ACT · III
SCENE · 1
A hall on the first floor of the Palace: stairs at the back leading down. A lamp burning below shines on to the stage.
Enter TRISTRAM and FLORA hurriedly (R.).
FLORA.
Fly, Tristram, down the stairs: she is coming.
TRISTRAM.
O, wala! wala! If she has seen us—
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Fl. Quick! And dout the lamp. [Exit R.
T. O, wala! wala!
[Exit down the stairs, back, making a great noise; the lamp suddenly goes out.
Enter Diana in robe-de-chambre, with a lamp in her hand.
DIANA.
Stop, sir! stop, stop! I see you: I bid you stop.
Flora, Flora!—I’ll ring the alarm. [Pulls a rope.
Enter Ricardo (L.).
RICARDO.
I heard your ladyship call.
D. He is here, Ricardo: I heard him, I saw him.
R.Where?
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D. He ran off down the stairs. Follow him and seize him.
Bring him back here. Quick!
R.Down the stairs?
D.Quick, quick!
[Exit R. at back.
Is this the way I am treated? and not a servant!
Flora! Come, Flora! Flora! is no one awake?
Enter (L.) St. Nicholas hurriedly, half-dressed, carrying suits of clothes, a dressing-case, etc.
D. Stay, sir! where go you?
ST. NICHOLAS.
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Fire! fire! The palace is on fire! Fly, fly!
D. Stay, sir, I say: the house is not on fire.
N. Where is the fire? Mercy! O, heaven save me!
D. There is no fire at all.
N.No fire! Are you sure?
D. I rang the bell myself to awake the house.
A man broke in.
N.Thieves? Robbers?
D.I do not know.
He has got away. Go, wake Sir Gregory.
N. (going). First let me fetch my sword!
D. Nonsense, St. Nicholas; we need no swords.
Go, wake Sir Gregory, and send him here:
Send him at once. [Exit N. (L.)
Re-enter Ricardo (back).
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Were you too late, Ricardo?
Did you not catch him? Has he escaped?
R.In the dark,
Whoever it was, had passed the door before me,
And, like a hare, faster than I could follow,
Sped o’er the grass into the house.
D.You saw him?
Where went he in?
R.At Frederick’s door. I reached it
In time to hear the key turn in the lock.
D. ’Tis he, then, and escaped in spite of us.
But I’ll find out with whom he dares....
R. (aside). ’Twas the fool Tristram:
I saw him plainly enough. Should I not tell her?—
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D. Ricardo, go and fetch Sir Gregory;
I have sent St. Nicholas for him, but the man
Is scared with terror.
R. (aside). While all goes well with me, the less I meddle
The better. I’ll let her find this out herself.
[Exit (L.)
D. I’ll ring the bell again.
Enter the Maids (R.).
So here you crawl at last! I had better keep
No maids at all than such a drowsy troop.
Not frightened by the fire-bell! You must have
Wondrous good consciences. Now, tell me at once—
There was a man outside my chamber-door
Laughing and talking. Answer at once!—who was it?
Who was it was here?
DOROTHY.
I heard my lady call;
But did not think that it could be my lady
At such an hour.
D.Nay: I should be asleep
Of course, but I was not.
Enter Gregory and Ricardo (L.).
My major-domo
At last. Come in, Sir Gregory, come: you are wanted.
Sir GREGORY.
I am shocked, your ladyship, at what hath happened:
Ricardo hath told me. But there seems no doubt
The unknown intruder hath escaped. Be sure
You may retire in safety, without fear
Of being disturbed again. I will go round
And see that all’s secure. To-morrow morning
There shall be full inquiry.
D.To-morrow? Nay,
I do not leave this spot till I know all.
I guess who ’tis.
G.I pray your ladyship
Retire. The cold air of the hall, the excitement
At such an hour may harm your ladyship.
D. No. If I die I’ll learn the truth at once.
I know else how ’twill be. You’ll go to bed
And sleep till noon; and when you wake you’ll say
’Twas all delusion, that I never heard
A man at all. That what Ricardo saw
Was but a bush, a shadow, a bat, an owl
He frighted from the ivy: and so in the end
All will make light of it.
G.Heigh! Give me a light.
The lamp has been extinguished on the stairs.
I’ll go and search about.
[Takes a light from one of the maids, and Exit, back.
R. (aside).I’ll stay and watch.
D. Now, ye dissemblers, stand forth one by one
And answer me.
R. (aside). This will seal Frederick’s fate.
She must betray her mean suspicion, and I
Witness the degradation of her idol.—
(The maids are congregated at back, R. as they come out of the passage. They stand forth singly to be questioned, and come in turn to front, R.)
D. Dorothy first. Dost thou know, Dorothy,
What man it was whose voice I heard up-stairs;
Who, when I left my room and gave the alarm,
Ran out?
Dor.I do not know, my lady.
D.I ask
Didst thou not see or hear him?
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Dor.No, my lady.
D. Thou wert asleep?
Dor.I was asleep, my lady.
D. Then stand aside. Now, Kate.
Dor. (aside). Here’s a fine game!
D. Sawst thou or heardst thou anything?
KATE.
No, my lady.
K.Nothing at all, my lady.
D. Wert thou asleep?
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K.I was asleep, my lady.
D. Step thou aside. Now, Flora.
K. (to Dor.).Will she lie?
Dor. (to K.). Trust her.
D.Now, Flora, answer.
Fl.I am grieved my lady
Should think I could deceive her.
D.I did not ask
If you deceived me. Heard you any noise?
Did you see any man?
Fl.Not I, my lady.
Dor. (aside to K.). Oh! oh!
D. Were you asleep?
Fl.I was asleep, my lady.
D. Then stand aside.
Fl. (aside to K.). Did she believe me?
K. (to Fl.).Well!
Thou’st got a brazen face!
Dor. (do.).Art thou not shamed?
D. Marcela next. Didst thou hear anything?
MARCELA.
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I heard no noise until my lady called.
Mar.I was asleep, my lady.
D. ’Tis strange. Stand thou aside.
Dor. (aside).Now then for Rose.
Mar. (do.). She really was asleep.
Fl. (do.).Then what shall come?
D. Now, Rose, thou’rt left alone. Thy fellow-servants
Have all denied the thing of which some one
At least is guilty. Thee I did not suspect:
But do not fear to tell the truth. Who was it?
Tell me who is thy lover. No tittering there!
Your levity makes you all accomplices,
Ay, every one.
ROSE.
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My lady, I have no lover.
D. Tell me who this man was.
Rose.I do not know.
I heard no noise till Marcela awoke me.
D. Didst thou awake her, Marcela?
Mar.Yes, my lady.
She was asleep. Rose always speaks the truth.
It wasn’t Rose.
D.You are all then in one plot:
Or shame has made you lie. But never think
To escape. I know the gentleman, and know
He visits one of you: and which it is
I’ll learn to-night: unless perhaps you’ll say
He makes love to you all.
Mar.Indeed, my lady,
He is quite a proper man.
Dor.And all his courtship
Has been most regular.
D.Come, come: confess.
Who is it?
Fl.It’s me, my lady. I must confess.
D. Flora!
Fl.Forgive me, I beg; for I abjure
I never asked him: but, as I often tell him,
He takes such liberties; which, as you know him,
I need not tell your ladyship: and ’tis true
We have been some time engaged.
D.Engaged!—to you!
Here’s a fine story!
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R. (aside). She has not said his name.
Fl. Indeed, ’tis true, my lady; and I am sure
My lady will pardon me. And since he hath told me
How kind your ladyship hath been to him....
D. By heaven, I’ll have you whipped,—whipped!
Fl.O, my lady!
D. And speak of marriage, you impertinent hussy!
Fl. It was the money which your ladyship gave him,
That made us think of marrying.
D.Worse and worse!
To spend my present on my waiting-maid.—
O thy pretension! thy pretension! Think you
He really loves you?
Fl.Why not?
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Maids.Ay, why not?
D. What hath he ever said to make you think
He loves you, Flora?
Fl.He told me very often,
Before I’d have him....
D.Ah!
Kate.And that I warrant.
He’s not one of your struck-dumb mumbling sort,
That haven’t a word.
D.Silence! And tell me, Flora,
Something he has said.
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Fl. He calls me his little love,—his duck:
And says a hundred thousand pretty things
As often as we meet.
D.A hundred thousand!
His compliments are cheap. Duck, too!
Fl.My lady,
’Tis what men say. It does not mean a duck.
Kate. ’Tis true, my lady; ’tis a common saying.
D. Silence! No one of you dare from this moment
To speak to me. You are all alike disgraced.
And, that you are not more shamed, disgraced the more.
I shall discharge you all.
Kate.What! and Rose too!
D. To-morrow morning. Bút, Flóra, for you
I cannot think of punishment sufficient.
Merely to have had a lover,—to have concealed it,—
To have even admitted him by night,—were nothing,
Had the affair been....
Re-enter Sir Gregory up the stairs with Tristram’s hat, holding it up.
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G. Found on the stairs,—the intruder’s hat, my lady:
He had thrown it on the lamp to extinguish it,
And thereby is detected.
R. (aside).Now’s revelation.
D. Why,—but whose hat is this?
Fl.’Tis his, my lady.
R. Is not this Tristram’s hat?
D. (aside). Hath he come hither in his servant’s clothes?
Fl. It’s Tristram’s hat.
K. At least what’s left of it.
Fl. ’Twas thus, my lady. As he ran down the stairs,
I bade him dout the lamp. I did not mean
That he should burn his hat.
D. (aside). What can this be?
It can’t have been Tristram.—Answer me, Flora:
Was it master Tristram visited you to-night?
Fl. Of course, my lady. I’d not deny it.
D. (aside).I see!
After all, only Tristram.—Came he alone?
Answer me at once.
Fl.I am much ashamed, my lady,
He came alone. And yet, my lady, I swear
I never bade him; nor asked him, for that matter.
I heard his step, and found him waiting there
By the big clock. How he came in I know not.
D. Enough: I shall discover. All leave but Flora.
[Exeunt maids except Fl.
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(Aside.) Thank heaven they have not guessed ... and yet how nearly
My jealousy betrayed me! (To Fl.) I told you, Flora,
I shall discharge you. Tho’I do not doubt
Tristram came here without your invitation,
Yet in concealing his pretensions from me
You have disobeyed,—deceived me.
Fl.I was afraid
D.Silence, girl!
Go to your room. I’ll speak of this to-morrow.
Fl. I hope my lady will forgive his boldness.
I have told my lady all.
D.Begone! begone! [Exit Fl.
(To R.) What think you of this, Ricardo?
R. ’Tis the wrong fox we have hunted.
D.Ah, I think
Fox is the word. I half believe that Frederick
And Tristram are in league.
R.I guessed the truth
When Flora first confessed.
D.I was too hot.
R. You think too ill of Frederick.
D.Nay, Ricardo:
Do not defend him. ’Tis enough to shame him
That Tristram is his servant.
G.I pray my lady
Will now retire.
D.Yes, true, Sir Gregory.
’Tis time, high time. And let this trophy here
Be sent to its owner; and to-morrow morning
Bid him come speak with me. Tell him, Ricardo.
Good-night. [Exit Gregory lighting her out, R.
R. I am now secure of her: since in my presence
She hath so consented to disgrace her idol.
He is quite dethroned: she knows too that I know.
He is past recovery. Could she but have seen him
Walking with Laura in the garden, plotting
Their flight to-morrow! And I to climb by such
A ladder of comedy, tottering with laughter,
To love’s very heaven! After three years of pain
Three days of farce, disguise, and folly; and then,
Suddenly win my joy!
Re-enter Sir Gregory.
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And thou, Sir Gregory,
Shalt be my major-domo.
G.Eigh!
R. (taking his arm). I say,
Sir Gregory, I’ll have you for my major-domo.
[Exeunt.
SCENE · 2
Frederick’s room; open portmanteaus, &c. lying about. Near the fireplace R. is a cupboard with key in lock. A table in centre.
Enter FREDERICK carrying music, and TRISTRAM.
FREDERICK.
All my clothes are in, you say, Tristram?
TRISTRAM.
Everything, sir.
F. You pack well, Tristram: put in these. (handing music.) Is there room for the music?
T. Anything, sir. Lie there, ye wrigglers. (begins to sing to himself.)
F. And this book.
T. Where is it you may be going, if you please, sir?
F. Never mind. You pack very well, Tristram. I shall miss you.
T. If the Countess has sent you to Milan, will you not want your best black velvet doublet?
F. I shall wear that on the journey.
T. Wear your best black velvet on the road! Well!—Stay we long away, sir?
F. Never mind. Now shut it up and give me the key.
T. I should like to know, sir, how long we stay 2360 away, and when we are to start.
F. Give me the key. Now, Tristram, I understand that the Countess has dismissed you from her household. That saves me explanation. Here’s your wages (puts money on the table) for the current quarter. You are no more my servant.
T. Good heavens! do you discharge me, sir? I beg, what have I done to offend you?
F. Never mind.
The Countess has discharged you,—that’s enough.
Tho’you’re a fool, Tristram, to say the truth,
I have got accustomed to you, and shall be sorry
To part with you. I have quite as many reasons
For wishing you to stay, as you have given me
To be dissatisfied. But so ’tis fated;
And what God willeth, Tristram, needs must be,
After the opinion of certain clerkës.
T. I am not to go with you to-day to Milan?
F. No, Tristram. Now we part.
T.Consider, sir,
That Flora is discharged as well as me:
Cannot you take us with you?
F.You and Flora
With me!
T. What shall we do, sir? What shall we do?
F. I’ll tell you what. While you were in my service
You served me ill, pried into my affairs,
Took bribes to spy upon me:—I know,—attend.
If you would win my favour, you must serve me
Now you are discharged. You can assist me, and if
You serve me better, I’ll use my interest, Tristram,
T.What is’t to do?
F. ’Tis this. An hour from hence I must be off.
St. Nicholas will likely enough be here
After his marriage settlement. Now, Tristram,
He must not find me. Wait for him here:—do you see?—
And if he comes, get him out of the way.
And if Ricardo comes, tell him that I
Am gone to seek him and shall soon return:
Bid him await me here. If by your help
I get off quickly, I will help you; if not,
Tristram, I’ll cut your throat from ear to ear. [Exit.
T. Heavens! what has possessed my master, and what’s to happen to me? O wala, wala! It all comes of love: or rather, I should say, it all came of my hat. I would it had been consumed entirely. This hole in the crown is not to be mended ... and all round ’tis like tinder, it breaks with a touch. Of what contemptible material are these hats made! It might have been sewn up else. Now ’tis a picture of me. Yes, the hat is me, as it were; the hole in the crown is the ruin of my fortunes wrought upon me by the fiery lamp, which is my love for Flora. There’s a parable. Could I write a poem on this, it might appease the Countess. Deary me! What are Flora and I to do? Money being the root of all evil, I must look first to that. All depends on that. Let me see what I can muster. There’s my pay; there’s the Countess’present, and my little savings. (turns out his purse and pockets on to the table.) I’ll put it all in heaps of ten. No, heaps of five: better in fives, there’ll be more heaps; and there’s comfort in the number of heaps. Tho’less lordly, ’twill be more showy. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty. (knocking at door.) Come in,—twenty-five.
Enter St. Nicholas.
ST. NICHOLAS.
Tristram! Where’s your master?
T. Twenty-five. My master’s no more. Twenty-six.
N. Frederick is dead?
T. (singing). What dead, my dearie?
Oh no, my dearie.
N. What is this nonsense, Tristram?
T. When I meet with a poet, St. Nicholas, I can 2430 speak poetry.
N. I came to see your master, Tristram; and you said he was dead.
T. I said he was no more, not that he was dead: and, as I say, he is no more my master. I am, as ’twere, a gentleman at large; and I sit here by invitation, engaged on my own affairs, which do not need assistance.
N. I came to see your master on important business, Tristram. Be civil enough to tell me where he is.
T. My master is nowhere. This was twenty-six.
N. I shall wait for him here.
T. Well, if you choose to wait, I know what you come after. ’Tis not the sonnet.
N. When will Frederick be back, Tristram?
T. But I’ll give you back your sonnet, if you will write me a poem about my hat, this hat. ’Tis but to versify my own imaginations. See! I am the hat: the hole in it is my discharge: the flame which burnt the hole is Flora,—that’s the Countess’maid. All is good. There’s the blackness of the hat, the fire of the lamp, the abysm of the hole: it lacks but the moon, which you might shift to see through the crown; and if you could weave in with that your sphinx and something about death, I think that I might tickle the Countess’ ear to reconsider of my discharge; for she loves poetry.
N. Curse thy impertinence, Tristram. Where’s thy master?
T. I will shew you where your master is, if you curse me or aught of mine, master Nick.
N. Darst thou speak to me thus?
T. Did you not call me a thief, and base-born clown?
N. Art thou not both?
T. Whate’er I be, Mr. Poet, I have now no master, nor any obligation to any gentleman to make believe for his convenience that thou art aught. Thou! Why thy brainpan hath nought in it but shoddy, I warrant. Thou combed ass! thou left-handed goose!—to curse 2470 me!
N. By heaven, I cannot away with thee.
T. No, that you can’t. (Aside.) I have it. I’ll shut him in the screeky cupboard.—Well, sir: I know what you come after. ’Tis the marriage papers, is it not? I was bid see to them. Look in that cupboard.
N. Ah! are they there? (Goes to cupboard and looks in. T. pushes him behind, and shuts door on him, locking it.)
T. There curse me, and seek your papers.—(Aside.) I think I have him now. If this does not satisfy my 2480master, I’ll never try to please him again.
N. (within). Let me out at once. There are no papers here. What did you shut me in here for?
T. To follow your occupation—to lounge, lounge in the cupboard. Am I a thief?
N. Let me out, I beg of you, Tristram.
T. Not till you have made my poem, or told me a cure for the rheumatics. Ay, bawl and kick: I will finish my accounts. Kick away, one for each pile. Twenty-six it was: twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. Why you overdo it: you kick by the ducat. With three and a half, (pocketing.) thirty-three ducats and a half. Silence! silence! ’Tis more kicks than half-pence, as they say. If you will be quiet, I will give you back your sonnet. (Takes it out and reads)—
Master of mine, remember for pitie.
Ha! who’s your master now?—I will recite the end part, which I have never read.
Once in a vesture of pale crimson came
That willowed Archdelight, whose eyes are dim
With gazing on a book of writhing flame:
My stars! and no wonder neither.
And with him Hope, the stringless harp-player,
Himself an embelem, harped in mine ear
His long-lost Sapphic song and nuptial hymn.
Hem! Very good, sir, as far as it goes. You should finish this and have it ready by the wedding. See! I will thrust it to you under the door. Won’t you take it back? If I have not charmed him to sleep with his own verses! Ha! he bites—he lives. (N. pulls it to him from within.) (To himself.) This is very well. But I wonder why my master wished him out of the way; and why he is sent to Milan; and taking all these things with him; and why he is travelling in that doublet. He hath no care for his clothes. Yet I’ll do him a last service, and brush it for him. ’Tis sadly dusty (having taken it down). He shall not say that his old valet neglected him in aught. So lie there. (puts doublet on table.) Pockets full, of course. If I were a gentleman, I’d have no pockets. How can velvet lie? How can one smoothe it down, stuffed out in a lump like this ... an old handkerchief, I’ll warrant ... no ... a glove: a lady’s glove: a very secret affair: one he hath stolen to write verses on. I shall tell the Countess of this. (Knocking at the door heard.) This will be Mister Ricardo, I suppose. Come in!
Enter Sir Gregory.
GREGORY.
Tristram, where’s your master? Not at home?
T. shakes his head.
G. Do you know where he is?
T. shakes.
G. Has St. Nicholas been here?
T. nods.
G. Is he gone?
N. (kicking harder), Sir Gregory! Sir Gregory! I am here!
G. Do you expect your master soon?
T. nods.
G. I may sit and await him?
(T. bows and gives a chair. G. sits to table, T. takes doublet from table. The glove falls on the floor. G. takes out papers, and lays them on the table to read them.)
T. (hanging up doublet). Now shall the cupboard-door speak to the old gentleman. (pretends to busy himself. N. makes a great knocking.)
G. Come in! There is some one at the door, Tristram.
T. shakes.
G. I think there is. (goes to the door and opens it: finds no one, and returns.)
(Aside.) Frederick is unaccountably remiss,
Most unaccountably remiss.—
Tristram, I am sure I hear a noise. What is it?
T. (going up to G., shouts in his ear).
They are sweeping the chimney in the next room, Sir Gregory.
G. Ah.—You would much oblige me, Tristram, if you would go and seek your master, and tell him that I am here.
T. (nodding). I can’t refuse, and I’ve done my duty by St. Nicholas. Yet ’tis sad to miss any of this play. I will go, and be back in a trice. (Passing the cupboard, to N.) Thou silly! he’ll never mind thee.
N. Curse you, Tristram!
T. Hush thee, my babe. [Exit.
G. (walks about restlessly).
The man’s as strange as his master. How Diana
Can trust her affairs to one so wholly unfit,
So unmethodical! And what discomfort
The fellow lives in. The room in such disorder:
He might be going away for good. Two such
Immense portmanteaux. What’s all that for now?
There is something going on that I do not know of....
Tristram’s discharged ... that’s true. (sees glove on floor; and picks it up mechanically to put it on the table.)
A lady’s glove!
Yes, ’tis a lady’s; thrown upon the floor.
What see I? that embroidery ... ’Tis Laura’s;
Laura’s. St. Nicholas hath been here.—
No, no. Yet the only other explanation....
It cannot be ... I see it all.... ’Tis true....
Her tears and strange farewell to me this morning:
Her treatment of St. Nicholas: and Frederick,
Why he mistook the contract ... these portmanteaux.—
By heaven, by heaven, there’s no time to lose:
They’re off. (going out, passes close to cupboard. N. makes more noise than ever.)
Ha!—Heigh!
’Tis here, then: not in the chimney. Eh!—who’s here?
(Opens cupboard.) St. Nicholas!
N.O, Sir Gregory, you would not hear.
G. Who shut you in the cupboard?
N.Tristram.
G.Tristram?
N. assents.
G. And is this Laura’s glove? Look at it.
N. (nodding). It is.
G. Then tell me: did you bring it here? Could you
By any chance have dropped it here?
N. (disclaiming by gesture).I? No, sir.
I came to seek for Frederick.
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G. (to himself).What can this mean,
Unless to keep his rival out of the way?—
Listen, St. Nicholas, I have discovered something
Concerns you nearly.—I think—I am sure—
Nay: I’ll not tell you what I suspect....
’Tis but suspicion. But you have been, I fear,
Most shamefully beguiled.
N.Ay, that I was.
He said that I should find my settlement
In the cupboard.
G.Patience. I will go to Laura
And learn the truth. Meanwhile, seek out the Countess,
And beg her give me an interview at once.
I’ll come to the ante-chamber. By heaven, St. Nicholas....
And yet I scarce know.... There’s no time to lose:
Come quickly. [Exeunt.
SCENE · 3
A room in the Palace.
DIANA and FREDERICK.
DIANA.
You say you start at once.
FREDERICK.
The coach is waiting.
D. Here is my letter: give it to the Duke.
The answer is not urgent: it may keep you
A day or two at Milan.
F.You wish, my lady,
I should return?
I understood
Your ladyship to accept my resignation.
It lies with her convenience but to fix
The day of my dismission.
D.Do you wish
To leave my service?
F.I could never serve
Where I am distrusted.
D.Would you reconsider
Your angry speech, I would make some concession.
F. I had cause for anger.
D.That I would concede.
But I too was provoked; and in the end
I came off worst.
F.Not so, my lady.
D.I sought
To learn your secret, and was merely fooled.
F. I understand not how your ladyship
Was first provoked,—at least with me.
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D.Nay, true:
’Twas a mistake. We need no explanation,
And may be friends again.
F.I cannot offer
Her ladyship my services.
D.You leave me?
F. ’Tis better that I should. I thank your ladyship
For many kindnesses. I pray sincerely
You may be better suited.
D.No fear for that,
Frederick: for by my soul I think
There is no other man would so have wronged me
As thou hast done.... My only fault hath been
To have thought too well of thee. But do not dream
I am unprepared. I have seen thro’thee, Frederick;
Yes, thro’and thro’. My offers of concession
I made to prove thee, lest thou shouldst pretend
That I was unforgiving. In the letter
I have writ the Duke, thou bearest the commission
Of thy successor. Henceforth I reject thee:
And treat thee as thou deservest. Go, sir, go!
Indeed, I care not whether you go or not.
F. I have then your leave to stay away?
D.My leave?
I bid thee go, and never see me more.
I have done with thee, sir. Go!
[Exit F. bowing.
And that’s the man I loved; the man for whom
I sank to jealousy. Who is’t he loves?
He love! The fool was right: he loves himself.
Now will he bide at Milan. Ah, good sir,
Thy lady is not there, and yet thou goest
Most cheerfully,—thou goest. And it was thou
Didst write soft verses: music too,—thy music.
And I thinking I loved thee was betrayed
A thousand times ... and to be scorned—by thee!
Scorned for another. (Weeps.)
Enter St. Nicholas hastily.
ST. NICHOLAS.
My lady, I pray.
D. (going off). Nay, sir: I cannot see you.
N. But listen a moment. Tristram locked me in the cupboard....
D. What is this? I cannot see you.
N. But Sir Gregory sent me to entreat an interview at once,—he said at once.
D. Then tell Sir Gregory that I will see him in half
an hour; until that time let no one disturb me on any
account,—not even Sir Gregory. [Exit.
N. I’ll be well satisfied. I’ll be revenged.
To shut me half an hour in a dark cupboard,
With all the flock and flue, ’mong cast-off clothes,
Old boots and shoes: call me an ass, a goose,
And mock my muse ... a fellow ... a common fellow.
A man that is the servant of the servant
Of the adoptive sister of my Laura!
He shall be swinged. Sir Gregory will right me:
Sir Gregory will avenge me. Had heaven but given me
His inches, why, I’d do it myself. I’d flog him,
Till he cried mercy, mercy! mercy, St. Nicholas,
Mercy, I pray! No, no: no mercy, sir.
Down on thy knees! No mercy, sir, from me.
No mercy. (beating a chair.)
Enter Sir Gregory.
GREGORY.
St. Nicholas, where’s the Countess?
N. (shouting). She says that she will see you in half an hour.
G. In half an hour!—Nay, I must see her at once.
You have been betrayed.
N.I have. I have been betrayed.
But you shall see me avenged.
G. And I must see her at once. (going in.)
N. (withstanding him). She bade me say
She could not see you.
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G.Do not stay me, man;
Your happiness is at stake.
N.Nay, she forbade it.
She said in half an hour.
G. (half-aside). Why does he stay me?
In half an hour he says. What can I do?
By that time he’ll be off. (Aloud.) St. Nicholas!
His coach is at the door: in half an hour
’Twill be too late: he will have got away.
Go to the stables, mount yourself at once
With three or four of the grooms, and ride together
To the further gate of the park. There wait for Frederick’s carriage:
Stop it. If she is within, I give you warrant
To bring them back: if she be not within,
Follow. She awaits him somewhere on the road.
Wherever it be, take them, and bring them back:
You have a father’s warrant.
N. Who is it you speak of, sir?
G. Heigh!
N. Whose carriage shall I stop?
G. Why, Frederick’s.
N. And who’s the lady?
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G. Who is the lady, ask you? Why Laura, my daughter.
N. Laura with Frederick!
G. I went to her room: she’s flown, and with a maid.
She hath packed up clothes and gone. I am right, I am sure.
N. And shall I stop them?
G. Lose no more time. Begone! Do as I bid.
N. There’s some mistake; Laura with Frederick!
G. Fly! fly! St. Nicholas, else ’twill be too late.
[Exit N.
The man’s a dolt: he’ll never be in time,
And I that call him fool, why what am I?
With my grey hairs—and such an idiot,
Not to have seen! And if I had only known
That Frederick loved my Laura, and she him....
Why did they never tell me? My dearest Laura, ...
To marry without my knowledge, ... run away
Without my blessing ... it shall not be ... as if
Against my will ... not to ask my consent ...
And count on my approval. O Laura, Laura!
If I had known—and now no doubt
’Tis past all hindrance.... Am I not a fool
To wish to stop them? Perhaps they have not started,
I may be in time. I will tell Frederick all,—
I do not disapprove ... nay, I approve.
’Tis better far ... and yet how can I?—
My word is plighted to St. Nicholas.
’Tis better they should get clear off. Heaven speed them!
Why did I send that idiot after them?
I wish they may escape. O Laura, Laura!
Without my blessing. Yet thou hast my blessing.
God bless thee! I try and hinder thee? O no.
I will go stop St. Nicholas. [Hurries out.
SCENE · 4
Frederick’s room as before.
Enter FREDERICK and RICARDO.
FREDERICK (hastily).
Good-bye: I’m off. Speed you as well as I.
Laura is to meet me in the park: an hour
Will put us out of reach.
RICARDO.
Farewell. God speed you!
All is prepared at Milan; and ere you are married,
I shall be accepted.
F.Write me word.
R.I will.
F. I’ll not believe it till I see your hand.
R. Not if Diana write herself?
F.To me?
That might persuade me. Good luck to you, Richard!
And thanks for all your favours.
2730
R.Favours! eh!
To an old friend! Well. Good-bye!
F.Good-bye.
R. (leisurely). He’s gone. Bravo! give him two minutes more
And he will be clean gone: and when he is gone
I shall not fear to tell Diana all.—
He is lost to her; and that I have won her liking
Ends her caprice. Now, ’tis my pleasant duty
To send my letter to Sir Gregory (takes out letter and peruses it).
And open his eyes: he must not be left groping.
(looking it over.) First who I am; and what I have done, and do
To assist his daughter in her happy match.
When he knows that, he’ll bless me: and he must tell
Diana of Frederick’s marriage; but of me
Keep counsel awhile—better to put that plainer (goes to inkstand and writes).
Yet a slight hint of something to Diana,
If I could manage it, would serve me well.
Enter Tristram.
(still writing.) Ah, Tristram: come in, Tristram:
(aside.) This leaky fool is just the man to do it.—
Lend me your company for half an hour.
TRISTRAM.
Your company! here’s wonders. I never knew you ask that before. ’Twas always stand off, Tristram: and you may go, Tristram: and we don’t want you, Tristram. What’s come to you now, that you ask my company?
R. Your master’s gone, Tristram; and I shall feel lonely.
T. My master is gone: and, as I believe, many thanks to you. I don’t know why ever you came here; but since you came all has gone wrong: there’s been more secrets and less sense: and now my master, or I should say, my late master, has quarrelled with the Countess and me; and I am turned loose on the world.
R. Do you want a fresh place, Tristram?
T. If I did, you are scarcely the man I should look to; thank you all the same.
R. I could give you some good advice.
T. I don’t want your advice neither, sir.
R. You love secrets, though: I have one I could tell you.
T. I have had enough of secrets. I wish you could tell me something that isn’t a secret.
R. It’s no secret, Tristram, that you love Miss Flora.
T. No, damn it: but it was a secret: and the best of them all. But now my master’s gone, I dare tell you a secret, sir. I always disliked you extremely from the first: and I don’t think better of you now.—I have to put a few things together before the maids come to do the room; and if you don’t go, I shall leave you to be dusted out. 2780
R. Wait, Tristram: I can teach you better manners. And I have a service to ask of you. Here’s a purse to help you and Flora. (giving.)
T. Well, this is a different matter. I am sure, sir, I am very much obliged to you. But I never saw the colour of your money before. (Aside.) More ducats!
R. No: because you served me better by trying to disoblige me. Now I pay you to oblige me in a trifling matter. ’Tis to find out Sir Gregory and deliver this letter to him.
T. Certainly, sir. Is there anything else that you may require, sir?
R. Yes. Just light me a taper, and I’ll seal the letter. You see I don’t trust you altogether, Tristram: not yet.
T. You may, sir. I want no more of Mr. Frederick’s secrets. Not that they were at all times unprofitable, though he never himself gave me a penny on their 2800 account.
R. (having sealed). Here ’tis. Will you please take it at once?
T. (taking). I will, sir. (Aside.) More secrets still: and more ducats. [Exit.
R. Enough should grow to reach Diana’s ears
From Tristram’s curiosity. Meanwhile
I’ll watch my time. My rival’s safely gone ...
But how to face Diana? I think ’tis best
To take her by surprise: a weaker force
Then overwhelms. I will go change my dress. [Exit.
SCENE · 5
The hall up-stairs, or other room in Palace. TRISTRAM and FLORA meeting.
TRISTRAM.
Ha, Flora! where’s Sir Gregory? What red eyes: blubbering!
FLORA.
I am discharged, Tristram, discharged. The Countess has discharged me for keeping company with you. And she has been crying too, to have to part with me. What ever will come to us?
T. What matters? I’ll cheer thee, girl. Look here! More money. There’s five pieces of gold: and all for carrying this letter to Sir Gregory. Where is he?
T. That Mr. Ricardo. It’s a mystery, Flora: but there’s something in it, I do believe.
Fl. Mr. Ricardo?
T. Ay. Who should he be that scatters gold, and seals with a crown, look! and says that he will find us new places, and all sorts of fine promises? A man that would flick me away whenever I came near him.
Fl. Did he, Tristram?
T. Ay, that he would. But I heard him say once that he came here for his cure. I take it he’s cured now; and he would make friends all on a sudden, and begs me kindly carry this to Sir Gregory. ’Tis his farewell, no doubt. He will go home, and take me with him.
Fl. And me too?
T. Not if you blubber. Where’s Sir Gregory?
Fl. I don’t know. The Countess has bid me go 2840 seek Lady Laura.
T. Come! I’ll with you as far as the library, where I think I should find the old gentleman.
[Exeunt.
Enter Diana.
DIANA.
Rejected! by the man I loved rejected:
Despised by him, and by myself betrayed!
And all will know it—I could not hide it.
Our nature hath this need: woman must love.
But oh! to have made my idol of a stone,
To my wórship a déaf unanswering stone!
At last I am cured. Since not my rank suffices
To set me above the rules I gave my maids,
I’ll never love. Am I to stand and wait,
Till some man fancy me, and then to melt
And conjure inclination at a nod?
O man, thou art our god: the almighty’s curse
Crowns thee our master: from the green-sick girl
That mopes in worship of the nearest fool,
To the poor jaded wife of thirty years
Who dotes upon her striker, ’tis the same....
That’s not for me. Nay, give it up altogether:
Go free. If man’s so base; if that high passion,
That spirit-ecstasy, that supersensual,
Conscious devotion of divinity
Of which I dreamed, is only to be found
In books of fanciful philosophy,
Or tales of pretty poets ... why then away
With books and men! my life henceforth shall prove
Woman is self-sufficing: in my court
No man shall step, save such as may be needed
To show my spirit holds them in contempt.
Women shall be my friends and women only;
And I shall find allies. I had in Laura
All that I could desire, a friend, unselfish,
Devoted, grateful, and as yet untainted
By any folly of love: and her I schemed
To marry away. ’Tis not too late: I’ll save her:
She shall not be enslaved: she doth not love.
Her heart is free and generous; it has shrunk
By instinct from the yoke: she will join with me;
And if I tell her all,—or if she have guessed,—
Now when I tell her she will comfort me.
Comfort and counsel, friendship, that I need
And she can give. I never will part fróm her.
Re-enter Flora.
Fl. Oh, my lady: the Lady Laura is gone, she has run away.
D. Run away!
Fl. Sir Gregory is coming to tell you all about it. She has run away with Mr. Frederick.
D. Nonsense! How dare you tell me....
Fl. I guess it’s true though. I remember now I used to say how strange it was that such a sweet lady, and 2891 so clever and proper a gentleman as....
D. Silence, Flora! What has come to you? What makes you say this?
Fl. Because she’s not to be found. But Sir Gregory will tell you.
D. Send Sir Gregory at once. (Aside.) This is impossible, impossible.
Fl. See here he comes.
D. (aside). Ah! if this were Frederick’s secret!
Enter Sir Gregory.
2900
What is it? Sir Gregory, tell me.
GREGORY.
I scarce dare tell your ladyship the tidings
I have to bear.
D. (aside). It’s true! it’s true!
G.My daughter
Has run away with Frederick.
(Diana sinks on a chair; Flora runs to fan her.)
Ah! my lady!
What have I done? I was too quick.
D.Nay, nay,
Flora, begone. I can hear all. You knew it?
G. I had not the least suspicion of the truth;
Altho’it needed but the merest trifle
To clear my sight. I chanced to find her glove
In Frederick’s room. All flashed upon me at once.
I ran to seek her. She was gone. A message
She left was given me, that she would be away
All the afternoon: but since she had taken with her
A valise....
D.She, ’twas she.... O most dissembling,
Ungenerous, ungrateful....
Fl.I said ’twas true.
D. Begone at once I bid you. [Exit Flora.
G.I ran in haste
To tell your ladyship; but for some reason
Could not be admitted: so I took such steps
To arrest them as I might....
D.Ha! they are seized?
G. I have since repented of my haste: a letter
Put in my hands reveals the whole: ’tis passed
Beyond prevention. It has been maturing
Under our eyes for months. We must give way.
’Tis strange we never guessed it. This very morning
I was in Laura’s room; and when we parted
She made such long farewells, and looked at me
With such reluctance, and such brimming eyes,
I saw she had some trouble untold; and thinking
’Twas her dislike of Nicholas, I repented
I had ever urged the match. I little thought,
Dear girl, ’twas sorrow that she dared not tell me
Her joy.
D. (aside). Her joy! no doubt! Here’s a fine father!
What doth he wish? Ah, doubly have I been fooled.
How plain ’tis now to see. The only one
I have never once suspected; the only one
It could have been. And Frederick must have told her
My love of him. All I would have kept secret
And thought was hid, hath been as open as day:
And what I sought to learn hath been kept from me
By them I trusted to discover it.
Tristram, no doubt, whom I supposed a fool,
Hath merely played with me. Thank heaven they are gone.
I’ll never see him again. Befooled: befooled.
G. They have been befriended by the Duke of Milan.
D. The Duke of Milan too!
G.It was his letter
I spake of. Frederick is, he tells me there,
His old school-friend; he begs my pardon for him,
Will fête the bride and bridegroom in his palace,
And have the Archbishop marry them. ’Tis thither
They are fled.
D.Then all this is a plot of the Duke’s!
2950
G. (aside). I dare not tell her more.
D.Who brought the letter?
G. I wish my dear girl joy. She has chosen well.
D. Who brought the letter?
G.Tristram gave it me.
D. (half-aside). How came he by it?
Re-enter Tristram.
T. My lady! I have something now.
D. Tristram, I bade you leave the court: how dare you
Appear before me again?
Silence, I say. I know your news: you have served
Your master with such lying skill, I wonder
He did not take you and your Flora with him:
There was not room enough perhaps in the coach
For two such couples.
2960
T.How, if you please, my lady,
Are Flora and I two couples?
D.Silence. Tell me
How you get letters from the Duke of Milan.
T. How I get letters from the Duke of Milan?
D. There’s nothing now to hide, so tell the truth.
T. I swear, my lady, that I know no more
Of the Duke of Milan than a babe unborn.
Your ladyship accused me once before
Of having been at Milan, when ’twas plain
That I had not gone, and never wished to go.
Knowing my lady’s strong impartiality,
I should not venture.
Enter Ricardo.
(Gregory beckons Tristram aside, and during Diana’s first speech whispers him, and Gregory and Tristram go out.)
RICARDO.
My lady.
The culprit is discovered.
D.Ah, Ricardo!
I had forgot ... was this thy plan? ... if so
I cannot praise thy skill sufficiently.
All hath gone well. And since no doubt thou hast served
Thy master and his friend in all thou hast done,
And under the pretence of aiding me
Hast been the ready man, more than another,
To practise on me, and do me injury;
I’ll school my patience till I have satisfied
My curiosity to know what thought
Urged thee,—whom I confess I wholly trusted,
And whom I thought to have made my friend,—that thus
Against the laws of hospitality,
Without the excuse of passion, thou shouldst wrong
A lady so unkindly.
R.Ah, Diana!
Hast thou not guessed my secret?
D.By heaven, sir,
Did the Duke send thee here to insult me too?
R. Dearest Diana, I am the Duke of Milan.
D. Ha! thou! Thy face behind the bush. ’Tis thou.
Should I have known it? No. I can thank God
I knew it so little. By help tho’of thy acts
I recognize your grace. ’Tis like thee indeed,
That hast not scrupled thus to steal upon me
Masked and disguised; by forgery and falsehood,
Written recommendations of thyself,
Making thee out to be some gentleman
Of trust and honour. Oh ’tis admirable,
The use thou makest of thy rank, to creep
Into my secresy, thereby to assist
Thy friend, my secretary, to elope
With an orphan and my ward. Haste, haste! I bid thee;
Lest thou be late for the feast. Bear them from me
My glad congratulations. (sinks on a chair.)
R. (running to her). Diana! Diana!
D. I need no aid from thee, sir. Nay, begone!
R. In kindness hear what I came here to say.
In justice hear my answer to the charges
Thou hast made. But first I claim my promise.
D.How!
R.Your secretary’s place
If Frederick left.
D.Make you me still your jest?
R. O dearest Diana, think not that I jest.
I’d be thy secretary all my life,
So I might only take the place which Frederick
Held in thy affections.
D. (rising).In my affections! why,
What means your grace, I beg?
R.Diana, Diana!
Have I not won thee? Did I not obey thee
By silence and long absence, till my life
Grew desperate, and my misery made me bold
To come to thee disguised? I thought that thou
Perchance wert adverse to my suit for thinking
I loved thee only for thy beauty’s sake,—
Since at first sight I loved and only sight,—
And for thy mind’s grace thou wert rightly jealous
Of such a passion. Now, if I guess well,
I have won some favour in these happy days....
D. Favour!
R.And if thou hast dreamed thou hast loved another,
’Tis no impediment: for first this man,
Whom thou hast honoured is my nearest friend;
And not to have loved him were to have disregarded
The only part of me thou ever knewest.
But him, for very lack of loving rightly
Thou hast much mistaken and wronged, and, as I think,
Now for misunderstanding bearest ill-will.
D. I bear him no ill-will, your grace.
R.Nor me?
D. But what you have done?
R.Love can excuse me all.
What woman judges by proprieties
The man who would die for her, and who without her
Regards not life? Passion atones my fault.
D. Your only excuse is your offence.
R.’Tis thus:
If I am not pardoned, I am not loved; but if
I am loved, I am pardoned. If thou sayst to me
I never knew thee, but I know thee now,
And like thee not: thy three years’love for me
I count for nothing, thy devotion nothing,
Thy misery nothing: thy adventure here
I set against thee; and the hour thou goest
I shall lose nothing: If thou canst say this,
Speak ... and I promise
To turn away for ever. Is that thy mind?
D. Is’t possible?
R.What possible?
R. My love? Nay, love’s a miracle, a thing
That cannot be where it seems possible,
And where ’tis most incredible is most worth
Our credit.
D.That is true.
R.That thou didst doubt
Was worthy of the greatness of my love.
But now I claim thy faith. Thou mayst believe,
Thou must believe. Indeed, indeed, Diana,
Thou mayst believe. Look’st thou to find love strong?
I have heavenly security:—devoted?
I have no self but thee:—patient? I plead
Three years of patience:—humble? I was content
To be thy servant:—wise? I knew thee better
Than thou thyself; I knew that thou must love:
Or is love tender?—See my childish tears
Crowd now to hear my sentence.
D.Ah, this were love,
If it were só.
R.Diana, it is so.
There is nought to-day in all the world but this,
I love thee.
D.Alas! how was I wrong! Sir, sir!
Thou bringst me, or at least thou seemst to bring me,
The gift of God. Whether it be so or no
How can I tell? ’Twould wrong it—nay I cannot
Take it in haste. I cannot. I understand.
Nay, leave me. I know not what to say ... your blind
Attachment, is’t not cured?
R.Cure all but that
By my acceptance. (kneels.) I am thy true lover,
Thy only lover. Bid me rise beloved.
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D. Hush, some one comes. Rise! rise!
R. Thy hand! ’tis mine, ’tis mine.
(Kisses it and rises.)
Enter St. Nicholas with Gregory. Frederick and Laura following.
ST. NICHOLAS.
They are caught, your ladyship: they are caught,
Driving away together: and Frederick
Was making love to Laura in the coach.
R. Now now! how’s this? Frederick so soon returned;
And taken by the honeysucker!
N.Sir,
Your honeysucking Frederick would have robbed
My sweetest flower: but like a skimming swallow
That takes a fly in his beak, I snapped him up
At the park gate.
3090
R.He’ll prove a bitter morsel,
N.My lady, speak.
What shall be done to them that have infringed
The laws of the court? Whatever punishment,
I pray it fall on Frederick with more weight
Than on my Laura. I would not have such rigour
As might defer our marriage.
(Gregory goes to Laura. Ricardo to Frederick.)
D. I shall award my judgment on you two,
Who have mocked not my rules only, but the common
Conventions of society, and preferring
The unwritten statutes of the court of Milan
Have joined to act a lie, and me, your friend,
Deceived and wronged, whom ye had done well to trust.
One only honourable course is left—
My judgment on you is that you be married
As soon as may be. Therefore, Frederick,
I beg that you will draw the contract up
Between yourself and Laura with all speed.
And that my sister shall not lack a portion,
I will endow her with as goodly a sum
As what St. Nicholas promised. Now this time
Let there be no mistake.
N.What’s this, Sir Gregory?
FREDERICK.
Your ladyship, I am bound
For ever to your service.
L. (to D.).Am I forgiven, Diana?
F. (to R.). Richard, how’s this?
R. (to F.). I have won. (aloud.) And let me say
That I for friendship’s sake will do as much
Toward Lady Laura’s portion as the Countess.
N. Sir Gregory ... Sir Gregory!
Is this the way I am treated? You do not hear?
Sir Gregory, speak!
G. (to N.). I hear not what is said, St. Nicholas:
But I can see: and since you have caught your bride
Running away, you must not look to me
To help you hold her. Surely what I promised
I promised in good faith: but what hath happened
Sets me at liberty. (Laura goes to Gregory.)
N.And I am left out?
Am I a sacrifice?
D.Sir, be consoled:
You were not more deceived than I.
N.At least
Tristram shall not escape. I do beseech you
He may be punished for stealing my sonnet,
And shutting me in the cupboard.
Re-enter Tristram and Flora.
D.Who come here?
3140
T. and Fl. My lady, we ask for pardon.
R.I take on me
To speak for them.
D.No need for that, your grace;
They are forgiven.
N.Why doth she say 'your grace’.
T. (to R.). Ah, why 'your grace’indeed?
R.This Tristram here
Hath done us many a service. Flora too
Hath played a useful part. May not their marriage
Follow on ours, Diana?
N.Yours!
T. (to audience sympathetically). His!
D. They may have so much promise with all my heart.
T. Thank you, my lady.
I never did understand anything in the ‘Humours of this Court,’ and I never shall.
