Scene Five
Zoraya, Enrique
This scene follows the last sounds of laughter, conversation and music.
Enrique. (Stopping at the foot of the stairway on seeing Zoraya veiled) Who are you, woman, and why do you not leave with the others? (Zoraya is silent.) Do you not hear me?—Who are you?
Zoraya. (Raising her veil) I am the sorrow and you are the traitor!
Enrique. (Recoiling) Zoraya!
Zoraya. You have forgotten, have you not, to invite me to this feast?
Enrique. (Looking about uneasily) You! here—in this house!
Zoraya. In your wife’s home, yes.
Enrique. To tell her——
Zoraya. (Sorrowfully) Ah! you wretch! Your only thought is for her. My despair does not move you so much as the fear that she will not accept the lover of a Saracen!
Enrique. (Uneasily) Lower! Speak lower! I beg of you!
Zoraya. (Without listening) You are not so innocent as you were on the steps of the church——
Enrique. You were there!
Zoraya. It was to the entire city that I failed to cry: “That Christian is my lover!” But that cry would have sent you to the King’s galleys. My heart failed me and coward that I am, I was ready to flee, weeping.
Enrique. Do not condemn me without hearing me!
Zoraya. Oh, God!—you, you, who this morning—Oh, God! God! Is it possible?
She falls seated at the foot of the column.
Enrique. My Zoraya, my mistake, mine alone for not telling you the first day——
Zoraya. Do you love this girl?
Enrique. Ah! certainly, no!—I was forced——
Zoraya. You betrayed me for her?
Enrique. It is she whom I have betrayed for you!—I have known you only three months. She and I were betrothed years ago!—But I was so sure she would take the veil and remain in the convent. After this marriage was arranged contrary to her wish and my own, I found so many pretexts for postponing it that further delay would have roused suspicion. They would have searched for the reason and found it, perhaps. Then!—then, during the last two days when I did not see you, I resolved to confess all to you.—This morning I attempted to tell you—But I saw you so roused over a single thought of another woman that I did not have the courage to cause a scene and withstand your reproaches, which would have been needless, as I could not let your tears cause me to forget my solemn obligations as a Christian, my word as a gentleman and my most sacred duties.
Zoraya. Yes! All of your duties are sacred except those towards me!—and you hope, do you not, that I have considered them as fulfilled?
Enrique. Yes!
Zoraya. That I shall receive your return to me with open arms?
Enrique. That you will pardon me, at least, and join me in returning faithfully to our love.
Zoraya. Oh, indeed!—More in love than ever! The contrast of the Moor and the Spaniard! A variety of pleasures always prevents one’s taste from becoming stale!
Enrique. (Seating himself near her) But I do not love this child!—I do not love her!
Zoraya. (Rising, going to the left) Yes, this is the cry of the brutal, egotistical male!—You do not love her!—But it is to her that you sacrifice me.—You do not love her, but I stop you on the threshold of her room!—A few paces from her bed!—I should scorn myself as a woman of the street if I could discover in my mind a single thought which is not for you!—I should curse my eyes if they gazed for an instant on any other face but yours!—Where could I wash away the stain if any other lips than yours touched mine?—And it appears natural for you to be at the same time the husband of your wife and the lover of your mistress—to run from one to the other and to bring to me smiling the dessert of your nuptial night!—And it is you who say to me: “Believe nothing, nothing in the world but my love for you!” Ah, coward!—coward! liar!—Here is your love!—Here it is!
Enrique. (Standing) My dear Zoraya!
Zoraya. (Quickly, restraining her tears) Oh, leave me! Wretch! Leave me! I hate you!
She leans sobbing against a pillar at the left.
Enrique. Lower! Speak lower!—I beg of you!—If they should hear us!
Zoraya. Oh! If only they would hear!—Let them come! and let them kill me!—It is all the same to me if it happens now!
They hear the night watchman’s halbert striking the pavement stones.
Enrique. (Frightened and pointing to the street) Be quiet!—There is some one there!
The Watchman. (Outside, passing the door and chanting) Ave, Maria!——
Enrique. (In a low voice) It is the watchman.
The Watchman. It is the sixth hour!—I am the watchman!
He passes.
Enrique. He has passed! (He goes to the steps and listens) But here, these windows!—the valets!—(Scrutinizing the right vestibule) And Joana!
Zoraya. Your wife!—It is not she who can hear us!
Enrique. (Frightened) What did you say?
Zoraya. (Standing motionless) Go, and find out for yourself.
Enrique goes up the steps and enters the room.
The Watchman. (In the distance) Ave, Maria!
Enrique. (In the chamber) Joana! Joana!
The Watchman. (Farther away) It is the sixth hour.
Enrique. (With the same voice) Joana!
The Watchman. (Faintly in the distance) I am the watchman!
Enrique. (Coming out of the room and standing frightened at the end of the stairway) Ah, wretch!—It is you who did it?
Zoraya. Yes! It is I!
Enrique. (Descending the stairs rapidly) You have killed her?
Zoraya. Poor child!—She is asleep!
Enrique. (Going to Zoraya) I spoke to her—she heard nothing. I raised her—she fell back cold.
Zoraya. She is asleep, I tell you.
Enrique. What power do you possess which will produce a sleep like death?
Zoraya. What does it matter so long as this is only the appearance of death!—She will sleep until the hour which I have set for her to awaken.—And this is your punishment: when she awakens she will be deaf to your voice, also distant and cold in your arms!—You will then understand that your true wife was not this angelic creature who wanted no other spouse than God, but the Moor, who gave you more love in a single clasp of her hand than this nun in the entire abandonment of her nerveless body, revolting at your caresses.
Enrique. (At her feet) What does it matter to me?—I shall not dispute with that virgin over her celestial spouse. And I shall be free for you, for you alone, without causing her grief, or me remorse.
Zoraya. (Drawing away) I do not care to put you to the test!
Enrique. You intend to leave?
Zoraya. Yes.
Enrique. Alone—tonight?
Zoraya. I intend to leave Toledo before dawn.
Enrique. To leave Toledo?
Zoraya. Ah! God, yes!—this accursed city which has nothing but sorrow and peril for me!
Enrique. (Barring her exit at the door) What! It is absurd—you shall not go!
Zoraya. You would prefer to deliver me to the Inquisition?
Enrique. Ah! How unworthy!
Zoraya. They are seeking for me—tonight, perhaps.
Enrique. And where are you going, poor child?
Zoraya. Into the Sierra, by paths known only to us, to the homes of the rebels. Later I shall go to Africa and find refuge in my father’s brother’s home in Tangier.
Enrique. And there will be between us the mountains, the rivers and the sea!—And shall we always be apart, the one from the other?
Zoraya. You are the one who wishes it.
Enrique. No, I do not wish it—Give up your home!—It is wise—But Toledo!—I know where I can find a refuge for you, which is free from danger.
Zoraya. For instance, your wife’s home!
Enrique. Ah! always she!
Zoraya. Yes! always she between us!—Always, always she!
Enrique. Neither she nor any person—No one in this world!
Zoraya. Do you say so truly?
Enrique. Before God!
Zoraya. You love so much as that?
Enrique. Yes!
Zoraya. You will sacrifice all for me!——
Enrique. Yes!
Zoraya. (In his arms) Then! Come with me?
Enrique. (Thrilled) To the home of your kindred?
Zoraya. They will receive you as a brother!
Enrique. Me? A Spaniard—an enemy?
Zoraya. As my lover!
Enrique. With the rebels, me, a soldier?—Disclaim my king?
Zoraya. A tyrant!
Enrique. My God?
Zoraya. He is for every one.
Enrique. And an exile—forever an exile from my country?
Zoraya. My own country is the country where we may love.
Enrique. No, do not say so! It is a crime to listen to your words.
Zoraya. My adored Enrique!
Enrique. Deserter! renegade! perjurer. Traitor to all my duties for all time! Never! even for you! Never! Never!
Zoraya. Stay then, coward, who has caused me to lose everything!
Enrique. Zoraya!
Zoraya. Go—return to your wife!
She opens the street door quickly to go out and recoils on seeing Cardenos standing motionless on the threshold.