Charles: Antonio!—boy! boy!Antonio:My father! (They embrace.)
Charles: Antonio!—boy! boy!
Antonio:My father! (They embrace.)
Re-enterCardinal.
Cardinal:Princess,If your decision and desire are still——
Cardinal:Princess,If your decision and desire are still——
(SeesAntonio.)
Fulvia: Your eyes look upon flesh, lord Cardinal.(A cry is heard, then weeping.)Antonio(startled): Whose pain is this?—strangely it hurts me—strangely!
Fulvia: Your eyes look upon flesh, lord Cardinal.(A cry is heard, then weeping.)
Antonio(startled): Whose pain is this?—strangely it hurts me—strangely!
EnterCeccohastily, bearing robe and coronet.
Cecco: My lord, the lady Helen's little maid——
Cecco: My lord, the lady Helen's little maid——
(SeesAntonio.Shrinks from him.)
Antonio: What of her? Are you horrified to stone!Her maid?—There are than risen dead worse thingsAnd worse to dread!—her maid?Cecco:Sir——Antonio:Forth with it!She direness of her mistress brings? some taleThat earth elsewhere abyssless gaped her up?That butterfly or bud turn asp to bite her?Cecco: Sir—she—the maid craves audience with the duke.Antonio: Fetch her, and quickly.(Ceccogoes.Fulvia:Reason, Antonio.She will but whimper, tell what overmuchOf grief her mistress makes for you: of tearsYour sunny coming will dry in her.Antonio(putting her aside):TheseHours come not of any good, but areInfected with resolved adversity.This dread!——Fulvia:They ever dread who have but quitThe shadow of some doom and the dismay.
Antonio: What of her? Are you horrified to stone!Her maid?—There are than risen dead worse thingsAnd worse to dread!—her maid?
Cecco:Sir——
Antonio:Forth with it!She direness of her mistress brings? some taleThat earth elsewhere abyssless gaped her up?That butterfly or bud turn asp to bite her?
Cecco: Sir—she—the maid craves audience with the duke.
Antonio: Fetch her, and quickly.(Ceccogoes.
Fulvia:Reason, Antonio.She will but whimper, tell what overmuchOf grief her mistress makes for you: of tearsYour sunny coming will dry in her.
Antonio(putting her aside):TheseHours come not of any good, but areInfected with resolved adversity.This dread!——
Fulvia:They ever dread who have but quitThe shadow of some doom and the dismay.
Re-enterCecco,withPaulaweeping.
Antonio: Girl! girl! Thy mistress?Paula(shrinking):O!——Antonio:I am no ghost.Thy mistress?Paula:Mary, Mother! (Sinks praying.)Antonio(lifting her up): Look on me. See!I have not been down in the grave, nor ev'nA moment beyond earth. Do you not hear!Paula(looking at him): Sir!Antonio:Tell me.Paula(hysterically):Go to her, O, go to her.Antonio: But, child——?Paula:She, O!—go seek her, O, she is——Antonio: Where, Paula?Paula: Blind all day she moaned and wept.Antonio: My Helena!Paula:And when the sun was gone,Came quiet, kissed me—O, go seek her, sir!Antonio: Kissed you——?Paula:Then to me gave these jewels. O!And darkly cloaked stole out into the night.Charles: Alone?Antonio:Whither, quick, whither?Paula:Ah, I doNot know: but she——Antonio:Pray, pray, tell out your dread.Paula: Last night she said, "My heart is in my lordAntonio's to beat or cease with it."I learned her words—they seemed so pretty.Charles (gasping):Ah!Antonio: Why do you gasp?—Paula——Charles:If she—the cliff!Antonio: The cliff! The—?(Staggers dizzily, then rushes out.Charles:Let one go with him—bringUs what hath passed—hath passed.(ASoldiergoes.Paula(with uncontrollable terror): My lady!Charles:Child,I cannot bear thy voice upon my heart!It hath a tone—a clutch—no more, no more!I cannot bear it! We must wait. No hapHas been—no hap, I think—surely no hap.
Antonio: Girl! girl! Thy mistress?
Paula(shrinking):O!——
Antonio:I am no ghost.Thy mistress?
Paula:Mary, Mother! (Sinks praying.)
Antonio(lifting her up): Look on me. See!I have not been down in the grave, nor ev'nA moment beyond earth. Do you not hear!
Paula(looking at him): Sir!
Antonio:Tell me.
Paula(hysterically):Go to her, O, go to her.
Antonio: But, child——?
Paula:She, O!—go seek her, O, she is——
Antonio: Where, Paula?
Paula: Blind all day she moaned and wept.
Antonio: My Helena!
Paula:And when the sun was gone,Came quiet, kissed me—O, go seek her, sir!
Antonio: Kissed you——?
Paula:Then to me gave these jewels. O!And darkly cloaked stole out into the night.
Charles: Alone?
Antonio:Whither, quick, whither?
Paula:Ah, I doNot know: but she——
Antonio:Pray, pray, tell out your dread.
Paula: Last night she said, "My heart is in my lordAntonio's to beat or cease with it."I learned her words—they seemed so pretty.
Charles (gasping):Ah!
Antonio: Why do you gasp?—Paula——
Charles:If she—the cliff!
Antonio: The cliff! The—?(Staggers dizzily, then rushes out.
Charles:Let one go with him—bringUs what hath passed—hath passed.(ASoldiergoes.
Paula(with uncontrollable terror): My lady!
Charles:Child,I cannot bear thy voice upon my heart!It hath a tone—a clutch—no more, no more!I cannot bear it! We must wait. No hapHas been—no hap, I think—surely no hap.
EnterBardasdeprecatingly, followed byAntonio.
Bardas: Antonio! not in the sea? You live?Antonio: I say, where is she?Bardas:You are mortal?Antonio(groaning with impatience):OThis utter superstition! (Pricking his arm.) Is it not blood?Bardas: You live! and live? but let her think your death!You let her! still devising for yourselfSafety and preservation!Antonio:She's not safe?Bardas: O, safe—if she had shrift!Charles(hoarsely):The dead are so!Bardas: Ay, so.Antonio: And none above the grave?—no answer?Bardas: She came unto the cliff amid her tears—Her being all into one want was fused,You down the wave to follow.Antonio:But you grasped——?You held her?Bardas:Yes——Antonio:Then—well?Bardas:She had a phial.Antonio: God! God!Bardas:Out of her breast she drew it swift,And instant of it drank.Antonio:Drank? and she fell?No?—no?—Ah but you dashed it from her lips?She did but taste?——Bardas: Only: and then——Antonio:More? more?Bardas: "Is 't not enough," she pled to me, "EnoughThat I must wander the cold way of deathUnto his arms? Go hence! There is no rest.I will go down and clasp him, drift with himTo some unhabited gray ocean valeGod hath forgot. There will we dwell awayFrom destiny and weeping, from despair!"Charles: You left her?Bardas:As I held her piteous handCame revellers who saw us—jested herOf taking a new love. She broke my grasp——Antonio: And leapt?—down the wide air?Bardas:Swifter than allPrevention.Antonio:Helena! O Helena!That all thy loveliness should fare to this,Thy glory go in dark calamity!Bardas: I saw her as she leapt and until deathShall see no more.Antonio(drawing): Blot it from you! Her face,Her sorrow and her fairness shall not standImprisoned in your eye, tho' 'twere to cryRelentlessly your crime.—But no—but no!
Bardas: Antonio! not in the sea? You live?
Antonio: I say, where is she?
Bardas:You are mortal?
Antonio(groaning with impatience):OThis utter superstition! (Pricking his arm.) Is it not blood?
Bardas: You live! and live? but let her think your death!You let her! still devising for yourselfSafety and preservation!
Antonio:She's not safe?
Bardas: O, safe—if she had shrift!
Charles(hoarsely):The dead are so!
Bardas: Ay, so.
Antonio: And none above the grave?—no answer?
Bardas: She came unto the cliff amid her tears—Her being all into one want was fused,You down the wave to follow.
Antonio:But you grasped——?You held her?
Bardas:Yes——
Antonio:Then—well?
Bardas:She had a phial.
Antonio: God! God!
Bardas:Out of her breast she drew it swift,And instant of it drank.
Antonio:Drank? and she fell?No?—no?—Ah but you dashed it from her lips?She did but taste?——
Bardas: Only: and then——
Antonio:More? more?
Bardas: "Is 't not enough," she pled to me, "EnoughThat I must wander the cold way of deathUnto his arms? Go hence! There is no rest.I will go down and clasp him, drift with himTo some unhabited gray ocean valeGod hath forgot. There will we dwell awayFrom destiny and weeping, from despair!"
Charles: You left her?
Bardas:As I held her piteous handCame revellers who saw us—jested herOf taking a new love. She broke my grasp——
Antonio: And leapt?—down the wide air?
Bardas:Swifter than allPrevention.
Antonio:Helena! O Helena!That all thy loveliness should fare to this,Thy glory go in dark calamity!
Bardas: I saw her as she leapt and until deathShall see no more.
Antonio(drawing): Blot it from you! Her face,Her sorrow and her fairness shall not standImprisoned in your eye, tho' 'twere to cryRelentlessly your crime.—But no—but no!
(Sheathing his sword, he pauses, then staggers suddenly out.)
Paula: Let me go to my lady!Charles:Still her! SheForever hath a fluttering, a cry,Undurably. It presses the lone airWith sensitive and aching agony.Paula(witlessly, in tears): I know thy song, my lady, I know, I know!'Twas pretty and 'twas strange, but now I know.(Sings.) Sappho! Sappho!In maiden woe(Let alone love, it spurns and burns!)Wept—wept, and leapt—O love is so!(Let alone love, it burns!)My lady! O my lady! my sweet lady!
Paula: Let me go to my lady!
Charles:Still her! SheForever hath a fluttering, a cry,Undurably. It presses the lone airWith sensitive and aching agony.
Paula(witlessly, in tears): I know thy song, my lady, I know, I know!'Twas pretty and 'twas strange, but now I know.
(Sings.) Sappho! Sappho!In maiden woe(Let alone love, it spurns and burns!)Wept—wept, and leapt—O love is so!(Let alone love, it burns!)
My lady! O my lady! my sweet lady!
(She is led out.)
Fulvia: This is most sad—most sad, and pitiful.Charles: I cannot bear her voice upon my heart
Fulvia: This is most sad—most sad, and pitiful.
Charles: I cannot bear her voice upon my heart
EnterAgabusgazing into the air.
Again this monk? this dog of death?—and now?Agabus: My trusty Shadow (Laughs madly.) Ha, he has been here!My king o' the worms and all corruption!—(ApproachingCharles.) Lovers, and lovers! O she leapt as 'twereTo Christ and not sin's Pit! And he is goneTo follow her! The devil's nine wits areToo many!
Again this monk? this dog of death?—and now?
Agabus: My trusty Shadow (Laughs madly.) Ha, he has been here!My king o' the worms and all corruption!—(ApproachingCharles.) Lovers, and lovers! O she leapt as 'twereTo Christ and not sin's Pit! And he is goneTo follow her! The devil's nine wits areToo many!
(Wanders about.)
Fulvia: My lord! Your limbs are frozen,And bloodlessly you stand! Move, rouse, O breathe!It is not truth but madness that he speaks.
Fulvia: My lord! Your limbs are frozen,And bloodlessly you stand! Move, rouse, O breathe!It is not truth but madness that he speaks.
(A cry and clanking of armor are heard in the Hall. ASoldierbursts into the chamber.)
(A cry and clanking of armor are heard in the Hall. ASoldierbursts into the chamber.)
Soldier: O duke! O duke! (Sinks to his knee.)Charles: (gazes at him, struggling to speak): Rise—go—and, if thou canst—To pray.Soldier: O sir——!Charles:You have no tidings.Soldier:Sir——Charles(desperately): None, fool! but come to say what silence groans,What earth numb and in deadness raves to me.To tell Antonio hath gone out and o'erA precipice hath stepped for sake of love.This is not tidings—hath it not on meBeen fixed forever? It is older thanDespair, as old as pain! (ToHæmon,who has entered.) Your sister——Bardas:Hæmon——!Cardinal: Hold him not in this anguish.Fulvia:She and ourAntonio have left us to our tears.
Soldier: O duke! O duke! (Sinks to his knee.)
Charles: (gazes at him, struggling to speak): Rise—go—and, if thou canst—To pray.
Soldier: O sir——!
Charles:You have no tidings.
Soldier:Sir——
Charles(desperately): None, fool! but come to say what silence groans,What earth numb and in deadness raves to me.To tell Antonio hath gone out and o'erA precipice hath stepped for sake of love.This is not tidings—hath it not on meBeen fixed forever? It is older thanDespair, as old as pain! (ToHæmon,who has entered.) Your sister——
Bardas:Hæmon——!
Cardinal: Hold him not in this anguish.
Fulvia:She and ourAntonio have left us to our tears.
(Hæmonstands motionless.)
(Hæmonstands motionless.)
Charles: Let no one groan. I say let no one groan—Fury on him that groans! (He blindly rocks to and fro.)Fulvia:My lord!Charles(taking her hand):Well—come.(As in a trance.)There's much to do. We will think of the dead.Perchance 'twill keep them near us: speak to them,And they may answer while we wait, may floatDim words on moonbeams to us. O for oneThat shall sound of forgiveness and of rest!(More wildly.)O I have started on the mountain's browA tremor that has loosed the avalanche;And penitence too late—too late—too late—Was powerless as flowers along its path!
Charles: Let no one groan. I say let no one groan—Fury on him that groans! (He blindly rocks to and fro.)
Fulvia:My lord!
Charles(taking her hand):Well—come.(As in a trance.)There's much to do. We will think of the dead.Perchance 'twill keep them near us: speak to them,And they may answer while we wait, may floatDim words on moonbeams to us. O for oneThat shall sound of forgiveness and of rest!(More wildly.)O I have started on the mountain's browA tremor that has loosed the avalanche;And penitence too late—too late—too late—Was powerless as flowers along its path!
(He sinks back into his chair and stares hopelessly before him.)
(He sinks back into his chair and stares hopelessly before him.)