ACT II
Scene.—The square of Grève. The pillory. Quasimodo is in the pillory. Populace on the square
SCENE I
CHORUS.
He abducted a girl—
What! is it possible?
Hark! how they abuse him!
Do you hear, my friends?
Quasimodo has been hunting on Cupid's domain!
A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE.
He will pass through my street
On his return from the pillory;
And it is Pierrat Forterne
Who will give us the signal.
TOWN-CRIER.
In the King's name, whom God protect!
The man you see here, will be put
Under a strong guard,
In the pillory for one hour.
CHORUS.
Down with him! Down with him!
The hunchback, the deaf, the one-eyed creature
This Barabbas!
I believe, s'death! he's looking at us.
Down with the sorcerer!
He makes faces, he kicks;
He makes dogs bark in the streets.
Punish the rascal well!
Double the whip and the penalty.
QUASIMODO.
Drink!
CHORUS.
Hang him!
QUASIMODO.
Drink!
CHORUS.
Be accursed!
[Esmeralda, some instants ago, joined the crowd. She perceives Quasimodo, first with surprise, then with pity. Suddenly, in the midst of all the noise, she mounts the pillory, unfastens a little cup which she carries on her belt, and gives a drink to Quasimodo.
CHORUS.
What are you doing, beautiful girl?
Leave Quasimodo alone!
When Beelzebub roasts,
Nobody gives him water.
[She comes down. The archers unfasten Quasimodo and take him away.
CHORUS.
He abducted a woman!
Who? This dolt!
It is terrible, it is infamous,
It is too much!
Do you hear, my friends?
Quasimodo
Dared to go hunting on Cupid's domain.
SCENE II
A magnificent drawing-room in which people are making preparations for a festival. Phœbus, Fleur-de-lys, Madame Aloise De Gondelaurier
MADAME ALOISE.
Phœbus, my future son-in-law, listen to me. I am fond of you.
Be master here, as if you were another self.
Look to it that every one is gay to-night.
And you, my daughter, come, get ready.
You will be the most beautiful at this festival,
Be also the most happy.
[She goes up stage and gives orders to the servants, who continue the preparations.
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
Sir, since the other week,
We have hardly seen you twice!
This festival brings you back.
How fortunate for us!
PHŒBUS.
Don't scold, I beg of you!
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
I understand. Phœbus forgets me!
PHŒBUS.
I swear to you—
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
Don't swear!
They only swear who deceive.
PHŒBUS.
Forget you? What folly!
Are you not the most fair?
Am I not the most loving?
PHŒBUS (aside).
My beautiful betrothed
Is out of sorts to-day;
Suspicion is in her mind.
What a pity!
Beauties, the lovers you treat ill
Go elsewhere.
You can do more with pleasure
Than with tears.
FLEUR-DE-LYS (aside).
To betray me, his betrothed,
Who belong to him!
I, who have only him to think of
And worry about!
Ah! whether he is away or here,
What grief!
Present, he scorns my joy;
Absent, my tears.
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
Phœbus, the scarf that I worked for you—
What have you done with it? I don't see it.
PHŒBUS (troubled).
The scarf? I don't know!
[Aside.] Good God! unlucky chance!
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
You forgot it?
[Aside.]To whom has he given it?
And for whom am I deserted?
MADAME ALOISE (coming up to them and trying to reconcile them).
Heavens! get married! Then you can quarrel.
PHŒBUS (to Fleur-de-lys).
No! I have not forgotten it.
I remember, I carefully folded it
And put it in an enameled box
That I had made for it.
[Passionately to Fleur-de-lys, who still frets.
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
Don't swear! Don't swear!
They only swear who deceive!
MADAME ALOISE.
Children, don't quarrel—everything is bright to-day!
Come, my daughter, you must be seen!
The guests are coming! Everything has its turn.
[To the servants.] Light the candles and let the ball begin.
I want everything to be beautiful, to seem as bright as day.
PHŒBUS.
Since we have Fleur-de-lys, nothing is wanting to the ball.
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
Yes, Phœbus—love is wanting! [They go out.
PHŒBUS (watching Fleur-de-lys go out).
She speaks the truth: my heart is sad
Even when she is near—
The one I love, the one who fills my soul—
Alas! she is not here.
Exquisite creature,
To you my love!
Oh, dancing shadow,
My sweet-voiced dove,
Absent, yet with me
Wherever I move!
She's as bewildering and sweet
As is a nest 'mid rushes,
Sweet as a rosebud crowned with moss,
Sweet as the joy which sorrow hushes.
Humble child and virgin proud,
Soul that's pure though free!
Voluptuous ardors sink abashed
Before thy chastity.
In the dark night she comes,
An angel from the skies;
Her forehead veiled by shadows,
Flames darting from her eyes.
I see her face forever—
Now bright, now dark it seems;
But strangely—'tis in heaven
I see her in these dreams.
Exquisite creature.
To you my love!
Oh, dancing shadow,
My sweet-voiced dove,
Absent, yet with me
Wherever I move!
[Enter several lords and ladies in gala dress.
SCENE III
The preceding. Viscount de Gif, M. de Morlaix, M. de Chevreuse, Madame de Gondelaurier, Fleur-de-lys, Diana, Bérangère. Ladies, Lords
VISCOUNT DE GIF.
My salutations, noble hostesses!
MADAME ALOISE, PHŒBUS, FLEUR-DE-LYS (bowing).
Good-evening, noble viscount!
Forget all care and grief
Beneath this hospitable roof.
M. DE MORLAIX.
Ladies, may God send you
Health, pleasure, and happiness!
MADAME ALOISE, PHŒBUS, FLEUR-DE-LYS.
May Heaven return with interest
All your good wishes, my lord!
M. DE CHEVREUSE.
Ladies, from the bottom of my soul
I belong to you, as I do to God!
MADAME ALOISE, PHŒBUS, FLEUR-DE-LYS.
Kind sir, may our good Lady
Come always to your aid!
[All the guests enter.
CHORUS.
Come to the festival, come!
Page, lordship, and ladyship, come!
With flowers in your hand,
A joy-seeking band,
Come to the festival, come!
[The guests greet and salute each other; servants circulate among the crowd, bearing platters laden with flowers and fruits. A group of young girls forms itself near a window to the left. Suddenly one of them calls to the others, and motions to them to look out of the window.
DIANA (looking out).
Come and look! come and look, Bérangère!
BÉRANGÈRE (looking into the street).
Isn't she quick? Isn't she light?
DIANA.
It is a fairy or it is love.
VISCOUNT DE GIF (laughing).
Who dances in the public square?
M. DE CHEVREUSE (after having looked).
Indeed! it is the magician.
Phœbus, it is your gypsy
Whom, the other night, with valor
You saved from a robber.
VISCOUNT DE GIF.
Oh, yes, it is the gypsy.
M. DE MORLAIX.
She's as beautiful as the day.
DIANA (to Phœbus).
If you know her, tell her to come
And dance for us.
PHŒBUS (looking out with an absent air).
It might be she!
[To M. de Gif.] Do you think she would remember?
FLEUR-DE-LYS (who watches and listens).
Every one remembers you.
Come, call her, tell her to come up.
[Aside.] I will see whether to believe what I am told.
PHŒBUS (to Fleur-de-lys).
You wish it? Well, let us try!
[He motions to the dancer to come up.
THE YOUNG GIRLS.
She is coming!
M. DE CHEVREUSE.
She has disappeared under the porch.
DIANA.
She has left the mob, stupefied.
VISCOUNT DE GIF.
Ladies, you will see the nymph of the streets.
FLEUR-DE-LYS (aside).
How quickly she obeyed that sign from Phœbus!
SCENE IV
The same. Esmeralda. The gypsy enters timidly, confused and radiant. Movement of admiration. The crowd falls back before her
CHORUS.
Look! her brow is fair amid the fairest,
As a star would shine, surrounded by torches.
PHŒBUS.
Oh, creature divine!
Admiration is duty.
Of this ball she is queen,
Her crown is her beauty.
[He turns to Messieurs de Gif and de Chevreuse.
Friends, my soul is on fire.
War and death would I face,
To hold in my arms
Such bewildering grace.
M. DE CHEVREUSE.
She is a heavenly vision,
A dream most rare and tender,
Which, floating through earth's darkness,
Radiates celestial splendor.
Born in the public streets—
Oh, blind caprice of fate,
To trail through muddy streams
A flower so immaculate!
ESMERALDA (fixing her eyes on Phœbus in the crowd).
It is my Phœbus, I was sure,
Just as that night I found him;
Whether in satin or in steel,
How grace and strength surround him!
Phœbus—my head is all on fire,
All burns within me, joy and pain;
My soul's consumed for lack of tears,
Just as earth yearns for rain.
FLEUR-DE-LYS.
How fair she is—yes, I was sure!
Jealous, indeed, I ought to be;
But yet to match that loveliness
How great must be my jealousy!
Alas! perhaps we both, foredoomed
To waste 'neath sorrow's harsh caress,
Full soon shall die—she in her flower,
I in my loneliness!
MADAME ALOISE.
A radiant creature, truly,
But, faith, 'tis a disgrace
That such a wretched gypsy
Should have so sweet a face.
Alas! the curious laws of fate
'Tis not for mortal mind to know:
The serpent hides his treacherous head
Beneath the fairest flowers that grow.
ALL (together).
She has the calmness, the delight
Of radiant skies on a warm night.
MADAME ALOISE (to Esmeralda).
Come, child! My beauty, come—
Come and dance us some new dance!
[Esmeralda prepares to dance, and draws from her bosom the scarf which Phœbus gave her.
FLEUR DE-LYS.
My scarf! Phœbus, you have deceived me!
My rival! Here she is!
[Fleur-de-lys snatches the scarf from Esmeralda, and falls in a swoon. All the people rush angrily toward the gypsy, who flies for protection to Phœbus.
ALL.
Is it true that Phœbus loves her?
Infamous creature, go—depart!
To brave us thus in our own home,
You must have an audacious heart.
Oh! height of insolence! Retire!
Go back into the public street!
The common tradesmen, they can praise
The jumping of your low-born feet.
Away with her, away at once!
Out at the door! 'Tis a disgrace
For this degraded girl to lift
Her eyes to such a lofty place.
ESMERALDA.
Oh, defend me! Help! Defend me,
Save me, Phœbus, I implore thee;
For the poor forsaken gypsy,
Stands defenseless now before thee!
PHŒBUS.
I love her, and I love but her.
Yes! her defender I will be.
I'll fight for her, and my strong arm
Will bear my heart out valiantly.
If some one must be her protector,
I am the one—and doubt me not,
Her wrongs are mine, and who insults her
Must answer for it on the spot.
ALL.
What! She is what he loves! Indeed!
Away from here, away from here!
A gypsy he prefers to us;
With loving words he calms her fear.
Hush! silence! Both of you be still!
No further words of insolence.
[To Phœbus.] From you, 'tis too much arrogance!
[To Esmeralda.] From thee, too much impertinence!
[Phœbus and his friends protect the gypsy, who is menaced by all the guests of Madame De Gondelaurier. Esmeralda staggers toward the door.