ACT II
Scene: A grove in the outskirts of a town in Goldusan. Semi-tropical verdure. Rocks, shrubbery, trees, at convenience. A hidden cascade mumbles upper right, not loud enough to disturb conversation. At upper left, the pillared and vine-wreathed entrance to a mansion. A wall, rear, partly hidden by foliage. Paths lead off, right and left, lower, under trees. It is evening, and the grove is lit for revel. Gay flocks of people pass, then Hernda and Megario enter lower right.
Meg. Unsoft as winter! Thou hast brought thy north,
With thee, a frigid shade, here where the hours
Are poppy-fingered, and their dreaming breasts
Unshuttered as the summer!
Her. Is it true,
This joy, that smiles as though its fountained heart
Could not be emptied?
Meg. True as that I love you.
Her. But if it is no mask, why should revolt
O'ercloud your borders?
Meg. There's no just revolt.
Her. But Chartrien said——
Meg. Are you yet poison-tinct
With that old rebel tale his credulous heart
Dressed new in his while honor till both grew
One sooty treason?
Her. Where is Chartrien now?
Meg. Wherever he may hatch a discontent
And cluck us trouble. But of late he spurs
His heart of venture, and dartles to our towns
To stir the scum there.
Her. Scum? You've such a thing
In Cordiaz' happy land? I'll see that scum.
It breathes, does 't not? Has eyes, and tongue?
Can answer if one speaks?
Meg. You're merry, princess.
Her. As graves at night. All is not open here.
I shall go farther,—knock at doors where Truth
Keeps honest house, not gowned for holiday.
Meg. One want we have,—that you will stay with us
And be the fairy soul of Goldusan.
Then must our land, so measureless endeared,
Be cherished as the darling care of Heaven,
Where storm may breathe but as a twittering bird
That fears to shake its nest.
Her. You've only words!
Words like these thousand-thousand smiles that seem
Half real and half painted,—teasing, strange,—
All feeding one illusion round my way
Till even the ground unqualifies beneath me
And makes each step a question.
Meg. 'Tis the doubt
You look through that transforms our face
Of truth and paints us vaguely hued.
O, for our many smiles, wilt not give one?
Her. Nay, there's a darkness fringing on this grove.
It creeps above the walls, it touches me,
And makes me shudder winding at my feet!
Meg. You've sipped of fancy at a witch's knee! [Plucks a flower]
But see,—your serpent shadows nurture this.
Confess to its perfection, and be shriven
Of any thought less fair.
Her. Oh, if I might!
No, keep it. Let us find our friends.
Meg. [Drops the flower] My hand
Defiles it for you.
Her. Nay——
Meg. Where is the fan
I carried yester-night?
Her. 'Tis—lost.
Meg. 'Tis burnt!
Her. What wind's your gossip?
Meg. Truth paused at my ear.
But, princess, if there's any charm will draw
Your eyes to me unburdened of their hate,
I'll find it though it lie beneath the ruin
Of every other hope!
Her. I'll leave you, sir.
Meg. Forgive me! Love will speak,—ay, storm its need.
Though each vain word pile up the barricade
That fends the heart desired.
Her. My lord, no hate
Is in that barrier. I'm free of that.
Meg. Thanks for that little much. Your highness speaks
Of journeying. What can I say to gild
My own Peonia till it distant gleams
The gem of pilgrimage? There you will see
How earth is dressed when the devoted sun
Is pledged to her adorning. Trees that mass
Their bloom in forest heavens, giving her
A nearer sky. Unthwarted vines that scarf
Her mountain shoulders with their pendent clouds.
Lakes where a dreamer's bark may drift unoared
And chance no port save beauty. Everywhere
The dart and wave of color that would beckon
A neighbor planet looking once this way.
Come, be my guest. One day! I'll ask no more.
Her. I do not know. Señora Ziralay
Will be my guide. I go with her.
Meg. With her?
Her. What is 't? I touch the shadow. You are not
Her friend?
Meg. She hates in secret, while her smile
Levies the world for love.
Her. I'll hate where she does,
And know my soul is safe.
Meg. Her husband holds
By love and purse to Cordiaz, but she
Is a LeVal.
Her. LeVal? And kin to—him?
Meg. Rejan? His sister. And I know her nature
Is tinted as her blood, whatever hue
It wears at court.
Her. A sister to the man
That I gave up to death. And I have dared
To love her—take her kiss——
Meg. [Cautioning] She's here.
[Enter, lower right, Señora Ziralay and Guildamour]
Her. Señora!
We spoke of you.
Señ. And with such gloom?
Meg. No, no!
Señ. It lingers yet, my lord. Do I in absence cast
Such knitted shadows?
Meg. Safely asked of us,
Who know your bright philosophy. How fares
That magic broom with which you'd sweep the earth
Of every ill? Is 't still invincible?
Señ. Much worn of late, my lord, as you should know,
Who give it work.
Meg. You'd leave us not one grief
To keep us praying and rebuilding Heaven?
Abolish Death perhaps?
Señ. True mock! I would
Except the death that's like a waiting bed
When not another turn may mend the day;
When sleep is sweeter than the thumbèd book,
And hearth-near voices drowse like waves that lap
Shores unconcerned. Now we are murdered, all.
Meg. No, no. Señora!
Gui. Ay! Do we not vaunt,
And set it rarely down, a thing to note,
If age unmoor the life-disusèd raft,
For th' chartless cruise?
Señ. Now we go hurried out,
With half our dreams unpacked, and earth made poor
With a few grains of dust where should have risen
Our wisest years in flower.
Meg. Fate, fate, Señora!
Señ. What's fate but ignorance? And not always that
Comes hobbling with excuse. Sometimes a man,
Whose eyes fling lances at the foes of Life,
Is knouted from the world——
Meg. No more, I pray!
This is a festal night. Reserve your sermon
For our next fast.
[A musical group plays softly under trees left. Enter lower right, Hudibrand, Cordiaz, Rubirez, Vardas, Ziralay and others]
Hud. Here, daughter? You've been sought.
Cor. The search was mine, your highness. I would beg
A grace of you.
Her. You grant one as you beg,
Your majesty. I'll not do less than give
Your own again. But pray you name it, sir.
Cor. This garden where our amity has borne
Its fairest blossom shall be called henceforth
The Grove of Peace, and we would beg your highness
To queen our christening.
Her. A queenly part,
And royally I thank you, but I'll play it
With humblest prayer that Heaven may keep unbroken
These new-sworn bonds between my land and yours.
Cor. So pray we all.
Her. Is this our scene?
Cor. Not here.
Come you this way, my friends. We'll cast the wine
To yon cascade, and let the waters bear it
Down to my capital.
[All go off upper right, except two officers, who remain centre, and a guard who walks to and fro by wall rear, sometimes visible, sometimes hidden by the wood and rocks]
First Off. This peace will prove
As stout as any spider's thread that swings
In a blowing rain. Fah!
Second Off. Climb what hill you please,
You see the rebels' smoke.
First Off. But where in name
Of magic does Bolderez get his gold?
The rebels we pick up have lost no meals.
Second Off. Enough he gets it. Goldusan sleeps well.
Bolderez is so near that if his men
Were eagles they could pick out Cordiaz' eyes
And he'd not wake to miss 'em.
First Off. Cordiaz
Is not asleep, but so bedimmed and fooled
By a thievish Cabinet that what he sees
Takes any name they give it.
Second Off. He is old.
First Off. Ah, there you hit it. Warriors should die young.
When age unsoldiers them their field-worn hearts
Have no defence against a crafty peace,
And falling power will seize on any prop
Be 't foul or fair, to keep on legs.
Second Off. My faith!
His crutches are so villanous, a fall
Were better than his gait.
[Enter Ziralay, lower right]
First Off. Well, Ziralay,
What news?
Zir. Where's Cordiaz?
Second Off. He comes.
[Re-enter group from the cascade]
Zir. [To Cordiaz] My lord,
The Assarian prince is captured, and is held
Within the town.
Cor. What? Chartrien?
Zir. Yes, my lord.
Cor. Fit period to this dedicated day!
Our gentle bonds are now forged whole. The man
Who was Bolderez' hope, most luminous
Of all who drew rebellion to him, now
Is darkly fallen.
Rub. This golden aid cut off,
Bolderez stands so bare his nakedness
Will sprint to nearest cover.
Cor. I'll see his face.
Bring here the prisoner.
Off. I'll speed the order,
Your majesty. [Exit]
Rub. Shall he be shot, my lord?
Cor. Shot? No. But kept close prisoned.
Rub. That is mercy
You have denied the blood of Goldusan.
Why grant it to Assaria?
Var. In him swells
A strength was never in LeVal. I urge
His instant death.
Cor. No, friends. He is a son
Of our great neighbor, and his death would wound
The courtesy of nations that is kept
By lenience unabraded.
Var. Breath so bold
Will from a prison fan the treachery
Whose flame would die without it.
Her. Father, speak!
Cor. We'll hear our friend, Assaria's majesty,
If he have word for us.
Hud. I pray your highness
To let no ghostly and unfounded fear
Of my Assaria——
Cor. Fear, my lord?
Hud. I mean
No more than ask you to be just, nor let
My presence here enforce your chivalry
To do your country wrong. Think of your people,
Not the approval of a gazing land
Whose distant nod is given in ignorance
Of your stern cause.
Her. Here's not my father! So
The clock runs backward, and time ends.
Meg. [To Cordiaz] Your highness,
My voice is not so loud as others here,
But could I send it far as sound may go,
It should take mercy's part in this debate.
Var. You need no trump, my lord. A limpet's whistle
Would tell us where you stand.
Meg. I stand with Cordiaz,
His majesty of Goldusan!
Cor. This matter
Is not for open market. Come, my friends,
Let us go in. Please you to walk before.
[Rubirez, Ziralay, Vardas, and Megario enter the house, upper left. Their majesties linger at entrance. Guildamour retreats on path, upper right. Officers go off, lower left. Hernda and Señora Ziralay wait unnoticed, right]
Cor. Is 't kindly done, my lord, to pose your station
In public against mine?
Hud. My neutral words
You've packed with import all your own. I strive
To bend not right or left, but keep my way
As even as Justice.
Her. [To Señora] Justice! There's a stone
That was my father.
Cor. Yet, my lord, this prince
Is of your house.
Hud. Is it for Cordiaz
To teach me mercy?
Cor. By my soul!
Hud. I know
Whence starts this softness. Mercy has no fane
Where you leave offering.
Cor. I know you too!
By holy Heaven, your head was never bared
In Justice' temple! You now seek my fall,
Because I've turned at last to check the hand
That rifles Goldusan. Is 't not enough
That I've unjewelled all her treasured hills
To alien avarice—that her forests bleed
The priceless sap of all primeval Springs
Into your golden stream? But I must lay
My people under bond,—sell them as slaves
To buy your stolen railways!
Hud. Stolen, sir?
I've paid——
Cor. I know what you have paid! You've sent
Your henchmen creeping in the night, to buy
At beggar's price our toil-built roads, and where
You could not buy, you bribed and thieved, till all
Was yours!
Hud. What of my toil, that built the lines
Through half your provinces?
Cor. You paid yourself!
Took from my governors, half gulls, half thieves
Of your own breed, a hundred times the worth
Of every graded foot, in lands and mines
And water-power that holds the prisoned light
Of robbed futurity! Now we must buy
Once more those tracks, long over-bought,—pay you
A value centuple for every mile,—
Pay you in bonds—bonds in hell's verity—
Whose interest will outrun each reckoned year
The summed returns from our fool's purchase! No!
That is my word while I am Goldusan!
Hud. You wake too late. I'll tell you so, my lord,
Since this imprudent burst thrusts courtesy
From court. Your ministers have given assent——
Cor. Have given! You'll over-steal enough
To quit their boldest price!
Hud. I'll not defend
Your chosen servants, sir.
Cor. My servants! Oh,
What State is free from scuttling greed that bores
For treasure through the stanchest hold?
Hud. This moral chant comes late from you, my lord,
Who've fingered heavily in many a pie
Spiced in the devil's kitchen.
Cor. But to sell
My people! Pay you this devouring price
For stock that hardy yields the groaning third
Of interest on your bonds! What shall we do
To pay it? Rob our treasury, and ask
Our worn-out slaves to fill it up again?
Not ask, but goad and lash,—for you must have
Your own—you honest mortgagees of babes
Unborn——
Hud. Is all the scarlet on our hands?
What of that mountain province, sold entire
To foreign pockets, and the dwellers there
Torn up like shrieking roots and cast abroad
To fasten where they could?
Cor. And where was that
But in your hell-mouthed mines? You wanted slaves
And got them.
Her. I shall die, Señora!
Señ. Listen!
Hud. The tyrant Cordiaz grown pitiful?
Then stones are butter, alabaster is
Uncrumpled down. You should have wept before
The Pueblo strike, then fewer corpses had
Gone out to sea.
Cor. Don't name that thing to me!
Don't speak of it! I will not bear that curse!
Hud. Mine aged convert, lies it in your will,
Or juster Heaven's?
Cor. 'Twas your property
My troops defended—and Rubirez lied.
Swore that the men foamed mad as tuskèd beasts,
And must be trashed to place,—men who had asked
No more than bread when you shut up your doors——
Hud. Not I, my friend.
Cor. Your tool then. One of all
Your million hookèd hands fast in the heart
Of my poor country, shut your doors, thereby
To starve the wretches till they crawled to you
And begged their chains again. But they—their veins
Were not all tapped—they'd blood left, and arose
From their dumb prayers to fight for life—and then....
Hud. You sent the troops.
Cor. Because Rubirez lied!
Hud. Because you knew there'd be no after-sale
For your high favors, once let titles drift
Unguaranteed. And when your work was done—
Your work, my tear-washed saint, why weary patience
Could not take further time to count the dead,
Or dig so many graves. They were piled up
And carted to the sea——
Cor. Oh, every tide
Brings back their faces—staring, staring up!
Will God not answer them? I dare not shut
My eyes....
Hud. And this is why you weep so late?
Come, Cordiaz, you're broken. Leave a throne
Your own fears shake. You know that I must win.
Own you are mastered——
Cor. Mastered! While I've breath
I am a king. If I win peace of God,
And his white angel let my dark soul out,
'Twill be for this—the last throe of my strength
Was spent against you!
Hud. Madly you've uncased
Your madness, and I know my weapons.
Cor. So!
I too, my lord, know how to sleep and wake
With hand on steel.
Hud. Then is there more to say?
Cor. All's said. We're waited for. Assaria,
Will 't please you enter?
Hud. I thank you, Goldusan. [They go in]
Her. Don't comfort me, Señora. Not a breath.
I'll not disfigure shame with comfort's patch,
But droop as low as leprous dust, and take
Some pride in that. 'Tis dark here, dark. Pray God
I am asleep!
Señ. Dear princess!
Her. Men do well
To keep the women blind. If once they knew,
They'd breed no more, but let a bairnless world
Escheat to God. Yet you, Señora, knew,
And you have children. By your motherhood
You've bound you Life's accomplice,—given it heart
And veins and an accepting soul!
Señ. I have!
Deny our hearts these babes, and we deny
The future that we fight for. Ah, defeat
May be endured by those who hold in lap
The victors of to-morrow!
Her. Oh, my father!
Señ. This truth was edged and swift. You should have had
Love's lips to teach you——
Her. I've been taught, my friend,
But would not learn. [Rising] Señora, it was I
Betrayed your brother!
Señ. Yes.... I know.
Her. To death!
You do not understand. I killed him!
Señ. No.
There, love,—forget a little. I've a hope
He is not dead.
Her. Not dead? What gives you hope?
Señ. Perhaps the nameless mentor in the heart
That tells us when our loved shrines are lit
And when they're out forever. But there's more.
Whenever Lord Megario's eye meets mine
There's something couched there speaks me living wrong,
Not wrong that's ended—locked within a grave
No prayer may open. He is burning yet
With uncompleted vengeance—and its shame.
Her. Señora, you've a plan!
Señ. 'Twill take much gold.
Her. Ah, I have that.
Señ. And courage.
Her. Well!
Señ. Such as,
We're told, no woman has.
Her. Here is my life,
And any Fate may have it that will make
Your brother live. Will you forgive me then?
Señ. [Kissing her] Ah, dear, you could not know....
Her. How did you hear?
Señ. From Chartrien.
Her. You are friends?
Señ. So true he seems
Not friend but friendship to my soul. And I
Talk here, while yonder he——
Her. They dare not! No!
My father would.... My father? Oh, Señora! [Sobs hopelessly]
Señ. We'll find a door to this.
Her. Would Ziralay
Not help?
Señ. Had he the wit, he would not dare.
While I'm his wife he must keep double guard
Against suspicion.
Her. Oh!
Señ. If there's one true,
'Tis Guildamour. I'll go to him.
Her. At once!
He took that path.
Señ. I know what shade he seeks
When he would brood.
[Exit Señora, upper right. Hernda waits drooping, as if too weary for thought. A group of ladies and gentlemen enter, lower right, among them Guildamour]
Her. [Starting up] Oh!—Guildamour!
Gui. Your highness!
[Leaves his party chattering lower left, and crosses to Hernda]
Her. Señora seeks you.
Gui. Ah, about the prince?
Her. We have a hope, my lord, your hand may turn
Some stone of rescue.
Gui. Mine are powerless hands,
Pinned to inaction's cross. My eyes may turn
No way that is not watched. To lift my lids
May raise a cry of "Treason!"
Her. There's no help?
In all this land no help?
Gui. Megario,
Could he be softened to it, is the man
Who might with safety slip a secret bolt
For Chartrien.
Her. He!
Gui. His name is set above
The nick of treason by his stern dispatch
Of poor LeVal,—and, that struck off, he yet
Is chronicled so dark that none would lay
A fair deed at his door.
Her. Megario!
Gui. I would not name him, but I know he loves you,
And there's no soul that love may not endue
With tinge of Heaven.
[Re-enter Señora]
Her. Señora!
Señ. [Panting] I have seen him!
Gui. The prince?
Her. Not Chartrien?
Señ. Yes!
Gui. Escaped?
Señ. The guards
Were of our heart—they let him make the wood—
I've hidden him——
Her. Oh, where?
Señ. Within the cave
Veiled by the waterfall. But safety there
Is minute-frail.
Gui. What way? He'll climb the wall?
Señ. And drop into the river.
Gui. Yes. What guard
Walks there? I see. 'Tis Miguel. And I know
Somewhat of him,—more than he'd tell the winds.
Señ. Thank Heaven for a sinner! When he's next
Behind the rocks, then to him, Guildamour,
And be his palsying conscience. Peg his feet
To the earth!
Gui. Trust me, Señora!
Señ. I'll lead off
Those babblers. Princess, you're the watch,—you'll give
The signal.
Her. Ah! What is 't?
Señ. Two pebbles dashed
Into the water is our sign.
Her. The guard!
He's gone!
Gui. It is our time. [Exit into wood, rear]
Her. [As the talkative group move up] Take them away,
Señora! It would kill me now to meet
A painted smile.
Señ. I'll go. And you—be swift.
Don't stop—don't think. [Joins group]
I know where lordings three
Wait for as many maids.
A young lady. You saw them pass?
Señ. Disconsolate.
Young Lady. O, to the river!
Another. Come!
[They go off with Señora, lower left]
Her. Now! [Takes up two stones. Ziralay and Megario come out of the house]
Oh! [She drops the stones. They cross to her]
Meg. You wait?
Her. I read the sentence.
Zir. Death.
Her. And when?
Zir. To-night. They've given Vardas charge
Of 't. He's an eager butcher,—does not know
Delay.
Her. You wished his death.
Zir. I voted no.
Megario laid my doubts.
Her. Did he do that?
Zir. He countered to their teeth.
Her. [To Megario] So merciful
Is hate?
Meg. The prince's death would mean the fall
Of Cordiaz, and our houses rock with his.
Her. Be clearer, pray you.
Meg. Vardas wants the throne,
And we've a sour and guilty faction here
Who'd see him on it, but they dare not move
Against a king yet rich in arms and friends.
And Hudibrand is not so absolute
That he may turn the army of Assaria
On the sole pivot of his word. For that,
Even he must knock the sleeping nation up
And ask good leave.
Her. You'd say, sir, Hudibrand
Would favor Vardas?
Zir. Short and plain, he does.
Her. What then?
Meg. The Assarians are proud, and where
They think their honor's pricked, their pride out-tops
Their judgment. Chartrien's death, whose ugly weight
Must lie with Cordiaz, will inflame their hearts
Till Hudibrand may send an army on us,
His people clapping to 't. In open day
They'll choose the road his cunning cut by night,
And pray him take it.
Zir. Ay, and where are we,
With Vardas crowned in Goldusan?
Her. I see.
Meg. He'd like my million acres in Peonia
Sliced for his foreign hounds!
[Enter an officer]
Zir. What trouble now?
Off. Prince Chartrien has escaped.
Meg. And you in charge?
Off. I sent him with good men, or so I thought,
Being pressed to another way——
Meg. His guards,—what name?
Off. Vinaldo, and a sergeant, who——
Meg. Vinaldo!
He's on the blue list, turning fast to black.
Did you not know it?
Off. I held him, sir, the pick
Of loyalty.
Meg. Well,—on. What else?
Off. They reached
The grove, passed in, and after prudent time,
The guards came out, smug as all right, and now
They're gone,—clear foot,—will doff you from the hills.
Meg. A tale for Vardas! You may save your beard,
But not your neck.
Off. I'll not shake yet. The prince
Is in the grove. We'll soon uncover him.
Zir. The walls are picketed?
Off. A double watch
Is on.
Zir. That's well enough.
Off. On chance he makes
The wall, I've reinforced the river guard.
Meg. Both sides?
Off. A close patrol, both east and west.
Though he had fishes' gills and dived the stream,
He'd not get by. That way is fast against him
As Belam's iron door.
Meg. [To Hernda] You're ill?
Her. No, no!
I'm well—quite well.
Meg. The lily in your cheek
Lies not so bravely.
Off. [To Ziralay] If he gets out of this,
He'll steer around the moon. We'll find him, sir.
But he's most darkly hid. Has made a coat
Of leaves and plays the grouse trick on us.
Zir. Come!
His majesty must know. [Ziralay and officer go into house]
Meg. How may I help you? Let the service be
Of such poor nature as your dog might give,
And pride will whistle to it.
Her. O, my lord,
I half believe you. When our angels fall,
Then devils are not black. And I have lost
My father.
Meg. Devils! You've a tongue.
Her. Forgive
A heart unmantled, and too wild to choose
What word may veil it. I would say, my lord,
In this discolored world I now begin
To find you fair,——
Meg. O, heavenly retraction!
Her. And if I ask a service it will be
No paltry one, but such as makes the king
Bow to the knight.
Meg. I'll prove this grace
Is native in me, and not solely lent
Of your new bounty!
Her. Would you save the life
Of Chartrien?
Meg. I would. Though a treasonous tool
Of rebelry, he should be held by me
A prisoner of knightliest war.
Her. A prisoner!
Meg. You can not ask his freedom! That would give
My foes clear argument to pluck me bare,
And set me outlawed on the rebel side
Of this deplored division.
Her. Oh, not free!
And in your power!
Meg. To hold him prisoner,—that
I'd undertake, and make the action good
Even to this bloody council.
Her. You'd dare that?
Meg. My policy is open, and I'd dare
To put it into deed that must commend me
To their unwilling justice. To do more
Would disarray all sense,—be fullest like
The idiot's gesture that disrobes the wretch
Of his last sanity.
Her. Megario....
Meg. What secret is so dear these costly sighs,
Like gentle pickets ever reinforced,
Let it not pass?
Her. A secret? No!
Meg. But yes.
I push me by its fragile guardians,
And hear it beating in its citadel.
Her. What says it then?
Meg. You've seen the prince.
Her. My lord!
Meg. You know what shadow hides him.
Her. No, no, no!
My oath, sir, I've not seen him!
Meg. I would trust
One negative, not three. Give him to me,
And you will know he lives. Let him be found
By Vardas' men, and when you wake to-morrow
The earth will be without him.
Her. No, not you!
I'll go to Cordiaz. He'll save the prince
As he would save his throne. You've taught me that.
Meg. He'd lose it so. Should Cordiaz to-night
Set Chartrien free, he'd rise without a lord
To bid him one good-morrow.
Her. Ziralay....
Meg. Ask him? An ass whose ears if visible
Would signal Mars! Say he had courage for you,
He'd blunder with the prince to Vardas' arms.
Her. Ah, you could do it,—set him free!
Meg. Nay—don't—
Don't ask it, if you've mercy! Your highness knows
I could not grant so much though lips I love
Above my soul should beg that treason of me.
Though they should take again those dearest words
That knighted me, and now lie in my heart
Like swelling seed of fortune! Let me shield
His life. In saintliest trust—— [She shudders from him]
You fear me so?
Her. I do! I do! You took away LeVal,
And he no longer lives.
Meg. He does! My oath,
He does!
Her. You spared him?
Meg. By my soul, he lives!
But let the word sleep in your vestal ear,
Until these smouldering troubles die to dust
And feed the grass above them. For the State
Believes LeVal is dead, nor taints me with
Such treacherous clemency. See how I lay
My safety and my honor in your hands?
I give them, hostages for Chartrien!
Ah, you should know how I will guard your trust,
For when I say to you he does not live,
Your eyes will slay the single, nurturing hope
Of my own life!
Her. [Battling] I can not! I'm not Fate
To do her awesome work.
Meg. We aid her most
With passive hand, as Chartrien's ghost will come
On mourning nights to tell you.
Her. Oh, I'll speak!...
No, no! Ah, never, never!
Meg. [Resolute, giving up his suit] I must join
The hunt. There's but one place—the cave——
Her. The cave!
Meg. Those guards are fools—or shy of water.
Her. Sir,
What cave?
Meg. He's there. Your cold, uncandid calm
Has babbled it. The frost is crafty that
Puts out such anxious fire.
Her. My lord, if I
Should tell you....
Meg. Quickly then! How canst debate
So fatally, knowing delay but robs him
Of venture's favor? Every moment steals
A bud of chance.
Her. How will you take him out?
Meg. I'll pass the gates unchallenged. Close without,
My car stands by,—a racer never spent,
And begs no pause. Know he is safe, and sleep.
Night will be secret, and we'll greet the sun
In my Peonia——
Her. Ah, Peonia's far!
Meg. And Vardas near.
Her. Take these two stones, my lord.
Cast them into the falls——
Meg. So! I was right!
But you must summon him.
Her. So soon a tyrant?
Meg. I'll take him from your hands,—no other way.
Your trust to me! And with my life I'll guard it!
For that you love him is my means to you.
Once in your heart, I'll win the throned place
Though all his saints defend it!
Her. True, my friend,
We shall be nearer, for anxiety
Will draw me to you with a longing like
The aching letch for morning in the eyes
Pain keeps astare. You then will be the goal
Of fondest question,—and from that—who knows?
Out of unbroken faith, and kindly shafts
'Tween hearts disponent, bridges have been built
For love's plenipotence to cross.
Meg. You bid
Me hope?
Her. I do not say despair. Sometimes
A presto-worker sits within the soul
Of gratitude, and love that must give thanks
In name of one beloved, has then been known
To pass from the liege object to the heart
Whose compass held them both in selfless bounds
Of chivalry. And yet—I promise nothing!
Meg. I ask no promise but the one I find
In words that so deny it. Now the thought
Is born, I'll make the naked infant grow
Heir of my princely opportunity.
Go now. An instant may defeat us. Haste!
My purse must buy a guard.
[Hernda goes off, upper right. Megario walks left and calls]
Benito! Ho!
You and your fellow!
[Enter two guards]
I have work for you.
You've seen my gold before. Here's more of it.
Stand for my word.
[Hernda returns with Chartrien]
Cha. Gods give me time for one
Wild kiss! O, Heaven! To find and lose you in
One whirling breath!
Meg. [His pistol at aim] You are my prisoner.
[Señora rushes on left]
Señ. Oh, princess! Oh!
Meg. [To guards] Move on with him.
Her. Wait—wait——
Meg. No time.
Her. But I must tell——
Cha. Let fiends be dumb.
You damned and double traitress, this my hand
Could lay you dead!
Meg. [To Hernda, who seems dazed] My goddess, I'll be true!
[Kisses her, and goes off, lower right, with Chartrien and guards]
Señ. You let him kiss you!
Her. Who?
Señ. Megario.
Her. I did not know it. I am dead, I think.
[Curtain]