ACT IV
Scene: The Grove of Peace, as in second act. Late afternoon. Two officers meet as curtain rises.
First Off. So Cordiaz is fallen.
Second Off. Joggled down
At last, poor man!
First Off. When all the ghosts he made
Come back to weep his fall, I'll swell the flood
With half a tear, no more.
Second Off. Then you're for Vardas?
First Off. By glory, no! He'll open Goldusan
To every thief that knocks.
Second Off. Trust Hudibrand
To guard the door. Till he has plucked the goose,—
Then they may shave it for their part.
First Off. So, friend?
Second Off. Phut! Goldusan's his box of snuff—held so—
And as he pleases, tchew!—'tis empty.
First Off. Come,
I'll walk your way. [They move, right]
What of this truce? Goes 't deep?
Second Off. As flattery may plough. It is our croon
Of compliment to our new-seated king.
First Off. Nay, president. We're a republic now.
Second Off. Spell 't king or president, it means the same.
First Off. But with Bolderez ours, the truce should last.
Second Off. Why, 't may, till night. Bolderez, friend,
Is not the revolution.
First Off. He's the heft of 't,
And's made a full surrender.
Second Off. Made his terms!
His officers are guardians of the State,
And he—he's stallion of the court, submits
To curb and comb that he may prouder prance
And keep the herd at stare. Surrender? Lord!
I think it!
[Enter Third Officer, from left]
Third Off. What's stirring, friends?
Second Off. Sleep-walkers.
Third Off. Ay,
This amnesty makes idlers.
Second Off. So to-day,
But work brews for to-morrow.
Third Off. You've a secret,
And I've a guess that picks the lock to 't.
Second Off. Come!
These leaves are listeners.
[They go off, lower right. Enter by path upper right, Señora Ziralay and Guildamour]
Gui. To find you here
Makes my best hope a sluggard, far outgone
By th' dear event.
Señ. I came five days ago,
The princess with me, here to wait return
Of Hudibrand. That you have come with him,
Makes sober welcome blithe.
Gui. He's slack in health.
Señ. That's written plain.
Gui. What iron's in the man
That he yet lives?
Señ. He's been in conclave?
Gui. Yes.
Five nights he routed sleep from th' drowsy synod,
And hung upon us turning every flank,
Till Protest paled and Patience bled at heart.
Señ. And at the end?
Gui. He held our sealèd bonds,
And Vardas sat secure.
Señ. The bonds? We own
Our railways now?
Gui. We do. And Hudibrand
Owns us,—that is, the bonds. A good, stout noose
For a nation's neck.
Señ. And all these days he's been
In th' capital?
Gui. In closest session, though
A stage-fed rumor held that he was gone
From Goldusan. The harried people fear
Assarian power, and on the jealous watch,
Keep Hudibrand in burrow.
Señ. He's gay-blown
With confidence. I hear from Ziralay
He made a careless peace with all the friends
Of tottering Cordiaz.
Gui. That carelessness
Was sea-deep cunning. Favors will go high,
They'll find. Megario gave full half his lands
For place in th' Cabinet.
Señ. Megario moved
In blaze of censure, and did well to escape
Singed of but half his goods. Two prisoners lost——
Gui. Ah, Chartrien and....
Señ. Rejan!
Gui. Be guarded here.
Fate rustles at that name.
Señ. O, Guildamour,
Fear is the silent warder that divides
Our secret hearts. Give it the tongue of daring,
And like a blest interpreter 'twill bring
Our hopes together.
Gui. There is stir within.
Come from these walls, Señora. And if your hope
Is on the road with mine, I've news will make
The wayside sing. Winds gather here and yon
That may out-swagger even Hudibrand.
[They go back along cascade path, as Hudibrand, Diraz, Mazaran, and Golifet come out of house]
Gol. [Holding up letter] Nay, fearless majesty might take more note
Of this despatch.
Hud. That beggar's mewl?
Gol. There's power
In every word. LeVal must harbor strength
We do not know of.
Hud. Tush! That is the vaunt
Of weakness, not of power.
Maz. What is 't he says?
Gol. Avers him free of this imposèd truce,
And gives a fair foe's warning he'll attack
Whene'er and how he can.
Maz. Well bragged.
Dir. His guns,
No doubt, are cooler than his pen.
Maz. What more?
Gol. Repudiates Bolderez, and declares
Himself the head of the Insurrectionists,
Sole authorized to speak and treat for them.
My lord, what shall I answer?
Hud. Answer? Humph!
Treat with a rag-pole? We'll not sag to that.
[Re-enter, right, Señora and Guildamour]
Hud. My dear Señora, is our freakish daughter
In hiding from us? We've not had her greeting.
Señ. She knew you close engaged, my lord, and left
The hour to you. I'll tell her of your pleasure.
Hud. My steps are yours. [To his companions]
Each where he would, my friends.
[Goes in with Señora]
Dir. I'm for a swim.
Gol. And I.
Maz. The river? With you!
Gol. [Leading left] Bolderez' men are gathering opposite,
Behind the river woods.
Maz. The pick of camps.
Gol. They know it too. There's water, and the trees
Are cool and friendly.
Dir. Was it not resolved
Bolderez' men should join the Federal Guards?
Gol. They do, in th' main. This is a straggling wing
Left in the hills, that we have given leave
To station here.
Dir. That's prudence too.
Maz. Why so?
Dir. I'm windward of a whisper.
Gol. About LeVal?
Dir. He's circling in. Let Hudibrand laugh low
Or the enemy will hear him.
Gol. This LeVal
Was dead and buried,—three months out of life,—
Shook from remembrance as the stalest clutter,—
Now, save our eyes, he's jumped alive and rides
Our foremost thought! Enough to send a man
Back to his marrows. I shall pray to-night.
Maz. A plunge for resolution! That will cool it.
[Exeunt lower left. Señora comes out of house and crosses to seat, right]
Señ. 'Tis five o'clock. No sign! But he will come.
He comes!
[Enter Chartrien, lower right. They meet silently and clasp hands]
Cha. My friend! I thought you far from here.
Safe in the capital. But nothing's strange
To those who've moved mid miracles. You've seen
LeVal?
Señ. I have.
Cha. I long to greet him. O,
Such walking of the dead renews the earth
And makes it habitable! I have heard
It was Famette who saved him,—added that
To array of deeds that must unlaurel all
The heroines of time.
Señ. There'll be an hour
To talk of that. Now you must see the princess.
Cha. Hernda is with you? Here!
Señ. And Hudibrand.
No danger there. He wants you now, and says
You'll find good grass if you will leap the stile.
Cha. [Answering her smile] So blind as that? Poor mole, he's been in th' ground
Too long. Will never get his eyes.
Señ. Ay, he'll
Deny the sun till 't bakes him in his burrow.
But Hernda,—O, what welcome waits you, friend!
The ivory-crusted temple, shut and sealed
To eternal airs, is now a fane of rose,
Whose cloistral stairs, that wound so futilely,
Will now through fragrant twilight lead you up
To windowed Heaven. Come! Come, take your own!
Cha. No! Wait....
Señ. A lover speaks that word?
Cha. Señora,——
Señ. That wound she gave you here is open yet?
But you were wrong, and with your wretched doubts
Assailed her in the hour she lay on rack
To save you.
Cha. On rack for me? She gave me up.
Gave me to him,—Megario,—knowing that
Meant death.
Señ. And yet you live.
Cha. I—?
Señ. Live. Do you not know
You were to die that night?
Cha. I've heard.
Señ. Those hours
She gained for you meant life.
Cha. She gained for me?
I saw his lips on hers.
Señ. You did. And I—
I saw her face. The dead are warmer. She
Could bear that touch for your sake, and on that
Bore too your curse.
Cha. For me? I'll hear no more,
Señora.
Señ. You will see her now?
Cha. Not now,
Nor ever. I am here by pledge, to meet—
A friend.
[Masio enters lower right]
Señ. Is this—the man?
Cha. No, but I know him.
He's seeking me, I think.
Señ. I'll leave you then.
Cha. [Seizing her hands] Nothing to Hernda!
Señ. Nothing. You and she
For what may come. [Goes in]
Cha. You, Masio? From Famette?
Mas. No, from the camp.
Cha. The camp! But she is there?
Mas. That's guessing, sir. There's fernseed on her wings.
She flits invisible, then bat your eyes
You see her.
Cha. I've her word she'd meet me here.
Mas. Queer place. You come from Quito?
Cha. Yes. 'Twas there
I had her letter making this strange tryst.
I've travelled from that hour. Famette has left
Her name upon the air, and all the way
I heard it.
Mas. She's the bird of courage, dares
Go far as our LeVal himself. But here's
What brought me, sir. [Gives Chartrien a letter]
'Tis from LeVal.
Cha. His hand!
His living hand! [Reads, pales, and stands silent]
Mas. Bad, sir?
Cha. No, good. 'Tis good.
Mas. Then I'll be off. My head's no show variety,
But I'd not trust it long in th' grove of Peace.
We'll see you soon in camp?
Cha. To-night, I hope.
Famette holds key to that.
Mas. The first star bring you! [Exit]
Cha. [Reads letter] When you see the princess Hernda, kiss for me the hand that gave me freedom. It was she unlocked my dungeon and nursed my bones to life. What I am is hers, and therefore yours. Le Val.
Hast grown so spent, O Fortune, that one stroke
Must deal both death and life?—with hand that parts
The night, show too my rainbow loss?.... All, all
My future sold to the gray usurer Grief,
Who gathers up as sapped and withered leaves
Time's unimagined buds! No eve, no dawn
With Hernda! No brief night that makes
The sun unwelcome as he golds desire,
The warm mist-flower where we lie its heart!
Unbrace thee here, my courage! Valiancy,
First god and last in man, unbuckle here!
... How meet Famette? Smile on her smiles? Deceive
Her love? She'll lay her head upon my heart
And hear it crying "Hernda!".... Hernda lost!
I must not dream here open to the risk
Of her unanswered eyes. Their lure would make
Dishonor, that on wreck feeds rampant, spring
Unshamed in me. I would forsake Famette.
[Goes right, upper path. Hernda comes from house and crosses rapidly to him]
Her. Chartrien! Come! [He turns slowly and meets her]
You take my hand, here where
You wished me dead?
Cha. That you have offered it
Proves me forgiven.
Her. You forgiven? Ah,
Has my atonement swollen above my fault
Till I may nod a pardon where I thought
To kneel for one?
Cha. LeVal has written me. [Kisses her hand]
This kiss is his salute, and that 'tis his,
Not mine, makes my lips bold to leave it here.
Her. Forgiven! Dawn is on my sky, that hung
Unutterably black! Yes, it is true
I saved LeVal. From Fate's own arms I snatched
My treachery's sequence, though his meantime pain
Is ever writ against me. Yet I too
Knew misery that might be mate of his.
And for that other wrong—here where we stand——
Cha. My wrong to you! Nay, don't forgive me that.
Leave me a wound to keep me ever paying
The debt of pain that solely eases guilt.
Her. I had to choose,—Oh, agony of choice!—
Between your death as certain as the night
And your surrender to Megario,
That seemed but death postponed, yet held a hope
Worth any hazard. That you live is proof
My choice was God's. My reasonless despair
Held Heaven's sanity. Ah, that you live
Is substance of reward, joy's permanent
Sweet soil, but there's a flower to spring from that,
A nodding ecstasy that I may pluck
For my own bosom,—is there not?
Cha. Don't—don't——
Her. You turn away? You've still a doubt of me?
Then modesty may save her frigid self.
I'll speak for love, the one best thing this side
Of Heaven. You've taken my hand, and now my heart,
And all myself would follow it. My heart,
My body, and my risen soul. Yes, risen!
My past of clay is quickened with a breath
That waits not death to know itself immortal,
And this is all my pride, that by that breath
I'm rich enough to give myself to you.
[She waits for him to speak. He makes no answer]
I am rejected, having but my shame
To cover naked love. Yet vanity
Finds me this scanted shroud. Seeing you here,
My hunger guessed at yours. I felt you came
To seek me, else my heart, timid with fault,
Had kept its silence, though my tongue had given
As now a friend's good welcome.
Cha. I have come,
But not to you.
Her. For why then? I've an ear
Of caution. Let my veins, at too swift flood,
Grow slow as prudence in what work you will.
Now that our aims are near as once our hearts,
You'll let me help? I swear by both our souls,
And yours the dearer one, that our desires
Are one bent bow, and if our arrows speed
They'll kiss at the same mark.
Cha. I'm fathoms deep,
But in a sea as sweet as ever closed
O'er drowned felicity!
Her. Why are you here?
Cha. To keep an oath!—that kept is our division,
Yet forfeited would so untreasure me
That being's god would blush dishallowed way
Quite out such husk of man!
Her. An oath?
Cha. Oh, first
In made self-curses I'll unload some part
Of this stuffed loathing for the wretch I am!
Her. Nay, I'll not listen.
Cha. Star that was a maiden,
Do not believe I loved you when my days
Ran tribute at your feet,——
Her. Say anything
But that. Those days were mine, and true.
Cha. False, false!
For love is generous as the heart of bounty,
Giving defect perfection. Narrowed hours,
Beseamed and flawed, take from its seer-lit eyes
The unstinted, dear proportion secret yet
In Time's full dream.
Her. 'Twas I who failed——
Cha. Not you!
That midnight moment held the dawn of this,
All this that now you are, and love had seen
The folded glory of yourself had love
Been there to see. But I cast dust upon
Your sleeping wings, and did not know your heart
Till wounds had laid it bare.
Her. How could you know
More than its native bosom where it dwelt
Strange and unguessed?
Cha. If I had loved,
Such soul of fragrance had not hid from me
This unbound blossoming.
Her. We must forget
Love's morning miracles forever missed.
His fair, warm day is left us,—sunset's gold,
And evening with the stars. That is enough
For me and you——
Cha. My pledge! I'm here to meet
Famette!
Her. Famette! I know her.
Cha. Know her! You?
Her. And know she loves. Then it is you she waits?
Cha. She saved my life. But that unvalued thing
Is debt's mere rubble. 'Tis her love makes up
The sum unpaid and out of reckoning.
And I—how can I tell you?
Her. If you loved,
Look up. No shame can be where love has been.
Cha. I've no defence,—yet say that you were lost
In midmost desert sands, and suddenly
A flower at your feet breathed of the woods
And darkling velvet shade where rest might be....
Her. But that's a miracle.
Cha. So was her love
To me. Or say that flam and falsity
Ensnarled your every way till no true thing
Seemed left on earth, and then in lifted flash
Truth's priestess eyes looked from a human face
And you were loved,—what startled warmth would say
Your heart yet lived? Would you keep back your life
In barren hug? Deny its sunless gray
To gentle eyes that asked but leave to lay
Their radiance there?
Her. I understand. She gave,
And I demanded. So the gods decree
Her boughs shall bloom and mine go bare.
Cha. Oh, Heaven!
Her. You love her, Chartrien?
Cha. Silence be on that.
Her. I'll know it,—hear you say it. Is your heart
Mine, or Famette's?
Cha. My life is hers.
Her. Your heart!
Cha. Is yours.
Her. Ah! Then—I give you to Famette.
[He kneels to kiss her hand. Hudibrand appears in door of house, left. Smiles, and crosses to them]
Hud. Up to her lip, you rogue! A humble suitor
Gets humble favors.
Cha. [Rising] You, my lord?
Hud. Your hand,
My boy.
Cha. It was my head you wanted, sir,
When last we met.
Hud. Not so. I meant to save you,
But Hernda spiked my train. To have you die
Quite safely in a rumor was the sum
Of my intent against you.
Cha. You're not well,
My lord?
Hud. Most well!
Her. He's lost some sleep.
Hud. Tut, tut!
Cha. You stay full long in Goldusan. I thought
You nearer home.
Hud. I'm cruising in the gulf,
By th' morning papers,—the reliable ones.
The gutter rags have guessed me,—but no matter.
I've seen the play through, and I go to-morrow.
Pouf! It has been a game!
Cha. You speak as 'twere
At end.
Hud. It ends to-day. [Looks at watch]
'Tis just the hour.
Now Vardas is proclaimed the president
Of a liberated people.
Cha. What of that?
Hud. He's bowing now. "I thank you, gracious friends,
Most loyal citizens——"
Cha. What's that to do
With freedom's war?
Hud. It merely ends it.
Cha. What?
You think we fought for that? A change of caps
Upon two brigands' heads?
Hud. Tut, you've won more.
You with some justice warred on Cordiaz,
But Vardas is of heart so liberal
His people shall be rich in privileges
As many and as fair as in Assaria.
Myself will vouch it.
Cha. I will vouch it too.
As many pits fed with the souls of men,
As many images of God deformed
In lawless fray to hold the peaks of greed
And at the top sit on their goblin gold
Content with bestial purr, who might have touched
The heavens with song.
Hud. Is that for me, my boy?
Cha. As many lives tramped out in hunger's scramble,
As many factories where driven wives
Forget the altar dream of babes and home.
As many sweating traps where flames may feed
On flesh of maidens, leaving still, charred bones
Whose only fortune is to ache no more.
As many brazen mills that noise their thrift
Above the ceaseless shuttle of small feet,
While you, the great arch-master, think none hears
That drownèd pattering. As many marts
Where, in law's shadow, girl-eyed slaves are sold
To blows and lust. As many cripples thrown
Upon the dump-heap of a soulless Peace,
Each season piled to moaning wreck more high
Than ever War made in its darkest year.
As many holes where life must lie with death
For privilege of sleep. Oh, I could give
Black instances till yonder sun be set
Nor end your loathsome list!
Hud. A rare, hot sermon,
But I'm not Providence, that from my hand
Must pour unfailing bounty.
Cha. Humble, sir?
I thought you claimed a power that gave the world
The shape you chose.
Hud. But I must use the stuff
I find here. That I can't remake or change.
So must my world show flaws and ugly spots
Due to its substance, not to my good pattern.
Cha. That stuff, sir, is the same that lifted us
From four feet up to two! The elements
That played like death upon it but aroused
Their conqueror. In the embrace of winds
It made us ships and gave us wings. From dust,
The very dust that choked it, grew the dream
That lifts it deathless, an eternized God.
And surely as your grip makes it a slave,
You teach it freedom. In your clutch 'twill find
Once more the need creative, and upswell
With power that shall leave you by the way
As heaving seas leave straws upon the sand.
You shall be nothing. As a dream that dies
With waking—lost so utterly
The sleeper knows not that it was—so you
Shall be a vanished thing that man born free
Can not reclothe in guess!
Hud. Peonia's sun
Has touched your wits. You still think of revolt?
Cha. I think of victory.
Hud. Your comedy
Is past its hour. Come, Chartrien, give it up.
Confess the war is done.
Cha. Bolderez' guns
Will make confession of another sort.
Hud. O, ho! I see a light. You have not heard
The morning news. Bolderez has come in.
Cha. Come in? Your couriers flatter you. He holds
The heights of Gila with five thousand men.
Hud. That's yesterday. To-day those brave five thousand
Are soldiers of united Goldusan.
Bolderez is adviser to the State,
A tinker in high place, who solders fast
The civic split——
Cha. You dream! This is not true!
Her. Yes, Chartrien, it is true. We've lost Bolderez.
Cha. He—has—deserted?
Hud. No, he proves him loyal
To me, his master.
Cha. You?
Hud. He served me always.
You fool, this was my revolution.
Cha. Yours?
Hud. Bolderez led my troops. It was for me
You fed his bony beggars. Ha! For me
You stuffed their hungry pockets with your gold!
I loosed your fortune when I know 'twould save
My own a gouge. But I've not dodged the score.
Those guns and horses for the Gazza scare
Cost me some paper——
Cha. You? My God! Your war?
Hud. I knew the storm would sweep out Cordiaz,
So strode its back that I might hold the bit
When came my hour. My boy, you fought for me.
I made you do it—I, whom you have said
Shall be as nothing. Where's the mighty sea
Shall toss me as a straw——
Her. O, father, peace!
You see he dies!
Hud. Don't waste your tears. He'll live.
I've made good oxen out of wilder bulls.
Her. He cannot live! The pain of it, the pain!
When aspirations have returned as wounds,
Then even the soul must die!
Hud. They all get up.
Stout workers too,—quiet, serviceable,
Pestered no more with dreams. Here, give him this. [Offers a flask]
Cha. [Rousing, pushing flask aside] Ay, no more dreams.
[Springs up] But action! Keep Bolderez.
We have LeVal, whose undiscouraged heart
Bears on its tide the conquering desire
Of twenty thousand men!
Hud. Humph! Where are these
Invisible veterans?
Cha. Some gather now
About his banner,—some wait in the hills
Till they are sure it is his voice that calls,—
Some in your favor wrapped go to and fro
In your own camp, feeding a fire your gold
Can never light,—some dream till we have oped
Their prison doors,—in every part and corner
Of Goldusan, there's courage on the leap
To reach his side.
Hud. What dribble!
Cha. Rein this storm?
No human hand, nor Heaven's now, may leash it.
It is the throe when travailing Life is shaken
In absolute birth that makes undreamèd news
Even in the ear of God.
Hud. Fanatic! Fool!
Have I not tried to teach you——
Cha. Teach yourself!
Hud. Come, come!
Cha. I mean the words. The race has learned
Its lesson while you've played with sand. At last
The dumb, trod way has spoken 'neath man's feet,
And by that word uncovered he has learned
What he shall not be,—knows what heights of sun
Are his, and seeing takes his road,—no more
Battering in wild and bruisèd ignorance
A destiny of stone. Ay, consciousness
Has wakened in itself the unknown god
That gives the race its eyes. You, you a king?
Who do not know that every man is heir
To kingship that must leave such thrones as yours
Outcoursed and little recked as the strewn toys
Of childhood!
Hud. Mud-sill dynasties. You know
That I am master.
Cha. Master? You believe
That man, at top of conquest, who has made
Nature his weariless serf, and set the yoke
From his own neck on her divinities,
Will seal to you—weak, myriadth part of him—
Those wizard captives bending to the dream
Of his new world? Gird you with fortune that
He wrenched from stony ages?—let you gorge
The magic fruit snatched by his perilled being
In starward battle up the abysmal steep?
Hud. I am a fact,—not words.
Cha. You can believe it?
At last on dawn-browed heights, with victor foot
On mysteries bound the genii of his wish,
He'll trail his hopes to kennel? Let you pluck
His universe unflowered, and shrink life
To growling brevity 'tween lash and bone?
A slave to you? Obstructive clod,
Who could not stir with one life-budding dream
Though holy imagination tipped with fire
Should score her script upon you!
[A physical pain overcomes Hudibrand. Hernda runs to his side. He regains composure, his manner forbidding solicitude]
Hud. I am patient.
One word of mine would send you manacled
To prison. If you are here to lay down arms——
Cha. I'm not.
Her. O, father! The amnesty!
Hud. That shelter
Is not for him!
Cha. Then speak your word, and learn
You fight not men but man. Wide as the world
His spirit blows against you, and little part
You'll cage in this one shackled body.
Hud. One?
We'll drag the earth, or net the pack of you!
LeVal, marauding ghost, we'll prick his blood
Beneath his spectral mask. And that mad trull,
Famette, your holy maid——
Cha. She's safe from you!
God is about her as she walks among
Your hope-lorn slaves and touches their dead hearts
To life.
Hud. To folly they are sick of! Ah,
Once more I've news. Your swarthy Joan has fled,
And all her magic warriors of a day
Again are beggars.
Cha. Fled?
Hud. To her cactus lair.
But she'll trapse back between two bayonets,
Stripped of her phantom wings.
Cha. She is not gone.
That heart of truth! When she deserts LeVal
There'll be a breach in Heaven, and fiends may claim
The day for hell and you.
Hud. 'Tis mine without
Such warm avouch. Your chaparral cock and hen
Have parted company. Her followers now,
Cursing and naked, straggle to our camps——
Her. Your pardon, sir! You are deceived.
Hud. Ho, ho!
Her. They're with LeVal. Not one stout heart is lost.
Famette but lends her captaincy to his
In needful absence——
Hud. You are much too wise.
Her. I know Famette.
Hud. You—what? Know her?
Her. I do.
Hud. This is the fruit of that mad jaunt,
Through Goldusan! Where have you seen her?
Her. Here.
Hud. Not here? That woman? Are you mad, my girl?
Her. I love Famette. If we were one, I'd be
But cinders in her saintly fire.
Hud. Here, miss?
You've had her with you? Sniffed and cheeped together,
And drowned my kingdom in a gossip cup?
Her. If men, the bravest, are but flies upon
Your monarch ermine, that with careless shake
You scatter, can you fear a woman?
Hud. What?
Mocked by a chit? I fear? You mannerless filly,
I've let you plunge and ramp o'er all my fields,
But I'll not have you whinnying at the fence
Till roadside jades break through! She has been here?
Her. She has. Dined at my board, slept in my bed,
And so shall do again.
Hud. I'll welcome her!
And send you trucking home! You shall not wait
For any whimsy this or that!
Her. But, sir,——
Hud. No trumpery packing,—no unready whine!
This hour! That you should moil your royalty
Touching such scum!
Her. Nay, I was scum until she gave me substance.
I had no soul until she made hers mine,
No cleanliness of heart till I knew hers,
No knowledge till I looked through her clear eyes,
No riches till I wrapped me in her rags——
Hud. You're raving!
Her. No. Ah, father, father, I'm
Famette,—your daughter! I've not been in Cana,
But in the pits your greed has dug,—down, down
Where misery is so vile its own abyss
Shudders to hold it. Chartrien, now you know
My tale untold. I see your mind runs back
To light a way it travelled in the dark.
O, you were blind! I'd know you near though masked
In utter change.
Cha. I'm folded now in sun
That makes me blind again. Are you Famette?
Her. [Showing her bared arm] See this brown circlet left that you might find
A trace of her? I've crossed the universe——
Through hell—and reached you, have I not?
Cha. [Embracing her] All sweet
Forfending stars now heap their fortunes one
And drop it on my heart that borrows heaven
To hold the imponderable gift!
Her. Ah, poor Famette!
Cha.'Twas you—in that foul hacienda pen?
And would not speak?
Her. I meant to save you, sir.
And had I told you then, would you have set
So blithely off to Quito?
Cha. And left you there!
How can you think it?
Her. Do I, sir? Nay, love,
Nor ever did. I knew you'd ruin all
With your big "won'ts" and "don'ts."
Cha. O, sagest heart!
But here you kept my joy-gates shut so long.
Why such slow mercy, golden one?
Her. You'll hear it?
There is a teasing devil in me, Chartrien,
That must have play.
Cha. Ah, no!
Her. Ay, and an ounce
Or so of cruelty, that would not let
Your frailty go unpinched.
Cha. Nay, 'tis not so!
Her. You'd rather think I put to royal test
Your godship? Wooed with lips so near your own,
And found you stanch to honor? That may be,
But I've a shameless reason dearer still.
I wanted all your love for Hernda,—all.
And had I said too soon that we were one,
Then on your breast my heart had never known
Which maid you clasped.
Cha. You ever, sweet!
Her. Yet she
Is dear. My joy could never be content
Within your heart beside unfaith to her.
She must have room there, not in name of love,
But truth. So you shall hold us both.
Cha. Like this?
Grow to my heart, O garland of myself!
Be breath of me, till, like a double tree,
Root, sap, and bloom are one,
And in our noble fruiting Time forgets
To mourn Hesperides!
Her. Heaven hold thy wish
The prayer thou meanest it!
Cha. One bliss is man's
The perfect angels know not. In the arms,
Warm, rhythmic, round his battling soul, to feel
Spur of his noblest blood, and know his dreams
Are mated,—find in lightest winds that stir
Love's tremulous hair, the brave wing of his hope
That needs go farthest,—and when seasons fail,
And weary spirit turns from waste to waste,
Know lips that he may touch and touching kiss
The fallow world to harvest. Thus, and thus!
[Hudibrand, forgotten by the lovers, has fought through another moment of agony, and advances, taking hold of Hernda]
Hud. Are you my daughter?
Her. I am, but I've known hours
When shame, a cleansing fire, searched through my blood
For any drop that owned you father.
Hud. In!
Go in! [To Chartrien] And you—I'll rid the earth of you,
And take its thanks! [Staggers with a return of pain]
Her. [Her arms about him] O, father, let us help!
What is it, father?
Hud. Nothing. Keep away!
Away!
[Throws her off. Enter, lower right, an officer attended]
Off. Your majesty, there's sure report
LeVal makes ready to oppose his guns
To our weak garrison.
Hud. [Ironic] The spectre's near?
Off. Across the stream,—the east and wooded bank.
A hundred times our force could not dislodge
His guns from such a vantage.
Hud. Guns? LeVal?
He has no guns!
Off. You'll hear them soon. I beg
Your highness' pardon, but your dignity
Would not be touched if you should hasten out.
[Enter, lower left, Golifet, Diraz, Mazaran]
Gol. My lord!
Hud. What is this tale? You, Golifet?
You are in charge!
Gol. 'Tis treachery, sir! I warned
Your majesty——
Hud. Come, what's the story?
Gol. This.
Bolderez' officers whom we gave leave
To station near us, thus to put more guard
Between the town and rebels that might creep
Down from the hostile hills——
Hud. This egg's all shell.
Come, sir, the meat!
Gol. They were in secret yoked
Most traitorously with LeVal, and all their men
Were coupled to his cause. They gave him cover
To lead his army up——
Hud. His army, sir?
Gol. His followers——
Hud. There may be treachery
Uncapped among us.
Gol. 'Twas by your advice
We gave them leave to camp——
Hud. I trusted fools!
Or traitors! You've a choice of names.
Off. I beg
Your majesty to come with us. They'll fire
At any moment.
Hud. Fire? Then we shall know
At last where we may find LeVal. You've wired
To Vardas, Golifet? He must despatch
The Federal Guards——
Gol. It is too late.
Hud. Too late?
Maz. We can not save the town.
Off. The citizens
Are fleeing. Do not delay, your majesty!
[Fire of guns is heard]
Hud. Cowards! Before you fly, arrest that man.
Look to it, Golifet. You'll answer for him.
Let him be trebly guarded.
Gol. Is not this
The missing lord, Prince Chartrien?
Hud. Ay, that traitor!
Gol. At this hot juncture, prudence must forbid
A needless insult to the enemy
That may too soon be master.
Hud. Insult!
Gol. Come,
My lord.
Hud. By every god that was or is——
[Guns again heard]
Gol. Please you, retire, your majesty!
[Men gather excitedly from different parts of the grove. Guests and servants desert the house]
Maz. Come, come!
[A shell breaches the wall, rear. Stones fly among the trees. The house is battered and portico torn away]
Hud. Grant me this favor. Let me be the last
To leave the Grove of Peace. Ha, ha! The last!
Her. Come, father!
Hud. Go! I've asked a favor, friends.
[They turn from him and pass slowly out. Hernda and Chartrien remain]
Her. Now you will come?
Hud. When you have gone! Go, go!
[More shells. Chartrien carries Hernda away, lower left]
Hud. [Alone, racked with pain] My foe is nearer than those feeble guns.
Bah! I could crush them! Here I am fordone.
No, no! I'll not surrender. I will live!
I'll keep my world. I fought for it, and won.
'Tis mine! I will not leave it to these mice
To scramble over. [The agony seizes him]
A coward foe, that gives
No even chance. Strikes from the dark, with blade
Tempered secure in undiscovered fire.
... Shall then the world go on and I not here?
I shall be here,—a pile of dust, no more,——
That is the hell of hells,—while other dead,
Who made them souls here out of faith and clay,
Race on unflagging,—on and leave me still,—
The everlasting mute!... Souls? That's a lie.
A ranting, tom-tom lie, to ease us on
The wheel. I'll none of that. The sick mind's pap!
Imagination's vent, lest misery
O'er-rack the world! Protective fume
Enclouding man's last grapple till none see
If he or Death be victor, and on the doubt
He rides to Heaven!...
... Was 't truth that Chartrien spoke?
The race has found its eyes? Man is no more
A blind and hopeless struggler cornered fast
By ills unconquerable?—his lusting wars,
Diseases, hungers, Hudibrands? Then what
A chance was there, my heart? If I had fought
Upon his side!... That battle would have made
Red Fate throw down her bludgeon,—won us place
To vanward of the gods!... If I had fought
With him.... Obstructive
clod!... My God! My God?
[He dies. Sunset has passed, and the darkness grows rapidly until nothing is seen but the gleam of a fallen crown. Curtain]
A SON OF HERMES
A COMEDY IN FIVE ACTS
CHARACTERS
| BIADES, a young Athenian |
| PELAGON, his uncle |
| SACHINESSA, wife of Pelagon |
| PHANIA, their daughter |
| SYBARIS, a neighbor's daughter |
| CREON, friend of Biades |
| AMENTOR, a senator |
| MENAS, friend of Pelagon |
| CLEARCHUS, an Athenian youth disguised as a dancer |
| PHILON, a priest |
| STESILAUS, a lord of Sparta |
| PYRRHA, his daughter |
| ARCHIPPE, his wife |
| ALCANOR, his son |
| LYSANDER, friend of Stesilaus |
| HIERON, a young Spartan |
| AGIS, LENON, GIRARDAS, his friends |
| DIANESSA, MYRTA, THEONIS, NACIA, ARTANTE, Spartan maidens |
| THE EPHORS |
| Senators, citizens, soldiers, dancers, etc. |