[She is looking up into the sky, which is becoming radiant with streaks of dawn.]
[She is looking up into the sky, which is becoming radiant with streaks of dawn.]
I see a million pale ribbons fluttering through grey vapour. They are widening into rivers of colour, into vast dazzling spaces and some divine form is shining through now and sweeping all the darkness away off the world, with his golden wings.
Gwymplane[turning ecstatically toUrsus]
I believe she sees.
[He suddenly cringes away from her, and speaks in a whisper toUrsus.]
[He suddenly cringes away from her, and speaks in a whisper toUrsus.]
Maybe she will see me at last.
Ursus
She sees the sky of heaven.
[Deadrops back uponGwymplane'sarm.]
[Deadrops back uponGwymplane'sarm.]
Gwymplane[with anguished apprehension]
Oh, darling, do you still see? Do not stop speaking. Tell me more.
Dea
I cannot wait, I think, any longer.
Gwymplane
My love, then, if you are going before me, [a strange look passes over his face—he straightens himself] just a little before me, will you let fall some bright flowers from your breast that will make a track of light for me to follow in, so that we may perhaps waken together? O, love, how remote your beautiful face is becoming. Do you even hear me, I wonder.
Dea[very low]
I do hear. Gwymplane, come nearer. That night I tried to understand, but I thought with so much pain that I could not seem to understand. Now the pain is gone out of any thought and I understand now how little cause there was for pain.
Gwymplane
Beloved.
Dea
I know I am your beloved. Hold me close.
[He wraps her frantically in his arms.]
[He wraps her frantically in his arms.]
I want the blessing of your arms to be the last thing in my life.
[Suddenly a look of recognition and joy floods her face, and her eyes seem to follow some divine approach. She murmurs]:
[Suddenly a look of recognition and joy floods her face, and her eyes seem to follow some divine approach. She murmurs]:
How beautiful! How right!
[And fluttering inGwymplane'sarms she is dead. He lays her gently back, lifts one of her hands, kisses it, looks at her as if the last agony had been drawn out of his soul, then passes his hand across his brow, tries to speak, and after a long pause:]
[And fluttering inGwymplane'sarms she is dead. He lays her gently back, lifts one of her hands, kisses it, looks at her as if the last agony had been drawn out of his soul, then passes his hand across his brow, tries to speak, and after a long pause:]
Gwymplane
It appears we have made good our escape.
Ursus[raising his head from his arms]
The tide is with us.
Gwymplane
We are bound—where?
Ursus
Westward.
Gwymplane[with tenderness]
Dear Ursus, you were leaving your country and going to face old age among customs, languages, peoples, strange to you, and to save us from the talons of a pack of cards.
Ursus
You and I are going now, Gwymplane.
Gwymplane
I think I have no more knack for wearing costumes and masks, and I could not ask human beings to accept me as I am, either inside or out. Any reality is like a row of knives and each minute drags me backward and forward across them.
[He seems to commune upon and decide something within himself. His voice breaks clearly over a long pause.]
[He seems to commune upon and decide something within himself. His voice breaks clearly over a long pause.]
Good-night, Ursus, I am going up into the prow to seek some fresher air.
[Ursussits with his head on his arms, which are resting onDea'scoverlet. There is a faint shrill of sighing wind, with the voices of the sailors rising beneath it, and the ascending sun commences to throw red bars across the water.Suddenly the singing voices cease abruptly and a sailor hurries in.]
[Ursussits with his head on his arms, which are resting onDea'scoverlet. There is a faint shrill of sighing wind, with the voices of the sailors rising beneath it, and the ascending sun commences to throw red bars across the water.
Suddenly the singing voices cease abruptly and a sailor hurries in.]
Sailor
Sir, sir, a man has fallen into the sea!
Ursus
[Starting out of his lethargy and speaking in a strange, numb voice.]
[Starting out of his lethargy and speaking in a strange, numb voice.]
Then put the ship about. We return.
Sailor
Shall we not lower boats and make search for this man—[he shudders and crosses himself] for this man who has fallen into the sea?
Ursus[half to himself]
Let a man rest where he has gone by his own will.
CURTAIN
[An antechamber communicating with theQueen'sbedroom.]
[An antechamber communicating with theQueen'sbedroom.]
1st Courtier
The air is very heavy this morning.
2d Courtier
It is as if the clouds had dropped down out of the sky, entered into this palace, and turned into leaden wheels, running over one, no matter where one hides.
3d Courtier
You are lucky to be able to talk. I am too depressed even to breathe.
1st Courtier
I am terribly depressed,—but I am still curious. What do you suppose it is all about?
2d Courtier
It is all about passions. There have been several conflicting kinds rushing through theatmosphere lately. Naturally the sea is a bit choppy for our painted sort of barks.
[He nods about him rather contemptuously.]
[He nods about him rather contemptuously.]
3d Courtier
You can at least talk no matter what happens.
1st Courtier
Well, we don't seem any nearer knowing the truth.
[Enter two ladies in a state of great excitement.]
[Enter two ladies in a state of great excitement.]
1st Lady
What could you have possibly expected? I suppose the marriage is off. Josephine could never be interested in anything, and as for the Prince——
2d Lady
His self-interest would push anything else out of him.
1st Lady
Of course, if itisoff, Josephine must have made him appear unbecoming andsheprobablybrought all the candles in the palace to help illuminate Josephine's mistake. Phew! they are all quite dreadful.
1st Courtier
Sh! It is unwise to be so indiscreet, even in a crisis. Remember, we have to face each other, and all of these others every day for years. Perhaps the memory of your candour will make you feel a little ridiculous later.
[Hand bell tinkles.]
[Hand bell tinkles.]
1st Lady
The Queen's bell.
[She goes to a door on right and timidly knocks.]
[She goes to a door on right and timidly knocks.]
The Queen's Voice[off stage]
Is the Duchess attending me yet?
1st Lady
No, Majesty.
Queen
Have me informed immediately upon her arrival. Until then, I wish you would discuss your absorbing trifles in a lower tone. Myroom is exactly like a sounding board for your idle conversation. However, I tell you all this with a recurring regularity that none of the rest of my life seems to possess.
1st Lady
Your Majesty is obeyed, and our most humble apologies to your Majesty.
[She closes the door softly.]
[She closes the door softly.]
Queen
You haven't shut the door. You haven't shut it tight. Oh, for Heaven's sake, slam it!
[The court lady bangs the door with discretion.]
[The court lady bangs the door with discretion.]
1st Courtier[whispering]
What a humour she is in! What a woman of moods!
2d Courtier
She is illusive. She is like a succession of masks, seen at dawn. In her there always appears a terrible wanness, right upon the heels of a wonderful freshness.
3d Courtier
I don't wish to seem unpleasant, but Iwonder if you could talk a little less or say something.
2d Courtier[regarding him witheringly]
I should advise you to go off by yourself and drink somefleur d'orangerand bathe your temples ineau de cologne. Isolation is the only resolution for such ill-humour.
1st Lady
Wasn't the Duchess radiant last night? If the marriage is not off I hear she will give a dance, a very small one, to celebrate the first month of her marriage.
[Suddenly she looks rather uncomfortable.]
[Suddenly she looks rather uncomfortable.]
2d Lady
Ah, you are wondering, shall we be invited, considering we are the Queen's favourite ladies?
1st Courtier
If everything is all right, when the Duchess comes let us think of something especially charming to say to her. Something that will hint, without asserting, our warmer attachment. [both ladies nod their approval] Sh! Here's Phedro.
Phedro
[Enters, looking for the first time during the play as if a ghost had sucked his blood.]
[Enters, looking for the first time during the play as if a ghost had sucked his blood.]
Is the Queen up?
1st Courtier
She is awake, but wishes to remain undisturbed until the Duchess arrives.
Phedro
Ah, then I shall go and polish my bullet a little more officially.
[They all stare at him in amazement.]
[They all stare at him in amazement.]
But has not her Grace been tearing the Queen's curtains back at dawn?
1st Lady
No, why should she be? What has happened?
[They all crowd around him.]
[They all crowd around him.]
A Lady
The air seems sizzling with lightning. Tell us, has the Queen done her some rudeness again? We were just saying how charmingshe was and thinking of how to express our admiration to her on her arrival.
Phedro
Don't disturb your vocabulary for the sake of the Duchess.
Ladies and Courtiers[in one voice]
Why, what has happened?
Phedro
The Duchess does not exist any longer.
A Courtier
She is dead?
2d Courtier
Artemis has risen to hunt, but in heaven—
3d Courtier
Good God! [he gradually recovers himself] What a shame the classics are taught. It lends a pulpit to such tedious people.
A Lady
Oh, we must know, if we are to live. What has happened to the Duchess?
Phedro[grimly—with finality]
She has becomedéclassée.
[Everybody grows gradually stupefied.]
[Everybody grows gradually stupefied.]
A Lady[only partially recovering]
You mean that she left the door open? Or mislaid one of her jewels somewhere?
Other Lady[just able to murmur]
You would suggest that she permitted herself to be—discovered?
Phedro
Yes, her apartment was honeycombed with indiscretions.
1st Courtier[sharply]
But what did that matter? Who plucked them out?
Phedro
The Queen.
3d Courtier
What an appalling mischance!
A Lady
It is an outrage! People who are lazy enough to be found out are a menace to all of us.
3d Courtier
A gentleman will hardly know where he is safe when the Duchess of Beaumont can allow such an occurrence.
Phedro
I am afraid I must make my exit from this troubled surface and scrutinize more silent things. [Pause. Half to himself] I wonder how a man looks who has slept well among the touch and glide of fishes.
A Lady
What sort of horrible, wriggly thing are you saying, Phedro?
Phedro
I am tasting my own cooking. It is delicious. However, enough public reverie. When the Duchess comes, announce her to the Queen in whatever manner fits your inclination. Take a good breath of bad manners. It will refresh you all. [he glances athis watch] Ah, I shall be late for a certain melancholy addition of facts.
Ladies
What facts?
Phedro
You shall see. I have only read you the prologue.
[He exits, almost bumping into theDuchess, who sweeps by him into the room. The courtiers stand about perfectly limp, enjoying their indifference.]
[He exits, almost bumping into theDuchess, who sweeps by him into the room. The courtiers stand about perfectly limp, enjoying their indifference.]
Duchess
I am present. [half turning] Kindly acquaint her Majesty with that fact.
A Lady
[Starts to courtesy, but suddenly remembers that she doesn't have to.]
[Starts to courtesy, but suddenly remembers that she doesn't have to.]
Very well, you can wait here.
[TheDuchesslooks at her with incredulous amazement. Suddenly the voice of theQueenis heard.]
[TheDuchesslooks at her with incredulous amazement. Suddenly the voice of theQueenis heard.]
Queen
Is that the Duchess?
The Lady
It is, your Majesty.
Queen
Tell her to wait where she is. I shall be with her presently. Meanwhile you may disperse without formalities.
Lady
Your Majesty is obeyed.
[She comes back into the room and together with all the rest gazes insolently at theDuchessas they file out. TheDuchessstands, staring frigidly ahead of her and looking supremely beautiful.]
[She comes back into the room and together with all the rest gazes insolently at theDuchessas they file out. TheDuchessstands, staring frigidly ahead of her and looking supremely beautiful.]
Duchess[clenching her hands slightly]
Fools! They would look better without their heads.
[Enter theQueen, looking extremely pale and serious, evidently on the verge of some personal climax.]
[Enter theQueen, looking extremely pale and serious, evidently on the verge of some personal climax.]
Queen
My sister.
Duchess
Your Majesty?
[They bow formally to one another, then remain silent a little.]
[They bow formally to one another, then remain silent a little.]
Queen
O, what is the sense of trying to carry a meeting like this off? I have been too astonished lately to hold on to mysavoir faire. Here are my explosions in a nutshell. The announcement that the clown Gwymplane is the Prince of Vaucluse I am satisfied is authentic. He is in consequence yourfiancé.
Duchess[losing her wits in a temper]
You must be mad to suppose I should really marry with a mountebank, a deformity, no matter what he has been born.
Queen
Evidently you forget the position you enjoy entails implicit obedience.
[TheDuchessis about to break out.]
[TheDuchessis about to break out.]
Please don't be banal. I couldn't bear to hear you say that your life was slavery. Your life is merely idiotic. Slaves were sturdy,magnificent people who understood massage, and you look as if a powder puff could blast you off the earth.
Duchess
You hate me!
Queen
But you know that I knew you knew that.
Duchess
When Charles comes, or perhaps you don't permit him to come—possibly it would annoy you to see the anguish he will be in over me.
Queen
Vain people have the most curious faith in the unselfishness of everybody else. Ah, here comes the bone of contention, looking remarkably bright.
[EnterPrince. He bends over theQueen'shand and gazes up into her eyes, speaking with a new thrill in his voice.]
[EnterPrince. He bends over theQueen'shand and gazes up into her eyes, speaking with a new thrill in his voice.]
Prince
My gracious cousin, I hope your health matches this exquisite morning.
Queen[abruptly pointing]
There is Josephine. Give her some of your after-breakfast optimism.
Prince
Ah!
[He bows rather distantly overJosephine'shand that is extended with unusual cordiality.]
[He bows rather distantly overJosephine'shand that is extended with unusual cordiality.]
Duchess
Charles, my dear, don't let us be absurd. Last night was a fantastic heaping of mischance.
Prince
You are neat in phrases, Josephine, but exactly what do they mean? And please don't sulk—only well-loved people can afford to do that.
Duchess
If you dare to presume to criticize me, I will——
Queen
[Looks nervously atPrince, who interposes quickly.]
[Looks nervously atPrince, who interposes quickly.]
Prince
My dear Josephine, I could not bear to have you hold me responsible for these grotesque discoveries of last night. Apparently he is my brother, and it should have been me who suffered those terrible deformities save for the mischievous meddling of a malicious servant; but certainly now you are his lawful bride, and I have no other name than one the Queen's mercy can devise.
Josephine
But your Majesty will do something for us, after all, we love each other!
Prince
[Looks atJosephineover the edge of his buttonhole, into which his nose becomes completely submerged.]
[Looks atJosephineover the edge of his buttonhole, into which his nose becomes completely submerged.]
Do you love me this morning, Josephine?
Duchess
You loved me last night.
Prince[sighing]
I think there has always been something a little angular in our relations and now thatit has become my duty to relinquish you, I rather fancy there is no harm in assuring you it is also my pleasure.
[A momentary look of pity forJosephinecrosses theQueen'scountenance, replaced by an obvious flow of childish joy.]
[A momentary look of pity forJosephinecrosses theQueen'scountenance, replaced by an obvious flow of childish joy.]
Queen
You have not really cared, but——
Prince
Save for—but it is so very early and bright, and we are not alone.
Duchess
So sorry to be in the way. I shall hope to be dismissed presently. I can hear you are tuning up, Charles. Ah, well, I shall have a clown for a husband. What more should a married woman wish for? And plenty of time to catch the roses and the sighs wafting up from my gardens. But Charles, where is your little blind girl?
Prince
How should I know? She found the Queen and delivered her note.
Queen
How did you know she had a note to deliver?
Prince
I ran into her with Phedro coming through the garden. He went to see if all was right with Josephine, while I——
Duchess
Mingled hands, at least, for she said: "He told me that he wanted me for himself and forever, nor was he the Court Steward, for he wore a great oblong stone upon his hand." I hope she comes back with my intended, and tells to your Majesty the story of Charles's little lapse into the romantic. O, listening to her one must believe her, for she has all that obvious lack of fancy only to be found among rarely good people. Her face is quite open and classic, unbroken by the slightest hint of imagination. A lie couldn't possibly twist up through such regular lines.
Queen
[Over her face has gradually grown a singular change.]
[Over her face has gradually grown a singular change.]
Mingling hands, ah, that was why—[shebites her lip, passing her hand across her brow.] However, to that later. Josephine—[in a kinder tone] I have made you acquainted with our disposition. Go now and prepare to become the Duchess of Vaucluse.
[Josephineis about to exit, whenPhedroenters hurriedly.]
[Josephineis about to exit, whenPhedroenters hurriedly.]
Phedro
Your Majesty.
Queen
Oh, what an air of rush there is about everything this morning. Well, speak, speak.
Phedro
Her Grace cannot become the Duchess of Vaucluse.
Queen
Ah, why not?
Phedro
He is beyond us.
Queen
Do you mean that he has sought for himself, the only satisfactory rest!—a sleep without dreams. He is dead!—How?
Phedro
The philosopher and the blind girl escaped with him at dawn; long before sunrise an old, disused hulk was seen going down the river, and in the blaze of this morning has returned with only the philosopher and his hired oarsmen. Apparently the blind girl died from the tremors of escape, and the clown in his grief found nothing left in himself to face life with, so he threw his distressed person into the sea.
Queen
So, Josephine, your second bridegroom has been seduced away from you by Destiny. Charles, your fortune, which was at any rate confiscate to your brother, now passes to the Crown. I wonder just how you will manage.
[Charlesthrows her a tender, confident look which she evades.]
[Charlesthrows her a tender, confident look which she evades.]
But one thing at a time. Josephine, what occurs to you in this fitful moment?
Duchess
Life nauseates me so at the moment that it is difficult to imagine any corner where I would not be too dizzy with hatred to stand. If you will permit me, I shall return to myrooms to think. There are some agreeable things scattered through my rooms that may possibly inspire direction.
Queen
Your sensations, Josephine, they have always been so much more acute than your emotions. I wonder if you could not turn with a certain surprising equanimity from regarding the marble forms of your Greeks to the Gothic saints of wood and ivory, then one would detect incense in the fold of your shroud instead of patchouli in the pleats of your cambric. You know, probably you could find in the distortions of religious mania a perfectpendantto your taste for deformities in life.
Duchess
You are cruel, and you are irreverent.
Queen
Ah, my dear, in that last epithet speaks your extreme desirability for the vocation, superstition, which is nothing more nor less than fear of reason, or possibly a certain instinct that the truth would make everything look rather second class—if one is second class one's self.
Duchess
I suppose it is not incumbent upon me to stand here in order that my character inspire you with further Socratic comment.
Queen
Not at all, my dear sister; by all means seek your fauns and draperies and forgive me for prattling on quite regardless of sowing the tragic seed—ennui.
[At this juncture it is only the intense refinement of theDuchesswhich prevents her from falling into the unbecoming posture of powerless invective.Phedro, who has listened to the foregoing, presumes here to interrupt.]
[At this juncture it is only the intense refinement of theDuchesswhich prevents her from falling into the unbecoming posture of powerless invective.Phedro, who has listened to the foregoing, presumes here to interrupt.]
Phedro
Your Majesty, have I your permission to retire?
Queen[turning vaguely toward him]
Certainly, certainly, Phedro. It must be extremely fatiguing to keep on hitting, one after another, so many peculiar facts.
Phedro[bowing low]
My position in your Majesty's service isfar too exhilarating to permit of fatigue. To breathe is occasionally difficult [his voice lowers to something resembling a hiss], consequently to rest does not occur.
[He glances about him as if at a group of neatly despatched marionettes—a glare of furtive hatred distorting his features, which is hastily veiled by his usual laconic humility.TheQueenprecipitates his departure with a wave of her hand, to which he instantly submits.][ExitPhedro.]
[He glances about him as if at a group of neatly despatched marionettes—a glare of furtive hatred distorting his features, which is hastily veiled by his usual laconic humility.
TheQueenprecipitates his departure with a wave of her hand, to which he instantly submits.]
[ExitPhedro.]
Duchess
[Resuming in a voice of excessive boredom.]
[Resuming in a voice of excessive boredom.]
Well, adieu, Charles, I suppose you will go on alternating between vice and sentimentality until the curtain drops. You know, one reason why you never attracted me?
Prince
Josephine, is this quite in taste?
Duchess
Taste is something one uses on arranging one's rooms, not upon human beings.
Queen
Well hit, Josephine. You have at least the satisfaction of going out to the ringing of the bull's eye.
Duchess
Possibly.
[She exits after courtseying to theQueen, who returns it in proper measure. There is a silence.Princelooks tenderly at theQueen, who moves about in a rather staccato manner, disturbing perfectly placed bibelots and pieces of furniture.]
[She exits after courtseying to theQueen, who returns it in proper measure. There is a silence.Princelooks tenderly at theQueen, who moves about in a rather staccato manner, disturbing perfectly placed bibelots and pieces of furniture.]
Prince
We are alone at last.
Queen
That word should sound like the fold of wings around one's exhausted body.
Prince[archly]
Substitute arms for wings, and could for should, if I may be permitted to correct——
Queen
Oh, Charles, don't woo me with this poetic verbosity to take the place of feeling. It isso exactly what you would say to the brewer's daughter, had you selected her to save your estate and pay your bills.
Prince
Ah, Anne, Anne, why will you be so ironic?
Queen
Once or twice I thought of not being ironic, of looking into some person's eyes, and not finding that I had to look away, of resting with someone in a long silence full of exchanged beauties.
Prince[approaching her]
Anne, dear, how——
[TheQueenlaughs and backs away from him, where he stands with his arms stretched out towards her. In her laugh suddenly there is a slight sob.]
[TheQueenlaughs and backs away from him, where he stands with his arms stretched out towards her. In her laugh suddenly there is a slight sob.]
Queen
Stand that way another instant, Charles. Ah, here is everything I have wanted, schemed for, wept about, in the position I have dreamt of it. [She glances out at the park.] The back drop is perfect also. Birds'song, the freshness of morning, sunlight, youth,—youth to be gotten through somehow. However, here it all is, a dream—and not turning pale as all the others did in daylight. Yet, strangely enough, I cannot find a self in me to come forward and take these things as they are now.
Prince
Anne, Anne, for God's sake—I swear to you I can explain everything.
Queen
Try not to let your fear of personal consequences intercept the pity you should feel for me.
Prince
Anne, I love you, I love you.
Queen
Why, why is it that people cannot watch anything die in silence? I suppose after all you are not sufficiently ruthless to carry off your own selfishness with any sort of dignity.
Prince[sulkily]
You do not believe me. You credit thereport of a woman who has every reason to hate me.
Queen
No, I credit intuition, instinct that is always stinging past what one wants to think and flinging some dismantled idol across one's feet. Somehow, from looking down at a lie one can never look up to that particular thing again.
Prince
It was the lie you minded more than what I did.
Queen
I think a truth, no matter of what kind, would have given me some point of exhilaration upon which to try you out.
Prince
Oh, Anne, I do not understand you.
Queen
It is as well we found out. How jocosely casual we are about our spirits. We tie them into some bondage of eternity for the security of a night's lodging, and then wonder thatlife grows sour upon our palate. [she smiles over atCharles'sbewilderment] Which means, in the literal terms of those who credit reincarnation, that if we married, those things you would have to do to keep your heart up would cause your next showing to degenerate into a slight motion of slime at the base of mountains. Think of the distance lost, Charles, for such a little mincing forward step. Come, the morning wanes. Fortunately there are things to do, no matter what cannot be done. I shall return you half of your fortune, which, you will remember, is wholly confiscate to the Crown, but upon the condition that you pass the fleeting future from well under my nose. I could not bear to be incessantly reading my past, which is printed all over you in large letters. Really, Charles, you are a shifting mass of monuments to the hope of a ridiculous person.
Prince
You have broken my heart. I may as well go, I suppose.
Queen
Thank God, I have a literal mind, for what you have said, as you have said it, literallymeans, "I see you have found me out, so I suppose there is no use wasting any more time around here."
Prince
You are impossible. You think too quickly.
Queen[smiling broadly]
Charles, Charles, go now, now, while I am smiling at you. It will be nice to remember our saying good-bye and smiling.