The King: It gives me pleasure when you speak like that.
I wish that I were dead. In all the world
You are the only man I ever found
Worth listening to. I often wonder why
You care to live. What are you? A poor fool—
A puppet that I jerk to make me laugh.
L'Angely: I live on out of curiosity.
The puppet of the king, I sit and watch
The antics of the puppet of the priest!
The King: Yes, that is what I am. You speak the truth.
Could Satan not become a cardinal,
And take possession of my very soul?
L'Angely: I think that's what has happened.
The King: He loves blood,
The cardinal! It was the Huguenots
Yesterday that he wanted to behead,
And now it is the duellists. Blood! Blood!
He cannot live unless he lives in blood.
[L'Angely makes a sign. Marion de Lorme and the Marquis de Nangis enter.
Marion: Pardon!
The King: For whom?
Marion: Didier.