Act II
Scene.—A tumble-down inn on the outskirts of Paris by the edge of the Seine. The scene is represented on the stage in a sort of section, so that the spectator sees everything that goes on in the interior of the inn, as well as on the road outside. Besides this, the building is so cracked and ruined that any passer-by can see into the room through the holes in the wall. It is night. Triboulet and his daughter appear in the road. Saltabadil is sitting in the inn.
Triboulet: I will avenge you, Blanche.
Blanche: He cannot be
False and untrue.
Triboulet (whispering, as he leads her to a hole in the wall):
Come. See with your own eyes,
What kind of man our great King François is.
Blanche (whispering, as she sees only Saltabadil):
I only see a stranger.
Triboulet: Wait awhile.
[As he whispers, King François enters the room by a little door leading from an inner chamber.
Blanche: Father!
[She trembles, and follows with angry eyes the movements of The King.
Triboulet: This is the man you wish to save.
The King (slapping Saltabadil on the back):
Tell Maguelonne to bring me in some wine.
Triboulet: King by the grace of God he is, with all
The wealth and splendour of the land of France
At his command; but to amuse himself
He drinks himself asleep in thieves' kitchens.
The King (singing while Triboulet talks outside):
Oh, woman is fickle, and man is a fool
To trust in her word!
She changes without any reason or rule,
As her fancies are stirred.
A weather-cock veering to every wind
Is constant and true when compared to her mind.
>[While he sings Maguelonne enters with a skin of wine. Saltabadil goes out, and seeing Triboulet, approaches him with an air of mystery. Blanche continues to watch The King.
Saltabadil: We've caught our man! And now it rests with you
To let him live or die.
Triboulet (looking at Blanche): Wait for a while.
The King (to Maguelonne):
Life is a flower and love the honey of life;
Come, let us taste it, mouth to mouth, my sweet.
[He tries to kiss her, but she escapes.
Maguelonne: You got that from a book.
The King: Your dark, sweet eyes
Inspired me! It was only yesterday
We met at the Hôtel du Maine, and yet
I love you with as passionate a love
As if we had been sweethearts all our lives.
Come, let me kiss you!
Maguelonne (sitting herself gaily on the table where
he is drinking): When you have drunk your wine.
[The King empties the flagon of drugged liquor, and with a mocking laugh the girl jumps down and sits on his knee.
The King: Oh, you delicious, fascinating thing.
What a wild dance you've led me! Feel my heart
Seating with love for you!
Maguelonne: And for a score
Of other women!
The King: No, for you alone!
[Blanche cannot bear to look at them any longer. Pale and trembling, she turns away, and falls into her father's arms.
Blanche: Oh, God, how he deceived me! My heart breaks.
All that he said to me he now repeats
To this low, shameless slut. He is a man
Without a soul.
Triboulet (in a whisper): Hush, hush! or he will hear!
You leave him in my hands then?
Blanche: What is it
You mean to do?
Triboulet: Avenge you and myself!
Run home and dress yourself in the boy's clothes
Prepared for you. Take all the gold you find,
And ride to Evreux, and there wait for me.
Blanche (entreatingly): Come with me, father!
Triboulet (sternly): I have work to do,
Terrible work! Do not return for me,
But ride your horse as fast as it will go.
Blanche: I am afraid.
Triboulet: Obey me, Blanche! Good-bye!
[He kisses her, and she staggers away. Triboulet then signs to Saltabadil, who comes running up, and gives him ten crowns in gold.
Triboulet: Here is half of the sum. I'll bring the rest
When you hand me the body in a sack.
Saltabadil: It shall be done to-night.
Triboulet: At midnight, then.
[He goes in. During this scene outside, the drowsy King has been flirting with Maguelonne. She jumps off his knee as Saltabadil enters. Triboulet departs.
Saltabadil: What a wild night! The rain is pouring down
In torrents.
The King (sleepily): You must find me a bed.
Maguelonne (in a fierce whisper): Go! Go!
The King: What? And be drowned? You are unkind, my sweet.
Saltabadil (Whispering to his sister):
Keep him here. We have twenty golden crowns
To earn to-night. (To King François) Sir, you can have my room.
The King: Ah, you are kinder than your sister is!
Show me the bed.
[Saltabadil takes the lamp and leads him upstairs.
Saltabadil: This way.
Maguelonne (in the darkness): Poor, poor young man!
[Saltabadil returns with the lamp. He sits at the table in silence; his sister watches him.
Maguelonne (fiercely): You must not kill him!
Saltabadil: Twenty golden crowns!
Look, here are ten of them! The rest I get
At midnight. Pest! There is no time to lose.
Quick, sew this sack! My client will return
In a few minutes.
[Terrified by his look, she takes up the sack and begins to mend it. There is again a silence, and in the sinister and momentary radiance of the lightning the figure of Blanche is seen approaching the inn. She is dressed in a man's clothes, and booted and spurred.
Blanche: Terrible work to do! I cannot go.
Father, I cannot! Oh, this horrible dream!
Let me awake from it ere I go mad.
This dream, this horrible dream!
[Seeing the light from the window, she totters up to the hole in the wall and looks in again.
God! it is true!
There they are! There!—the man with murderous looks,
The girl with shameless eyes! Where is the king?
[Her cries are drowned in the thunder.
Maguelonne: Brother!
Saltabadil: Yes.
Maguelonne: Do not kill him.
Saltabadil: Ten more crowns!
Maguelonne: He is worth more than that. Handsome and young,
And noble too, I'll take my oath on it.
Besides, he loves me.
Saltabadil: Get on with the sack.
Maguelonne: You only want the money. Take and kill
The little hunchback when he comes with it.
Blanche: My father!
Saltabadil (angrily): What! Am I a common thief?
Kill my own client? I will have you know,
My sister, that I am an honest man.
I do the work I'm paid for.
[Drawing his dagger, he goes towards the stairs.
Maguelonne (barring the way): Stop, I say!
Or I will go and rouse him.
Blanche: Good, brave girl!
Saltabadil: Well, let us make a bargain, Maguelonne.
If anyone comes knocking at our inn
By midnight, he shall go into the sack.
My client only wants to fling some corpse
Into the river, and on this wild night
He will not see what he is throwing in.
Maguelonne: It is just on the hour. No one will come.
Cannot you ram this faggot in the sack?
Saltabadil: Who would take that for a limp body? No!
Either a traveller or the man upstairs.
That is all! Will you take the chance?
Maguelonne (weeping): I must.
Blanche: Oh, God, I cannot! No! I am too young.
He does not love me.
[A church-bell begins to chime the hour.
Saltabadil: Midnight!
Maguelonne: Hark, a knock!
Blanche (stumbling to the door):
My father hates him.... Perhaps it will not hurt,
If they strike hard and kill me at a blow.
Oh, if he only loved me!
Maguelonne (opening the door): Who is there?
Blanche: Give me a shelter for the night.
Maguelonne: Come in.
[She enters. As she crosses the threshold, Saltabadil raises his dagger, and the curtain falls.