DUBOIS [speaking through the doorway]
Past is the question, sire, of which to save!
The child is dead; the while her Majesty
Is getting through it well.
NAPOLÉON
Praise Heaven for that!
I’ll not grieve overmuch about the child....
Never shall She go through this strain again
To lay down a dynastic line for me.
DUCHESS OF MONTEBELLO [aside to the second lady]
He only says that now. In cold blood it would be far otherwise.
That’s how men are.
VOICE OF MADAME BLAISE [within]
Doctor, the child’s alive! [The cry of an infant is heard.]
VOICE OF DUBOIS [calling from within]
Sire, both are saved.
[NAPOLÉON rushes into the chamber, and is heard kissing MARIE
LOUISE.]
VOICE OF MADAME BLAISE [within]
A vigorous boy, your Imperial Majesty. The brandy and hot napkins
brought him to.
DUCHESS OF MONTEBELLO
It is as I expected. A healthy young woman of her build had every
chance of doing well, despite the doctors.
[An interval.]
NAPOLÉON [re-entering radiantly]
We have achieved a healthy heir, good dames,
And in the feat the Empress was most brave,
Although she suffered much—so much, indeed,
That I would sooner father no more sons
Than have so fair a fruit-tree undergo
Another wrenching of such magnitude.
[He walks to the window, pulls aside the curtains, and looks out.
It is a joyful spring morning. The Tuileries’ gardens are thronged
with an immense crowd, kept at a little distance off the Palace by
a cord. The windows of the neighbouring houses are full of gazers,
and the streets are thronged with halting carriages, their inmates
awaiting the event.]
SPIRIT OF THE YEARS [whispering to Napoléon]
At this high hour there broods a woman nigh,
Ay, here in Paris, with her child and thine,
Who might have played this part with truer eye
To thee and to thy contemplated line!
NAPOLÉON [soliloquizing]
Strange that just now there flashes on my soul
That little one I loved in Warsaw days,
Marie Walewska, and my boy by her!—
She was shown faithless by a foul intrigue
Till fate sealed up her opportunity....
But what’s one woman’s fortune more or less
Beside the schemes of kings!—Ah, there’s the new!
[A gun is heard from the Invalides.]