorbed a moment, then calls</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Dame Rose!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Dame Rose</span> appears. <span class="sc">Marion</span> points to the window.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Go shut it!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Dame Rose</span>, having shut the window, turns and sees <span class="sc">Marion</span> wiping +away a tear.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DAME ROSE (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">She is weeping!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Aloud.</i>] It is time</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To sleep, madame!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes, time for you—you people.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Undoing her hair.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Come, help me to undress!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DAME ROSE (<i>helping her to undress</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">The gentleman</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To-night was pleasant. Is he rich?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Not rich.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DAME ROSE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">But gallant.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">No, nor gallant.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Turning to <span class="sc">Dame Rose</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">He did not</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So much as kiss my hand!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DAME ROSE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What use is he?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>pensive</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I love him!</span> +</div> + +<div class="imgcenter" id="img02"> +<img width="379" height="632" src="images/marion3.jpg" alt="[Illustration: Marion de Lorme.]" /> +</div> + + + + +<h3>ACT II</h3> + +<p class="center">THE ENCOUNTER</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>Blois. The door of a public-house. A square. In the +background the city of Blois is visible in the form of an amphitheater, +also the towers of St. Nicholas upon the hill, which is covered with +houses</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><span class="sc">Count de Gassé, Marquis de Brichanteau, Viscount de Bouchavannes, +Chevalier de Rochebaron</span>. <i>They are seated at tables in front of the +door: some are smoking, the others are throwing dice and drinking. +Afterward <span class="sc">Chevalier de Montpesat, Count de Villac</span>; afterward +<span class="sc">L'Angely</span>; afterward <span class="sc">The Town-Crier</span> and The Populace</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>rising, to <span class="sc">Gassé</span>, who enters</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Gassé! [<i>They shake hands.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m3">You are come to join</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The regiment at Blois: our compliments</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon your burial. [<i>Examining his clothes.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m3">Ah!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">It is the style—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This orange with blue ribbons.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Folding his arms and curling his mustache.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">You must know</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That Blois is forty miles from Paris!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Yes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It's China!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">That makes womankind rebel:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To follow us they must exile themselves.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>turning from the game</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You come from Paris?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON (<i>taking out his pipe</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Is there any news?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No, nothing. Corneille still upsets all heads.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Guiche has obtained the order; Ast is duke.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of trifles, plenty—thirty Huguenots</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Were hung; a quantity of duels. On</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The third, D'Angennes fought Arquien on account</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of wearing point of Genoa; the tenth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lavardie had a rendezvous with Pons,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Because he'd taken Sourdis' wife from him.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sourdis and D'Ailly met about a creature</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In the theater Mondori. On the ninth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lachâtre fought with Nogent because he wrote</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Three rhymes of Colletet's badly; Margaillan</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With Gorde, about the time of day; D'Humière</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With Gondi on the way to walk in church;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And all the Brissacs 'gainst all the Soubises</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For some bet on a horse against a dog.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then Caussade and Latournelle fought for nothing—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Merely for fun: Caussade killed Latournelle.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Gay Paris! Duels have begun again.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is the fashion!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Feasts and love and fighting!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There is the only place to live!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Yawning.</i>] All one</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can do here is to die of weariness.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Gassé</span>.</i>] You say Caussade killed Latournelle?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">He did,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With a good gash!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Examining <span class="sc">Rochebaron's</span> sleeves.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">What's that you wear, my friend?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Those trimmings are not fashionable now.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What! cords and buttons? Nothing could be worse.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You must have bows and ribbons.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Pray repeat</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The list of duels. How about the King?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What does he say?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">The Cardinal's enraged</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And means to stop it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Any news from camp?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I think we captured Figuère by surprise—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or else we lost it.</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>Reflecting.</i>] Yes, that's it. 'Tis lost!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They took it from us.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ah! What said the King?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal is most dissatisfied.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How is the Court? I hope the King is well.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alas! the Cardinal has fever and</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The gout, and goes out only in a litter.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Queer! We talk King, you answer Cardinal!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is the fashion!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">So there's nothing new!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Did I say so? There's been a miracle,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A prodigy, which has amazed all Paris</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For two months past; the flight, the disappearance—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Go on! Of whom?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Of Marion de Lorme,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The fairest of the fair!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>with an air of mystery</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Here's news for you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She's here!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">At Blois?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Incognito!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What! she?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In this place? Oh, you must be jesting, sir!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fair Marion, who sets the fashions! Bah!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This Blois is the antipodes of Paris.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Observe! How ugly, old, ungainly, 'tis!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Even those towers—</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating the towers of St. Nicholas.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Uncouth and countrified!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">That's true.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Won't you believe Saverny when</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He says he saw her, hidden somewhere with</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A lover, and this lover saved his life</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When thieves attacked him in the street at night?—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Good thieves, who took his purse for charity,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And just desired his watch to know the time.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You tell me wonders!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON (<i>to <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Are you sure of it?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">As sure as that I have six silver bezants</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon a field of azure. Saverny</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has no desire, at present, but to find</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This man.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He ought to find him at her house.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She's changed her name and lodging, and all trace</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of her is lost.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span> cross the back of the stage slowly without +being noticed by the talkers; they enter a small door in one of the +houses on the side.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">To have to come to Blois</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To find our Marion, a provincial!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Enter <span class="sc">Count de Villac</span> and <span class="sc">Chevalier de Montpesat</span>, disputing +loudly.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">No!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I tell you no!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">And I—I tell you, yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Corneille is bad!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">To treat Corneille like that—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The author of "The Cid" and of "Melite."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"Melite"? Well, I will grant you that is good;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But he degenerated after that,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As they all do. I'll do the best I can</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To satisfy you: talk about "Melite,"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"The Gallery of the Palace," but "The Cid!"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What is it, pray?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ (<i>to <span class="sc">Montpesat</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You are conservative.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"The Cid" is good!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I tell you it is bad!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your "Cid"—why Scudéry can crush it with</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A touch! Look at the style! It deals with things</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Extraordinary; has a vulgar tone;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Describes things plainly by their common names;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Besides, it is obscene, against the law!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"The Cid" has not the right to wed Chimène!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now have you read Pyramus, Bradamante?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When Corneille writes such tragedies, I'll read!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON (<i>to <span class="sc">Montpesat</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"The Great and Last Soliman" of Mairet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You must read that: that is fine tragedy!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But for your "Cid."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">What self-conceit he has!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Does he not think he equals Boisrobert,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Mairet, Gombault, Serisay, Chapelain,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bautru, Desmarets, Malleville, Faret,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Cherisy, Gomberville, Colletet, Giry,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Duryer—indeed, all the Academy?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>laughing compassionately and shrugging his shoulders</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Then the gentleman deigns to create!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Create! Faith! after Garnier, Theophile,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And Hardy! Oh, the coxcomb! To create!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">An easy thing! As if the famous minds</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had left behind them any unused thing.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On that point Chapelain rebukes him well!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Corneille's a peasant!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yet, Monsieur Godeau,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bishop of Grasse, says he's a man of wit.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Much wit!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">If he would write some other way—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Would follow Aristotle and good style.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come, gentlemen, make peace. One thing is sure,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Corneille is now the fashion: takes the place</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of Garnier, just as in our day felt hats</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have replaced velvet <i>mortiers</i>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">For Corneille</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am, and for felt hats!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ (<i>to <span class="sc">Montpesat</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">You are too rash!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Villac</span>.</i>] Garnier is very fine. I'm neutral; but</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Corneille has also his good points.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Agreed!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Agreed! He is a witty fellow and</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I like him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">He has no nobility!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A name so commonplace offends the ear.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A family of petty lawyers, who</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have gnawed at ducats 'til they obtained sous.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">L'Angely</span> enters, seats himself at a table alone, and in silence. He +is dressed in black velvet with gold trimming.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well, if the public like his rhapsodies</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The day of tragic-comedy is past.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I swear to you the theater is doomed.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is because this Richelieu—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ (<i>looking across at L'<span class="sc">Angely</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Say, <i>lordship</i>,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or else speak lower.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Hell take this eminence!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is't not enough to manage everything?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To rule our soldiers, finances, and us,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Without controlling our poor language too?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Down with this Richelieu, who flatters, kills:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Man of the red hand and the scarlet robe!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Of what use is the King?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">In darkness, we—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is the people—march: eyes on a torch.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He is the torch: the King's the lantern which</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In its bright glass protects the flame from wind.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, could our swords blow such a wind some day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As to extinguish this devouring fire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If every one had the same mind as I!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We would unite—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Bouchavannes</span>.</i>] What do you think, Viscount?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We'd give him one perfidious, useful blow!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>rising, with gloomy tone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Conspiring! Young men! Think of Marillac!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>All shudder: turn away, and are silent with terror; all fix their eyes +on <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>, who silently resumes his seat.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC (<i>taking <span class="sc">Montpesat</span> aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My lord, when we were talking of Corneille,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You spoke in tones that irritated me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In my turn I would like to say two words</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To you—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">With sword—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Or with pistol?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Both!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT (<i>taking his arm</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Let's go and find some corner in the town.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>rising</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A duel, sirs? Remember Boutteville.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>New consternation among the young men. <span class="sc">Villac</span> and <span class="sc">Montpesat</span> +separate, keeping their eyes fixed on <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who is this man in black who frightens us?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I'm L'Angely. I'm jester to the King.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Then it's no wonder that the King is sad.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Great fun he makes, this rabid cardinalist!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>standing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Be careful, gentlemen! This minister</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is mighty. A great mower, he! He makes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Great seas of blood, and then he covers them</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With his red cloak and nothing more is said. [<i>Silence.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good faith!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I'm blessed if I shall stir!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Beside</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This jester Pluto was a funny man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A crowd of people enter from the streets and houses, and spread over +the Square. In the center appears <span class="sc">The Town-Crier</span> on horseback, with +four Town-servants in livery, one of whom blows the trumpet, while the +other beats the drum.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What are these people doing? Ah, the crier!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Well, paternosters are in order now!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>to a juggler with a monkey on his back, who has joined the crowd</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Which one of you shows off the other, friend?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MONTPESAT (<i>to <span class="sc">Rochebaron</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I hope our packs of cards are still complete.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating the four Servants in livery.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">It looks as though these knaves were stolen thence.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TOWN-CRIER (<i>in a nasal tone of voice</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Peace, citizens!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>low to <span class="sc">Gassé</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">He has a wicked look.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His voice wears out his nose more than his mouth!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TOWN-CRIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"Ordinance: Louis, by the Grace of God—"</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>low to <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Cloak <i>fleur-de-lis</i> concealing Richelieu!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Attention!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TOWN-CRIER (<i>continuing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">"King of France and of Navarre—"</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>low to <span class="sc">Bouchavannes</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A fine name, which no minister e'er hoards.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TOWN-CRIER (<i>continuing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"Know all men by these presents, we greet you!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He salutes assembly.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Having considered that all kings desired</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And have tried to abolish dueling,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But yet, in spite of edicts signed by them,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The evil has increased in great degree,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We ordain and decree that from this time</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All duelists who rob us of our subjects,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whether but one of them or both survive,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be brought for punishment unto our court,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And commoner or noble shall be hanged.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In order to give force to this edict</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We here renounce our right of pardon for</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This crime. It is our gracious pleasure."—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Signed, <span class="sc">Louis</span>; and lower—<span class="sc">Richelieu</span>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indignation among the nobles.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What's this?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We are to hang up like Barabbas!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">We?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tell me the name of any place which holds</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A rope by which to hang a nobleman!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TOWN-CRIER (<i>continuing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"We, provost, that all men may know these facts,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Command this edict to be hung up on</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Square."</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The two Servants attach a great placard to an iron gallows protruding +from the wall on the right.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">'Tis the edict they ought to hang!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Well done!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>shaking his head</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Yes, Count; while waiting for the head</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which shall defy it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Town-Crier</span> exits; the crowd retires. <span class="sc">Saverny</span> enters. It begins +to grow dark.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Marquis de Saverny</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>going to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Cousin Saverny,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I hope you've found the man who rescued you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No; I have searched the city through in vain.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The robbers, the young man, and Marion—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They have all faded from me like a dream.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You must have seen him when he brought you back,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Like a good Christian, from those infidels.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The first thing that he did was to throw down</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The lamp.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">That's strange!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You'd recognize him if</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You met him?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">No; I didn't see his face.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is his name?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Didier.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ROCHEBARON.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">That's no man's name!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is a bourgeois name.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">It doesn't matter.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Didier is this man's name. There are great men</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who have been conquerors and bear grand names,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But they've no greater hearts than this man had.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I had six robbers! He had Marion!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He left her, and saved me. My debt's immense!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This debt I mean to pay. I tell you all:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll pay it with the last drop of my blood!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Since when do you pay debts?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>proudly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I've always paid</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Those debts which can be paid with blood.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Blood is the only change I carry, sir!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>It is quite dark; the windows in the city are lighted one by one; a +lamplighter enters and lights a street-lamp above the edict and goes +out. The little door through which <span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span> disappeared is +re-opened. <span class="sc">Didier</span> comes forth dreamily, walking slowly, his arms +folded.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Didier</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>coming slowly from the back; no one sees or hears him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Marquis de Saverny! I would like much</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To see that fool who looked at her so hard.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have him on my mind.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, who is talking with Brichanteau</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Saverny!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i5">Ah,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is my man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He advances slowly, his eyes fixed on the noblemen, and sits down at a +table placed under the street-lamp, which lights up the edict. +<span class="sc">L'Angely</span>, motionless and silent, is a few steps distant.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, who turns around</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You know about the edict?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Which one?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Commanding us to give up duels.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is most wise.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Hanging's the penalty.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You must be jesting. Commoners are hanged,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not nobles.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>showing the placard</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Read it for yourself. It's there,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon the wall.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>perceiving <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">That sallow face can read</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For me.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Didier</span>, elevating his voice.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">Ho! man there with the cloak! My friend!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Good fellow!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span>.</i>] Brichanteau, he must be deaf.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>slowly lifting his head, without taking his eyes from him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You spoke to me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I did! In fair return,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Read that placard which hangs above your head.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">You—if you can spell the alphabet.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>rising</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is the edict threatening duelists</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With gallows, be they nobles or plebeians.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No, you mistake, my friend. You ought to know</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A nobleman was never born to hang,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And in this world, where we claim all our rights,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Plebeians are the gallows' only prey.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To the noblemen.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">These commoners are rude.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Didier</span>, with malice.</i>] You don't read well;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Perhaps you are near-sighted. Lift your hat,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twill give you more light. Take it off.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>overthrowing the table which is in front of him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Beware!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You have insulted me! I've read for you;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I claim my recompense! I'll have it, too!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I want your blood, I want your head, Marquis!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>smiling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We must be fitted to our station, sir.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I judge him commoner, he scents marquis</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Marquis and commoner can fight.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What do you say to mixing up our blood?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You go too fast, and fighting is not all.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am Gaspard, Marquis de Saverny.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What does that matter?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Here my seconds are!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Count de Gassé, noble family,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And Count de Villac, family La Teuillade,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From which house comes the Marquis d'Aubusson.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are you of noble blood?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What matters that?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am a foundling left at a church door.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have no name; but in its place, I've blood,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To give you in exchange for yours!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">That, sir,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is not enough; but as a foundling, you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">May claim the right, because you might be noble.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is a better thing to lift a vassal</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than to degrade a peer. You may command me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Choose your hour, sir.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Immediately!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Agreed!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You're no usurper, that is clear.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">A sword!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You have no sword? The devil! that is bad.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You might be thought a man of low descent.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will you have mine?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Offers his sword to <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Well tempered and obedient!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">L'Angely</span> rises, draws his sword and presents it to <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGLEY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No; for a foolish deed, you'd better take</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A fool's sword! You are brave! You'll honor it!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Maliciously.</i>] And in return, to bring me luck, pray let</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Me cut a piece from off the hanging-rope!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>bitterly, taking sword</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I will.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">The Marquis</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Now God have mercy on the good!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>jumping with delight</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A duel—excellent!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>to <span class="sc">Didier</span>).</i></p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Where shall we fight?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Beneath the street-lamp.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GASSÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Gentlemen, you're mad!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You cannot see. You'll put your eyes out.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Humph!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There's light enough to cut each other's throat.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well said!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VILLAC.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">You can see nothing.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">That's enough!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Each sword is lightning flashing in the dark.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come, Marquis!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Both throw off their cloaks, take off their hats with which they +salute each other, throwing them afterward on the ground. Then they draw +their swords.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">At your service, sir.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Now! <i>Garde!</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They cross swords and fence, silently and furiously. Suddenly the +small door opens, <span class="sc">Marion</span> in a white dress appears.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Marion</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is this noise?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Perceiving <span class="sc">Didier</span> under the lamp.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Didier!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To the combatants.</i>] Stop!</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>They continue.</i>] Ho! The guard!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who is this woman?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>turning</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BOUCHAVANNES (<i>running, to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">All is lost!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That woman's cry went through the town.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I saw the archers' rapiers flash.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Archers with torches enter.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Seem dead,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or you will be so!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>falling down</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ah!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Low to <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span>, who bends over him.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Oh, damn these stones.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span>, who thinks he has killed him, pauses.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Hold! In the King's name!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>to the noblemen</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">We must save the Marquis.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's a dead man if he is caught.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The noblemen surround <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Zounds, sirs!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To fight a duel 'neath the very light</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the edict is bold indeed!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>To <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i>] Give up</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your sword.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Archers seize <span class="sc">Didier</span>, who stands apart, and disarm him. <span class="sc">The +Captain</span> indicates <span class="sc">Saverny</span> stretched upon the ground and surrounded by +the noblemen.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">That other man with dull eyes, who</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is he? What is his name?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">His name's Gaspard,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Marquis de Saverny, and he is dead.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Dead, is he? Then his trouble's over. Good!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This dead man's worth more than the other.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>frightened</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT (<i>to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The whole affair rests now with you, sir. Come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Archers lead <span class="sc">Didier</span> off on one side, the noblemen carry +<span class="sc">Saverny</span> off on the other.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span>, who is motionless from horror</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Forget me, Marion. Good-by! [<i>They exit.</i></span> +</div> + + +<h4>SCENE V</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Marion, L'Angely</p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>rushing to detain him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Didier!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What do you mean? Good-by? Why this good-by?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Wherefore forget you?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Soldiers push her off; she approaches <span class="sc">L'Angely</span> with anguish.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Is he lost for this?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What did he do? What will they do to him?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>takes her hand and leads her in silence before the edict</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Read this!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>reads, and starts back with horror</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My God! Just God! Condemned to death!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They've taken him away. To kill him! Oh,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I brought this ruin on him with my cries!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I called for help, but my unhappy voice</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Found death in the dark streets and brought her here.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Impossible! A duel is no crime!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">They'll not kill him for that?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I think they will.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He can escape!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">The prison walls are high!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I've brought this crime upon him with my sins.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">God strikes him for my sake! My Didier! love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i>] Nothing on earth seemed good enough for him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A prison cell—my God! Death! Torture too!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Perhaps! It all depends—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I'll find the King!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He has a royal heart; he pardons.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Yes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The King does, not the Cardinal.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Then, what—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What can I do?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">A capital offense,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Nothing can save him from the fatal rope.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, grief!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i>] You freeze my blood, sir. Who are you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I'm the King's jester!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Oh, my Didier, love,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm lost, unworthy; but what God can do</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With a weak woman's hands, I'll show to you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go on, my love; I follow!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She goes out on the side from which <span class="sc">Didier</span> left.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">God knows where!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Picking up the sword which <span class="sc">Didier</span> left on the ground.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Among all these, who'd think I was the fool?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes out.</i></p> +</div> + + + +<h3>ACT III</h3> + +<p class="center">THE COMEDY</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>The Castle of Nangis. A park in the style of Henry IV. In the +background on an elevation, the Castle of Nangis, part new, part old, is +visible. The old, a castle-keep with arches and turrets: the new, a +large brick house with corners of wrought stone, and pointed roof. The +large door of the castle-keep is hung with black: from afar one +distinguishes a coat-of-arms—that of the families of Nangis and of +Saverny</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">M. DE LAFFEMAS</span>, undress costume of a magistrate of the period. +<span class="sc">Marquis de Saverny</span>, disguised as an officer of the Regiment of Anjou; +with black mustache and imperial, and a plaster on the eye</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Then you were present, sir, at the attack?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>pulling his mustache</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I was his comrade: had that honor, sir!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But he is dead!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">The Marquis de Saverny?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, from a thrust in tierce, which burst the doublet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then carved its cruel way between the ribs</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Through to the chest and to the liver, which,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As you well know, makes blood. The wound was fearful.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twas horrible to see!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">He died at once?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Almost. His agony was short. I watched</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The spasm follow frenzy; tetanos</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then came, and after opisthotonos</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There followed improstathonos.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">The deuce!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">So that I calculate 'tis false to say</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The blood passes the jugular. Pequet</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And learned men should be condemned when they</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Dissect live dogs to study 'bout the lungs.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The poor marquis is dead.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">A thrust is fatal.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are a doctor, sir, of medicine?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">You have studied it?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Somewhat.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In Aristotle.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You can talk it well!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Faith! I've a most malicious sort of heart.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I like destruction; find delight in evil;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I love to kill! So that I thought I'd be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A soldier or a doctor, sir, at twenty.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But I hesitated long, and finally</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I chose the sword. It's not so sure, but twice</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As quick. There was a time, I will confess,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I longed to be a poet or an actor,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or an exhibitor of bears—but then,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I like dinner and supper every day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A plague upon the poetry and bears!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">With this hope in your mind you studied verse?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A little bit, in Aristotle. Yes—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The Marquis knew you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">He knew me as well</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As a lieutenant knows an upstart soldier.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I belonged to Monsieur de Caussade first,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who gave me to the Marquis' colonel. Poor</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The present, but we do the best we can!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They made me officer—I'm worth as much</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As any, and I wear a black mustache.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is my history.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">They sent you here</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To notify the uncle?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes; I came</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With Brichanteau, the cousin, and the corpse.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He will be buried here—where, if he'd lived,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He would have had his wedding!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Tell me how</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The old Marquis de Nangis bore the news.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">With calmness, without tears.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">He loved him though?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">As much as we love life. Having no children</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of his own he had but this one passion—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His nephew, whom he dearly loved, although</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They had not seen each other for five years.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>In the background, the old <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span> passes; white hair, +pale countenance, arms folded across his breast, dress of the day of +Henry IV.: deep mourning; the star and the ribbon of the order of the +Holy Ghost. He walks slowly; nine guards in three rows follow; they are +dressed in mourning, their halberds on their right shoulder, their +muskets on their left; they keep within a short distance, stopping when +he stops, and continuing when he continues.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>watching him pass</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Poor man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to the back and follows <span class="sc">The Marquis</span> with his eyes.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My good old uncle!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Brichanteau</span> enters and goes to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Ah! two words!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Laughing.</i>] He's looking pretty well for a dead man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>low, indicating <span class="sc">The Marquis</span>, who passes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Why do you make me grieve him, Brichanteau?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I think we might explain it to him now.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, let me try.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">No; God forbid, my friend!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His grief must be sincere; he must weep much.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His woe is one good half of your disguise.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Poor uncle!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He will find it out ere long.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If sorrow has not killed him, then joy will.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">These shocks are dangerous to such old men.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It must be done!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I cannot bear to hear</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Him laugh so bitterly, then weep; then keep</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So still! I hate to see him kiss that coffin.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes—a fine coffin with no corpse in it!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">But I am dead and bleeding in his heart.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The corpse lies there.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>coming back</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Alas, the poor old man!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His eyes show plainly how he's suffering!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>low to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who is that surly-looking man in black?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>with gesture of ignorance</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Some friend who's living at the castle?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Crows</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are also black and love the smell of death.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Keep silence more than ever. 'Tis a face</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That's treacherous and evil; it would make</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A madman prudent.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Marquis de Nangis</span> re-enters; he is still absorbed in a deep +reverie. He walks slowly, does not appear to notice any one, and seats +himself upon a bank of turf.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>approaching <span class="sc">The Marquis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Marquis, we've lost much.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He was a rare man; would have comforted</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your old age. I mingle my tears with yours.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Young, handsome, good, naught more could be desired;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Obeying God, respecting women, strong;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Just in his actions, sensible in speech,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A perfect nobleman, whom all revere!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To die so young! Most cruel fate! Alas!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Marquis</span> lets his head fall on his hands.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>low to <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The devil take this funeral discourse!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">These praises but augment the old man's grief.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Console him, you; Show him the other side.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are mistaken, sir. I was in the</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Same grade. A bad comrade, this Saverny—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A shiftless fellow, growing worse each day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Courageous! Every man is brave at twenty;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His death is nothing much to boast about.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A duel! Surely, that is no great crime.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Banteringly to <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span>, pointing to his sword.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">You are an officer?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>in the same tone, pointing to <span class="sc">Laffemas's</span> wig</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">A magistrate?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Go on!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He was capricious, thankless, and</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A liar: not worth any real regret.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He went to church, but just to ogle girls.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He was a gallant, a mere libertine,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A fool!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Good! good!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Intractable and stubborn;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Rude to his officers. As to good looks,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He had lost his; he limped, had a large wen</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon his eye; from blonde had turned to red,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And from round-shouldered had become hump-backed.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Enough!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He gambled—every one knows that.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He would have staked his soul on dice. I'll wager</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That cards had eaten up his property.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His fortune galloped faster every night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>low, pulling his sleeve</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Enough! Good God! Your consolation is</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Too strong.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">To speak so ill of a dead friend!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unpardonable!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>indicating <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ask this gentleman!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, no; I beg to be excused!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>affectionately, to the old <span class="sc">Marquis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My lord,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We'll comfort you. We have his murderer,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And we will hang him. We have kept him safe.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His end is sure.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Brichanteau</span> and <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">But can one understand</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Marquis? There are duels, we all know,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That cannot be avoided, but to fight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With any one named Didier—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What? Didier?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The old <span class="sc">Marquis</span>, who has remained silent and motionless during all +this scene, rises and goes out slowly on the side opposite where he came +in. His guards follow him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>wiping away a tear and following him with his eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">In truth, his sorrow deeply touches me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LACKEY (<i>running</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Why can't you leave your master quiet?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LACKEY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is the burial of the young marquis!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What is the hour?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You'll know it by-and-by.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LACKEY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A few comedians have arrived here from</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The city; they beg shelter for the night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The time's ill-chosen for comedians, but</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The law of hospitality holds good.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Give them this barn.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating a barn on the left.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LACKEY (<i>holding a letter</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">A letter! 'Tis important!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Reading.</i>] For a Monsieur de Laffemas.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">'Tis I!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Give it to me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BRICHANTEAU (<i>low to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, who has remained thoughtful in a corner</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Saverny, let us go!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come and arrange things for your funeral!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Pulling him by the sleeve.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">What is it? Are you dreaming?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Oh, Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They go out.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The seal of State! The great seal of red wax!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come! this is business. Let me know at once!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Reading.</i>] "Sir Criminal Lieutenant: We make known</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To you that Didier, the assassin of</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The late Marquis Gaspard, has fled." My God!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is unfortunate! "A woman is</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With him, called Marion de Lorme. We beg</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You to return as soon as possible."</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Quick! Get me horses! I, who felt so sure!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Another matter spoiled for want of sense.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Outrageous! Of the two, not one! One, dead!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Escaped, the other! I will catch him, though!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He exits. Enter a troupe of strolling actors, men, women and children +in character costumes. Among them are <span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span>, dressed as +Spaniards. <span class="sc">Didier</span> wears a great felt hat and is covered with a cloak.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE V</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The Comedians</i>, <span class="sc">Marion, Didier</span></p> + + +<p class="speaker">A LACKEY (<i>conducting the Comedians to the barn</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">This is your lodging. You're on the estate</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the Marquis de Nangis. Behave well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Try to be quiet, for some one is dead.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The burial is to-morrow. Above all,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Don't mix your songs with the funereal chants</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which will be sung for him throughout the night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>small and hump-backed</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We'll make less noise than do your hunting-dogs</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who bark around the legs of all who pass!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LACKEY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Dogs are not actors, my good friend.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TAILLEBRAS (<i>to <span class="sc">Gracieux</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Be still!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You'll cause us to sleep in the open air!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Lackey</span> exits.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SCARAMOUCHE (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span>, who until now have remained quietly apart</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come! let us talk. Now you belong to us.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why Monsieur fled with Madame on behind,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you are man and wife or lovers only,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Escaping justice, or black sorcerers</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who held Madame a prisoner, perhaps—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is not my business. What I want to know</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is what you'll act. Chimènes are best for you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Black eyes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> makes a courtesy.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>aside, indignant</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">To hear that mountebank speak thus!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SCARAMOUCHE (<i>to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">For you: if you should want a splendid part,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We need a bully—a long-leggèd man,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tremendous strides, a thundering voice; and when</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Orgon is robbed of wife or niece, you kill</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Moor and terminate the piece. Great part!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">High tragedy! 'Twill suit you splendidly.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Just as you please!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SCARAMOUCHE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Good! Don't say "you" to me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I like "thou"! [<i>With a profound obeisance.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m3">Blusterer, hail!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What fools!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SCARAMOUCHE (<i>to the other actors</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Now eat;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then we'll rehearse our parts.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>All enter the barn except <span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VI</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Marion</span>, <span class="sc">Didier</span>; afterward <span class="sc">Gracieux</span>, <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, +afterward <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>with bitter laugh, after a long silence</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Is't bad enough?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My Marion, have I dragged you low enough?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You wished to follow me? My destiny</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Precipitates itself and crushes you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bound to its wheel! What are we come to now?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I told you so!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>trembling and clasping her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Do you reproach me, love?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, may I be accursed! Cursed first by Heaven,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then cursed 'mongst men: cursed throughout all my life;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Cursed more than we are now, if a reproach</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Shall ever leave my lips for you! What matter</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Though all the earth abandon me, you're mine!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You are my savior, refuge, all my hope!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who duped the jailer, filed my chains for me?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who came from heaven to follow me to hell?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who was a captive with the prisoner,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">An exile with the fugitive? Ah, who,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who else had heart so full of love and wit,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Heart to sustain, console, deliver me?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Great, feeble woman, have you not saved me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From destiny, alas! and my own soul?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had you not pity on my nature, crushed?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have you not loved one whom all others hate?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>weeping</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is my joy to love you—be your slave.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Leave me your eyes, dear; they enrapture me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">God willed, when placing soul within my flesh,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A demon and an angel should guide me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Yet he was merciful; his love concealed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The demon, but the angel he revealed.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are my Didier, master, lord of me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Your husband, am I not?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Alas!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What joy,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When we have left this country far behind,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To have you, call you wife as well as love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You will be willing?—answer.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I will be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your sister, and my brother you shall be!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, no! Refuse me not that ecstasy</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of knowing, in God's sight, you're mine alone!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You're safe to trust my love in everything.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The lover keeps you for the husband, pure!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alas!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">If you knew how things torture me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To hear that actor talk, affront you thus!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is not least among our wretched woes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To see you mixed with jugglers such as these,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A chaste, exquisite flower 'mid this filth—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You, 'mongst these women steeped in infamy!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Be prudent, Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">God! I struggled hard</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Against my anger! He said "thou" to you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When I, your love, your husband, hardly dare</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For fear of tarnishing that virgin brow—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Be pleasant with them; it means life to you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And me as well.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">She's right. She's always right.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Although each hour brings us increasing woe,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You lavish on me love and joy and youth!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How happens it these blessings come to me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When royal kingdoms were small pay for them—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To me, who give but anguish in return?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Heaven gave you—yes; but hell binds you to me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For us to merit this unequal fate,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What good can I have done? What evil you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My only blessings come from you, my love!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If you say that you think it, but it's wrong!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, yes, my star of destiny is bad.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I know not whence I come, nor where I go.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My whole horizon's dark. Love, hark to me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There's time yet; you can leave me and go back.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let me pursue the gloomy route alone.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When all is ended and I'm tired out,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The couch that's waiting will be cold—ice-cold,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And narrow; there's not room enough for two.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go back!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">That couch, dark, and mysterious,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll share it with you; that at least is mine.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Will you not listen? Can't you understand?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You're tempting Providence to cling to me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The years of anguish, love, may be so long</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your sweet eyes may grow sightless, just from tears.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> lets her head fall on her hands.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I swear I draw the picture none too strong.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your future frightens me. I pity you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go back!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>bursting into tears</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">It were more kind to kill me, Didier,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than to talk thus! [<i>Weeping.</i>] O God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>taking her in his arms</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">My darling, hush!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So many tears! I'd shed my blood for one.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do what you will! Come, be my destiny,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My glory, life, my virtue, and my love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Answer me now. I speak! Sweet, do you hear?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He seats her on a bank of turf.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>withdrawing herself from his arms</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You've hurt me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>kneeling to her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I, who'd gladly die for her!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>smiling through her tears</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You made me cry, you cruel man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My beauty!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Sits on the bank beside her.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Just one sweet kiss upon your forehead, pure</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As is our love!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He kisses her forehead. They look at each other with ecstasy.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Yes, look at me! Look thus,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Look harder; look until we die of looking!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>entering</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Dona Chimène is wanted in the barn.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> rises hastily from <span class="sc">Didier's</span> side. At the same time that +<span class="sc">Gracieux</span> enters, <span class="sc">Saverny</span> comes in; he stands in the background and +looks attentively at <span class="sc">Marion</span> without seeing <span class="sc">Didier</span>, who remains +sitting on the bank and is hidden by a bush.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>back, without being seen, aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Faith, it is Marion! What brings her here?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Laughing.</i>] Chimène!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>to <span class="sc">Didier</span>, who is about to follow <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Oh, no! stay there, my jealous friend,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I want to tease you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Devil take you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>low to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Hush!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Restrain yourself.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span> re-seats himself; she enters the barn.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>still back, aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What makes her roam the country in this fashion?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can he be the gallant who succored me?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who saved my life? Didier! It is indeed!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>enters in traveling costume, and salutes <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I take my leave, sir!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You are going away?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He laughs.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What makes you laugh?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">A very silly thing.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll tell you. Guess whom I have recognized</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Among those jugglers who have just arrived.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Among those jugglers?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>laughing still more</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes. Marion de Lorme!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>with a start</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Marion de Lorme!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>who has been looking at them fixedly all the time</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Hein? [<i>He half rises from the bank.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>still laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I would like to send</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That news to Paris. Are you going there?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I am, and I will spread the news, trust me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But are you sure you recognize her?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Sure?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hurrah for France! We know our Marion.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Feeling in his pocket.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">I think I have her portrait—tender pledge</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of love! She had it done by the King's painter.</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Giving <span class="sc">Laffemas</span> a locket.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Look and compare them.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating the barn door.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">See her, through that door,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In Spanish costume, with green petticoat.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>looking from the locket to the barn</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">'Tis she—Marion de Lorme! [<i>Aside.</i>] I have him now!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i>] She must have a companion 'mongst these men.</p> + + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's likely. Such fair ladies are not prudes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And seldom travel round the world alone.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I'll guard this door. It will go hard, indeed,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If I can't capture that false actor here.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's taken now—no doubt of that! [<i>Goes out.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>watches the exit of <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>: aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I think</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I've done a foolish thing.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Taking <span class="sc">Gracieux</span> aside, who all this time has stood in a corner +gesticulating and running over his lines: in a whisper.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Who is that lady</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sitting within the shadow there?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating the door of the barn.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Chimène?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Solemnly.</i>] My lord, I do not know her name. Ask him,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This lord, her noble friend.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Exits on the side of the park.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VII</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Didier, Saverny</p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>turning toward <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">This gentleman?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tell me— 'Tis strange how hard he looks at me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon my soul, 'tis he! My man! [<i>Loud to <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i>] If you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Were not in prison, I should say that you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Resemble a—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">And if you were not dead, I'd say</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That you had the exact appearance of—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His blood be on his head!—a man whom two</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Short words of mine put in a tomb.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Hush! You</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Marquis Gaspard, you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">'Twas you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who were somewhere, a certain night! 'Tis you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To whom I owe my life!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He opens his arms. <span class="sc">Didier</span> draws back.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Excuse surprise!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I felt so sure I took it back.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Not so!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You saved me—did not kill me! Let me know</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What I can do for you. Do you desire</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A second—brother—a lieutenant? Speak!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What will you have—my blood, my wealth, my soul?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Not any of those things. That portrait there!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Saverny</span> gives him the portrait; he looks at it, speaking with +bitterness.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Yes, there's her brow, her black eyes, her white neck;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Above all, there's her candid glance! How like!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You think so?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">This was made for you, you say?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>bowing, and making an affirmative sign</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It was! But now 'tis you whom she prefers,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You whom she loves and chooses 'mongst us all.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You are a happy man.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>with loud and mocking laugh</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes! Am I not?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Accept my compliments; she's a good girl,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And loves no one but men of family.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of such a mistress one can well be proud!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It's honorable, and it gives one style.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis in good taste. If men ask who you are</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They say, "Beloved of Marion de Lorme."</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span> gives him back the portrait; he refuses it.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">No, keep the portrait; since the lady's yours,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It should belong to you. Keep it, I pray.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I thank you! [<i>Puts it in his breast.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">She is charming in that dress.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So you are my successor! One might say,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As King Louis succeeded Pharamond.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Brissacs, both of them, supplanted me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Laughing.</i>] Then, yes, the Cardinal himself came next,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then little D'Effiat, then the three Sainte-Mesmes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The four Argenteans! In her heart you'll find</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The best society. [<i>Laughing.</i>] A little numerous.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Tell me about it some time. Now,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To be quite frank with you, I pass for dead,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And in the morning shall be buried. You</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Must have escaped police and seneschals.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your Marion can manage everything!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You joined a strolling company by chance;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What a delightful history!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Yes, true</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is a history!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">To get you out</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She probably made love to all the jailers.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>in a voice of thunder</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Do you think that?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You are not jealous—what?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, joke incredible!—of Marion!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A man jealous of Marion! The poor child!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Don't go and scold her!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Have no fear. [<i>Aside.</i>] The angel—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It was a demon! Oh, my God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Enter <span class="sc">Laffemas</span> and <span class="sc">Gracieux</span>. <span class="sc">Didier</span> goes out; <span class="sc">Saverny</span> follows +him.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VIII</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Laffemas, Gracieux</p> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My lord,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I do not understand you!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Aside.</i>] Humph! A costume</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of Alcaid and a figure of police;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Small eyes, adorned with big eyebrows! I think</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He plays the part of Alguazil in this</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Locality.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>pulling out his purse</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My friend!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>drawing near, low to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">My lord—I see!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Chimène has interested you. You wish</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To know—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>low, smiling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Who is her Roderick?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You mean</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her lover?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Who groans beneath her spell?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>impatiently</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">There's one?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Of course!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>approaching him eagerly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Then show him to me, quick!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>with profound obeisance</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's I, my lord. I'm mad about her!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Laffemas</span>, disappointed, turns away with annoyance; then he comes +back and shakes his purse in <span class="sc">Gracieux's</span> eyes and ears.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Know you the sound of ducats?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Heavenly tones!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I've got my Didier!</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>To <span class="sc">Gracieux</span>.</i>] Do you see this purse?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How much!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Gold ducats—twenty!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Humph!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>jingling the gold in his face</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Will you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>grabbing the purse from him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Most certainly!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>With theatrical tone to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>, who listens anxiously.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">My lord, if your back bore</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Just in the center a great hump, as big</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As is your belly, and if those two bags</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Were filled with louis, sequins, and doubloons,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In that case—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>eagerly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Well, what would you do?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>putting the purse into his pocket</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I'd take</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The whole of it, and I would say—</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>With profound obeisance.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">I thank you;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You are a gentleman!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>aside, furious</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Plague on the monkey!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>aside, laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The devil take the cat!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">They have agreed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On what to do, if any one suspects.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis a conspiracy. They'll all be dumb;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Accursed gypsy devils!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Gracieux</span> who is going away.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Give me back</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My purse!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>turning around, with tragic tone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">What do you take me for, my lord?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What will the world think of us, pray, if you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Propose and I agree to anything</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So infamous as sell for gold a life,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My soul? [<i>Turns to go.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">That's as you please; but give me back</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My money!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">No, I keep my honor, sir,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And we have no accounts to settle.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He salutes him and re-enters barn.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IX</h4> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>alone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Humph!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The wretched juggler! Pride in such base souls!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you some day should fall into my hands</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unoccupied with better sort of game—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But this will not find Didier! Now, I can't</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take all this crowd and put them to the torture.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This is worse work than hunting needles in</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A haystack. Faith! a chemist's crucible</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bewitched I ought to have, which, eating up</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The lead and copper, would reveal at last</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The golden ingot hid by much alloy.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go to the Cardinal without my prize?</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Striking his brow.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">That's it! The clever thought! Oh, joy! He's mine!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Calling through the barn door.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Ho, gentlemen, comedians! one word, please.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The actors crowd out of the barn.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE X</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. Comedians, among them <span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span>; afterward +<span class="sc">Saverny</span>, afterward <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SCARAMOUCHE (<i>to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What do you want with us?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Without preamble:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My lord the Cardinal commissioned me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To find good actors, if there may be such</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Within the provinces, to act the plays</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which he constructs in hours of leisure when</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Allowed by State affairs. In spite of care</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And earnest thought, his theater declines,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And is no credit to a cardinal-duke.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>All the actors press eagerly forward. <span class="sc">Saverny</span> enters, and watches +the scene with curiosity.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>aside, counting his money</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Twelve only! He said twenty. The old scamp!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's robbed me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Let each one repeat some scene,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That I may know your talents and may choose.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] If he gets out of that, this Didier's sharp.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aloud.</i>] Are you all here?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> stealthily approaches <span class="sc">Didier</span> and tries to lead him off.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>going up to them</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Come with the others—you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span> leaves her and joins the actors; she follows him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX.</p> +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">You're in luck to be with us.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To have new clothes, get every day a feast,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To speak the Cardinal's verses every night,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A happy lot!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>All the actors take their places before <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>. <span class="sc">Marion</span> and +<span class="sc">Didier</span> among them. <span class="sc">Didier</span> does not look at <span class="sc">Marion</span>; his eyes are +bent on the ground; his arms are folded underneath his cloak. <span class="sc">Marion</span> +watches him anxiously.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>at head of troupe, aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Who would have thought this crow</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Recruited actors for the Cardinal?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>to <span class="sc">Gracieux</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">First you. What do you play?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>with a low bow and a pirouette which shows off his hump</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I'm called the Sylph</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Among the troupe. This piece I know the best.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He sings.</i></p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">"On the bald heads of magistrates,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Enormous wigs are spread.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Out of that fleece, in due time, come</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Chains, gallows, tortures dread.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Whenever one called president</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Shall shake his bigger head.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">"Let any barber, strolling fool,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Wash, powder, and pomade</span><br /> + <span class="i0">The hair which bald heads steal from beards,</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Let them be combed and frayed</span><br /> + <span class="i0">In shape of a right gorgeous wig—</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Your magistrate is made.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">"The lawyer is a sea of words</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Hurled wildly at the bench.</span><br /> + <span class="i0">A killing kind of mixing up</span><br /> + <span class="i0">Of Latin and bad French—"</span> +</div></div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>interrupting him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You sing so false, you'd make an eagle sick.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be still!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GRACIEUX (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I may sing false—the song is true!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>to <span class="sc">Scaramouche</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's your turn now.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SCARAMOUCHE (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I'm Scaramouche, my lord!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"The Lady of Honor," sir, I open thus.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Declaiming.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">"'Naught is so fine,' said once a Queen of Spain,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'As bishop at the altar, soldier in</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The field, unless it is a girl in bed,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or robber on the gallows—'"</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Laffemas</span> interrupts <span class="sc">Scaramouche</span> with a gesture and signs to +<span class="sc">Taillebras</span> to speak. <span class="sc">Taillebras</span> makes a profound obeisance, then +draws himself up.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">TAILLEBRAS (<i>with emphasis</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">As for me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sir, I am Taillebras. From Thibet, sir,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I come; I've punished the great Khan, I've captured</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Mogul—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Choose something else—</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Low to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, who stands beside him.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">A beauty,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Eh, this Marion!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TAILLEBRAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">It is one of our best.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you prefer, I will be Charlemagne,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Emperor of the West.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Declaiming with emphasis.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">"Strange destiny!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">O Heaven, I appeal to you! Bear witness</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unto my woe. I must despoil myself,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Surrender my beloved one to another.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I must endow my rival, fill his heart</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With joy, while my poor stomach stings with grief.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Thus, birds, you can no more perch in the woods;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Thus, flies, you can no more buzz in the fields;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Thus, sheep, you can no longer wear your wool;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Thus, bulls, you can no longer raze the plains."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i>] Listen, the fine verses! "Bradamante"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">By Garnier; what a poet!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] 'Tis your turn,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My beauty. First, your name.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>trembling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I am Chimène!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Indeed! Chimène? Then you must have a lover.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He has killed a man in duel—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>terrified</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Oh, heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>maliciously</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I've a good memory. If one escapes—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Great heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Come! Now let us hear your scene</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>half turned toward <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"Since to arrest you in this fatal course</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your life and honor are of no avail,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If ever I have loved you, Roderick,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Defend yourself to save me from Don Sancho.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fight valiantly against the fearful fate</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which must surrender me to one I hate.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Shall I say more? Go; your defense shall be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your right to force my duty, seal my lips!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If love for me still in your brave heart lies,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go win this combat, for Chimène is prize."</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Laffemas</span> rises gallantly and kisses her hand. <span class="sc">Marion</span> is pale; she +looks at <span class="sc">Didier</span>, who remains motionless with eyes on the ground.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No voice but yours could take so firm a hold</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon the secret fibers of our heart.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You are adorable.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i>] You can't deny</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Corneille is not worth Garnier, after all.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis true, his verses have a finer ring</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since he's belonged unto the Cardinal-Duke.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] What a complexion! What fine eyes! Good God!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This is no place for you! You're buried here.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sit down!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He sits and makes sign to <span class="sc">Marion</span> to sit beside him; she draws back.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>low to <span class="sc">Didier</span>, with anguish</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">For God's sake, let me stay with you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>smiling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come sit by me, I say!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span> repulses <span class="sc">Marion</span>, who staggers terrified to the bench where +<span class="sc">Laffemas</span> sits, and falls upon it.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">'Tis horrible!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>smiling at Marion, with an air of reproach</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">At last!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i>] Now, sir, your turn. What is your name?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>with gravity</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My name is Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION, LAFFEMAS, SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>, who laughs triumphantly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes, you can</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Send all of them away. You've got your prey.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your prisoner himself takes up his chain.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This joy has cost you a great deal of work.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>running to him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>with a freezing look</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Don't try to hinder me this time,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Madame!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She starts back and falls crushed upon the bank: to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">I've watched you creeping close to me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You demon! In your eyes I've seen that glare</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of hell fire which illuminates your soul.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I might have 'scaped your trap—a useless thing;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But to see cunning wasted thus grieved me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take me, and get well paid for treachery.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>with concentrated rage, trying to laugh</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are not a comedian, it would seem!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's you who played the comedy.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Not well.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But with the Cardinal I'll write a play.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is a tragedy: you have a part.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> screams with horror. <span class="sc">Didier</span> turns from her with contempt.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Don't turn your head in such a lordly way.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We will admire your acting, never fear!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come, recommend your soul to God, my friend.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ah, God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>At this moment <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span> passes across the back of the +stage, in the same attitude, with his escort of Halberdiers. <span class="sc">Marion's</span> +cry arrests him; pale and silent he turns to the characters.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>to</i> <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Marquis, I claim your aid. Good news!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lend me your escort. The murderer escaped</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Our vigilance, but we've recaptured him.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>throwing herself at <span class="sc">Laffemas's</span> feet</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, pity for him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>with gallantry</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">At my feet, madame!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis I should kneel at yours.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>on her knees, clasping her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">My lord the judge,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have mercy upon others, if some day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You hope a jealous judge, more powerful</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than you are, will be merciful to you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>smiling</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You're preaching us a sermon, I believe!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ah, madame, reign at balls and shine at fêtes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But do not preach us sermons. For your sake,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I would do anything; but he has killed—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is a murder.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Rise! [<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> rises, trembling.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m4">You lie! it was a duel.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sir!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I say, you lie!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Have done!</span><br /> +<span class="m4">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] Blood calls</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For blood; this rigor troubles me— I wish—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But he has killed—killed whom? The young marquis,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gaspard de Saverny,</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Nephew to him,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That worthy old man there. A rare young lord;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The greatest loss for France and for the King.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Were he not dead, I do not say that I—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My heart is not of stone, and if—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>taking a step forward</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">The man</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You think is dead is living. I am he!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>General astonishment.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>starting</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Gaspard de Saverny! A miracle!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There is his coffin.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>tearing off his false mustache, his plaster, and black wig</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">But he is not dead!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who recognizes me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>as if awakening from a dream, starts, and with a great cry throws himself into his nephew's arms</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Gaspard! My nephew!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is my child! [<i>They remain locked in each other's arms.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>falling upon her knees and lifting her eyes to heaven</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Didier is saved! Praise God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>coldly, to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is the use? I wished to die.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>still on her knees</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Kind God,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You have protected him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>continuing, without listening to her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">How otherwise</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Could he have caught me in his trap? Think you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My spur could not have crushed the spider's web</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which he had made to catch a gnat? Henceforth</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I ask no other boon than death. This is</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No friendly gift from you, who owe me life!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What does he say? You must live—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">All's not over.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is it certain that this is the Marquis?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">We must have proof of it at once.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>indicating <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>, who is still holding <span class="sc">Saverny</span> in his arms</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Look at that old man, how he smiles and weeps!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Is that Gaspard de Saverny?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What heart</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can question such a close embrace?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>turning around</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You ask</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If it is he—Gaspard, my son, my soul?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] Did he not ask if it was he, madame?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>to <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Then you affirm that this man is your nephew?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He is Gaspard de Saverny?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>with intensity</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I do!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">According to the law I do arrest</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gaspard de Saverny, in the King's name.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your sword!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Surprise and consternation among the characters.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My son!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Oh, Heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Another head!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Yes, two were needed. 'Tis the least, to bring</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This Roman Cæsar one head in each hand.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Speak! By what right—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ask my lord cardinal.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All who survive a duel fall beneath</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The ordinance. Give me your sword.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>looking at <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Rash man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>drawing his sword and presenting it to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">'Tis here!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>stopping him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">A moment! None is master here</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Save me! I mete out justice high and low.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Our sire the King would be no more than guest.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i>] Give up your sword to none but me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Saverny</span> hands him his sword, and clasps him in his arms.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">In truth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That is a feudal right quite out of date.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal might blame me for it, but</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I would not willingly annoy you—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Wretch!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>bowing to <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">So I consent. You can return the favor</span><br /> +<span class="i0">By loaning me your guard and prison, sir.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>to his Guards</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Not so! Your sires were vassals to my sires.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I forbid any one to stir a step.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>with voice of thunder</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My masters, hark to me: I am the judge</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the secret tribunal, Criminal-</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lieutenant to the Cardinal. Conduct</span><br /> +<span class="i0">These men to prison. Four of you mount guard</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Before each door. You're all responsible.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It would be rash to disobey when I command</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You to go here or there or do a deed.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If any hesitate, it is because</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His head annoys him.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Guards, terrified, drag the two prisoners off in silence, <span class="sc">Marquis +de Nangis</span> turns away indignant and buries his face in his hands.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">All is lost!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>To <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>.</i>] Have pity!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If in your heart—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>low to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">If you will come to-night,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll tell you something—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">What is it he wants?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His smiles are terrible. He has a gloomy,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Treacherous soul.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Turning with desperation to <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>coldly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Farewell, madame!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>shuddering at the tone of his voice</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What have I done? Oh, miserable woman!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She sinks upon the bank.</i></p> +</div> + + + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Miserable! Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>embraces <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>, then turns to <span class="sc">Laffemas</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Is your pay doubled</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When you bring two heads?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LACKEY (<i>entering, to <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My lord,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The funeral preparations for the Marquis</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are now completed. I am sent to you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To know what hour and day the ceremony</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will be performed.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Come back one month from now.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Guards lead off <span class="sc">Didier</span> and <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i></p> + + + + +<h3>ACT IV</h3> + +<p class="center">THE KING</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>Chambord. The guard-room in the Castle of Chambord</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span>, rich court costume covered with embroidery and +lace, the order of the Holy Ghost around his neck, and the star upon his +cloak. <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>, in deep mourning and followed by his escort +of Guards. Both cross the back of the hall</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Condemned?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Condemned!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">E'en so! The King can pardon.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is his kingly right and royal duty.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have no more fear. In heart as well as name</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's son of Henry IV.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I was his comrade.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Indeed, we spoiled full many a coat of armor</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For the proud sire! Now go unto the son,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Show him your gray hairs, and in lieu of prayer</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Cry out "Ventre Saint Gris!" Let Richelieu</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Himself give better reason! Hide here now.</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He opens a side door.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">He's coming soon. Do you know, to be frank,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your costume's of a style to make one laugh.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Laugh at my mourning?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ah, these coxcombs here!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Old friend, stay there; you'll not have long to wait.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will dispose him 'gainst the Cardinal.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll stamp upon the ground for signal; then</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come out.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>grasping his hand</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">May God repay you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>to a <span class="sc">Musketeer</span> who walks up and down in front of a small gilt door</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Monsieur, pray,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What does the King?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MUSKETEER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">He's working, my lord duke!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Lowering his voice.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">A man in black is with him.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">At this moment</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He is singing a death-warrant, I believe.</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To the old <span class="sc">Marquis</span>, grasping his hand.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Be brave!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He conducts him to a neighboring gallery.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">While waiting for the signal, look</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At these new ceilings, they're by Primatice.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Both go out. <span class="sc">Marion</span>, in deep mourning, enters through the great door +in the back, which opens on a staircase.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Marion</span>, the Guards</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">HALBERDIER (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Madame, you cannot enter!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>advancing</i>).</p> +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Sir!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">HALBERDIER (<i>placing his halberd against the door</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I say,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No entrance!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>with contempt</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Here you turn your lance against</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A woman. Elsewhere, 'tis in her defense.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MUSKETEER (<i>laughing, to <span class="sc">Halberdier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well said!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>firmly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I must immediately have audience</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With the Duke de Bellegarde.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">HALBERDIER (<i>lowering his halberd, aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Ah, these gallants!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MUSKETEER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Enter, madame.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She enters with determined step.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">HALBERDIER (<i>aside, watching her from the corner of his eye</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Well, the old duke is not</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As feeble as he looks. This rendezvous</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Would have cost him a sojourn in the Louvre,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In former times.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MUSKETEER (<i>making sign to <span class="sc">Halberdier</span> to keep still</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">The door is open.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The little gilt door is opened. <span class="sc">M. de Laffemas</span> comes out, holding in +his hand a parchment to which a red seal hangs by strands of silk.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Marion</span>, <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>: gesture of surprise from both. <span class="sc">Marion</span> turns +away from him with horror</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>low, advancing slowly toward <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What is your errand here?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What's yours?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>unrolls the parchment and spreads it out before her eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Signed by</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The King!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>glances at it, then buries her face in her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Good God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>speaking in her ear</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Will you?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> shivers and looks him in the face; he fixes his eyes on hers: +lowering his voice.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Wilt thou?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>pushing him away</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Away!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Foul tempter!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>straightening himself up, sneeringly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">You will not!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I have no fear!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The King can pardon: 'tis the King who reigns.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Go try him. See what his good will is worth!</span><br /> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He turns away, then turns back: folds his arms and whispers to her.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Beware of waiting until I refuse!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Exits. <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span> enters.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Marion, Duke de Bellegarde</p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>going toward <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Here you are captain, my lord duke.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">'Tis you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My beauty! [<i>Bowing.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m2">Speak! What does my queen desire?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To see the King.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">When?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Now!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">This is short notice!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">For something!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>bursting into a laugh</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">We will send for him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How she goes on!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Then you refuse me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Nay!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Am I not yours? Have we refused each other</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Anything?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">That's very well, my lord!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When shall I see the King?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">After the Duke.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I promise you shall see him when he passes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Through this hall. But while waiting, talk with me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ah, little woman, are we good? In black?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lady-in-waiting you might be. You used</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To laugh so much.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I don't laugh now.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Indeed!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I think she's weeping! Marion! You?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>wiping her eyes: with firm tone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My lord,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I want to see his Majesty at once!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">For what?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Just Heaven! For—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Is it against</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">It is!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>opening the gallery for her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Please enter here.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I put the discontented all in there;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do not come out before the signal, please.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> enters; he shuts door.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">I would have run the risk for my old friend.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It costs no more to do it for them both.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The hall is gradually filled with Courtiers; they talk together. <span class="sc">Duke +de Bellegarde</span> goes from one to the other. <span class="sc">L'Angely</span> enters.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE V</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Duke de Beaupréau</span>, <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>, <span class="sc">Viscount de Rohan</span>, <span class="sc">Count +de Charnacé</span>, <span class="sc">Abbé de Gondi</span>, and other courtiers</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>to <span class="sc">Duke de Beaupréau</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good-morning, Duke!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BEAUPRÉAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Good-morning!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Any news?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BEAUPRÉAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">There's talk of a new cardinal.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Which one?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Archbishop of Arle?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BEAUPRÉAU.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">No! Bishop of Autun.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All Paris thinks he has obtained the hat.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ABBÉ DE GONDI.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">'Tis his by right. He was commander of</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Artillery at the siege of La Rochelle.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">That's true!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">The Holy See has my approval.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This one will be a cardinal according</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To the canons.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ABBÉ DE GONDI (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">L'Angely—the fool!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My lord knows all my names.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Laffemas</span> enters; all the Courtiers vie with each other in paying +court to him and surrounding him. <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span> watches them with +vexation.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>to</i> <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Fool, who's that man</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who wears the ermine cloak?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Whom every one</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is paying court to?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes. I know him not.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is he a follower of Monsieur d'Orleans?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">They would not fawn on him so much.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>watching <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>, who struts about</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What airs!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As if he were grandee of Spain!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">It is</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sir Laffemas, intendant of Champagne,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lieutenant-Criminal—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Infernal, say!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's called the Cardinal's executioner?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>still low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The same.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">That man at Court!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Why not? One extra</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tiger-cat in the menagerie!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Shall I present him?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>haughtily</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Peace, you fool!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I think</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd cultivate him if I were a lord.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be friendly! Unto each man comes his day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If he takes not your hand, he may your head.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He seeks <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>, presents him to <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span>, who bows +with ill-concealed displeasure.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sir Duke!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Sir, I am charmed—</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Aside.</i>] Upon my life,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We're fallen low, Monsieur de Richelieu!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Laffemas</span> walks away.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE ROHAN (<i>bursting into laughter among a group of Courtiers in the back of the hall</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Delightful!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">What?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE ROHAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">That Marion is here.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Here—Marion?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE ROHAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">We were just saying this:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Chaste Louis's guest is Marion." How rich!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A charming piece of wit, indeed, my lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>to <span class="sc">Count de Charnacé</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sir wolf-hunter, have you found any prey?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is hunting good?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNT DE CHARNACÉ.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">There's nothing! Yesterday</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I had great expectations, for three peasants</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had been devoured by wolves. At first I thought</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We would find several at Chambord. I beat</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The woods, but not a wolf, nor trace of one!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i>] Fool, know you anything that's gay?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Nothing,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My lord, except two men will soon be hanged</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At Beaugency for dueling.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ABBÉ DE GONDI.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">So little,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bah! [<i>The small gilt door is opened.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">AN USHER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">The King!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The King</span> enters; he is in black, his eyes are cast down. The order +of the Holy Ghost is on his doublet and his cloak. Hat on his head. The +Courtiers all uncover and range themselves, silently, in two rows. The +Guards lower their pikes and present muskets.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VI</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">The King.</span> <span class="sc">The King</span> enters slowly, passes through the +crowd of Courtiers, without lifting his head, stops at front of stage, +and stands for several instants absorbed and silent. The Courtiers +retire to the back of the hall</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">All things move on from bad to worse. Yes, all!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To Courtiers, nodding his head.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">God keep you, gentlemen!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He throws himself into a large armchair and sighs profoundly.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">I have slept ill!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">My lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>advancing with three profound salutations</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">The time for sleeping, sire, is past.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>eagerly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">True, Duke! The State is rushing to destruction</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With giant strides!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">'Tis guided by a hand</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Both strong and wise.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">He bears a heavy burden,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Our good lord cardinal!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">He is old.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I ought to spare him, but I have enough</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To do with living, without reigning!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="im5">Sire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal's not old!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Pray, tell me frankly—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No one is watching or is listening here—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What do you think of him?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Of whom, sire?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">His Eminence?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Of course!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">My dazzled eyes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can hardly fix themselves—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Is that your frankness?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There is no cardinal here, nor red, nor gray!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No spies! Speak! Why are you afraid? The King</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Wants your opinion of the Cardinal.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Entirely frank, sire?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes, entirely frank.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>boldly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well, then, I think him a great man!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">If needful</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You would proclaim it on the house-tops? Good!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can you not understand? The State, mark me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is suffering, because he does it all</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And I am nothing!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ah!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Rules he not war</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And peace, finances, states? Makes he not laws,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Edicts, mandates, and ordinances too?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Through treachery he broke the Catholic league;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He strikes the house of Austria—friendly</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To me—to which the Queen belongs.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Ah, sire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He lets you keep a vivary within</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Louvre. You have your share.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Then he intrigues</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With Denmark.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">But he let you fix the marc</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Among the jewelers.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>whose ill-humor increases</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">He fights with Rome!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He let you issue an edict, alone,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">By which a citizen was not allowed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To eat more than a crown's worth at a tavern,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">E'en though he wished to.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">All the treaties he</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Concludes in secret.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes; but then you have</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your hunting mansion at Planchette.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">All—all!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He does it all! All with petitions rush</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To him! I'm but a shadow to the French!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is there a single one who comes to me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For help?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Those who have the king's evil come.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The anger of <span class="sc">The King</span> increases.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He means to give my order to his brother!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will not have it! I rebel.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">But, sire—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I am disgusted with his people!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">His niece, Combalet, leads a model life.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">'Tis slander, sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Two hundred foot-guards!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">But</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Only a hundred horse-guards!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What a shame!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He saves France, sire.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Does he? He damns my soul!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With one arm fights the heathen, with the other</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He signs a compact with the Huguenots.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Whispering to <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Then, if I dared to count upon my hand</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The heads—the heads that fall for him at Grève!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All friends of mine! His purple robes are made</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of their hearts' blood! 'Tis he who forces me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To wear eternal mourning.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Treats he his own</span><br /> +<span class="i0">More kindly? Did he spare Saint Preuil?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">He has</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A bitter tenderness, they say, for those</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He loves. He must love me tremendously!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Abruptly, after a pause, folding his arms.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">He has exiled my mother!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">But he thinks</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He does your will. He's faithful. He is firm</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And sure.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I hate him! He is in my way.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He crushes me! I am not master here—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not free! And yet I might be something. Ah,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When he walks o'er me with such heavy tread,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Does he not fear to rouse a slumbering king?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For trembling near me, be it ne'er so high,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His fortune vacillates with every breath</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I draw, and all would crumble at a word,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Did I wish loud, what I wish in my heart!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A pause.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">That man makes good men bad, and bad men vile!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The kingdom, like the king, already sick,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Grows worse. Without is cardinal, within</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is cardinal; no king is anywhere!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He torments Austria, lets any one</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Capture my vessels in Gascony's Bay.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Allies me with Gustavus Adolphus!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What more? I do not know. He's everywhere:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As if he were soul of the king, he fills</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My kingdom, and my family, and me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am much to be pitied. [Going to window.</span><br /> +<span class="m4">Always rain.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Your Majesty is suffering?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I am bored.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A pause.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">I am the first in France and yet the last!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd change my lot to lead a poacher's life—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To hunt all day; to have no cares to fret</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The pleasures of the chase; to sleep 'neath trees;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To laugh at the King's officers, to sing</span><br /> +<span class="i0">During the storm; to live as freely in the woods</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As birds live in the air. The peasant in</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His hut, at least, is master and is king;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But with that scarlet man forever there,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Forever stern and cold, and speaking thus,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"This must be your good pleasure, sire!" Oh, outrage!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This man conceals me from my people's gaze.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As with young children, he hides me beneath</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His robe; and when a passer-by asks, "Who</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is that behind the Cardinal?" they say,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"The King!" Then there are new lists every day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Last week the Huguenots; the duelists</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To-day! He wants their heads. Such a great crime—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A duel! But the heads; what does he do</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With them?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span> stamps his foot. Enter <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span> and +<span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VII</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Marion</span>, <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>. <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span> advances +with his escort to within a few steps of <span class="sc">The King</span>; he kneels there. +<span class="sc">Marion</span> falls on her knees at the door</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Justice, my sire.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Against whom? Speak!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Against a cruel tyrant—against Armand,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Called here the cardinal-minister!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Mercy,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">For whom?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">For Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">And for him,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gaspard de Saverny!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I've heard those names.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Justice and mercy, sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What title?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Sire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am uncle of one.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">And you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I'm sister</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unto the other!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Why do you come here,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sister and uncle?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>indicating first one of <span class="sc">The King's</span> hands, then the other</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">To entreat mercy</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From this hand, and justice from that! My sire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I, William, Marquis de Nangis, Captain</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of Hundred Lances, Baron of Mountain</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And Field, do make appeal to my two lords—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The King of France and God, for justice 'gainst</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Armand du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gaspard de Saverny, for whom I make</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This prayer, is my nephew—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>low to <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Oh, speak for both,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>continuing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Last month he had a duel with</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A captain, a young nobleman, Didier.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of parentage uncertain. 'Twas a fault.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They were too rash and brave. The minister</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had stationed sergeants—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes, I know the story.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Well, what have you to say?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">That 'tis high time</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You thought about these things! The Cardinal-Duke</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has more than one disastrous scheme afoot.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He drinks the best blood of your subjects, sire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your father, Henry IV., of royal heart,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Would not have sacrificed his nobles thus!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He never struck them down without dire need!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Well served by them, he sought to guard them well.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He knew good soldiers had more use in them</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than trunkless heads. He knew their worth in war,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This soldier-king whose doublet smelled of battle!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Great days were those. I shared, I honor them!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A few of the old race are living yet.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Never could priest have touched one of those lords.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There was no selling of a great head cheap!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sire, in these treacherous days to which we've come,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Trust an old man, keep a few nobles by.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Perhaps, in your turn, you will need their help.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The time may come when you will groan to think</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of all the honors lavished on La Grève!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then, sadly, your regretful eyes will seek</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Those lords indomitably brave and true,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who, dead so long, had still been young to-day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The country's heart yet pants with civil war;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The tocsin of past years re-echoes yet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be saving of the executioner's arm!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He is the one should sheathe his sword, not we!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be miserly with scaffolds, O my sire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twill be a woful thing some later day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To mourn this great man's help, who hangs to-day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A whitening skeleton on gallows-tree!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For blood, my king, is no good, wholesome dew.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You'll reap no crops from irrigated Grève!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The people will avoid the sight of kings.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That flattering voice which tells you all is well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tells you you're son of Henry IV., and Bourbon—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That voice, my sire, however high it soars,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can never drown the thud of falling heads!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take my advice: play not this costly game.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You, King, are bound to look God in the face,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hark to the words of fate, ere it rebels!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">War is a nobler thing than massacre!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis not a prosperous nor joyful State</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When headsmen have more work than soldiers have!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He for our country is a pastor hard,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who dares collect his tithes in slaughtered heads!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Look! this proud lord of inhumanity</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who holds your scepter has blood-covered hands!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal's my friend! Who loves me must</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Love him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Silence! He's my second self.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Bring no more such griefs to trouble me!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Showing his hair, which is beginning to turn gray.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Petitioners like you make these gray hairs!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">An old man, sire; a woman, sire, who weeps!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A word from you is life or death for us!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What do you ask?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Pardon for my Gaspard!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Pardon for Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Pardons of a king</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are often thefts from justice!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Oh, no, sire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since God himself is merciful, you need</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not fear! Have pity! Two young, thoughtless men,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pushed by this duel o'er a precipice</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To die! Good God! to die upon the gallows!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You will have pity, won't you? I don't know</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How people talk to kings—I'm but a woman;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To weep so much perhaps is wrong. But oh,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A monster is that cardinal of yours.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why does he hate them? They did naught to him.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He never saw my Didier. All who do</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Must love him! They're so young—these two! To die</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For just a duel! Think about their mothers.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, it is horrible! You will not do it, sire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We women cannot talk as well as men.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We've only cries and tears and knees, which bend</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And totter as kings turn their eyes on us.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They were in fault, of course! But if they broke</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your law, you can forgive it! What is youth?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Young people are so heedless! For a look,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A word, a trifle, anything or nothing,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They always lose their heads like that! Such things</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are happening every day. Each noble, here,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He knows it. Ask them, sire! Is it not true,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My lords? Oh, frightful hour of agony!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To know with one word you can save two lives!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd love you all my life, sire, if you would</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have mercy—mercy, God! If I knew how,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd talk so that you'd have to say that word.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You'd pardon them; you'd say, "I must console</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That woman, for her Didier is her soul."</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I suffocate, sire. Pity, pity me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who is this woman?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">She's a sister, sire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who trembles at your feet. You owe something</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unto your people!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes! I owe myself</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To them, and dueling does grievous harm.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You should have pity!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">And obedience, too!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Two boys of twenty years! Think of it well!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Their years together are but half of mine!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Your Majesty, you have a mother, wife,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A son—some one at least who's dear to you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A brother? Then have pity for a sister!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No, I have not a brother! [<i>Reflects a moment.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m4">Yes, <i>Monsieur</i>!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Perceiving the escort of <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Well, my lord marquis, what is this brigade?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are we besieged, or off to the Crusades?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To bring your guards thus boldly in my sight,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are you a duke and peer?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I'm better, sire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than any duke and peer, created for mere show!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm Breton baron of four baronies.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">His pride is great, and here, unfortunate!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good! To your manors carry back your rights,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And leave us ours within our own domain.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We are justiciary!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARQUIS DE NANGIS (<i>shuddering</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Sire, reflect!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Think of their age, their expiated fault!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Falling on his knees.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">The pride of an old man, who, prostrate, kneels!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have mercy!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The King</span> makes an abrupt sign of anger and refusal.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">I was comrade to Henry!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your father and our father! I was there</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When he—that monster—struck the fatal blow.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Til night I watched beside my royal dead:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It was my duty. I have seen my father</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And my six brothers fall 'neath rival factions;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have lost the wife who loved me. Now</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The old man standing here is like a victim</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whom a hard executioner, for sport,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has bound unto the wheel the whole long day.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My master, God has broken every limb</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With His great iron rod! 'Tis night-time now,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And I've received the final blow! Farewell,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My king! God keep you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He makes a profound obeisance, and exits. <span class="sc">Marion</span> lifts herself with +difficulty, and, staggering, falls on the threshold of the gilt door of +<span class="sc">The King's</span> private room.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>to <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span>, wiping his eyes and watching the retreating figure of <span class="sc">Marquis de Nangis</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">A sad interview!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ah, not to weaken, kings must watch themselves!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To do right is not easy. I was touched.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Reflects for a moment, then interrupts himself suddenly.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">No pardoning to-day, for yesterday</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I sinned too much!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Approaching <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Before he came, my lord,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You said bold things, which may be bad for you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When I report to my lord cardinal</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The conversation we have had. I'm sorry</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For you, Duke. In the future, have more care!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I slept so wretchedly, my poor Bellegarde.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>With a gesture dismissing Courtiers and Guards.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Pray leave us, gentlemen!</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>To <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i>] Stay, you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>All go out except <span class="sc">Marion</span>, whom <span class="sc">The King</span> does not see. <span class="sc">Duke de +Bellegarde</span> sees her crouching on the threshold of the door and goes to +her.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (<i>low to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My child,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You can't remain here, crouching by this door;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What are you doing like a statue there?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Get up and go away!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I'm waiting here</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For them to kill me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>low to <span class="sc">Duke de Bellegarde</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Leave her there, my lord!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Low to <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] Remain!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He returns to <span class="sc">The King</span>, who is seated in the great armchair and is +in a profound reverie.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VIII</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">The King, L'Angely</p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>sighing deeply</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Ah! L'Angely, my heart is sick.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis full of bitterness. I cannot smile.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You, only, have the power to cheer me. Come!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You stand in no awe of my majesty.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come, throw a glint of pleasure in my soul.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A pause.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Life is a bitter thing, your Majesty.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alas!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Man is a breath ephemeral!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A breath, and nothing more!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Unfortunate</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is any one who is both man and king.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is it not true?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">A double burden—yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">And better far than life, sire, is the tomb,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If but its gloom is deep enough!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I've thought</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That always!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">To be dead or unborn is</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The only happiness. Yes, man's condemned!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You give me pleasure when you talk like this!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A silence.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Once in the tomb, think you one e'er gets out?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>whose sadness has increased with the Fool's words</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We'll know that later. I wish I were there!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Silence.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Fool, I'm unhappy! Do you comprehend?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I see it in your face so thin and worn,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And in your mourning—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ah, why should I laugh?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your tricks are lost on me! What use is life</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To you? The fine profession! Jester to the King!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bell out of tune, a jumping-jack to play with,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whose half-cracked laugh is but a poor grimace!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What is there in the world for you, poor toy?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why do you live?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">For curiosity.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But you—why should you live? I pity you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd sooner be a woman than a king</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Like you. I'm but a jumping-jack whose string</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You hold; but underneath your royal coat</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There's hid a tauter string, a strong arm holds.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Better a jumping-jack in a king's hands</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than in a priest's, my sire.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Silence.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>thinking, growing more and more sad</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">You speak the truth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Although you laugh. He is a fearful man!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has Satan made himself a cardinal?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What if 'twere Satan who possessed my soul!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What say you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I have often had that thought</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Myself!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">We must not speak thus. 'Tis a sin!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Behold, how dire misfortune follows me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I had some Spanish cormorants. I come</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To this place—not a drop of water here</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For fishing! In the country! Not a pond</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In this accursed Chambord large enough</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To drown a flesh-worm! When I wish to hunt—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The sea! And when I wish to fish—the fields!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Am I unfortunate enough?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Your life</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is full of woe.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">How will you comfort me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Another grief! You hold in high esteem,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And justly too, the art of training hawks</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For hunting partridges. A good huntsman—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You're one—ought to respect the falconer.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The falconer! A god!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Well! there are two</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who are at point of death!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Two falconers?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Who are they?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Two famous ones!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">But who?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Those two young men whose lives were begged of you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Gaspard and Didier?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes; they are the last.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What a calamity! Two falconers!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now that the art is very nearly lost.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unhappy duel! When I'm dead, this art</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will go from earth, as all things go at last!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why did they fight this duel?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">One declared</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That hawks upon the wing were not as swift</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As falcons.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">He was wrong. But yet that seems</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Scarcely a hanging matter— [<i>Silence.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m4">And my right</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of pardon is inviolable—though</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am too lenient, says the Cardinal! [<i>Silence.</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i>] The Cardinal desires their death?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">He does!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>after pausing and reflecting</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Then they shall die!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">They shall!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Poor falconry!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>going to window</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sire, look!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>turns around suddenly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">At what?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Just look, I beg of you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>rising and going to the window</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is it?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>indicating something outside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">They have changed the sentinel!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well, is that all?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Who is that fellow with</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The yellow lace?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">No one—the corporal!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He puts a new man there. What says he, low?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The password! Fool! What are you driving at?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">At this: Kings act the part of sentinels.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Instead of pikes, a scepter they must bear.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When they have strutted 'round their little day,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Death comes—the corporal of kings—and puts</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Another scepter-bearer in their place,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Speaking the password which God sends, and which</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is clemency.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">No, it is justice. Ah,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Two falconers! It is a frightful loss!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Still, they must die.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">As you must die, and I.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or big or little, death has appetite</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For all. But though they've not much room,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The dead sleep well. The Cardinal annoys</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And wearies you. Wait, sire! A day, a month,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A year; when we have played as long as needful—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I, my own part of fool; you, king; and he,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The master—we will go to sleep. No matter</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How proud or great we are, no one shall have</span><br /> +<span class="i0">More than six feet of territory there.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Look! how they bear his lordly litter now!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, life is dark; the tomb alone is bright.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you were not at hand to cheer me up—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alas! I came to-day to say farewell.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What's that?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I leave you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">You're a crazy fool!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Death, only, frees from royal service.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am about to die!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Have you gone mad?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You have condemned me—you, the King of France!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If you are joking, fool, explain yourself.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I shared the duel of those two young men—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At least my sword did, sire, if I did not.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I here surrender it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Draws his sword and, kneeling, presents it to <span class="sc">The King</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>takes it and examines it</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Indeed, a sword!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Where does it come from, friend?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">We're noble, sire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The guilty are not pardoned. I am one.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>somber and stern</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good night, then! Let me kiss your neck, poor fool,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Before they cut it off. [<i>Embraces <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">He's in dead earnest!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>after a pause</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">For never does a worthy king oppose</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The course of justice. But you claim too much,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lord Cardinal—two falconers and my fool!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All for one duel!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Greatly agitated, he walks up and down with his hand on his forehead. +Then he turns to <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>, who is most anxious.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Go! console yourself!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Life is but bitterness, the tomb means rest.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Man is a breath ephemeral.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">The devil!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The King</span> continues to pace the floor and appears violently +agitated.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">And so, you think you'll have to hang, poor fool!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He means it! God! I feel cold perspiration</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Starting upon my brow.</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Aloud.</i>] Unless a word</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From you—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Whom shall I have to make me laugh?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you should rise from out the tomb, come back</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And tell me all about it. 'Tis a chance!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The errand is a pleasant one!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The King</span> continues to walk rapidly, speaking to <span class="sc">L'Angely</span> now and +then.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">What triumph</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For my lord cardinal—my fool!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Folding his arms.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">Think you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I could be master if I wished to be?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Montaigne would say, "Who knows?" And Rabelais,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"Perhaps."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>with gesture of determination</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Give me a parchment, fool.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">L'Angely</span> eagerly hands a parchment which he finds on the table near +the writing-desk. <span class="sc">The King</span> hastily writes a few words, then gives the +parchment back to <span class="sc">L'Angely</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">Behold!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I pardon all.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">All three?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>running to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Come, madame,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come, kneel, and thank the King.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>falling on her knees</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">We have the pardon?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes! It was I—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Whose knees must I embrace—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His Majesty's or yours?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>astonished, examining <span class="sc">Marion</span>: aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What does this mean?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is this a trap?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>giving parchment to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Here is the pardon. Take it!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> kisses it, and puts it in her bosom.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Have I been duped?</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] One instant! Give it back!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good God!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">The King</span>, with courage, touching her breast.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">Come here and take it, and tear out</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My heart as well!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The King</span> stops and steps backward, much embarrassed.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>low to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Good! Keep it, and be firm!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His Majesty won't take it, there!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Give it</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Take it, my sire!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>casting down his eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Who is this siren?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>low to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He wouldn't touch the corset of the Queen!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING (<i>after a moment's hesitation, dismisses <span class="sc">Marion</span> with a gesture without looking at her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well, go!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>bowing profoundly to <span class="sc">The King</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I'll fly to save the prisoners! [<i>Exits.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY (<i>to <span class="sc">The King</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She's sister to Didier, the falconer.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She can be what she will. It's very strange,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The way she made me drop my eyes! Made me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A man— [<i>Silence.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m2">Fool, you have played a trick on me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll have to pardon you a second time.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, do it! Every time they grant a pardon,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Kings lift a dreary weight from off their hearts.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE KING.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You speak the truth. I always suffer when</span><br /> +<span class="i0">La Grève holds court. Nangis was right: the dead</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Serve nobody. To fill Montfaucon</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I make a desert of the Louvre!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Walking rapidly.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">'Tis treason</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To strike my right of pardon out, before</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My face. What can I do? Disarmed, dethroned,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And fallen: in this man absorbed, as in</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A sepulcher! His cloak becomes my shroud:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My people mourn for me as for the dead.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am resolved: those two boys shall not die!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The joy of living is a heavenly gift.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>After reflection.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">God, who knows where we go, can ope the tomb;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A king cannot. Back to their families</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I give them; that old man, that fair young girl,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will bless me. It is said: I've signed it—I,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The King. The Cardinal will be furious,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But it will please Bellegarde.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">L'ANGELY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">One can, sometimes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be kingly by mistake.</span> +</div> + + + + +<h3>ACT V</h3> + +<p class="center">THE CARDINAL</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>Beaugency. The tower of Beaugency. A courtyard; the tower in +the background, all around a high wall. To the left, a tall arched door; +to the right, a small rounded door in the wall; near the door a stone +table and stone bench</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>Some Workmen. They are pulling down a corner of the back wall on the +left. The demolition is almost completed</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FIRST WORKMAN (<i>working with his pickax</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">It's very hard!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SECOND WORKMAN (<i>working</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Deuce take this heavy wall we're pulling down!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THIRD WORKMAN (<i>working</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Saw you the scaffold, Peter?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FIRST WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes, I did.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to the large door and measures it.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">The door is narrow; never will the litter</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the Lord Cardinal go through it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THIRD WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Bah!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is it a house?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FIRST WORKMAN (<i>with affirmative gesture</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">With great long curtains. Yes.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It takes some four and twenty men on foot</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To carry it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SECOND WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I saw the great machine,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">One night when it was very dark. It looked</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Just like Leviathan in shadow-land.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THIRD WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What does he come here with his sergeants for?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FIRST WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To see the execution of those two young men.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's sick. He needs to be amused.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SECOND WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">To work!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They resume work; the wall is about torn down.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Saw you the scaffold, all in black? That comes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of being noble!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FIRST WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">They have everything.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SECOND WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I wonder</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If they would build a black scaffold for us.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FIRST WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What have those young men done that they should die?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hein? Do you understand, Maurice?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THIRD WORKMAN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I don't.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It's justice.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They continue their work. <span class="sc">Laffemas</span> enters; <span class="sc">The Workmen</span> are silent. +He comes from the back as though he were coming from an inside court of +the prison; stops beside <span class="sc">The Workmen</span>, appears to examine the breach, +and gives them some directions. When the space is opened, he orders +them to hang black cloth across it, which covers it entirely; then he +dismisses them. At almost the same moment <span class="sc">Marion</span> appears, dressed in +white, and veiled; she enters through the great door, crosses the court +rapidly, and runs to the grating of the small door, at which she knocks. +<span class="sc">Laffemas</span> follows slowly in the same direction. The grating is opened; +<span class="sc">The Turnkey</span> appears.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Marion, Laffemas</p> + + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>showing a parchment to <span class="sc">The Turnkey</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Order of the King!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE TURNKEY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You can't</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Enter, madame.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">What!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>presenting a paper to <span class="sc">The Turnkey</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Signed, the Cardinal!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE TURNKEY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Enter.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>When about to enter, <span class="sc">Laffemas</span> turns, looks at <span class="sc">Marion</span> a moment, +then approaches her. <span class="sc">The Turnkey</span> shuts the door.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">You here? This questionable place!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I am. [<i>Triumphantly showing the parchment.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m2">I have the pardon!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>showing his</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes? I have</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The revocation!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>with a cry of horror</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Mine was yesterday—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The morning!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Mine, last night!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>with hands over her eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">My God! No hope!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Hope is a flash of lightning which deceives.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The clemency of kings is a frail thing;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It comes with lagging steps and goes with wings.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The King was moved with pity for their fate!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What can the King against the Cardinal?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, Didier, our last hope's extinguished now!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Not—not the last!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Just Heaven!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>drawing near to her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">There is here</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A man whom one short word from you could make</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Happier than any king, and mightier too!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Away!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Is that your answer?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>haughtily</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I beg you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How fleeting are the whims of the fair sex!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You were not always, madame, so severe!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Now that 'tis question of your lover's life—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>without looking at him, turning to the small door, her hands clasped</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If it would save your life, I could not go</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Back to that infamy. My soul's grown pure</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At touch of you, my Didier; sin is shamed.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your love gives back my lost virginity.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Well, love him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Ah, he pushes me from crime</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To vice! Oh, monster, go! Let me keep pure!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">There is but one thing left for me to do!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is it?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I can show you—let you see.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is to-night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>trembling all over</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Oh, heaven! this night!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">This night</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal, in litter, will attend.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> is buried in a deep and painful reverie. Suddenly she passes +her two hands over her brow and turns, as if wild, toward <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How could you manage their escape?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You mean?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Two of my men could guard this place, by which</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal passes—</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He listens at the small door.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">I think some one comes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>wringing her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You'll save him?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">LAFFEMAS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Yes.</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>Low.</i>] To tell you in this place—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The walls have echoes—elsewhere.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>with despair</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Laffemas</span> goes toward the large door and signs to her to follow. She +falls on her knees, turned toward the grating of the prison; then she +arises with a convulsive effort and disappears through the great door +after <span class="sc">Laffemas</span>. <span class="sc">Saverny</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span> enter, surrounded by Guards.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Didier</span>, <span class="sc">Saverny</span>. <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, dressed in the latest fashion, enters +gayly and petulantly. <span class="sc">Didier</span> is in black, walks slowly, is very pale. +A jailer accompanied by Halberdiers conducts them. <span class="sc">The Jailer</span> places +the two Halberdiers as sentinels beside the black curtain. <span class="sc">Didier</span> +sits, silently, on the stone bench</i></p> + + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>to <span class="sc">The Jailer</span>, who opens the door for him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Thank you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The air is very good!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER (<i>low, and drawing him aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">My lord, two words with you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Four, if you like.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER (<i>lowering his voice still more</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Will you escape?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>eagerly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Speak! How?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">That's my affair.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Truly? [<i><span class="sc">The Jailer</span> nods his head.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m4">Lord Cardinal,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You meant to keep me from attending balls,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But it appears I am to dance again.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The pleasant thing that life is!</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>To <span class="sc">The Jailer</span>.</i>] When, my friend?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To-night, as soon as it is dark.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My faith!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I shall be charmed to leave these quarters. Whence</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Comes this assistance?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Marquis de Nangis.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My good old uncle!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">The Jailer</span>.</i>] 'Tis for both, I hope!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I can save only one!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">For twice as much?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I can save only one!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>tossing his head</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Just one?</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>Low to <span class="sc">The Jailer</span>.</i>] Then listen;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Good jailer, that's the one to save!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Indicating <span class="sc">Didier</span>.</i></p> + + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">You jest!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I do not! He's the one!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What an idea!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your uncle wants to save you, not save him.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's settled? Then prepare two shrouds at once.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Turns his back on <span class="sc">The Jailer</span>, who goes out, astonished. <span class="sc">A +Registrar</span> enters.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">We can't be left alone an instant—strange!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">REGISTRAR (<i>saluting the prisoners</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The royal councilor of the Great Chamber</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is close at hand.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Salutes them again and exits.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">'Tis well! [<i>Laughing.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m4">Annoying luck!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Twenty years old—September—and to die</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Before October!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>motionless at front of stage, holding the portrait in his hand, and as if absorbed in a deep study of it</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Come, look at me well!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Eyes in my eyes: thus. You are beautiful!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What radiant grace! Hardly a woman, you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No: much more like an angel. God Himself</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When He formed that divinely honest look</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Put much fire in it but more chastity.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That childish mouth, pushed open by sweet hopes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Throbs with its innocence.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Throwing the portrait violently to the ground.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">Why did that peasant</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take me unto her breast? Why not have dashed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My head against the stones? What did I do</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unto my mother to be cursed with birth?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why, in that misery, it may be crime,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which forced her to abandon her own blood,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Had she not motherhood enough to choke</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Me in her arms?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>returning from back of court</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">The swallows fly quite low;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twill rain to-night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>without hearing him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">A faithless, a mad thing,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A woman is: inconstant, cruel, deep,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And turbulent as is the ocean. Ah,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon that sea I trusted all my fortune!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In all the vast horizon saw one star!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Well! I am shipwrecked! Nothing's left but death.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Yet I was born good-hearted: might have found</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The spark divine within me by-and-by.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fair looked the future! Oh, remorseless woman,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Did you not shrink in face of such a lie,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since to your mercy I trusted my soul?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Forever Marion! You've strange ideas</span><br /> +<span class="i0">About her!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>without heeding him, picks up the picture and fixes his eyes upon it</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Down 'mongst the degraded things</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I must throw you, oh, woman who betrays!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A demon, with eyes touched by angels' wings.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Puts it back into his breast.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Come back; here is your place!</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>Approaching <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i>] A curious thing!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That portrait is alive; I do not jest.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">While you were sleeping there so peacefully</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It gnawed my heart all night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Alas! poor friend.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We'll talk of death.</span><br /> +<span class="m3">[<i>Aside.</i>] It comforts him, although</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I find it rather sad.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What did you say?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have not listened. Since I heard that name</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have been stupefied. I cannot think:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I can't remember, cannot hear nor see!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>taking hold of his arm</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Death, friend!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>joyfully</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Oh, yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Let's talk about it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What is it, after all?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Did you sleep well</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Last night?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">No, badly, for my bed was hard.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">When you are dead, your bed will be much harder,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But you will sleep extremely well—that's all.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They've made hell splendidly; but by the side</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of life, it's nothing.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Good! My fears are gone!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But to be hanged! That certainly is bad.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You're getting death; don't be an egotist.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You can be satisfied; but I am not.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm not afraid of death—that is no boast—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When death is death, but on the gallows!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Death has a thousand forms—gallows are one.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That moment is not pleasant when the rope</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Puts out your life as one puts out a flame,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Choking your throat to let your soul fly up;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But, after all, what matter? If all's dark,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If only all this earth is hidden well,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What matter if a tomb lies on one's breast?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What matter if the night-winds howl and blow</span><br /> +<span class="i0">About the strings of flesh crows tore from you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When you were on the gibbet? What care you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You're a philosopher.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes, let them rave.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let vultures tear my flesh, let worms consume,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As they consume all, even kings; my body</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is what's concerned, not I. What do I care?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When sepulchers shut down our mortal eye,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The soul lifts up the mighty mass of stone</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And flies away—</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A Councilor enters, preceded and followed by Halberdiers in black.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Councilor of the Great Chamber</span>, in full dress, <span class="sc">The +Jailer</span>, Guards</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER (<i>announcing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">The Councilor of the King!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>saluting <span class="sc">Saverny</span> and <span class="sc">Didier</span> in turn</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My mission's painful and the law severe—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I understand: there is no hope! Speak, sir!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>unfolds a parchment and reads</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">"We, Louis, King of France and of Navarre,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Reject appeals made by these men condemned,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But moved by pity, change the punishment</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And order them beheaded."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>joyfully</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">God be praised!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>saluting them once more</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are to hold yourselves in readiness;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It will take place to-day.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He salutes and prepares to exit.</i></p> + + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>who has remained in the same thoughtful attitude, to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">As I was saying,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">After this death, although the corpse be mangled,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Though every limb be stamped with hideous wounds,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Though arms be twisted, broken every bone,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Though through the mire the body has been dragged,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From out that putrid, bleeding, awful flesh</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The soul shall rise, unstained, untouched, and pure.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>coming back, to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">'Tis well to occupy yourselves with such</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Great thoughts.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>gently</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Please do not interrupt me, sir.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>gayly to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No gallows!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Order of the fête is changed,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I know. The Cardinal travels with his headsman,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And he must be employed; the ax will rust.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You're cool about it, yet the stake is great.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">The Councilor</span>.</i>] Thank you for such good news.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I wish 'twere better!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Good sir, my zeal—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Excuse me. What's the hour?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">At nine o'clock to-night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I hope the sky</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will be as dark as is my soul.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">The place?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>indicating the neighboring court</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Here in the court. The Cardinal will come.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Councilor</span> exits with his escort. The two prisoners remain alone. Day +begins to fade. The halberds of the two sentinels, who silently +promenade before the breach, are all that can be seen.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>solemnly, after a pause</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">At this portentous hour we must reflect</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon the fate awaiting us. Our years</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are equal, though I'm older far than you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is but just, therefore, that mine should be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The voice to cheer and to exhort you, since</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am the cause of all your misery.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twas I who challenged you. You were content</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And happy: 'twas enough for me to pass</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Across your life to ruin it. My fate</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pressed down upon yours 'til it crushed it. Now,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Together, we are soon to face the tomb.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We'll take each other's hand—</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Sound of hammering.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What is that noise?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is our scaffold which they're building, or</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Our coffins they are nailing.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Saverny</span> sits on the stone bench.</i></p> + +<span class="m4">When the hour</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has tolled, sometimes the heart of man gives way.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Life holds us in a thousand secret ways.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A bell strikes.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">I think a voice is calling to us. Hark!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Another bell.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The hour is striking.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A third bell.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes, the hour!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A fourth bell.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">In chapel!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Four more bells.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is a voice that calls us, just the same.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Another hour!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He leans his elbows on the stone table and drops his head on his +hands. The Guard is changed.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">My friend, do not give way!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Don't falter on this threshold we must cross.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The tomb they're fitting up for us is low,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And won't permit the entrance of a head.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let's go to meet them with a fearless tread.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The scaffold can afford to shake, not we.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They claim our heads; and since no fault is ours,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We'll bear them proudly to the fatal block.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Approaches <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, who is motionless.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Courage!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Touches his arm and finds he is asleep.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">Asleep! While I've been preaching courage</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This man has slept! What is my bravery</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Compared to his? Sleep on, you who can sleep.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My turn will come—provided all things die,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That nothing of the heart survives within</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The tomb, to hate what it has loved too much.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>It is night. While <span class="sc">Didier</span> has become absorbed in his thoughts, +<span class="sc">Marion</span> and <span class="sc">The Jailer</span> enter through the opening in the wall; <span class="sc">The +Jailer</span> precedes her. He carries a dark-lantern and a bundle, both of +which he places on the ground, then advances cautiously toward <span class="sc">Marion</span>, +who has remained standing on the threshold, pale, motionless, half-wild.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE VI</h4> + +<p>[The scenes are mis-numbered in the book and skip from the number IV to the number VI in Act V. (note of etext transcriber)] + +<p class="scene"><i>The same.</i> <span class="sc">Marion</span>, <span class="sc">The Jailer</span></p> + + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>)</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Be sure to come at the appointed hour.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Goes up stage; during the rest of this scene he continues to walk up +and down at the back.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>advances with tottering steps as if absorbed in some desperate thought. Every now and then she draws her hand across her face as if to rub off something</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">His lips, like red-hot iron, have branded me!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Suddenly she discovers <span class="sc">Didier</span>, gives a cry, runs and throws herself +breathless at his feet.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Didier—Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>roused with a start</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Here, Marion! My God!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Coldly.</i>] 'Tis you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Who should it be? Oh, leave me here—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Here at your feet! It is the place I love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your hands, your dear loved hands, give them—your hands!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, they are wounded! Those harsh chains did that.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The wretched creatures! But I'm here—you know—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, it is terrible! [<i>She weeps; her sobs are audible.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Why do you weep?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Why? Didier, I'm not weeping! No, I laugh!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She laughs.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">We'll soon escape from here! I laugh. I'm happy.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You will live; the danger's passed.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She falls again at <span class="sc">Didier's</span> feet and sobs.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">My God!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All this is killing me! I'm broken—crushed.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Madame—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>rises, without hearing him, and gets the bundle and brings it to him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Now hurry! We have not much time!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take this disguise. I've bribed the sentinels.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We'll leave Beaugency without being seen.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Go down that street, at the wall's end, out there!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal will come to see them execute</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His orders; we can't lose an instant now.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The cannon will be fired when he arrives,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And we'll be lost if we should still be here.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">'Tis well!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Quick! hurry! Didier, you are saved!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To be free! Didier, how I love you—God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You say a street where the wall ends?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I do.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I saw it. I've been there. It is quite safe.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I saw them close up the last window, too.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It may be we shall meet some women, but</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They'll think you're just a passer-by. Come, love;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When you are far off—please put on these things—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We'll laugh to see you thus disguised. Come, dear!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>pushing the clothes aside with his foot</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">There is no hurry.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Death waits at the door.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fly! Didier! Since I've come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Why did you come?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To save you! What a question to ask me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Why such a freezing tone?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>with a sad smile</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Ah, well! We men</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are often senseless.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">We are losing time.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The horses wait. What you have in your mind,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You'll tell me afterward. We must fly now.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who is that man there watching us?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">The jailer.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He's safe; I bribed him, as I did the guard.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do you suspect them? You have such an air.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It's nothing. We're so easily deceived.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come! Each lost moment chills me to the heart.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I seem to hear the tread of that great crowd.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hasten, my Didier—on my knees—oh, fly!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>indicating <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, asleep</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Tell me which one of us you want to save.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>overcome for a moment</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] Gaspard is generous: he would not tell.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aloud.</i>] Does Didier speak to his beloved thus?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My Didier, what have you against me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Naught.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lift up your face and look me in the eyes.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span>, trembling, fixes her eyes on him.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">It is a perfect likeness! Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">My love,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I worship you, but come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Don't turn away!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He looks at her fixedly.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>terrified at his look</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] The kisses of that man, he sees them! God!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aloud.</i>] You have a secret, something against me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It hurts you! Tell me all about it, dear.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You know we often make things worse by thinking,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And too late find it out; then we regret.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I had my share in all your thoughts, love, once!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Speak, are those days for evermore gone by?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do you not love me now? Have you forgot</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My little room at Blois? Forgotten how</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We loved each other, till the world was lost?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sometimes you grew uneasy; then I said,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"If any one should see him!" Oh, 'twas fine!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But one day has destroyed it all. You've said</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A thousand times, in words that burned my soul,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I was your love, I knew your secrets, I</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Could make you anything I chose. What have</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I ever asked? I've always thought with you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This time, oh, yield to me! It is your life</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm pleading for. My Didier, hark to me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alive or dead, I swear to follow you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All things with you, love, will be sweet to me—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To fly, or die upon the scaffold. What!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You push me back? You shall not! Leave your hand,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I want it. My poor brow, it does no harm</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To rest it on your knees. I am so tired;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I ran so fast to come! What would they say,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The people I knew once, to see me now?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I was so gay, so merry; now I weep!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What is it that you have against me? Speak!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, shame! You must let me lie at your feet.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It's very cruel of you not to say</span><br /> +<span class="i0">One single word. When we have thoughts, we speak!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twould be more merciful to stab me, love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">See, I have dried my tears, and I am smiling.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You smile too. Oh, if you don't smile at me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will not love you! I have always done</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Just what you wanted; now it is your turn.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">These chains are what have chilled your soul. Love, smile</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And speak to me, and say "Marie."</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">"Marie"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or "Marion"?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>falls annihilated at his feet</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Didier, be merciful!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>with terrible tone</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Here, no one finds an entrance easily.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Prisons of state are guarded night and day,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The doors are iron, walls twenty cubits high;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To open these remorseless doors, madame,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To whom here did you prostitute yourself?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who told you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">No one; but I understand.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Didier, I swear by every hope divine</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It was to save you, tear you from this place;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To melt the executioner—to save you—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Don't you hear?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>folding his arms</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I thank you! To descend</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As low as that! To have no shame, no soul!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, madame! can one be so infamous?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Crossing the court with a great cry of rage.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Who is this trader in disgrace and vice,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who puts a price like that upon my head?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Where is the jailer, where the judge, the man?—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That I may crush him as I crush this thing.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He is about to break the portrait in his hands, but he stops, and +beside himself, continues.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">The judge? Yes, gentlemen, make laws and judge!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What matters it to me if the false weight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which swings your vile scales to this side or that</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be made of woman's honor or man's life?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Marion</span>.</i>] Go to your lover!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Do not treat me thus!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Another word of scorn and I fall dead</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Here at your feet. If ever love was true</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And strong and pure, mine was. If any man</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Was ever worshiped by a woman, you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have been by me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Hush! Do not speak! I might,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For sorrow, have been born a woman too.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I might have been as infamous as you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I might have sold myself, have given my breast</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To any passer-by, as place for rest.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But if there came to me, in his frank way,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">An honest man, filled with the love of truth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If I had met a heart insane enough</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To keep its vain illusions all these years,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, sooner than not tell that honest man</span><br /> +<span class="i0">"I'm this," sooner than charm and dazzle him,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sooner than fail to warn him that my eyes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So candid and my lips so pure were lies,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sooner than be perfidious and base like that,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd want to dig my grave with my own hands.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">O God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">How you would laugh if you could see</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The picture that my heart painted of you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How wise you were to shatter it, madame!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There you were chaste and beautiful and pure!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What injury has this poor man done you,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who loved you on his bended knees?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Presenting portrait to her.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">Perhaps</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This is a fitting time to give you back</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This pledge of love ardent and true.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>turning away with a cry</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Oh, shame!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Did you not have it painted just for me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He laughs, and dashes the locket to the ground.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Will some one, out of pity, kill me now?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Time's passing.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Yes, it flies; and we are lost.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Didier, I've not the right to say a single word.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am a woman to whom naught is due.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You have rebuked and cursed me: you did well!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I merit still more hate and shame. You've been</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Too kind; my broken, bruised heart is grateful.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But the remorseless hour draws near. Away!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The headsman you forget, remembers you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I've planned it all. You can escape. Now, listen—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My God! do not refuse. You know how much</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It costs me. Hate me, strike me, curse me, leave</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Me to my shame, disown me, walk upon</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My bleeding heart—but fly!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Fly where? From whom?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There's naught but you to fly from in this world;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And I escape you, for the grave is deep.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The hour is passing.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">O my Didier, fly!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I will not!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Just for pity!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Pity! why?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To see you taken, bound! To see you—<i>there</i>!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Only to think it makes me die of horror!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come! I will be a servant unto you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come! Take me, when I have redeemed myself,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Just to have something underneath your feet.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The one you called "a wife" in times of trial—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A wife! [<i>Cannon sounds in the distance.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m2">This makes of you a widow, then!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE JAILER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">The hour is past.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Rolling of drums. Enter <span class="sc">Councilor of the Great Chamber</span>, accompanied +by penitents bearing torches, and by <span class="sc">Executioner</span>. A crowd of soldiers +and people follow.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Ah, Christ!</span> +</div> + +<h4>SCENE VII</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Councilor</span>, <span class="sc">Executioner</span>, Populace, Soldiers</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">I'm ready,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gentlemen!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I told you that he'd come!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>to <span class="sc">Councilor</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We're ready also.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Which is named Gaspard,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Marquis de Saverny?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span> points to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>, who is asleep.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Executioner</span>.</i>] Awaken him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">EXECUTIONER (<i>shaking him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How well he sleeps, my lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>rubbing his eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Ah, how could you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Break in on such a pleasant sleep!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">'Tis only</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Interrupted, friend!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>half awake: sees <span class="sc">Marion</span> and salutes her</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Oh, I was dreaming</span><br /> +<span class="i0">About you, my beauty!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Have you made</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your peace with God?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I have, sir.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">It is well.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Please sign this paper!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>takes the parchment, runs over it</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">'Tis the <i>procès-verbal</i>.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Good! This is a most curious thing—account</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of my own death, signed with my autograph!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Signs, and reads the paper again: to <span class="sc">Councilor</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">You have made three mistakes in spelling, sir.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Takes the pen and corrects them. To <span class="sc">Executioner</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">You have awakened me; put me to sleep!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>to <span class="sc">Didier</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Didier!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Didier</span> approaches: <span class="sc">Councilor</span> gives pen to him.</i></p> + +<span class="m2">Your name is there.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>hiding her eyes</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">The grewsome thing!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I could sign nothing with intenser joy!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The Guards form themselves into a line to lead them away.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">SAVERNY (<i>to some one in the crowd</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sir, step aside and let that young child see!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>to <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My brother, 'tis for me you suffer death;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let us embrace each other! [<i>He embraces <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>running to him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">And for me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No kisses, Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>indicating <span class="sc">Saverny</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">This is my friend, madame!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>clasping her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How hard you are upon me, a poor thing,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who always on my knees to king or judge</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have begged mercy for you from every one!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pardon of them for you; pardon of you for me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>rushes to <span class="sc">Marion</span>, trembling, and bursting into tears</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No, I cannot! The torture's horrible!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No, I have loved too much to leave her so!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is too hard to keep a cold, impassive face</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When underneath the heart is breaking down.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come to my arms, oh, woman, come!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Presses her convulsively to his heart.</i></p> + +<span class="m5">I love you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'm about to die. Before them all,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is my loftiest joy to tell you this:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I love you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Embraces her again with rapture.</i></p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">To my heart, oh, come!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You who behold this direful tragedy,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I wonder if there's one of you who would</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Refuse love unto one who'd given herself</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Entirely and unceasingly to him?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, I was wrong! Say, would you have me face</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Eternity without a pardon from</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her lips? No! Stand by me and listen, love:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Among all womankind—and those who hear</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will prove me right by their own hearts—the one</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I love, the one in whom I trust, the one</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I venerate is you—is always you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For you were kind, devoted, loving, good.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My life is almost ended. When death's near</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A clearer light illuminates all things.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you deceived me, 'twas excess of love;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And if you fell, have you not cruelly atoned?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Perhaps your mother—life's so hard—forgot</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You in your cradle, as my mother did;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When you were young and helpless, perhaps they sold</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your innocence. Ah, lift up your white brow!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And listen, all of you. At such an hour</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The earth is a mere shadow and the heart</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Speaks true. Well, at this moment, from the height</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the dread scaffold—and there's naught so high</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When guiltless souls ascend it—here,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I say to you, Marie, angel of light,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whose luster earth has dimmed, my love, my wife,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In God's name, before whom I soon shall stand,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I pardon you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>suffocated with tears</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Ah, Christ!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">It is your turn.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Speak now, and pardon me!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He kneels before her.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Didier!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Your pardon,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Love! I was the most at fault, the most</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Unkind. God has chastised you much through me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Weep for me when I'm gone, because to have</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hurt you is such a burden to take hence</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Into eternity. Don't leave it on me;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pardon me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>inaudibly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Have mercy on me—God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Just speak one word; put your sweet hands upon</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My forehead. If your heart is full and you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Can't speak, please make a sign. I'm dying; you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Must comfort me.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> places her hand on his forehead; he rises, embraces her +tenderly, with a smile of celestial joy.</i></p> + +<span class="m3">Farewell! Come, gentlemen!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let us move on!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>throws herself wildly between him and the Soldiers</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Oh, no! Stop! This is madness!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you think you can behead him easily,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You have forgotten I am here. Spare us!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, men! oh, soldiers, judge, people! Spare us!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How do you want me to ask you? Upon</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My knees? Well, here I am! Now if</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In you there's anything that quivers at</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A woman's voice, if God has thrown no curse</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On you—don't kill him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To the spectators.</i>] Men and women—you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When you go back into your homes to-night,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You'll find your mothers and your daughters; they</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will say to you, "It was a wicked crime.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You might have saved him, and you did not. Shame!"</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Didier, they ought to know that I must follow</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You! They will not kill you if they want</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To keep me living!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Let me die, Marie.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis better, dear one, for my wound is deep;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It would have taken too much time to heal.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Better for me to go; but if, some time—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You see I'm weeping too—another comes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A happier man, more fortunate than I,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Think of your old friend sleeping in the tomb.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You shall not die! Are these men all inhuman?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You must live!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Don't ask things impossible.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No; with your bright eyes, turn, illuminate</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My grave for me. Embrace me. You will love</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Me better, dead. I'll hold a sacred place</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In your dear memory. But if I lived,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Lived near you with my lacerated soul—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I, who have loved no one but you—you see</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It would be painful. I would make you weep.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd have a thousand thoughts I could not speak.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd seem to doubt you, watch you, worry you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You would be most unhappy. Let me die!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">COUNCILOR (<i>to <span class="sc">Marion</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal will pass by soon, madame!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You can ask pardon for him then.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Oh, yes!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal is coming—that is true.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You'll see, then, gentlemen, that he will hear!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My Didier, you shall hear me talk to him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The Cardinal! Indeed, you must be all insane,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To think such an old man—a Christian too,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The gracious Cardinal—will not be glad</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To pardon you. Have you not pardoned me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Nine o'clock strikes. <span class="sc">Didier</span> makes sign to all to hush. <span class="sc">Marion</span> +listens with terror. After the nine strokes have sounded, <span class="sc">Didier</span> goes +and stands close to <span class="sc">Saverny</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIDIER (<i>to the spectators</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You who have come to see the last of us,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If any speak of us, bear witness all,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That without faltering we have heard the hour</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bring us its summons to eternity.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The cannon sounds at the door of the tower; the black veil which +concealed the opening in the wall, falls: the gigantic litter of <span class="sc">The +Cardinal</span> appears, borne by twenty-four foot-guards, surrounded by +twenty other guards bearing halberds and torches: the litter is scarlet +and ornamented with the arms of the House of Richelieu. It crosses the +back of the stage slowly. Great agitation among the crowd.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>dragging herself up to the litter on her knees and wringing her hands</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">In your Christ's name! In name of all your race,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Mercy for them, my lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">A VOICE (<i>from the litter</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">No mercy!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Marion</span> falls to the ground. The litter passes and the procession of +the condemned men follows it. The crowd rush madly after them.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>alone, lifts herself half way up, and drags herself along by her hands: looking around.</i>)</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m5">Ah!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What did he say? Where are they gone? My love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My Didier! No one! Not a sound! Is it</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A dream—this place? the crowd?—or am I mad?</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The people rush back in disorder. The litter reappears in the +background on the side where it went off. <span class="sc">Marion</span> rises and gives a +terrible cry.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">He's coming back!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">GUARDS (<i>pushing the people aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Make way!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MARION (<i>erect and half-wild, pointing to the litter</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Look, all of you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is the red man who goes by!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She falls senseless.</i></p> + + + + + +<h2 id="play03">ESMERALDA</h2> + + + + +<p>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</p> +<ul> + <li class="sc">Esmeralda.</li> + <li class="sc">Phœbus de Chateaupers.</li> + <li class="sc">Claude Frollo.</li> + <li class="sc">Quasimodo.</li> + <li class="sc">Fleur-de-lys.</li> + <li class="sc">Madame Aloise de Gondelaurier.</li> + <li class="sc">Diana.</li> + <li class="sc">Bérangère.</li> + <li class="sc">Viscount de Gif.</li> + <li class="sc">M. de Chevreuse.</li> + <li class="sc">M. de Morlaix.</li> + <li class="sc">Clopin Frouillefou.</li> + <li class="sc">The Town-Crier.</li> +</ul> +<p><i>Populace, Vagrants, Archers, etc.</i></p> + + + +<p class="title">ESMERALDA</p> + + + + +<h3>ACT I</h3> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>The Court of Miracles. It is night. A crowd of vagrants. +Noisy dancing. Male and female beggars in different attitudes of their +profession. The King of Thune on his cask. Fires, lights, torches. In +the shadow a circle of wretched dwellings</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>, <span class="sc">Clopin Frouillefou</span>, then <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, then +<span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>. <span class="sc">The Vagrants</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS OF VAGRANTS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Long live Clopin! Long live the King of Thune!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Long live the rogues of Paris.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let us strike our blows at dusk—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The hour when all the cats are drunk.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let us dance! Defy Pope and bull,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And let us laugh in our skins,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whether April wets or June burns</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The feathers in our caps.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let us smell from afar</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The shot of the avenging archer,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or the bag of money which passes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On the back of the traveler.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In the light of the moon,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We will go dance with the spirits.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Long live Clopin, King of Thune!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Long live the rogues of Paris!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>apart behind a pillar in a corner of the stage. He is covered with a long cloak which hides his priestly garb</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">In the midst of this infamous band</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What matters the sigh of a soul?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I suffer! Oh, never did fiercer flame</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Burn in the bowels of a volcano.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> enters, dancing.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">There she is! There she is! It is she—Esmeralda!</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">It is she! oh, yes—'tis she!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Wherefore, relentless fate,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Made you her so beautiful,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Me—so unfortunate?</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She reaches the center of the stage. <span class="sc">The Vagrants</span> form an admiring +circle around her.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">An orphan am I,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Child of woe,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To you I turn</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And flowers throw!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In my wild joy</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Sad sighs abide;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I show a smile,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The tears I hide.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Poor girl—I dance</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Where brooklets run,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As chirp the birds</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My song flows on:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am the dove</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Which, hurt, must fall;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Over my cradle</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Hangs death's pall.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Young girl, dance on!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">More gentle you make us.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take us for family,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And play with us,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As stoops the nightingale</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Unto the sea,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Teasing its waves</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To ecstasy.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">'Tis the young girl—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Child of woe,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When beams her eye</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Grief must go.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She's like the bee</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Which trembling flies</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To the flower's heart,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Its Paradise.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Young girl, dance on!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">More gentle you make us.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take us for family,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And play with us!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Tremble, young girl—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The priest is jealous.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude</span> attempts to draw near to <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>; she turns away from him +with a kind of horror. The procession of the Pope of Fools enters. +Torches, lanterns and music. In the middle of the procession, upon a +litter surrounded with candles, <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>, decked with cope and miter, +is carried.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Salute him, clerks of Vasoche!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Shell-heaps, lubbers, beggars!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Salute him, all of you! He comes.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Behold the Pope of Fools!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>perceiving <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>, and starting toward him with a gesture of anger</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Quasimodo! What a strange part to play!</span> +<span class="i0">Profanation! Here—Quasimodo!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Great God! what do I hear?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come here, I tell you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO (<i>jumping from the litter</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Here I am!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Be anathematized!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">God! it is himself!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Outrageous audacity!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Moment of terror.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To your knees, traitor!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Pardon me, Master!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No! I am a priest.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> tears off <span class="sc">Quasimodo's</span> pontifical ornaments, and +crushes them underfoot. <span class="sc">The Vagrants</span> begin to murmur; they form +menacing groups around him; he looks at them angrily.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE VAGRANTS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He threatens us,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">O comrades!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Here in this place,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Where we reign.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What means the audacity</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of these robbers?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They menace him,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But we shall see!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Race unclean,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You menace me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Robbers—Jews—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But we shall see!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The anger of <span class="sc">The Vagrants</span> bursts forth.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE VAGRANTS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Stop! stop! stop!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Down with the mar-joy!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He shall pay for it with his head;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In vain he defends himself.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Have respect for his head.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let every one cease,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or I change this festival</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To a bloody battle.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is not about his head</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That Frollo is troubled.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Puts his hand on his heart.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">There is the tempest,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There is the battle!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>At the moment when <span class="sc">The Vagrants</span>' fury has reached its highest pitch, +<span class="sc">Clopin Frouillefou</span> appears at the back of the stage.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who in this infamous den</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Dares to attack my lord the Archdeacon,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And Quasimodo, bell-ringer</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of Notre Dame?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE VAGRANTS (<i>subsiding</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is Clopin, our King!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Clowns! Be off!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE VAGRANTS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">We must obey!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Leave us!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">The Vagrants</span> retire to their hovels. The Court of Miracles appears +deserted. <span class="sc">Clopin</span> approaches <span class="sc">Claude</span> cautiously.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene sc">Claude Frollo, Quasimodo, Clopin Frouillefou</p> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What purpose brings you to this orgy?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has your lordship any orders to give me?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You are my master in sorcery;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Speak—I will do all.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>grasping <span class="sc">Clopin</span>'s arm excitedly, and dragging him to the front of the stage</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">I have come to end all.</span> +<span class="i0">Listen!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I love her more than ever.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You behold me quivering with love and with anguish.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I must have her to-night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You will see her pass by here—in a moment;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is the way to her home.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh! Hell has hold of me!</span> +<span class="m3">[<i>Aloud.</i>] Soon—you say?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Upon the instant!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alone?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Alone.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">That is enough.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Will you wait?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I wait—</span> +<span class="i0">Let me have her, or let me die!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Can I help you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">No!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He motions to <span class="sc">Clopin</span> to leave him, after having thrown him his +purse. When he finds himself alone with <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>, he draws him to the +front of the stage.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come! I need you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">It is well!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">For a deed that is impious, frightful, awful!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are my lord and master!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Chains, death, the law—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We brave them all.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Count upon me.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>recklessly</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I mean to abduct the gypsy!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Master, take my blood—without telling me why!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Upon a sign from <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> he retires up stage and leaves his +master down stage.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, Heaven! to have given one's mind to the depths,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To have tried all the crimes of sorcery,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To have fallen lower than hell itself:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A priest, at midnight, in the dark to watch for a woman!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And to reflect that in this state in which I find my soul God sees me!</span> +</div> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Well! what does it matter?</span> +<span class="i2">Fate drags me on!</span> +<span class="i0">Its hand is too strong,</span> +<span class="i2">Its will be done!</span> +<span class="i0">I begin life over—</span> +<span class="i2">The priest insane</span> +<span class="i0">Feels hope no longer,</span> +<span class="i2">Knows terror is vain!</span> +<span class="i0">Demon, who drugs me,</span> +<span class="i2">Give her to me;</span> +<span class="i0">And I, who evoked thee,</span> +<span class="i2">Thy slave will be—</span> +<span class="i0">Receive the priest</span> +<span class="i2">Whose bonds are riven!</span> +<span class="i0">Hell with her</span> +<span class="i2">Will be my heaven!</span> +<span class="i0">Come, exquisite woman,</span> +<span class="i2">Your beauty I claim.</span> +<span class="i0">You shall own me forever—</span> +<span class="i2">I swear, in God's name!</span> +<span class="i0">Since he—since the master</span> +<span class="i2">By whom love was given,</span> +<span class="i0">Bids me choose—me, a priest,</span> +<span class="i2">Between passion and heaven!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO (<i>returning</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Master, the moment is at hand!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes—the solemn hour:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It will decide my fate. Be silent! Hush!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO <i>and</i> QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">The night is dark,</span> + <span class="i2">Footsteps I hear:</span> + <span class="i0">In shadow does not</span> + <span class="i2">Some one draw near?</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They go to the back of the stage to listen.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE WATCH (<i>passing behind the houses</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vigilance and peace!</span> +<span class="i2">Whoever passes here</span> +<span class="i0">Must ope the eye to darkness,</span> +<span class="i2">To silence strain the ear.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO <i>and</i> QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">In shadow they come;</span> + <span class="i2">They make no sound:</span> + <span class="i0">Still let us be</span> + <span class="i2">While the watch goes round!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The voices of the watch grow fainter.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The watch has passed!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Our terror follows it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> and <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> look anxiously at the door through +which <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> must pass.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Love inspires,</span> +<span class="i2">Hope renders strong,</span> +<span class="i0">Him who watches</span> +<span class="i2">While sleeps the throng.</span> +<span class="i0">I see her come—</span> +<span class="i2">Lo! she appears.</span> +<span class="i0">Maid divine!</span> +<span class="i2">Have no fears!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Love inspires,</span> +<span class="i2">Hope renders strong,</span> +<span class="i0">Him who watches</span> +<span class="i2">While sleeps the throng.</span> +<span class="i0">I see her come,</span> +<span class="i2">Maid divine!</span> +<span class="i0">Lo! she appears—</span> +<span class="i2">She is mine!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> enters: they throw themselves upon her and try to drag her +away: she struggles.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Help—help! To me—help!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO <i>and</i> QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Hush, young maiden—hush!</span> +</div> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>, <span class="sc">Phœbus de Chateaupers</span>, the archers of +the watch</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>entering at the head of a body of archers</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">In the King's name!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>In the struggle <span class="sc">Claude</span> escapes. The archers seize <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Arrest him! hold him close!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be he lord or valet!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At once—we will conduct him</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To the prison Chatelet.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The archers take <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> up stage and off. <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, recovered +from her fright, approaches <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> with curiosity, mingled with +admiration, and draws him gently to the front of the stage.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>to <span class="sc">Phœbus</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Deign to tell me</span> +<span class="i0">Your name, sir!</span> +<span class="i0">I beg you to.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, my child—</span> +<span class="i0">Of the family</span> +<span class="i0">Of Chateaupers.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Captain?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, my queen!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Queen? oh, no!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Exquisite grace!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus! I like your name!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Upon my soul</span> +<span class="i2">I have a blade</span> +<span class="i0">Which has, Madame,</span> +<span class="i2">Great havoc made.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>to <span class="sc">Phœbus</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A beautiful captain,</span> +<span class="i2">An officer grand,</span> +<span class="i0">With corselet of steel</span> +<span class="i2">And an air of command!</span> +<span class="i0">Often, kind sir,</span> +<span class="i2">Our hearts they break,</span> +<span class="i0">And only laugh</span> +<span class="i2">At the tears they make.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With a beautiful captain,</span> +<span class="i2">An officer gay,</span> +<span class="i0">Love hardly succeeds</span> +<span class="i2">In living a day.</span> +<span class="i0">All soldiers desire</span> +<span class="i2">To pluck every rose,</span> +<span class="i0">Joys without troubles,</span> +<span class="i2">Love without woes.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>to <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A radiant spirit</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Smiles at me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Through thine eyes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A beautiful captain,</span> +<span class="i2">An officer grand,</span> +<span class="i0">With corselet of steel</span> +<span class="i2">And an air of command!</span> +<span class="i0">Long watches the girl</span> +<span class="i2">He carelessly passed;</span> +<span class="i0">And the dreams he awakened</span> +<span class="i2">Forever may last!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With a beautiful captain,</span> +<span class="i2">An officer gay,</span> +<span class="i0">Love hardly succeeds</span> +<span class="i2">In a living day!</span> +<span class="i0">It's like lightning which flashes—</span> +<span class="i2">This eager desire</span> +<span class="i0">Which the eyes of sweet maidens</span> +<span class="i2">Kindle to fire!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>standing before the <span class="sc">Captain</span> and admiring him</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My lord Phœbus! Let me see you!</span> +<span class="i0">Let me admire you a hundred-fold!</span> +<span class="i0">Oh the beautiful scarf of silk—</span> +<span class="i0">Oh the fine scarf with fringe of gold!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Phœbus</span> takes it off and offers it to her.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Does it please you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>taking the scarf and putting it on</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, it is beautiful!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">One moment!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He goes to her and tries to embrace her.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>drawing back</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Don't, I beg you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>insisting</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You must kiss me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>drawing away still more</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No, truly!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A beauty</span> +<span class="i0">So cruel,</span> +<span class="i0">So haughty,</span> +<span class="i0">Is charming.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No, beautiful captain,</span> +<span class="i2">In vain you plead!</span> +<span class="i0">Can I tell how far</span> +<span class="i2">A kiss might lead?</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I am a captain,</span> +<span class="i2">Why abuse me?</span> +<span class="i0">I want a kiss—</span> +<span class="i2">Don't refuse me!</span> +<span class="i0">Give it me—give it, or I will take!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No, leave me! I beg of you, for my sake.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">One kiss, one kiss—'tis nothing, you see.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Nothing to you, but much to me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Look at me, dear! I am playing no part!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alas, but I cannot look into my heart!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To-night love shall make an entrance there!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Wherever love enters, soon follows despair.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She slips out of his arms and escapes. <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>, disappointed, +turns to <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>, whom the archers hold bound at the back of the +stage.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She escapes me, she resists me!</span> +<span class="i0">A gay adventure, verily!</span> +<span class="i0">I keep the worst of our two birds of prey—</span> +<span class="i0">The owl remains; the nightingale flew away!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He places himself at the head of his guard and goes out, taking +<span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> with him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS OF THE WATCH.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vigilance and peace—</span> +<span class="i2">Whoever passes here</span> +<span class="i0">Must ope the eye to darkness,</span> +<span class="i2">To silence strain the ear!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The sound grows fainter and finally ceases.</i></p> + + + + +<h3>ACT II</h3> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>The square of Grève. The pillory. <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> is in the +pillory. Populace on the square</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He abducted a girl—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What! is it possible?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hark! how they abuse him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do you hear, my friends?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Quasimodo has been hunting on Cupid's domain!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He will pass through my street</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On his return from the pillory;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And it is Pierrat Forterne</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who will give us the signal.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">TOWN-CRIER.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">In the King's name, whom God protect!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The man you see here, will be put</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Under a strong guard,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In the pillory for one hour.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Down with him! Down with him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The hunchback, the deaf, the one-eyed creature</span><br /> +<span class="m3">This Barabbas!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I believe, s'death! he's looking at us.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Down with the sorcerer!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He makes faces, he kicks;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He makes dogs bark in the streets.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Punish the rascal well!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Double the whip and the penalty.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Drink!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Hang him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Drink!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Be accursed!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, some instants ago, joined the crowd. She perceives +<span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>, first with surprise, then with pity. Suddenly, in the midst +of all the noise, she mounts the pillory, unfastens a little cup which +she carries on her belt, and gives a drink to <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">What are you doing, beautiful girl?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Leave Quasimodo alone!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">When Beelzebub roasts,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Nobody gives him water.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She comes down. The archers unfasten <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> and take him away.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He abducted a woman!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who? This dolt!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is terrible, it is infamous,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">It is too much!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do you hear, my friends?</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Quasimodo</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Dared to go hunting on Cupid's domain.</span></div> +</div> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>A magnificent drawing-room in which people are making preparations for +a festival.</i> <span class="sc">Phœbus, Fleur-de-lys, Madame Aloise De Gondelaurier</span></p> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, my future son-in-law, listen to me. I am fond of you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be master here, as if you were another self.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Look to it that every one is gay to-night.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And you, my daughter, come, get ready.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You will be the most beautiful at this festival,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be also the most happy.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She goes up stage and gives orders to the servants, who continue the +preparations.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sir, since the other week,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">We have hardly seen you twice!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This festival brings you back.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How fortunate for us!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Don't scold, I beg of you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I understand. Phœbus forgets me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I swear to you—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Don't swear!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They only swear who deceive.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Forget you? What folly!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are you not the most fair?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Am I not the most loving?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My beautiful betrothed</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Is out of sorts to-day;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Suspicion is in her mind.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">What a pity!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Beauties, the lovers you treat ill</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Go elsewhere.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You can do more with pleasure</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Than with tears.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To betray me, his betrothed,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who belong to him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I, who have only him to think of</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And worry about!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ah! whether he is away or here,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">What grief!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Present, he scorns my joy;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Absent, my tears.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, the scarf that I worked for you—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What have you done with it? I don't see it.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>troubled</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The scarf? I don't know!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] Good God! unlucky chance!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You forgot it?</span><br /> +<span class="m2">[<i>Aside.</i>]To whom has he given it?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And for whom am I deserted?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE (<i>coming up to them and trying to reconcile them</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Heavens! get married! Then you can quarrel.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>to <span class="sc">Fleur-de-lys</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">No! I have not forgotten it.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I remember, I carefully folded it</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And put it in an enameled box</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That I had made for it.</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Passionately to <span class="sc">Fleur-de-lys</span>, who still frets.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">I swear I love you better</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Than one could love Venus herself!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Don't swear! Don't swear!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">They only swear who deceive!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Children, don't quarrel—everything is bright to-day!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come, my daughter, you must be seen!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The guests are coming! Everything has its turn.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To the servants.</i>] Light the candles and let the ball begin.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I want everything to be beautiful, to seem as bright as day.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Since we have Fleur-de-lys, nothing is wanting to the ball.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, Phœbus—love is wanting! [<i>They go out.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>watching <span class="sc">Fleur-de-lys</span> go out</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She speaks the truth: my heart is sad</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Even when she is near—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The one I love, the one who fills my soul—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Alas! she is not here.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Exquisite creature,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To you my love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, dancing shadow,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My sweet-voiced dove,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Absent, yet with me</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Wherever I move!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">She's as bewildering and sweet</span><br /> +<span class="i2">As is a nest 'mid rushes,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sweet as a rosebud crowned with moss,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Sweet as the joy which sorrow hushes.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Humble child and virgin proud,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Soul that's pure though free!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Voluptuous ardors sink abashed</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Before thy chastity.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">In the dark night she comes,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">An angel from the skies;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her forehead veiled by shadows,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Flames darting from her eyes.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">I see her face forever—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Now bright, now dark it seems;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But strangely—'tis in heaven</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I see her in these dreams.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Exquisite creature.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To you my love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, dancing shadow,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My sweet-voiced dove,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Absent, yet with me</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Wherever I move!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Enter several lords and ladies in gala dress.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The preceding. <span class="sc">Viscount de Gif</span>, <span class="sc">M. de Morlaix</span>, <span class="sc">M. de Chevreuse</span>, +<span class="sc">Madame de Gondelaurier</span>, <span class="sc">Fleur-de-lys</span>, <span class="sc">Diana</span>, <span class="sc">Bérangère</span>. Ladies, +Lords</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE GIF.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My salutations, noble hostesses!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE, PHŒBUS, FLEUR-DE-LYS (<i>bowing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Good-evening, noble viscount!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Forget all care and grief</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Beneath this hospitable roof.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">M. DE MORLAIX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ladies, may God send you</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Health, pleasure, and happiness!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE, PHŒBUS, FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">May Heaven return with interest</span><br /> +<span class="i0">All your good wishes, my lord!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">M. DE CHEVREUSE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ladies, from the bottom of my soul</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I belong to you, as I do to God!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE, PHŒBUS, FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Kind sir, may our good Lady</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come always to your aid!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>All the guests enter.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Come to the festival, come!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Page, lordship, and ladyship, come!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With flowers in your hand,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A joy-seeking band,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come to the festival, come!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The guests greet and salute each other; servants circulate among the +crowd, bearing platters laden with flowers and fruits. A group of young +girls forms itself near a window to the left. Suddenly one of them calls +to the others, and motions to them to look out of the window.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">DIANA (<i>looking out</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come and look! come and look, Bérangère!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">BÉRANGÈRE (<i>looking into the street</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Isn't she quick? Isn't she light?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIANA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is a fairy or it is love.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE GIF (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who dances in the public square?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">M. DE CHEVREUSE (<i>after having looked</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Indeed! it is the magician.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, it is your gypsy</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whom, the other night, with valor</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You saved from a robber.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE GIF.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh, yes, it is the gypsy.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">M. DE MORLAIX.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She's as beautiful as the day.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIANA (<i>to <span class="sc">Phœbus</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If you know her, tell her to come</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And dance for us.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>looking out with an absent air</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It might be she!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>To <span class="sc">M. de Gif</span>.</i>] Do you think she would remember?</p> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS (<i>who watches and listens</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Every one remembers you.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come, call her, tell her to come up.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>Aside.</i>] I will see whether to believe what I am told.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>to <span class="sc">Fleur-de-lys</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You wish it? Well, let us try!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He motions to the dancer to come up.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE YOUNG GIRLS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She is coming!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">M. DE CHEVREUSE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She has disappeared under the porch.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">DIANA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She has left the mob, stupefied.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE GIF.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ladies, you will see the nymph of the streets.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">How quickly she obeyed that sign from Phœbus!</span> +</div> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The same. <span class="sc">Esmeralda.</span> The gypsy enters timidly, confused and radiant. +Movement of admiration. The crowd falls back before her</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Look! her brow is fair amid the fairest,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As a star would shine, surrounded by torches.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, creature divine!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Admiration is duty.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of this ball she is queen,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Her crown is her beauty.</span></div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He turns to <span class="sc">Messieurs de Gif</span> and <span class="sc">de Chevreuse</span>.</i></p> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Friends, my soul is on fire.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">War and death would I face,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To hold in my arms</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Such bewildering grace.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">M. DE CHEVREUSE.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She is a heavenly vision,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A dream most rare and tender,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which, floating through earth's darkness,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Radiates celestial splendor.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Born in the public streets—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Oh, blind caprice of fate,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To trail through muddy streams</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A flower so immaculate!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>fixing her eyes on <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> in the crowd</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is my Phœbus, I was sure,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Just as that night I found him;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Whether in satin or in steel,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">How grace and strength surround him!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Phœbus—my head is all on fire,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">All burns within me, joy and pain;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My soul's consumed for lack of tears,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Just as earth yearns for rain.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR-DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How fair she is—yes, I was sure!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Jealous, indeed, I ought to be;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But yet to match that loveliness</span><br /> +<span class="i2">How great must be my jealousy!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alas! perhaps we both, foredoomed</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To waste 'neath sorrow's harsh caress,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Full soon shall die—she in her flower,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I in my loneliness!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A radiant creature, truly,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">But, faith, 'tis a disgrace</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That such a wretched gypsy</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Should have so sweet a face.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alas! the curious laws of fate</span><br /> +<span class="i2">'Tis not for mortal mind to know:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The serpent hides his treacherous head</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Beneath the fairest flowers that grow.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ALL (<i>together</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She has the calmness, the delight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of radiant skies on a warm night.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">MADAME ALOISE (<i>to <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Come, child! My beauty, come—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Come and dance us some new dance!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> prepares to dance, and draws from her bosom the scarf which +<span class="sc">Phœbus</span> gave her.</i></p> + + +<p class="speaker">FLEUR DE-LYS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My scarf! Phœbus, you have deceived me!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My rival! Here she is!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Fleur-de-lys</span> snatches the scarf from <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, and falls in a +swoon. All the people rush angrily toward the gypsy, who flies for +protection to <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ALL.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Is it true that Phœbus loves her?</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Infamous creature, go—depart!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To brave us thus in our own home,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">You must have an audacious heart.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh! height of insolence! Retire!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Go back into the public street!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The common tradesmen, they can praise</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The jumping of your low-born feet.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Away with her, away at once!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Out at the door! 'Tis a disgrace</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For this degraded girl to lift</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Her eyes to such a lofty place.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, defend me! Help! Defend me,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Save me, Phœbus, I implore thee;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For the poor forsaken gypsy,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Stands defenseless now before thee!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I love her, and I love but her.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Yes! her defender I will be.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll fight for her, and my strong arm</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Will bear my heart out valiantly.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If some one must be her protector,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I am the one—and doubt me not,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her wrongs are mine, and who insults her</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Must answer for it on the spot.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ALL.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What! She is what he loves! Indeed!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Away from here, away from here!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A gypsy he prefers to us;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With loving words he calms her fear.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hush! silence! Both of you be still!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">No further words of insolence.</span></div> +</div> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>.</i>] From you, 'tis too much arrogance!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>.</i>] From thee, too much impertinence!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Phœbus</span> and his friends protect the gypsy, who is menaced by all +the guests of <span class="sc">Madame De Gondelaurier</span>. <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> staggers toward the +door.</i></p> + + + + +<h3>ACT III</h3> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>The front yard of a tavern. Tavern to the right; trees to the +left. In the back a door, and a small low wall which closes in the yard. +In the distance the roof of Notre Dame with its towers and its spire. A +dark silhouette of old Paris outlines itself against the red sunset. The +river Seine is at the base of the picture</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Phœbus</span>, <span class="sc">Viscount de Gif</span>, <span class="sc">M. de Morlaix</span>, <span class="sc">M. de Chevreuse</span>, and +many other friends of <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>, seated at tables, are drinking, and +singing; afterward <span class="sc">Don Claude Frollo</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be propitious and well-inclined,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Our Lady of Saint Lo,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To him who only water hates</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Of all things here below!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Give to the brave</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In every place</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A well-filled cellar,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A pretty face.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Happy fellow!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Help him hold</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Dainty women,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Wine that's old.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If a beauty</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Of cold mien</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be unwilling,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">'Tis sometimes seen,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He jokes with her</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With merry winks,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then he sings,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Then he drinks!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The day goes by.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Or drunk or not,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He soon embraces</span><br /> +<span class="i2">His Toinotte;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then ferocious</span><br /> +<span class="i2">He goes to bed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In a cannon's mouth,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And sleeps like lead!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And his soul,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Which often seems</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To mix up women</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With his dreams,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is contented if the wind,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With its come and go,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Rocks the canvas of his tent</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Gently to and fro!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be propitious and well inclined,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Our Lady of Saint Lo!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To him who only water hates</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Of all things here below.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Enter <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>, who seats himself at a table at some distance +from <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>, and appears at first to observe nothing that passes +around him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE GIF (<i>to <span class="sc">Phœbus</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">That pretty gypsy,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What are you doing with her?</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> makes a movement of attention.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To-night, in an hour,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have a meeting with her.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ALL.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Truly?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Truly!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The agitation of <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> increases.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">VISCOUNT DE GIF.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">In one hour?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">In one moment!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, love! supremest rapture!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To feel one heart holds two!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To own the woman that one loves—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Be slave and conqueror too!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To have her soul; to have her charms,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Her song which fills with bliss;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To see her sweet eyes wet with tears,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To dry them with a kiss.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>While he sings, the others drink and strike their glasses.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Tis a rapture supreme,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Whatever one thinks,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To drink to one's love,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And to love what one drinks!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Friends, the prettiest of all,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A grace divine,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, wonder, ecstasy!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Friends, she is mine!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I bind myself to hell;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Misfortune on you dwell!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pleasure awaits us;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Exhaust without remorse</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The better part of life,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Love's precious intercourse!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What matter if one dies,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">When joy has passed away,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'd give a century for an hour,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Eternity for a day.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The curfew rings; the friends of <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> arise from the table, +replace their swords, their caps, their cloaks, and prepare to depart.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, the hour is come;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">It is the curfew-bell:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hurry to your beloved;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">God's blessing on you dwell!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At last the hour is come;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">It is the curfew-bell.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I go to my beloved;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">God's blessing on her dwell!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The friends of <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> go out.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>, <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>. <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> stops <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> as he +is about to go out</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Captain!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Who is this man?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Listen to me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Make haste!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Do you know the name of the one</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who awaits you at the meeting to-night?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">By my life, it is my beauty!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The one I love and who loves me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My song-bird, my dancing gypsy,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My Esmeralda, it is she!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is death!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Friend! First, you are an idiot;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Second, go to the devil!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Listen!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">What do I care?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, if you cross the threshold of that door—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You are mad!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">You are dead!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tremble! One of the gypsies she!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">No law protects those awful places.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There love's a masquerade for hate,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Death lies concealed in their embraces.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>laughing</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My dear sir, readjust your cape,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Return unto your fools' retreat!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Strange they allow you to escape!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">May Esculapius, Jupiter, the Devil,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Thither conduct your straying feet!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Truly they are faithless women;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Believe that the report speaks true.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Darkness strange and deep surrounds them;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Phœbus! there death waits for you!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo's</span> earnestness seems to trouble <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>, who looks +at his interrogator with anxiety.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">He astounds me!</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Ah, he wounds me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In spite of myself, with doubt!</span><br /> +<span class="i4">This city great</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Is full of hate,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And treachery is all about!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">I astound him,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">And I wound him,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In spite of himself, with doubt.</span><br /> +<span class="i4">The fool, he fears,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">And sees and hears</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Nothing but treachery about.</span></div> +</div> +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Believe me—my lord, avoid the siren</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Who lures you to destruction.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">More than one gypsy in her rage</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Has stabbed a heart palpitating with love.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Phœbus</span>, whom he tries to drag along, recovers himself and pushes +him off.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Have I become a fool?</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Gypsy, Jewess, or Moor,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The love that questions what she be</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Is love most base and poor.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The fateful hour is come,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Unto my love I fly!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If death be but as sweet as she,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">It will be fine to die!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>holding him</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Consider! A gypsy!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Your folly is great.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How dare you thus rashly</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Trifle with fate!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, dread the false creature</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who waits in the gloom,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And do not thus wildly</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Rush to your doom.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Phœbus</span> exits quickly, in spite of <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>. <span class="sc">Claude +Frollo</span> stands gloomy and undecided for a moment; then follows +<span class="sc">Phœbus</span>.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>A chamber. In the background, a window which opens on the river. +<span class="sc">Clopin Frouillefou</span> enters, bearing a torch. He is followed by several +men, to whom he makes a preconcerted sign, and places them in a dark +corner, in which they disappear; then he returns to the door and signals +to some one to come up. <span class="sc">Don Claude</span> appears</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN (<i>to <span class="sc">Claude</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">From here you can see the captain</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And the gypsy without being seen.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He shows him an alcove behind some tapestry.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The men are stationed and ready?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">They are ready.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The projector of this must never be known.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Silence! take this purse.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I will give you as much more afterward.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> hides himself in the alcove. <span class="sc">Clopin</span> exits with +caution. <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> and <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> enter.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, woman adored,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Destiny's prey!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She enters in beauty,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In tears goes away.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>to <span class="sc">Phœbus</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My lord the count,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My feelings I try to hide.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My heart is filled with shame,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And filled also with pride.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>to <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span></i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My beauty, white and red,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I beg you blush no more.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Love, entering love's domain,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Leaves fear outside the door.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Phœbus</span> makes <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> sit down on the bench beside him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Dost thou love me?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I love thee!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">What torture!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The adorable creature!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon my soul, you are divine!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Your lips are flatterers;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You make me feel ashamed.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I beg of you, don't come so near.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">They love each other. How I envy them!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My Phœbus! I owe my life to you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">And I—I owe my happiness to you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Be good to me!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Oh, try to be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gentle, I entreat,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To the young maid,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who much afraid</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Trembles at your feet!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oh, my white queen,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Goddess serene,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sovereign of beauty,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Whose bright eyes shine</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With fires divine</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of passion and of duty!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I wait for them;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I hark to them.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">How tender she,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">How handsome he!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">How near their doom!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Be joyous he,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And happy she,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">While I prepare their tomb!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Nymph or woman,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Saint or human,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be my wife to me!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">All day I yearn,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">All night I burn,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Such is my love for thee!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I am woman,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">I am human,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And my soul afire,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Trembles ever,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Longs forever,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As throbs a lover's lyre!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Woman, wait!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My flame as great,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My blade must have its turn.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Oh! I admire</span><br /> +<span class="i2">These souls afire,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And these hearts which burn!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be always white and red, my love,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And smile at our bright lot;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Smile sweet at love, which we've awaked,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And chastity, which we've forgot.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your mouth is heaven—my heaven, love—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">My soul would cling in bliss</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Upon it, love, and pray that life</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Might end with one long kiss.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Your voice delights my ear, love;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Your smile is sweet and free.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The laughing passion in your eyes</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Benumbs and conquers me.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your wishes are my law, love,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">But I can't yield to this:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My virtue and my happiness</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Might die in that long kiss!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Don't let them hear your step, Death,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">As near to them you creep!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My jealous hatred will keep watch</span><br /> +<span class="i2">While their love falls asleep.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">From out their arms so closely locked</span><br /> +<span class="i2">You'll steal away their bliss!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Phœbus—your wish is granted,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">You die for that long kiss!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> rushes upon <span class="sc">Phœbus</span> and stabs him; then he opens +the window in the back, through which he escapes. With a great cry, +<span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> falls upon the body of <span class="sc">Phœbus</span>. The men stationed at the +corner rush forward, seize her, and seem to accuse her.</i></p> + + + + +<h3>ACT IV</h3> + +<p><span class="sc">Scene.</span>—<i>A prison. Door in the center</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE I</h4> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>alone, chained, lying upon a bed of straw</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What! He in the tomb and I in this cell—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">He a victim and I a prisoner!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I saw him fall! In truth, he's dead!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And this crime, this awful crime—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">They say it is my work!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The stem of our life, while yet green, is broken.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Phœbus has gone, and he shows me the way.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Yesterday they made his grave,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To-morrow they'll make mine!</span></div> +</div> + +<p>ROMANCE</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus, is there nothing left,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">No help given, to those bereft</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In this cruel wise—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Neither filters, love, nor charms,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To assuage the soul's alarms,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Or reopen closèd eyes?</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">God in heaven, I adore thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Every hour I implore thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Deign to end my life to-day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or to take my love away!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">Phœbus, let us turn our wings</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Toward the lights supernal,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Where all things must go at last,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Where love bides and is eternal.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On earth our bodies sleep together,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In heaven our souls will live forever!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">God in heaven, I adore thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Every hour I implore thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Deign to end my life to-day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or to take my love away!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The door opens. <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> enters, a lamp in his hand, his hood +pulled over his face: he comes and stands, motionless, in front of +<span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>jumping up with terror</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Who is this man?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>covered by his hood</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A priest!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">A priest! How mysterious!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Are you ready?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ready for what?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Ready to die.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is well.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Will it be soon? Answer me, father!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Do you suffer so much?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, I suffer.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Perhaps I, who shall live to-morrow,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Suffer more than you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You? Who, then, are you?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The tomb lies between us!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Your name?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">You wish to know it?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes. [<i>He lifts his hood.</i></span><br /> +<span class="m2">The priest!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is the priest! O God! my feeble strength inspire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">It is indeed his brow of ice, it is his glance of fire!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Tis he who has pursued me, remorseless, day and night;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">'Twas he who killed my Phœbus, and slew my heart's delight.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Monster, from my prison, with death's cold hand on me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I'll curse thee, till within the grave my lips shall silent be!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What have I done to thee? What is thine awful plan?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What dost thou want with me, relentless, impious man?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You hate me!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">I love you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I love you—it is infamous!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Oh, shame to my priesthood!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This love, it is my soul;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">This love, it is my blood!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At your feet I fall;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Hear my heart, which cries,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I prefer your tomb</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Unto Paradise.</span></div> +</div> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Pity me. I love you! Your pity I implore!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For you I've sinned. Have mercy, do not curse me more!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">He loves me! Oh, crown of horrors!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He holds me—this horrible sorcerer!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The only living thing in me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is my love and my anguish!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Hopeless anguish,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Wretched plight!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Alas! I love her,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Painful night!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Awful moment,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Cruel fright!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Heaven! He loves me,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Fearful night.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She shudders, quivers in my arms;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The priest has won his chance at last!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">By night I bore her, once, away;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Now, in the day, I'll hold her fast!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Death, which follows in my train,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will give her back to love again!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Pity—pity, let me go!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Phœbus is dead; he waits above.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Alas! I tremble, I'm afraid,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I shiver at your frightful love,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">E'en as the bird which, tortured, dies</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Beneath the vulture's cruel eyes!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Accept me, I love you! Refuse me no more!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Have pity for me, for yourself, I implore!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Your prayer is an insult.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Would you rather die?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The body dies—the soul lives!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">To die is terrible!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Hush! your impious words!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Your love makes death beautiful!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Choose! choose! Or Claude or death!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude</span> falls at <span class="sc">Esmeralda's</span> feet in supplication. She repels him.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No, murderer, I will not! Hush!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A crime is this foul love you've nursed.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Better the tomb to which I fly—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Be cursed amid the most accursed!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Tremble, for the scaffold claims you!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">You know not what awful schemes</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This breast of fury has engendered;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And hell abets me in my dreams.</span><br /> +<span class="i4">How I love thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Thy hand give,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">And to-morrow</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Thou shalt live!</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Night benumbed</span><br /> +<span class="i6">With terror's breath!</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Tears for me,</span><br /> +<span class="i6">For thee death!</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Say, "I love thee!"</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Cease thy scorning;</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Thy last day</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Is dawning!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ah! since in vain I supplicate,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In vain thy hate I fight,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Farewell forever! One day more,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Then comes eternal night.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Inhuman priest.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Go! I abhor thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">His dear blood yet</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Seems dripping o'er thee,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, night of horror,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Night of shame!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Enough of tears;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Death I claim!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In prison I brave thee,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In chains defy!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Be thou accursed</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Eternally!</span></div> +</div> +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Thy passion be thy punishment!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To God my love leads me:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The gates of heaven he'll open,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">But hell shall close o'er thee!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A jailer appears. <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> signs to him to lead out +<span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>. He exits while they drag forth the gypsy.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE II</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The area before Notre Dame; the front of the church. The sound of bells +is heard</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">My God! I love,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Except myself,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">All that's here—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The air which passes,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And which chases</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Away care;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And the swallow</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who is faithful</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To the old roof;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The chapels high</span><br /> +<span class="i2">O'ershadowed by</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The Holy Cross;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Every rose</span><br /> +<span class="i2">That grows;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Every sight</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Of delight!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Sad creature, I—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Uncouth, ill-made!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">None envies me!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">This is life</span><br /> +<span class="i2">As it is!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Darkest night,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Bluest sky,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">What matters it?</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Every door</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Leads to God.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Ignoble scabbard,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Noble blade;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Fair my soul</span><br /> +<span class="i2">God has made.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ring, bells small and great—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ring on, ring on!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Mix well your voices,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Gruff and sweet!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In the turrets,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In the tower,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Sing your song!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How they ring!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With all their might,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Let them hum</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Day and night!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Our festival shall be</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Magnificent, I swear!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Assail it fiercer yet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The palpitating air!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The stupid peasants run,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And o'er the bridges tear!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Let them ring,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Let them hum,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Day and night!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Every feast</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Is increased</span><br /> +<span class="i2">By their might!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He turns toward the front of the church.</i></p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I saw black hangings in the chapel.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are they dragging some misery here?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">God! a presentiment! I'll not believe it!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Enter <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span> and <span class="sc">Clopin</span> without perceiving <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span>.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">It is my master! I'll observe him. He is gloomy too!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>He hides himself in an obscure angle of the porch.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Oh, my mistress! Oh, Notre Dame!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Take my life! save my soul!</span> +</div> + + + +<h4>SCENE III</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i><span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> hidden, <span class="sc">Claude Frollo, Clopin</span></i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">So Phœbus is at Montfort?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My lord, he is not dead!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Provided nothing brings him here!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Do not fear it;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">He is too feeble yet for such a journey.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If he came, 'twould be his death.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My lord, you can feel sure</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That every step would reopen his wound;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Do not fear anything this morning.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Oh! let me hold her just to-day</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For life or death within my power!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hell! I'll give you all the rest,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If you grant me this one hour!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To <span class="sc">Clopin</span>.</i>] They will soon bring the gypsy here!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You remember everything!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In the square—with your men—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Keep in the shadow;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If I cry, "To me!" you come.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Have plenty with you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">If you cry, "To me!"</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">I rush to her,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I tear her from the King's men—</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">And give her to you.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Go, mix among the crowd,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And perhaps she</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Will look upon the priest</span><br /> +<span class="i2">More tenderly;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Then rush—rush all of you—</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m4">Yes, my master!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Hold yourselves close!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Yes.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Hide your arms,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Not to excite suspicion!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Master, you shall see!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But hell may take her quick,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With my good-will,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If now this insane creature</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Refuses still!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Destiny! Oh, fatal stroke!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Friend, I count on thee!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">On this my only chance I wait</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With fierce anxiety.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLOPIN.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fear nothing terrible, my lord,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Count faithfully on me,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And on this last and only chance</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Rely courageously!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They go out hurriedly. The populace begin to enter the square.</i></p> + + +<h4>SCENE IV</h4> + +<p class="scene"><i>The populace; <span class="sc">Quasimodo;</span> afterward <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, and her escort; then +<span class="sc">Claude Frollo, Phœbus, Clopin Frouillefou</span>, priests, archers, +officers of the law</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To Notre Dame</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Come, get a sight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the young woman</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who dies to-night!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">This gypsy woman</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who stabbed, they say,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The handsomest officer</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In the King's pay.</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">In vain did Heaven</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Beauty lend her!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is it possible—</span><br /> +<span class="i2">God defend her!—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">A soul so black,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">An eye so tender!</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> + <span class="i0">A frightful thing,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Human nature is so!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The poor unfortunate!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Come, let us go</span><br /> +<span class="i0">To Notre Dame</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To get a sight</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the young woman</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Who dies to-night!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The crowd increases; noise; a gloomy procession begins to appear on the +Place du Parvis. Rows of black penitents. Banners of La Miséricorde. +Torches, archers, officers of the law and the watch. The soldiers +disperse the crowd. <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> appears. She wears a chemise; a rope is +around her neck; her feet are bare, and she is covered with a long black +veil of crape. Following her, come the executioners and the King's +officers. As the prisoner reaches the front of the church, a somber +chant is heard in the distance, coming from the interior of the church, +whose doors are closed.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CHORUS (<i>in the church</i>).</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Omnes fluctus fluminis</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Transierunt super me</span><br /> +<span class="i0">In imo voraginis</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Ubi plorant animæ.</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The chant draws nearer. It bursts forth, at length, when near the +doors, which open suddenly and discover the interior of the church. It +is filled with a long procession of priests in their robes of ceremony; +banners are borne before them. <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>, in sacerdotal costume, +leads the procession. He goes toward the criminal.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Alive to-day, to-morrow dead!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Heaven! thy wings around her spread!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It is Phœbus who calls me</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Unto our home eternal,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Where God will hold us in His arms,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Safe from misfortunes cruel.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Though plunged in the abyss of woe,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">A joyful hope is given:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I am to die upon the earth</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To be re-born in heaven!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To die so young, so beautiful!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Alas! the guilty priest</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Must suffer greater woe than she;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">He ne'er will be released.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Oh, hapless child of sorrow,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Lost through my infamy,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">You only die from off this earth,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">While heaven is lost to me!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Alas! she is an infidel.</span><br /> +<span class="i2">God's words, unto us spoken,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Say that in heaven for such as she</span><br /> +<span class="i2">No blessed gate shall open.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Death holds her fast, what misery!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">She can escape it, never!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She dies unto the world this day,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And unto heaven forever!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The procession approaches. <span class="sc">Claude</span> accosts <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA (<i>frozen with terror</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">It is the priest!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>low</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Yes, it is I! I love you, I entreat you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Say but one word! 'Tis not too late;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I can yet save you!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Say, I love you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">I abhor you! Go!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Then die! I'll go where I can find you!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i><span class="sc">Claude</span> turns to the crowd.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">We deliver this woman to the secular arm;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At this solemn moment may the breath of the Lord</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pass over her soul!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>As the officers of the law are about to seize <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>, <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> +jumps into the square, thrusts back the archers, takes <span class="sc">Esmeralda</span> in +his arms, and throws himself with her into the church.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sanctuary! sanctuary! sanctuary!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Sanctuary! sanctuary! sanctuary!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Rejoice, O people!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Hail to the good bell-ringer!</span> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, destiny!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The criminal</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Belongs to heaven!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The scaffold falls!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The eternal God</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Instead of a tomb</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Discloses the altar!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Executioners, back!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">King's officers, back!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This barrier</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Limits your power.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Thou hast changed</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Everything here.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The angels claim her;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">She belongs to God!</span></div> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>commanding silence by a gesture</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">She is not saved! She is a gypsy!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Notre Dame can save none but Christians!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Pagans are proscribed even when clasping the altar!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">[<i>To the King's men.</i>] In the name of my lord the Archbishop of Paris,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I give you back this sinful woman!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO (<i>to the archers</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I will defend her! I swear it.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Approach us not!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>to the archers</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Do you hesitate?</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Obey me, on the instant!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Tear the gypsy from this holy place.</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The archers advance. <span class="sc">Quasimodo</span> places himself between them and +<span class="sc">Esmeralda</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">QUASIMODO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Never!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>A horseman is heard approaching. He calls out</i>:</p> + +<span class="m2">Wait! [<i>The crowd disperses.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>appearing on horseback. He is pale, +breathless, exhausted as is a man who has made a long journey</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Wait!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO (<i>aside, terrified</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">My plot has failed.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>leaping from his horse</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">God be praised! I breathe</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And I arrive in time!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This girl is innocent.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Behold my assassin!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>Points to <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ALL.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Heavens! the priest!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">The priest alone is guilty, and I will prove it!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Arrest him!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Oh, wonder!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>The archers surround <span class="sc">Claude Frollo</span>.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">God alone is Master!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Esmeralda!</span> +</div> + +<p class="staging">[<i>They fall into each other's arms.</i></p> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">My adored Phœbus, we shall live!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Thou shalt live!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">For us shines happiness!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Live, both of you!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m3">Hear these joyous shouts!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">At thy feet receive me, humble girl!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Heavens! thou art pale! What is the matter?</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">PHŒBUS (<i>staggering</i>).</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">I die!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She catches him in her arms. Expectation and anxiety among the crowd.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">Each step I took toward you, my beloved,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Reopened my wound, that was hardly healed.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I have taken your grave and given you life.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">I die! Destiny has avenged thee.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My angel, I go to see</span><br /> +<span class="i0">If heaven is worth thy love!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Farewell! [<i>He dies.</i></span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">ESMERALDA.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Phœbus! He dies! In an instant everything is changed!</span> + +<p class="staging">[<i>She falls upon his body.</i></p> + +<span class="i0">I follow you into eternity.</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">CLAUDE FROLLO.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="i0">Fatality!</span> +</div> + +<p class="speaker">THE PEOPLE.</p> + +<div class="dialog"> +<span class="m2">Fatality!</span> +</div> + + + + +<div id="tnotes"> +<p>Transcriber's Notes:</p> + +<p>A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. Names of +characters have been regularized, but other variant spellings have been +left as they were printed. Page numbers have been removed from the table +of contents.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Dramas of Victor Hugo, by Victor Hugo + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRAMAS OF VICTOR HUGO *** + +***** This file should be named 39133-h.htm or 39133-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/1/3/39133/ + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Chuck Greif and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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