ACT III
The same day. Late afternoon. The same scene as Act II.
Ravensbane and Dickon discovered at table, on which are lying two flails. Ravensbane is dressed in a costume which, composed of silk and jewels, subtly approximates in design to that of his original grosser composition. So artfully, however, is this contrived that, to one ignorant of his origin, his dress would appear to be merely an odd personal whimsy; whereas, to one initiated, it would stamp him grotesquely as the apotheosis of scarecrows.
Dickon is sitting in a pedagogical attitude; Ravensbane stands near him, making a profound bow in the opposite direction.
RAVENSBANE Believe me, ladies, with the true sincerity of the heart.
DICKON Inflection a little more lachrymose, please: “The true sincerity of the heart.”
RAVENSBANE Believe me, ladies, with the true sincerity of the heart.
DICKON Prettily, prettily! Next!
RAVENSBANE [Changing his mien, as if addressing another person.] Verily, sir, as that prince of poets, the immortal Virgil, has remarked:
“Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.”
DICKON Hm! Act up to the sentiment.
RAVENSBANE Verily, sir, as that prince—
DICKON No, no; basta! The next.
RAVENSBANE [With another change to courtly manner.] Trust me, your Excellency, I will inform his Majesty of your courtesy.
DICKON His Majesty more emphatic. Remember! You must impress all of the guests this afternoon.
RAVENSBANE His Majesty of your courtesy.
DICKON Delicious! O thou exquisite flower of love! How thy natal composites have burst in bloom: The pumpkin in thee to a golden collarette; thy mop of crow’s wings to these raven locks; thy broomstick to a lordly limp; thy corn-silk to these pale-tinted tassels. Verily in the gallery of scarecrows, thou art the Apollo Belvedere! But continue, Cobby dear: the retort now to the challenge.
RAVENSBANE [With a superb air.] The second, I believe.
DICKON Quite so, my lord.
RAVENSBANE Sir! The local person whom you represent has done himself the honour of submitting to me a challenge to mortal combat. Sir! Since the remotest times of my feudal ancestors, in such affairs of honour, choice of weapons has ever been the prerogative of the challenged. Sir! This right of etiquette must be observed. Nevertheless, believe me, I have no selfish desire that my superior attainments in this art should assume advantage over my challenger’s ignorance. I have, therefore, chosen those combative utensils most appropriate both to his own humble origin and to local tradition. Permit me, sir, to reveal my choice. [Pointing grandly to the table.] There are my weapons
DICKON [Clapping his hands.] My darling homunculus! Thou shouldst have acted in Beaumont and Fletcher!
RAVENSBANE There are my weapons!
DICKON I could watch thy histrionics till midnight. But thou art tired, poor Jacky; two hours’ rehearsal is fatiguing to your lordship.
RAVENSBANE Mistress Rachel—I may see her now?
DICKON Romeo! Romeo! Was ever such an amorous puppet show!
RAVENSBANE Mistress Rachel!
DICKON Wait; let me think! Thou art wound up now, my pretty apparatus, for at least six and thirty hours. The wooden angel Gabriel that trumpets the hours on the big clock in Venice is not a more punctual manikin than thou with my speeches. Thou shouldst run, therefore,—
RAVENSBANE [Frowning darkly at Dickon.] Stop talking; permit me! A tutor should know his place.
DICKON [Rubbing his hands.] Nay, your lordship is beyond comparison.
RAVENSBANE [In a terrible voice.] She will come? I shall see her? [Enter Micah.]
MICAH Pardon, my lord.
RAVENSBANE [Turning joyfully to Micah.] Is it she?
MICAH Captain Bugby, my lord, the Governor’s secretary.
DICKON Good. Squire Talbot’s second. Show him in.
RAVENSBANE [Flinging despairingly into a chair.] Ah! ah
MICAH [Lifting the flails from the table.] Beg pardon, sir; shall I remove—
DICKON Drop them; go.
MICAH But, sir—
DICKON Go, thou slave! [Exit Micah.]
RAVENSBANE [In childlike despair.] She will not come! I shall not see her!
DICKON [Handing him a book.] Here, my lord; read. You must be found reading.
RAVENSBANE [Flinging the book into the fireplace.] She does not come!
DICKON Fie, fie, Jack; thou must not be breaking thy Dickon’s apron-strings with a will of thine own. Come!
DICKON Be good, boy, and thou shalt see her soon.
RAVENSBANE [Brightening.] I shall see her? [Enter Captain Bugby.]
DICKON Your lordship was saying—Oh! Captain Bugby?
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Nervous and awed.] Captain Bugby, sir, ah! at Lord Ravensbane’s service—ah!
DICKON I am Master Dickonson, his lordship’s tutor.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Happy, sir.
DICKON [To Ravensbane.] My lord, this gentleman waits upon you from Squire Talbot. [To Captain Bugby.] In regard to the challenge of this morning, I presume?
CAPTAIN BUGBY The affair, ah! the affair of this morning, sir.
RAVENSBANE [With his former superb air—to Captain Bugby.] The second, I believe?
CAPTAIN BUGBY Quite so, my lord.
RAVENSBANE Sir! the local person whom you represent has done himself the honour of submitting to me a challenge to mortal combat. Sir! Since the remotest times of my feudal ancestors, in such affairs of honour, choice of weapons has ever been the prerogative of the challenged. Sir! this right of etiquette must be observed.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Indeed, yes, my lord.
DICKON Pray do not interrupt. [To Ravensbane.] Your lordship: “observed.”
RAVENSBANE —observed. Nevertheless, believe me, I have no selfish desire that my superior attainments in this art should assume advantage over my challenger’s ignorance. I have, therefore, chosen those combative utensils most appropriate both to his own humble origin and to local tradition. Permit me, sir, to reveal my choice. [Pointing to the table.] There are my weapons!
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Looking, bewildered.] These, my lord?
RAVENSBANE Those.
CAPTAIN BUGBY But these are—are flails.
RAVENSBANE Flails.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Flails, my lord?
RAVENSBANE There are my weapons.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Lord Ravensbane—I—ah! express myself ill—Do I understand that your lordship and Squire Talbot—
RAVENSBANE Exactly.
CAPTAIN BUGBY But your lordship—flails!
RAVENSBANE My adversary should be deft in their use. He has doubtless wielded them frequently on his barn floor.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Ahaha! I understand now. Your lordship—ah! is a wit. Haha! Flails!
DICKON His lordship’s satire is poignant.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Indeed, sir, so keen that I must apologize for laughing at my principal’s expense. [Soberly to Ravensbane.] My lord, if you will deign to speak one moment seriously—
RAVENSBANE Seriously?
CAPTAIN BUGBY I will take pleasure in informing Squire Talbot—ah! as to your real preference for—
RAVENSBANE For flails, sir. I have, permit me, nothing further to say. Flails are final. [Turns away haughtily.]
CAPTAIN BUGBY Must I really report to Squire Talbot—ah!—flails?
DICKON Lord Ravensbane’s will is inflexible.
CAPTAIN BUGBY And his wit, sir, incomparable. I am sorry for the Squire, but ’twill be the greatest joke in years. Ah! will you tell me—is it— [Indicating Ravensbane’s smoking.] is it the latest fashion?
DICKON Lord Ravensbane is always the latest.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Obliged servant, sir. Aha! Such a joke as—O lord! flails! [Exit.]
DICKON [Returning to Ravensbane.] Bravo, my pumpky dear! That squelches the jealous betrothed. Now nothing remains but for you to continue to dazzle the enamoured Rachel, and so present yourself to the Justice as a pseudo-son-nephew-in-law.
RAVENSBANE I may go to Mistress Rachel?
DICKON She will come to you. She is reading now a poem from you, which I left on her dressing-table.
RAVENSBANE She is reading a poem from me?
DICKON With your pardon, my lord, I penned it for you. I am something of a poetaster. Indeed, I flatter myself that I have dictated some of the finest lines in literature.
RAVENSBANE Dickon! She will come?
DICKON She comes! [Enter Rachel, reading from a piece of paper.] Hush! Step aside; step aside first. Let her read it. [Dickon draws Ravensbane back.]
RACHEL Once more, [Reads.] “To Mistress R——, enchantress:
If faith in witchcraft be a sin, Alas! what peril he is in Who plights his faith and love in thee, Sweetest maid of sorcery.
If witchcraft be a whirling brain, A roving eye, a heart of pain, Whose wound no thread of fate can stitch, How hast thou conjured, cruel witch, With the brain, eye, heart, and total mortal residue of thine enamoured Jack Lanthorne, [Lord R——.”]
DICKON Now to leave the turtles alone. [Exit.]
RACHEL “To Mistress R——, enchantress:
If faith in witchcraft be—”
“To Mistress R——.” R! It must be. R—— must mean—
RAVENSBANE [With passionate deference.] Rachel!
RACHEL Ah! How you surprised me, my lord.
RAVENSBANE You are come again; you are come again.
RACHEL Has anything happened? Tell me, my lord. Has Squire Talbot been here?
RAVENSBANE No, Mistress Rachel; not here.
RACHEL And you have not—Oh, my lord, I have been in such terror. But you are safe.—You have not fought?
RAVENSBANE No, Mistress Rachel; not fought.
RACHEL Thank God for that! But you will promise me—promise me that there shall be—no—duel!
RAVENSBANE I promise Mistress Rachel there shall be no duel.
RACHEL Your lordship is so good. You do not know how gratefully happy I am.
RAVENSBANE I know I am only a thing to make Mistress Rachel happy. Ah! look at me once more. When you look at me, I live.
RACHEL It is strange indeed, my lord, how the familiar world, the daylight the heavens themselves have changed since your arrival.
RAVENSBANE This is the world; this is the light; this is the heavens themselves. Mistress Rachel is looking at me.
RACHEL For me, it is less strange perhaps. I never saw a real lord before. But you, my lord, must have seen so many, many girls in the great world.
RAVENSBANE No, no; never.
RACHEL No other girls before to-day, my lord!
RAVENSBANE Before to-day? I do not know; I do not care. I was not here. To-day I was born—in your eyes. Ah! my brain whirls!
RACHEL [Smiling.] “If witchcraft be a whirling brain, A roving eye, a heart of pain,—” [In a whisper.] My lord, do you really believe in witchcraft?
RAVENSBANE With all my heart.
RACHEL And approve of it?
RAVENSBANE With all my soul.
RACHEL So do I—that is, innocent witchcraft; not to harm anybody, you know, but just to feel all the dark mystery and the trembling excitement—the way you feel when you blow out your candle all alone in your bedroom and watch the little smoke fade away in the moonshine.
RAVENSBANE Fade away in the moonshine!
RACHEL Oh, but we mustn’t speak of it. In a town like this, all such mysticism is considered damnable. But your lordship understands and approves? I am so glad! Have you read the “Philosophical Considerations” of Glanville, the “Saducismus Triumphatus,” and the “Presignifications of Dreams”? What kind of witchcraft, my lord, do you believe in?
RAVENSBANE In all yours.
RACHEL Nay, your lordship must not take me for a real witch. I can only tell fortunes, you know—like this morning.
RAVENSBANE I know; you told how my heart would break.
RACHEL Oh, that’s palmistry, and that isn’t always certain. But the surest way to prophesy—do you know what it is?
RACHEL To count the crows. Do you know how? One for sorrow—
RAVENSBANE Ha, yes!—Two for mirth!
RACHEL Three for a wedding—
RAVENSBANE Four for a birth—
RACHEL And five for the happiest thing on earth!
RAVENSBANE Mistress Rachel, come! Let us go and count five crows.
RACHEL [Delightedly.] Why, my lord, how did you ever learn it? I got it from an old goody here in town—a real witch-wife. If you will promise not to tell a secret, I will show you.—But you must promise!
RAVENSBANE I promise.
RACHEL Come, then. I will show you a real piece of witchcraft that I bought from her this morning—the glass of truth. There! Behind that curtain. If you look in, you will see—But come; I will show you. [They put their hands on the cords of the curtain.] Just pull that string, and—ah!
DICKON [Stepping out through the curtain.] Your pipe, my lord?
RACHEL Master Dickonson, how you frightened me!
DICKON So excessively sorry! I was observing the portrait of your uncle. I believe you were showing his lordship—
RACHEL [Turning hurriedly away.] Oh, nothing; nothing at all.
RAVENSBANE [Sternly to Dickon.] Why do you come?
DICKON [Handing back Ravensbane’s pipe filled.] Allow me. [Aside.] ’Tis high time you came to the point, Jack; ’tis near your lordship’s reception. Woo and win, boy; woo and win.
RAVENSBANE [Haughtily.] Leave me.
DICKON Your lordship’s humble, very humble. [Exit.]
RACHEL [Shivering.] Oh! he is gone. My dear lord, why do you keep this man?
RAVENSBANE I—keep this man?
RACHEL I cannot—pardon my rudeness—I cannot endure him.
RAVENSBANE You do not like him? Ah, then, I do not like him also. We will send him away—you and I.
RACHEL You, my lord, of course; but I—
RAVENSBANE You will be Dickon! You will be with me always and light my pipe. And I will live for you, and fight for you, and kill your betrothed.
RACHEL [Drawing away.] No, no!
RAVENSBANE Ah! but your eyes say “yes.” Mistress Rachel leaves me; but Rachel in her eyes remains. Is it not so?
RACHEL What can I say, my lord! It is true that since my eyes met yours, a new passion has entered into my soul. I have felt—your lordship will laugh at me—I have felt an inexpressible longing—but ’tis so impertinent, my lord, so absurd in me, a mere girl, and you a nobleman of power—yet I have felt it irresistibly, my dear lord,—a longing to help you. I am so sorry for you—so sorry for you! I pity you deeply.—Forgive me; forgive me, my lord!
RAVENSBANE It is enough.
RACHEL Indeed, indeed, ’tis so rude of me,—’tis so unreasonable.
RAVENSBANE It is enough. I grow—I grow—I grow! I am a plant; you give it rain and sun. I am a flower; you give it light and dew; I am a soul, you give it love and speech. I grow. Towards you—towards you I grow!
RACHEL My lord, I do not understand it, how so poor and mere a girl as I can have helped you. Yet I do believe it is so; for I feel it so. What can I do for you?
RAVENSBANE Do not leave me. Be mine. Let me be yours.
RACHEL Ah! but, my lord—do I love you?
RAVENSBANE What is “I love you”? Is it a kiss, a sigh, an embrace? Ah! then, you do not love me.—“I love you”: is it to nourish, to nestle, to lift up, to smile upon, to make greater—a worm? Ah! then, you love me. [Enter Richard at left back, unobserved.]
RACHEL Do not speak so of yourself, my lord; nor exalt me so falsely.
RAVENSBANE Be mine.
RACHEL A great glory has descended upon this day.
RAVENSBANE Be mine.
RACHEL Could I but be sure that this glory is love—Oh, then! [Turns toward Ravensbane.]
RICHARD [Stepping between them.] It is not love; it is witchcraft.
RACHEL Who are you?—Richard?
RICHARD You have indeed forgotten me? Would to God, Rachel, I could forget you.
RAVENSBANE Sir, permit me—
RICHARD Silence! [To Rachel.] Against my will, I am a convert to your own mysticism; for nothing less than damnable illusion could so instantly wean your heart from me to—this. I do not pretend to understand it; but that it is witchcraft I am convinced; and I will save you from it.
RACHEL Go; please go.
RAVENSBANE Permit me, sir; you have not replied yet to flails!
RICHARD Permit me, sir. [Taking something from his coat.] My answer is—bare cob! [Holding out a shelled corn-cob.] Thresh this, sir, for your antagonist. ’Tis the only one worthy your lordship. [Tosses it contemptuously towards him.]
RAVENSBANE Upon my honour, as a man—
RICHARD As a man forsooth! Were you indeed a man, Lord Ravensbane, I would have accepted your weapons, and flailed you out of New England. But it is not my custom to chastise runagates from asylums, or to banter further words with a natural and a ninny.
RACHEL Squire Talbot! Will you leave my uncle’s house?
RAVENSBANE One moment, mistress:—I did not wholly catch the import of this gentleman’s speech, but I fancy I have insulted him by my reply to his challenge. One insult may perhaps be remedied by another. Sir, permit me to call you a ninny, and to offer you— [Drawing his sword and offering it.] swords.
RICHARD Thanks; I reject the offer.
RAVENSBANE [Turning away despondently.] He rejects it. Well!
RACHEL [To Richard.] And now will you leave?
RICHARD At once. But one word more. Rachel—Rachel, have you forgotten this morning and the glass of truth?
RACHEL [Coldly.] No.
RICHARD
Call it a fancy now if you will. I scoffed at it; yes. Yet you believed it. I loved you truly, you said. Well, have I changed?
RACHEL Yes.
RICHARD Will you test me again—in the glass?
RACHEL No. Go; leave us.
RICHARD I will go. I have still a word with your aunt.
RAVENSBANE [To Richard.] I beg your pardon, sir. You said just now that had I been a man—
RICHARD I say, Lord Ravensbane, that the straight fibre of a true man never warps the love of a woman. As for yourself, you have my contempt and pity. Pray to God, sir, pray to God to make you a man. [Exit, right.]
RACHEL Oh! it is intolerable! [To Ravensbane.] My dear lord, I do believe in my heart that I love you, and if so, I will with gratitude be your wife. But, my lord, strange glamours, strange darknesses reel, and bewilder my mind. I must be alone; I must think and decide. Will you give me this tassel?
RAVENSBANE [Unfastening a silk tassel from his coat and giving it to her.] Oh, take it.
RACHEL If I decide that I love you, that I will be your wife—I will wear it this afternoon at the reception. Good-by. [Exit, right.]
RAVENSBANE Mistress Rachel!— [Solus.] God, are you here? Dear God, I pray to you—make me to be a man! [Exit, left.]
DICKON [Appearing in the centre of the room.] Poor Jacky! Thou shouldst ’a’ prayed to t’other one.
[He disappears. Enter, right, Richard and Mistress Merton.]
MISTRESS MERTON [Pointing to the wall.] That is the portrait.
RICHARD Indeed! The design is very like.
MISTRESS MERTON ’Tis more than like, Richard; ’tis the very same. Two and twenty years ago she embroidered it for him, and he would insist on wearing it for the portrait he was then sitting for.
RICHARD That same Goody Rickby!
MISTRESS MERTON A pretty girl!—and a wild young man was my brother. The truth comes hard to tell thee, Richard; but he was wild, Gilead was wild. He told me the babe had died. But God worketh His own righteousness. Only—he must be saved now; Rachel must be saved; we must all be saved.
RICHARD You feel sure—very sure, Mistress Merton?
MISTRESS MERTON Yea, that waistcoat; ’tis the very one, I know it too well. And you see it accounts for all,—this silly impostor lord; my brother’s strange patronage of him; the blackmail of this Master Dickonson—
RICHARD But who is he?
MISTRESS MERTON Nay, heaven knows! Some old crony perchance of Gilead’s youth; some confederate of this woman Rickby.
RICHARD O God!—And Rachel sacrificed to these impostors; to an illegitimate—your brother would allow it!
MISTRESS MERTON Ah! but think of his own reputation, Richard. He a justice—the family honour!
RICHARD ’Tis enough. Well, and I must see this Goody Rickby, you think?
MISTRESS MERTON At once—at once. My brother has invited guests for this afternoon to meet “his lordship”! Return, if possible, before they come. She dwells at the blacksmith shop—you must buy her off. Oh, gold will buy her; ’tis the gold they’re after—all of them; have her recall both these persons. [Giving a purse.] Take her that, Richard, and promise her more.
RICHARD [Proudly.] Keep it, Mistress Merton. I have enough gold, methinks, for my future wife’s honour; or if not, I will earn it. [Exit.]
MISTRESS MERTON Richard! Ah, the dear lad, he should have taken it.
[Enter Micah.]
MICAH The minister and his wife have turned into the gate, madam.
MISTRESS MERTON The guests! Is it so late?
MICAH Four o’clock, madam. [Going to the table.] Shall I remove these?
MISTRESS MERTON Flails! Flails in the parlour? Of course, remove them.
MICAH [At the door.] Madam, in all my past years of service at Merton House, I never waited upon a lord till to-day. Madam, in all my future years of service at Merton House, I trust I may never wait upon a lord again.
MISTRESS MERTON Micah, mind the knocker.
MICAH Yes, madam. [Exit at left back. Sounds of a brass knocker outside.]
MISTRESS MERTON Rachel! Rachel! [Exit, right. Enter, left, Justice Merton and Dickon.]
JUSTICE MERTON So you are contented with nothing less than the sacrifice of my niece?
DICKON Such a delightful room!
JUSTICE MERTON Are you merciless?
DICKON And such a living portrait of your worship! The waistcoat is so beautifully executed.
JUSTICE MERTON If I pay him ten thousand pounds— [Enter Micah.]
MICAH Minister Dodge, your worship; and Mistress Dodge. [Exit. Enter the Minister and his Wife.]
JUSTICE MERTON [Stepping forward to receive them.] Believe me, this is a great privilege.—Madam! [Bowing.]
MINISTER DODGE [Taking his hand.] The privilege is ours, Justice; to enter a righteous man’s house is to stand, as it were, on God’s threshold.
JUSTICE MERTON [Nervously.] Amen, amen. Permit me—ah! Lord Ravensbane, my young guest of honour, will be here directly—permit me to present his lordship’s tutor, Master Dickonson; The Reverend Master Dodge, Mistress Dodge.
MINISTER DODGE [Offering his hand.] Master Dickonson, sir—
DICKON [Barely touching the minister’s fingers, bows charmingly to his wife.] Madam, of all professions in the world, your husband’s most allures me.
MISTRESS DODGE ’Tis a worthy one, sir.
DICKON Ah! Mistress Dodge, and so arduous—especially for a minister’s wife. [He leads her to a chair.]
MISTRESS DODGE [Accepting the chair.] Thank you.
MINISTER DODGE Lord Ravensbane comes from abroad?
JUSTICE MERTON From London.
MINISTER DODGE An old friend of yours, I understand.
JUSTICE MERTON From London, yes. Did I say from London? Quite so; from London. [Enter Micah.]
MICAH Captain Bugby, the Governor’s secretary.
[Exit. Enter Captain Bugby. He walks with a slight lameness, and holds daintily in his hand a pipe, from which he puffs with dandy deliberation.]
CAPTAIN BUGBY Justice Merton, your very humble servant.
JUSTICE MERTON Believe me, Captain Bugby.
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Profusely.] Ah, Master Dickonson! my dear friend Master Dickonson—this is indeed—ah! How is his lordship since—aha! but discretion! Mistress Dodge—her servant! Ah! yes, [Indicating his pipe with a smile of satisfaction.] the latest, I assure you; the very latest from London. Ask Master Dickonson.
MINISTER DODGE [Looking at Captain Bugby.] These will hatch out in the springtime.
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Confidentially to Dickon.] But really, my good friend, may not I venture to inquire how his lordship—ah! has been in health since the—ah! since—
DICKON [Impressively.] Oh! quite, quite!
[Enter Mistress Merton; she joins Justice Merton and Minister Dodge.]
CAPTAIN BUGBY You know, I informed Squire Talbot of his lordship’s epigrammatic retort—his retort of—shh! ha haha! Oh, that reply was a stiletto; ’twas sharper than a sword-thrust, I assure you. To have conceived it—’twas inspiration; but to have expressed it—oh! ’twas genius. Hush! “Flails!” Oh! It sticks me now in the ribs. I shall die with concealing it.
MINISTER DODGE [To Mistress Merton.] ’Tis true, mistress; but if there were more like your brother in the parish, the conscience of the community would be clearer.
MICAH The Reverend Master Rand of Harvard College; the Reverend Master Todd of Harvard College.
[Exit. Enter two elderly, straight-backed divines.]
JUSTICE MERTON [Greeting them.] Permit me, gentlemen; this is fortunate—before your return to Cambridge.
[He conducts them to Mistress Merton and Minister Dodge, centre. Seated left, Dickon is ingratiating himself with Mistress Dodge; Captain Bugby, laughed at by both parties, is received by neither.]
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Puffing smoke toward the ceiling.] Really, I cannot understand what keeps his Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor, so long. He has two such charming daughters, Master Dickonson—
DICKON [To Mistress Dodge.] Yes, yes; such suspicious women with their charms are an insult to the virtuous ladies of the parish.
CAPTAIN BUGBY How, sir!
MISTRESS DODGE And to think that she should actually shoe horses herself!
DICKON It is too hard, dear Mistress Dodge; too hard!
MISTRESS DODGE You are so appreciative, Master Dickonson.
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Piqued, walks another way.] Well!
REV. MASTER RAND [To Justice Merton.] It would not be countenanced in the college yard, sir.
REV. MASTER TODD A pipe! Nay, mores inhibitae!
JUSTICE MERTON ’Tis most unfortunate, gentlemen; but I understand ’tis the new vogue in London. [Enter Micah.]
MICAH His Excellency, Sir Charles Reddington, Lieutenant Governor; the Mistress Reddingtons.
CAPTAIN BUGBY At last!
MISTRESS MERTON [Aside.] Micah.
[Micah goes to her. Enter Sir Charles, Mistress Reddington, and Amelia Reddington.]
JUSTICE MERTON Your Excellency, this is indeed a distinguished honour.
SIR CHARLES [Shaking hands.] Fine weather, Merton. Where’s your young lord?
THE TWO GIRLS [Courtesying.] Justice Merton, Mistress Merton.
MICAH [To Mistress Merton, as he is going out, right.] I will speak to them, madam.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Oh, my dear Mistress Reddington! Charming Mistress Amelia! You are so very late, but you shall hear—hush!
MISTRESS REDDINGTON [Noticing his pipe.] Why, what is this, Captain?
CAPTAIN BUGBY Oh, the latest, I assure you, the very latest. Wait till you see his lordship.
AMELIA What! isn’t he here? [Laughing.] La, Captain! Do look at the man!
CAPTAIN BUGBY Oh, he’s coming directly. Quite the mode—what? Ah! but, ladies, you shall hear. [He talks to them aside, where they titter.]
SIR CHARLES [To Dickon.] What say? Travelling for his health?
DICKON Partially, your Excellency; but my young pupil and master is a singularly affectionate nature.
THE TWO GIRLS [To Captain Bugby.] What! flails—really! [They burst into laughter among themselves.]
DICKON He has journeyed here to Massachusetts peculiarly to pay this visit to Justice Merton—his father’s dearest friend.
SIR CHARLES Ah! knew him abroad, eh?
DICKON In Rome, your Excellency.
MISTRESS DODGE [To Justice Merton.] Why, I thought it was in London.
JUSTICE MERTON London, true, quite so; we made a trip together to Lisbon—ah! Rome.
DICKON Paris, was it not, sir?
JUSTICE MERTON [In great distress.] Paris, Paris, very true; I am—I am—sometimes I am— [Enter Micah, right.]
MICAH [Announces.] Lord Ravensbane. [Enter right, Ravensbane with Rachel.]
JUSTICE MERTON [With a gasp of relief.] Ah! his lordship is arrived. [Murmurs of “his lordship” and a flutter among the girls and Captain Bugby.]
CAPTAIN BUGBY Look!—Now!
JUSTICE MERTON Welcome, my lord! [To Sir Charles.] Permit me, your Excellency, to introduce—
RAVENSBANE Permit me; Mistress Rachel will introduce—
RACHEL [Courtesying.] Sir Charles, allow me to present my friend, Lord Ravensbane.
MISTRESS REDDINGTON [Aside to Amelia.] Her friend—did you hear?
SIR CHARLES Mistress Rachel, I see you are as pretty as ever. Lord Ravensbane, your hand, sir.
RAVENSBANE Trust me, your Excellency, I will inform his Majesty of your courtesy.
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Watching Ravensbane with chagrin.] On my life! he’s lost his limp.
RAVENSBANE [Apart to Rachel.] “A great glory has descended upon this day.”
RACHEL [Shyly.] My lord!
RAVENSBANE Be sure—O mistress, be sure—that this glory is love.
SIR CHARLES [Watching the two, whispers a loud aside to Justice Merton.] Hoho! is it congratulations for your niece?
JUSTICE MERTON Not—not precisely.
DICKON [Aside to Justice Merton.] Why so, Gilly?
SIR CHARLES My daughters, Fanny and Amelia—Lord Ravensbane.
THE TWO GIRLS [Courtesying.] Your lordship!
SIR CHARLES Good girls, but silly.
RAVENSBANE Believe me, ladies, with the true sincerity of the heart.
MISTRESS REDDINGTON Isn’t he perfection!
CAPTAIN BUGBY What said I?
AMELIA [Giggling.] I can’t help thinking of flails.
MISTRESS REDDINGTON Poor Squire Talbot! We must be nice to him now.
AMELIA Oh, especially now!
RAVENSBANE [Whom Rachel continues to introduce to the guests; to Master Rand.] Verily, sir, as that prince of poets, the immortal Virgil, has remarked: “Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.”
DICKON Just a word, your worship.
JUSTICE MERTON [Going with him.] Intolerable!
REV. MASTER TODD His lordship is evidently a university man.
REV. MASTER RAND Evidently most accomplished.
JUSTICE MERTON [Aside to Dickon.] A song! Why, it is beyond all bounds of custom and decorum.
DICKON Believe me, there is no such flatterer to win the maiden heart as music.
JUSTICE MERTON And here; in this presence! Never!
DICKON Nevertheless, it will amuse me vastly, and you will announce it.
RAVENSBANE [To Minister Dodge.] My opinion is simple: In such matters of church government, I am inclined toward the leniency of that excellent master, the Rev. John Wise, rather than the righteous obduracy of the Rev. Cotton Mather.
MINISTER DODGE Why, there, sir, I agree with you. [Aside to his wife.] How extremely well informed!
MISTRESS DODGE And so young, too!
JUSTICE MERTON [With hesitant embarrassment, which he seeks to conceal.] Your Excellency and friends, I have great pleasure in announcing his lordship’s condescension in consenting to regale our present company—with a song.
SEVERAL VOICES [In various degrees of amazement and curiosity.] A song!
MISTRESS MERTON Gilead! What is this?
JUSTICE MERTON The selection is a German ballad—a particular favourite at the court of Prussia, where his lordship last rendered it. His tutor has made a translation which is entitled: “The Prognostication of the Crows,” and I am requested to remind you that in the ancient heathen mythology of Germany, the crow or raven, was the fateful bird of the God Woden.
CAPTAIN BUGBY How prodigiously novel!
MINISTER DODGE [Frowning.] Unparalleled!
SIR CHARLES A ballad! Come now, that sounds like old England again. Let’s have it. Will his lordship sing without music?
JUSTICE MERTON Master Dickonson, hem! has been—persuaded—to accompany his lordship on the virginals.
AMELIA How delightful!
REV. MASTER RAND [Aside to Todd.] Shall we remain?
REV. MASTER TODD We must.
RAVENSBANE [To Rachel.] My tassel, dear mistress; you do not wear it?
RACHEL My heart still wavers, my lord. But whilst you sing, I will decide.
RAVENSBANE Whilst I sing? My fate, then, is waiting at the end of a song?
RACHEL At the end of a song.
DICKON [Touches Ravensbane’s arm.] Your lordship.
RAVENSBANE [Starting, turns to the company.] Permit me.
[Dickon sits, facing left, at the virginals. At first, his fingers in playing give sound only to the soft tinkling notes of that ancient instrument; but gradually, strange notes and harmonies of an aërial orchestra mingle with, and at length drown, the virginals. The final chorus is produced solely by fantastic symphonic cawings, as of countless crows, in harsh but musical accord. During the song Richard enters. Dickon’s music, however, does not cease but fills the intervals between the verses. To his accompaniment, amid the whispered and gradually increasing wonder, resentment, and dismay of the assembled guests, Ravensbane, with his eyes fixed upon Rachel, sings.]
Baron von Rabenstod arose; (The golden sun was rising) Before him flew a flock of crows: Sing heigh! Sing heigh! Sing heigh! Sing—
“Ill speed, ill speed thee, baron-wight; Ill speed thy palfrey pawing! Blithe is the morn but black the night That hears a raven’s cawing.”
[Chorus.] Caw! Caw! Caw!
MISTRESS DODGE [Whispers to her husband.] Did you hear them?
MINISTER DODGE Hush!
AMELIA [Sotto voce.] What can it be?
CAPTAIN BUGBY Oh, the latest, be sure.
DICKON You note, my friends, the accompanying harmonics; they are an intrinsic part of the ballad, and may not be omitted.
RAVENSBANE [Sings.] The baron reckèd not a pin; (For the golden sun was rising) He rode to woo, he rode to win; Sing heigh! Sing heigh! Sing heigh! Sing— He rode into his prince’s hall Through knights and damsels flow’ry: “Thy daughter, prince, I bid thee call; I claim her hand and dowry.”
[Enter Richard. Mistress Merton seizes his arm nervously.]
MISTRESS MERTON [Aside.] Well?
RICHARD Gold will not buy her. She defies us.
SIR CHARLES [To Captain Bugby.] This gentleman’s playing is rather ventriloquistical.
CAPTAIN BUGBY Quite, as it were.
REV. MASTER TODD This smells unholy.
REV. MASTER RAND [To Todd.] Shall we leave?
JUSTICE MERTON [Sternly to Richard, who has attempted to talk with him aside.] Not now.
RICHARD Pardon me—it must be now.
JUSTICE MERTON Squire Talbot—
RICHARD [Very low.] Sir—I come from Goody Rickby.
JUSTICE MERTON Hush! [They go apart.]
RAVENSBANE [Sings.] “What cock is this, with crest so high, That crows with such a pother?” “Baron von Rabenstod am I; Methinks we know each other.” “Now welcome, welcome, dear guest of mine, So long why didst thou tarry? Now, for the sake of auld lang syne, My daughter thou shalt marry.”
RICHARD What! you will sacrifice her?
JUSTICE MERTON What can I do?
RICHARD Tell her the truth at least.
JUSTICE MERTON Never, Richard, no, no, never that!
AMELIA [To Bugby.] And he kept right on smoking!
MINISTER DODGE [Who, with Rand and Todd, has risen uneasily.] This smacks of witchcraft.
REV. MASTER RAND The Justice seems moved.
RAVENSBANE [Sings.] The bride is brought, the priest as well; (The golden sun was passing) They stood beside the altar rail; Sing ah! Sing ah! Sing ah! Sing— “Woman, with this ring I thee wed.” What makes his voice so awing? The baron by the bride is dead: Outside the crows were cawing.
Chorus. [Which grows tumultuous, seeming to fill the room with the invisible birds.] Caw! Caw! Caw!
[The guests rise in confusion. Dickon still plays delightedly, and the strange music continues.]
MINISTER DODGE This is no longer godly.—Justice Merton!
RICHARD [To Justice Merton.]
I told you, sir, that witchcraft, like murder, will out. If you want further proof, I believe I can provide it.
MINISTER DODGE Justice Merton, sir!
RAVENSBANE [To Rachel, who holds his tassel in her hand.] Ah! and you have my tassel!
RACHEL See! I will wear it now. You yourself shall fasten it.
RAVENSBANE Rachel! Mistress!
RACHEL My dear lord!
[As Ravensbane is placing the silken tassel on Rachel’s breast to fasten it there, Richard, by the mirror, pulls the curtain back.]
RICHARD Lovers! This is the glass of truth. Behold yourselves!
RACHEL [Looking into the glass, screams and turns her gaze fearfully upon Ravensbane.] Ah! Do not look!
DICKON [Who, having turned round from the virginals, has leapt forward, now turns back again, biting his finger.] Too late! [In the glass are reflected the figures of Rachel and Ravensbane—Rachel just as she herself appears, but Ravensbane in his essential form of a scarecrow, in every movement reflecting Ravensbane’s motions. The thing in the glass is about to pin a wisp of corn-silk on the mirrored breast of the maiden.]
RAVENSBANE What is there?
RACHEL [Looking again, starts away from Ravensbane.] Leave me! Leave me!—Richard!
RAVENSBANE [Gazing at the glass, clings to Rachel as though to protect her.] Help her! See! It is seizing her.
RACHEL Richard! [She faints in Richard’s arms.]
RAVENSBANE Fear not, mistress, I will kill the thing. [Drawing his sword, he rushes at the glass. Within, the scarecrow, with a drawn wheel-spoke, approaches him at equal speed. They come face to face and recoil.] Ah! ah! fear’st thou me? What art thou? Why, ’tis a glass. Thou mockest me? Look, look, mistress, it mocks me! O God, no! no! Take it away. Dear God, do not look!—It is I!
ALL [Rushing to the doors.] Witchcraft! Witchcraft!
[As Ravensbane stands frantically confronting his abject reflection, struck in a like posture of despair, the curtain falls.]