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BOOKS BY OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
THE MORTAL GODS and Other Plays. 12mo, net. $1.50 LORDS AND LOVERS and Other Dramas. 12mo, net. 1.50 SEMIRAMIS and Other Plays. 12mo, net. 1.00
THE MORTAL GODS
AND OTHER PLAYS
THE MORTAL GODS
AND
OTHER PLAYS
BY
OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SON'S
1912
Copyright, 1912, by Charles Scribner's Sons All rights reserved
Published November, 1912
CONTENTS
THE MORTAL GODS 1
A SON OF HERMES 107
KIDMIR 221
* * * * *
THE MORTAL GODS
A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
HUDIBRAND, King of Assaria
HERNDA, his daughter
CHARTRIEN, a Prince of Assaria
BORDUC, Prime Minister
COUNT DORKINSKI, Court Chamberlain
CORDIAZ, King of Goldusan
MEGARIO, Governor of Peonia, a province of Goldusan
REJAN LEVAL, a revolutionist
SENORA ZIRALAY, his sister
ZIRALAY }
RUBIREZ }
GOLIFET } nobles of Goldusan
MAZARAN }
GUILDAMOUR }
MASIO }
GARZA }
GONZALO }
YSOBEL } of Megario's hacienda
GRIJA }
COQURIEZ }
IPARRO }
Guests, officers, musicians, peons, &c.
Time: Begins February, 1911
Place: Assaria; Goldusan
ACT I
SCENE: _A vast room in the palace of Hudibrand. As the curtain rises the place is in darkness save for a circlet of gold apparently suspended in mid-air near the centre of the room. As the light increases, the outline of a man's figure becomes distinguishable, and the circlet is seen to be resting on his head. Gradually the rim of gold fades to invisibility, while the figure of the man and the contents of the room become clear to the eye. The man might be mistaken for an American citizen in customary evening dress. He is Hudibrand._
_At the left are two entrances, upper and lower. Rear, left, large windows. The wall rear makes a right angle about centre, the apex of which is cut off by a window. Right of centre the room seems to extend endlessly rearward, and is arranged to suggest an upland grove in the delicate, venturing days of spring. The ground, rising a little toward right, is covered with winter moss and tufts of short silvered grass. The trees are young birch, slight maples in coral leaf, cornel in flower, and an occasional dark foil of cedar. A brooklet ripples down the slope and off rear. Birds chirp and flit, and now and then a breeze stirs the grove as if it were one tender body. The lights are arranged to give the effect of night or day as one wishes._
It is winter without, the climate of Assaria's capital city being similar to that of New York.
Double doors lower right, through which Count Dorkinski enters to Hudibrand.
Dor. Your majesty, Sir Borduc has arrived.
Hudi. Hot-shod. We'll let him cool.
Dor. Where shall he wait, My lord?
Hud. His usual corner. Keep him off
My Delhi rug.
[Exit Dorkinski]
Poor Bordy's fuming ripe.
[Re-enter the Count]
Dor. His Excellency calls, your majesty.
Hud. Which Excellency? They are thick as hops.
Dor. The Governor of Peonia.
Hud. In time and tune.
We'll see him here.
[Exit Dorkinski]
A pawn of mine who'd push
Beyond his square, and I must humor him
'Neath meditative thumb.
[Enter Megario]
Hud. Welcome, Megario.
Meg. I've travelled far
To press your hand.
Hud. We made appointment here,
Knowing your visit to Assaria touched
Nothing of state or office.
Meg. [Accepting his cue] Nothing, sir. [Looks about him] I thought I left the springtide in my rear, Three thousand miles or so, but here it greets me.
Hud. A gimcrack of my daughter's. She would freak
With sun and time. My toyshop has no walls.
I juggle too with seasons, climates, zones,
But in the open where there's warrior room,
And startled Fate may spring against my will,
Giving an edge to mastery when I wrest
The whip from Nature, turn it on herself,
And set her elemental slaves to filch
Her gold for me. That, friend, is play.
Meg. For gods
And not as thief, but as divinity,
You take from crouching Nature.
Hud. Men have said
I pile up gold because its glitter soothes
A fever in my eyes. The clacking fools!
I am no Cheops making warts on earth.
No mummy brain! God built my pyramids,
Slaving through dark and chaos till there rose
My iron-hearted hills, and mountains locked
On ago-unyielded treasure waiting me.
There slept my gems till longing became fire
And broke the grip of stone,--there lay my gold,
Re-purged each thousand years till baited Time
Gave up the master's hour.
[Hernda has come from the grove and moves up to his side]
Her. [Adoringly] And you the master!
Hud. Daughter, you owe my lord Megario
Some pretty thanks.
Her. I give them, sir.
Meg. No, no!
I pray your Highness, no! My thanks to earth
That bears the flower of you, and to the light
That makes my eyes your beauty's treasurer.
But thanks from you to me, as jewels hung
Upon a beggar's neck, would set my rags
Unkindly in the sun.
Her. Then I am not
Your debtor?
Meg. Mine the debt, that mounts too fast
For feeble payment from thin purse of words.
Ah, every moment adds a suitor hope
To th' bankrupts in my heart.
Her. I fear, my lord,
Your coiner's name is Fancy, and I like
Truth's mintage best. [To her father]
What is this debt of mine,
So languished that a word of thanks may be
Its slender cover?
Meg. A word, if beauty speak it, May mantle a bare world.
Hud. His Excellency
Is Governor of Peonia----
Her. In Goldusan!
Hud. And smoothed my road there----
Meg. Nay, your majesty,
My aid was but a garnish on the might
That moves with your own name.
Hud. Between us then, We saved my holdings through a bluster there. And what they brought me I've tossed here to make This smile on winter.
Meg. What? You gave her all?
Her. How, sir? One word of mine would robe a world.
And my whole self not worth a little spot
Twitched from Spring's garment?
Meg. Oh, I'd grind the stars To imperial dust that you might trample them,-- But this--this was a fortune! [To Hudibrand] Sir, 'tis true You care not for the gold.
Hud. I care for it
As men of hero times held dear the sword
That made them lords of battle.
Her. You are lord
Of Peace!
Meg. Write that upon the clouds, that eyes
Of men and angels may contending claim
The truth for earth and heaven!
Hud. Tush, sir, tush!
Meg. Can I forget how at your kingly touch My fair Peonia, paling in treason's grip, Thrilled from her deathward droop, renewed her heart Through safe, ease-lidded nights, and woke once more The rose of fortune?
Hud. There's no rumble now
Of riot?
Meg. Not a sound comes to our ears
But from the toiling strokes that steadily
Uproll Peonia's wealth.
Hud. Yet those who led
The last revolt are free.
Meg. Not all, your Highness.
A few crossed to Assaria, but expedition
Warms on their trail. Rejan LeVal is tracked
To your own capital.
Hud. Nay, mend that, sir.
We're safe here from such ruck.
Meg. The startled eel
Will make for muddy waters,--and 'tis sure
LeVal found murky welcome here.
Hud. My city!
What mutinous bolt turns here for him?
Meg. His friends Are friends of power. How else could he elude The thousand eyes in search?
Hud. [Musing] Treason at court?...
Meg. We'll mouse LeVal to 's cranny, do not doubt.
Then we shall ask Assaria's great seal
For his delivery to Goldusan.
Hud. That is assured you.
Meg. But your minister, Sir Borduc, warns----
Hud. Ha! Warns?
Meg. He urges that
The extraditing power is at pause,
Blocked by the people's will.
Hud. I've given my word,--
A word that mobbish din ne'er added to,
Nor yet stripped of one letter that I chose
Should spell authority. You ask for more?
Meg. Pardon, your majesty! It is enough,
Beyond all stretch of need.
Hud. I call to mind
That Borduc waits,--and primed for tongue-work too.
The princess will content your Excellency?
Meg. [With obeisance to Hernda] 'Tis Heaven's honor! I have left the earth!
Hud. You waste your art. She's in the milk-maid humor. Would marry Hob. [Exit, lower right]
Meg. The Senor Hob? He says
You'll marry him? [Hernda laughs]
You care not if I die!
Her. You'll live, my lord.
Meg. You'll marry Hob. I die!
Her. He is not Hob. That is my father's mock Because he's poor.
Meg. [In hope] Ah, poor?
Her. A beggarly
Ten millions,--not a penny more.
Meg. Ten millions!
Her. But that's my joy. I would not wed for gold.
Meg. O, pity me! I love you, senorita!
Her. No, no! I must not hear that.
Meg. Then I'll pray
Silence to be my friend and speak my dumb
Unuttered heart.
Her. You must not love me, sir.
But you may love--my father. When you praised him,
You too seemed fair to me.
Meg. I'll sing him till The stars lie at our feet, if you will listen!
Her. He gave your country peace?
Meg. His royal name
Is dear as Cordiaz' in the grateful heart
Of Goldusan. That proud land lay unkept.
Her ores intombed, her vales without a plough,
Her rivers wasting down to shipless seas,
Her people starving, while her nobles strove
For shreds of power,--the clouted thing we called
A government. Then on our factions fell,
Strong as a god's, the hand of Hudibrand;
And now, compact, we stand by Cordiaz,
While every mountain groans with golden birth.
And every river turns its thousand wheels,
And every valley buried is in bloom.
Her. My dearest father! But I knew 'twas so! And they who starved are fed and happy now? They reap the bloom and share the golden flood?
Meg. All will be well when once we've scourged the land Of rebels that drip poison from their tongues, Stirring the meek and unambitious poor,-- Who sought no life but saintly, noble toil,-- With strangest rage, till maddened they would bite The fostering hand of God.
Her. We've prisons where We put such troublers. Has your land no jails?
Meg.'Tis full of them! I mean--ah, we have jails,
But foes like these are wary, slip all watch,--
Flee and dart back, our weariness their charter
To tread with havoc's hoof. If I could find
Rejan LeVal, then might I rest from guard,
But not while he--unlassoed warrigal!--
May canter from his thicket and paw up
Peonia's fields!
Her. I'll lend an adjutant.
Ask Chartrien, who knows each foggy nook
And smirched corner of the capital,--
Having once made his pastime serve a quest
For such drab knowledge,--ask him help you find
This traitor.
Meg. Chartrien! Nay, the fox is safe
When th' hound too wears a brush.
Her. You mean the prince? Speak, sir! Who hints me calumny, Shall make the drum his chorus. I'll hear all.
Meg. A rumor drifts through Goldusan....
Her. Is that
An oddity? Here rumors are too thick
For ears to gather them.
Meg. But this--O, princess....
Fairest of earth, forgive me that I speak!
Her. You do not speak. And that I'll not forgive.
Meg. Ah, then,--but first,--is Chartrien near the king?
Her. No nearer than his heart.
Meg. I do offend.
Her. Offence now lies in silence. Speak, my lord.
Meg. When I left Goldusan, 'twas said--and with
No muffled hesitance--Prince Chartrien aids
The rebels there, and lays a train to rend
The State apart, that Cordiaz may drop
Into the gap,--then he with plausive cleat
Will make the fissure stanch, and seat himself
In unoppugned power.
Her. Why he is Hob! [Silence. They both rise] A mad and sorry tale, you see.
Meg. I see.
He's in the capital?
Her. Beneath this roof.
The palace is his home. My father holds
His meagre millions guarded, nursing them
To a prince's portion.
Meg. We shall meet?
Her. To-night.
He's with a friend--a Spanish gentleman,--
But not from Goldusan.
Meg. I made no guess.
Her. Deny that with your eyes. Your tongue's exempt.
Meg. And may I meet the Spanish gentleman?
Her. That's as he chooses. I may not command him.
[Re-enter Count Dorkinski]
Dor. His Highness, sir, is pleased to bid you join him.
Meg. His pleasure is his marshal. [To Hernda, softly] I've your leave
To love your father. That I go from you
To him, is Heaven's proof I do.
[Exit Megario and the Count]
Her. The proof
I seek, and would not find, is locked in Hell,
Not Heaven. Megario lied. Oh, Chartrien!
[Retreats slowly into grove and pauses out of sight, rear. Enter, upper left, Chartrien and LeVal]
LeV. No,----
Cha. Prudence, dear LeVal!
LeV. I shall go mad
Shut in this gilded den,--this stifling hold
Of banditry.
Cha. Peace, friend!
LeV. I'd rather crouch
With brats of grime upon an unswept hearth
And claw my bread from cinders, than draw breath
In this gold-raftered house of blood!
Cha. Come, come! Your wits fly naked, stripped of every caution, And beat suspicion up that else might keep Untroubled bed. Whist! We must move rose-shod Through these next hours, not clack in passion's clogs.
LeV. I'll out of this! There's surge in me no fear Can put in bonds.
Cha. Nay, here and here alone
Your life is safe. The hounds of Goldusan
Sniff through the cellars. They'll not scent you in
The royal shadow. That's more brilliancy
Than ever lit a rush in houndom. This
My home, I share with you, for mine it is
Till I've secured my gold from Hudibrand.
LeV. Ay, but Megario! While he's here these walls Pen me in fire.
Cha. His visit is too brief
To be a danger.
LeV. Danger! To me, or him?
If we should meet, his fate as mine would be
In that encounter. These are hands would see to 't!
Cha. LeVal, forget----
LeV. Forget Celeste? My wife? Forget she died of blows while he stood by And smiled, because she was my wife! Oh, God! Breathe air with him while this arm hangs A limp discretion!
Cha. Peace! This mood unpent
Will wreck us. Keep your room if it must swell.
The princess gazes yonder, and your face
Is badged exposal. Go. I'll meet her question.
'Twill not fash honor if a lie or two
Must be our guard.
[Exit LeVal upper left. Hernda emerges from grove. Chartrien waits for her as she comes circuitously, lightly hovering and hesitating]
Her. [At his side] What lover's this?--dreams still
When love is by. Were he an olden knight
He'd ride to tourney and forget his spurs!
Cha. He would forget the world and fame and God To see your eyes like this!
Her. You tremble, Chartrien. Love so much?--yet stood here just--a stump--
Cha. That felt you coming, coming like a bird, And watched and waited, envying every bough Where you paused doubting, till you fluttering lit, Down in the old stump's heart--
Her. There, I've forgot!
This is my lover ere that lure crept up
From Goldusan. Since you came back, I've felt
The shadow of a difference, and I've heard
The maids of Goldusan can draw men's souls
Out of their bodies for a dance in hell.
Cha. My love!
Her. O, Chartrien, are you mine? I feel
A question in your worship. When your eyes
Are warmest, love lies on them like
The shallow moon-gleam on a deep, dark sea
That is not kin with it. A sea that once
Was mine, and I could go, with circling arms,
Love-lanterned to its depth. But now the dark
Is round me fathomless----
Cha. My own!
Her. I try to rise,
To find my wings--and feel the air again
Without your drowning touch upon me----
Cha. Hernda!
Have I so nearly lost you? Come, beloved,
Sit here, and let me vow me yours again
Till in each word you feel my beating heart.
Her. My stars shall hear these vows.
[_Changes the light to pale, evening glow. Rear, right, are glimpses
of sky with frail, moving clouds, faint stars and a new moon_]
And see, my moon.
Intent and virginal.
[_She sits, and Chartrien lies on the ground, his breast covering
her feet_]
Now, now my heart
Holds not another thing but love and you!
Cha. No thought of those dread wings?
Her. None, none! And you?
[Bends over him]
All mine. I hold you now, fast in my world.
Sometimes you enter, come within my door.
And then I can not shut it for a wind
That clings about you from a farther sky.
Cha. [Rises and takes her face between his hands] There's but one sky!
Her. A shuddering breath,
As from a planet strange, where you have walked
And I shall never go.
Cha. O, shut me in,
Rose of a heart! I'll not go out though Life
Beat at the door, and call her giant storms
To knock upon 't.
Her. Is this not life? And this
The only world?
Cha. The only world. My habitat
One perfect hour.
Her. One hour? Forever, love.
Cha. O, vow it for me, sweet,--again, again!
Till I believe once more in Arcadies
Born of a silken purse. In sunsets caught
In tinted tapestries, with jacinth heart
Gold-bleeding through the woven breath of dream.
In soft moon-hours that drop from painted skies,
In fairy woodlands aye unwintering,
In love's elf-ring no boding star may cross,
And you, my Hernda, sceptred in joy's name,
Tossing the apple planets in your hands--
These little, sovereign hands--as God might do,
Had he, poor God, your power.
Her. Love, you hurt.
Cha. Ah, tears in Arcady?
Her. Oh, what is this
Has come between us?
Cha. What? The universe.
I can not reach you even when my lips
Are on your heart.
Her. May I not come to you?
Cha. From this moon-world? No hope of that.
Her. See then,
The day! [Changes the light to sunrise]
Now may I come?
Cha. Forever playing!
The way lies here.
[Steps to window and opens it. A snowy blast rushes in]
Her. Stop, Chartrien! Shut it! Oh, You've killed my Spring!
Cha. You will not come?
Her. You're mad.
[Struggles with the window until she closes it, Chartrien watching her]
Cha. You do not like that road. But it is mine. And children walk it. I have met them there.
Her. Oh, I am frozen! See!
Cha. [With sudden contrition, pressing her to his breast] No, you are fire. A fire that I will clasp, though it should burn My holiest temple and betray my soul To ashes!
Her. O, my love, what secret curbs Your nature to this chafe? It rubs even through Your ardor.--stabs me on your breast. May I not know it? Is not confidence Dear blood and life of love? Without it, ours Must pale, ghost-cold, a chill between locked arms.
Cha. Is trust not love's prerogative
More royal sweet than any burdened share
Of secrecy?
Her. Not to the strong!
Cha. [Smiling] You strong?
By what brave test dost know it?
Her. And by what
Dost know me weak?
Cha. The proof awaits. But now,-- Emilio needs me,--
Her. Go!
Cha. Sweet, friendship too
Has bonds. Not all are love's.
Her. He's ill,--your friend?
Cha. As plague-bit life,--no worse.
Her. You'll wait upon My father? Bid him but good-night?
Cha. No, Hernda.
Her. You shun him, Chartrien. I have watched you keep A curious distance,--ay, as though your heart Removed itself while your unwarmed eyes Made invoice of its treasure. Once you rushed Unto his counsel as security Hived in his word, and you, denied, were lost. Are those hours gone? If you have grown too large For his shrunk wisdom, bind you to his need. Age unsuspected crowns him, and you take Your young arm out of his.
Cha. He wants no staff.
Her. You'll go no more to Goldusan?
Cha. I must.
Her. And soon?
Cha. When Hudibrand is pleased to free
My fortune from his ward.
Her. You want it all?
Cha. Yes, all.
Her. For Goldusan?
Cha. My greatest need Is there.
Her. What is that need?
Cha. You question me?
Her. May love not ask?
Cha. If love could understand.
Her. Have I grown dull? I do not know you, Chartrien. You're so unfeatured by that Spanish cloud, You're lowering friend. He is the universe Between our hearts. Ill? No. I saw him here,-- A tropic threat. 'Twas rage broke his suave guard, Not illness.
Cha. Hernda!
Her. The Lord Megario
Has asked to compliment a brother guest.
May he be seen? Does his unmannered storm
Spare one amenity?
Cha. Megario knows?
Her. Knows what?
Cha. Oh!--nothing.
Her. So much more than naught Your cheek is pale with it.
Cha. No matter, Hernda.
Her. An ashen matter truly, yet not light
As nothing. But your answer. May our guests
Exchange the roof-tree greeting?
Cha. No.
Her. Why not?
That "no" trails consequence. It can not be
Your period.
Cha. They are enemies.
Her. I knew!
Cha. Megario dealt my friend a bitter wrong,-- The foulest wrong that man may put on man.
Her. He's loyal to my father. I know that
Of him,--and of Emilio--nothing.
Cha. Sweet,
I beg one day!
Her. One day? What's hatching here
That's one day short its time?
[Enter, lower right, Hudibrand, Megario, and Borduc]
Cha. [Drawing Hernda aside] To-morrow, love!
Her. To-night!
Hud. You've won your suit, Megario.
If by our presence in your Goldusan
We can advance that sister country's peace.
The journey's naught. We'll count it done.
Meg. My lord,
All revolution will dispel as air
Before your eye. Our Cordiaz is great,
But his familiar subjects are too near
To take his height, while you they know to be
Of giant measure; and when once they see
Your majesties are brothered, Cordiaz
Will grow your twin in stature.
Hud. You've our word.
Meg. I treasure it,--and lest repeated thanks
Stale their sincerity. I beg to say
Good-night.
Hud. You have our leave. Good-night, my lord.
[Megario bows impressively to Hudibrand, slightly to Borduc, and is passing out when Hernda, who has crossed right, intercepts him]
Her. You leave us early, Lord Megario.
Meg. I do not leave, your Highness. I am driven. I go to drudgery with my secretaries, Foregoing even the sleep that might have brought Your dreamed face to me.
Her. Is 't still your wish To meet our Spanish guest?
Meg. He grants me that?
Her. He has refused a meeting.
Meg. Ah!... Refused.
Her. But there's a way, my lord. When you have passed
The second door without, turn to the left.
You'll find a vaulted passage,--at the end
An entrance to my wood. Come in, and wait.
Meg. You grace me so?
Her. It is not grace that breaks
The covenant of salt. But who keeps faith
With traitors? He is one, by every sign.
An evil thing blown to our royal hearth
Through Chartrien's open love that lets all winds
Pour in. And I'll have proof of it!
Meg. [Over her hand] You shall. [Exit, lower right]
Cha. [Crossing to Hernda] A long-spun courtesy, and with one merit,-- It ended in good-night.
Her. [Gayly] Unruly yet?
A truce until to-morrow!
Cha. You believe me?
Her. I would not doubt you for a world compact
Of virtues only, but it's no unreason
To fear you are deceived.
Cha. Dear Hernda----
Her. Come! I love you, Chartrien. Let us have an hour As light as joy, as sweet as peace, and call Your friend to share it. He shall smile for me. I vow it, by his most ungentle frown!
Cha. 'Twill take your deepest magic, for his heart Holds naught that smiles are made of.
Her. Bring him here. I'll make that heart my wizard bowl and mix Such sweet and merry potions in 't, his griefs Must doff their gray for motley. You shall see!
Cha. Art such a witch? [Exit, upper left]
Her. What's this I do? My soul Leans shameward, but I'll trounce it up. The man, If innocent, keeps so, untouched and clear. If he aims darkly, creeps a weaponed hate Upon my noble father, do I worse Than cancel so the unwrought half of 's crime, And make him less a villain?
Bor. May I speak
Against this southward jaunt?
Hud. Loud as you please, My Bordy, but I go.
Bor. Your Highness makes
Assaria bow too low.
Hud. The State shall have
No name in this. I go as Cordiaz' friend,
Not as Assaria's king. I've interests there
That sort with quiet venture. Give it out
This move in part concerns my health.
Bor. That much I welcome. You should rest, my lord.
Hud. Ha? Rest?
The twin of death! I'll rest when I am dust.
Nay, then I hope that storm and hurricane
Will keep me whirling. No,--I'll not go lame
Even in report. Say that this move concerns
My pleasure solely,--solely, Borduc.
Her. Father,
I have a suit. May I not go with you?
I long to make that land where you are loved,
More vivid than the dream that now it is.
Hud. And find what lodestar there draws Chartrien From constancy? Well, you shall go.
Bor. Tut, tut!
Her. Dear father!
Hud. This will give domestic screen
And color to our tack.
Bor. A gadding throne--
Hud. Good Borduc, we will leave the throne at home. Do not you stay?
Bor. I've some authority,
You'll not dispute, my lord. Much as may go
With broad election. My investiture
Lies in the people's choice.
Hud. Ay, you're their bark
Of freedom, where their pride may hoist full sail,
But who wots better, Bordy, that 'tis puffed
With winds that know my port?
Bor. They think their choice
Is free. Sincere in that, they give my post
A dignity not even your majesty
May mock me out of.
Hud. Fools are noted most
For their sincerity,--a virtue that
Must stand a cipher if uncertified
By wit or wisdom.
Bor. Sir, Assarians Are not the fools you think them. They are men Who have the patriot's heart, and on their flag Where you write "power" their love reads "liberty."
Hud. It does, praise be! And they may keep their flag
To wear around their eyes long as they will.
For then I dance my measure, while they bump
In hither-whither hoodman blind and pay
My fiddler too!
Bor. And what's my part in this?
Hud. The fiddler's, Borduc.
Bor. Sir?
Hud. And your next tune Is Goldusan. Come, let's rehearse.
Bor. My lord,----
[Exeunt, lower right, as Chartrien and LeVal enter left]
Her. You've come, dear Senor! Was it savagery To wrest the hour from you?
LeV. Too kindly done
For such a name,--though I was deep in bond
To sober thoughts, your Highness.
Her. Be so still.
We would not force our humor on your heart,
But share your own.
LeV. [Smiling] Can you be sad?
Her. As rains
That drench October. As the gray
That fringes twilight on the dark of moons.
As seas that sob above a swallowed ship,
Repenting storm. [Leads to seat, right]
Come, sir,--and I'll be sad
In what degree you choose, though I could wish it
Nearer a smile than rheum, and not so heavy
But that its sigh may float upon a song,
A gentle song that might be sorrow's garland
When moan wears down. Wilt hear one now, my lord?
I have a music-maker yon whose lute
Was nectared in a poet's tears the hour
He lost his dream. Say you will hear him! Nay,
That courtier "yes" can not o'ertake the "no"
Sped from your eyes. We'll have no music. Yet
The soul must love it ere one can be sad
To th' very sweet of sadness. O, I know!
LeV. I love it, but not here.
Her. What here forbids?
My bower! The eye translates its tenderness
To fairy sound, nor need of pipe or strings.
LeV. I can not hear the bells of fairydom
When life is making thunder's music 'gainst
This bauble house of play----
Her. [Rising] Sir, you forget----
LeV. Nay, I remember!
Her. What do you remember?
LeV. Ah!... Pardon, princess!
Cha. May I mend this peace?
Her. [Sitting again by LeVal] It is not broken yet.
LeV. Your gentleness Has saved it, not my manners.
Her. Oh, my lord,
Would I had grace to cover sorrow's breach
As smoothly as a gap in courtesy!
Then you should smile!
LeV. I have a happiness
That makes it thievery in me to take
Your pity. You've a sadder need.
Her. I'll yield
No jocund vantage to that brow of yours.
You hear this sombre braggart, Chartrien?
Speaks as I were Despair's own fosterling!
LeV. You are. As I am Hope's. Do you not gaze On earth's foul spots and cry "A sad world this!" "We must endure!" "The dear God wills it so!" And such and such like seed of misery Till hopelessness sprouts chronic?--building then Your house of life amid its smelling weeds, Where you may dance--or pray--till you forget Your creed keeps earth in tears?
Her. And yours, my lord?
LeV. Gives her a singing and forefeeling heart Whose courage cleaves renunciation's cloud That swathes her splendor and would sighing keep Her livid 'mong the stars!
Her. You would divide
Omnipotence with God, and arrogant,
Assume the bigger half. But there are woes
That even your hope, though it go winged and armored,
Must fall before.
LeV. Not one that I'll not face
Until its features mould me destiny.
The shape of radiance it shall wear for man
'Neath an unslandered Heaven! I could not live
If in the life about me I saw not
The world within this world, and sped my hope
The way that it shall take.
Her. Is not that way
Called Peace, Emilio?
LeV. Not the peace that spills More blood than war, builds bigger jails, and leaves More waifs to suck the stunting, poisonous breast Of Charity! Peace as white ashes spread Upon injustice' fly-blown wrack----
Her. [Leaving him] You are
A revolutionist!
LeV. And black to you,
For revolution leads into the horizon,
And must be figured dark to rearward eyes
Though God beyond gives welcome.
Her. [Coming gently back] May we not
Be patient even as Christ, who found this world
The home of poverty and left it so?
Did he not say the poor are ever with us?
LeV. You too must tap that last and golden nail In th' pauper's coffin!
Her. It is the nail of truth, If Christ spoke true.
LeV. Words uttered to his day,
Not to all time. Not as a deathless brand
Burning his own millennium. Not meant
To take from man his goal, condemning him
To hug an ulcer to the sick world's end,
Which even your bosom must take to whitest bed
Although your festrous partner be not guessed
Nor visible. But if he did mean that----
That vicious thing--then he is false as hell,
Denying man's bright destiny,--and I,
Who vouch the triumph of an angel race,
Am more a god than he!
Her. You dare blaspheme----
LeV. Because it once was said to men, whom worms
Made dust of twice ten hundred years ago,
"The poor are always with you," such as you
Shall not forever pick your way to ease
O'er broken bodies, lifting up white brows
And hiding crimson feet! Daring to make
The Christ your sheltering sanction while you feed
On others' lives, and keep injustice sleek
Even as you cosset that dim thing, your soul,
And preen the wings you think bear you aloft
The puddled world!
Her. You lie! You do not know
Our gentle hearts, our----
LeV. Gentle? O, you're nice, You later cannibals, and will not eat Of babes at table, but you'll pipe their blood From unoffending distance, while you pray Your conscience numb and swear the source is clean. Some dare to name that fount the Love of God, And kneel him thanks!
Her. Oh, mad and impious! Who is this, Chartrien, you've dared call your friend?
[Megario steps from the grove]
Meg. He's dumb as prudence, but my tongue is free.
This is Rejan LeVal, the man who hates
Your father,--and my country's enemy.
LeV. [Plunging toward Megario] Murderer!
Cha. [Grasping LeVal] Come! At once!
Meg. Your pardon, prince. I must delay you. I feared your sympathy Would gird itself 'gainst justice, and took care To balk escape. [To officer who appears behind him] Be off with him. You know Your road. No stop this side Peonia's border.
Cha. Outlawry this! Stop, sir! You will not dare Kidnap him on this soil!
Meg. [Laughs] Where Hudibrand
Is king?
[Exit officer with LeVal, lower right]
Her. This strains your privilege, my lord.
Cha. His privilege? My God! Did you....
Her. I did.
Meg. No third voice here is cordant. I will leave you. My thousand times most gracious lady, thanks! Again I bid you happiest good-night! [Exit]
Her. I am no adder, though your bitter eyes Give me that name.
Cha. Not bitter. In my heart, That wrapped you as the South its dearest bud, There's nothing left to warm the thought of you Even with my hate. You are the crown, the peak, The unmeaning top of all to which I'm most Indifferent. [Turns away]
Her. Look at me!
Cha. I look, and know
My eyes till now were cankered, look and see
The whole fair lie you are.
Her. Nay, Chartrien!
Cha. The book is open. There the brow yet shines As God o'erlilied it,--an altar urn Stuffed with profane decay. Those are the eyes Like springs within a wood where no road leads With murking pilgrim dust, yet Innocence There paused looks up no more. That is the hand That as a comrade angel's took my friend's,-- Reached out as though it parted Heaven's veil To draw his grief within, then clapped him down To Hell.
Her. The place for traitors. Let him go.
This moment is for us. 'Tis true your eyes
Were cankered, and I thought by surgeon means
To give them health, but deeper than the eyes
This trouble's seat. Deep as your changed soul,
That forfeits its divinity to link
With an infection. Here you stood and heard
Those poured-out profanations with no move
Or sound of protest. That was left for me.
Cha. What truth may pierce such ignorance, fatuous, thick!
That man,--Megario,--with whom you've struck
Alliant palm, twisted a lawless law
To his deformed desire, and took the lands--
The priceless valley lands of Cana Ru--
From gentle dwellers there, whose titles bore
The rooted claim of dear ancestral graves
Nine generations deep,--and when they stood
The guardians of their doors, faced them with guns,
Dragged them to his bribed courts, weighed them with fines,
And sent them to his burning maguey fields
To slave and rot.
Her. No--don't----
Cha. The lands were sold To Hudibrand----
Her. It can not be!
Cha. Not be?
That cry is stale as ignorance, as old
As wrong. I've heard it till my ears refuse
To register its emptiness. LeVal,
It was, rose first against Megario,--
Stood up and urged men to be Man,--and this,
That makes archangels in the ranks of Heaven,
Was treason upon earth. He lived--escaped--
But not his wife. Anointed woman, such
As centuries with conjoined virtues breed
Once and no more! She was condemned, enslaved,
And toiling in the steaming fields, fell down,
Was flogged, and died.
Her. No! no! no! no!
Cha. So she
Is free. But now LeVal goes back. My friend!
O, giant heart! I see you stagger, drop,
As feverous as the smitten earth----
Her. Who could Believe such things? You're wrong! You must--you shall Be wrong! He was a traitor, bitter-souled. Undoing my father's work!
Cha. Farewell!
Her. Oh, Chartrien, I did it for the best!
Cha. The woman's cry.
She'd wreck a world, and from that earthquake piled
Look up to say she did it for the best.
Her. You will not go? You loved me one hour past. I am not changed. I'm Hernda still.
Cha. The same.
And yet I loved you. But no blush need burn
The soul escaped enchantment. 'Twas a charm
Enringed me with its bale till helpless there,
And feeble as a babe in bassinet,
I cooed away my manhood,--emptied time
With infant fingering toward your protean hair!
Her. You loved me!
Cha. More than ever could be laid To madness' charge, or god that passion whelms With mortal longing till his skies become His prison, and dark earth Elysian ground Beneath the feet he loves!
Her. [With arms beseeching] Here, Chartrien, here!
Cha. Even when my eyes--so late--were wide to wrong That binds the race to pain's dread Caucasus, My mad imagination laid the gift Of seership on you, dreamed that you would go To meet the gleam of the delivering days,----
Her. With you!
Cha. Sail any sea of venture, beat Through any storm to make the prophet's port,-- White priestess vassal to the truth that leads The planet into light!
Her. Together, Chartrien!
Cha. That was my dream. Then coming to your side. There was no life but yours,--no world that bled And felt the vulture feeding. Groans of men Grew still, or like the unavailing hum Of far-off, aimless bees, scarce reached my ears That heard, more near, as music from new earth, Your children call me father. Ay, 'twas but The storming undersea of passioning sex That breaking to the sky o'erlaid my stars And wore the mask of Heaven! That ebbless power, That spawning tide of Nature, by whose might She took primordial forts and made Life hers! Still does it tear belated, unassuaged, In wreck about the Mind's aspiring fanes. And shakes the nesting Spirit from her towers, Her heavenly brood unfledged!
Her. Oh! Oh!
Cha. Here--now--
I beat it back, and go my way unmated
Till beauty fair as yours has bred a soul
And signals me! [Exit]
Her. Stay, Chartrien! Oh, my love!
[Falls. Curtain]
ACT II
SCENE: _A grove in the outskirts of a town in Goldusan. Semi-tropical verdure. Rocks, shrubbery, trees, at convenience. A hidden cascade mumbles upper right, not loud enough to disturb conversation. At upper left, the pillared and vine-wreathed entrance to a mansion. A wall, rear, partly hidden by foliage. Paths lead off, right and left, lower, under trees. It is evening, and the grove is lit for revel. Gay flocks of people pass, then Hernda and Megario enter lower right._
Meg. Unsoft as winter! Thou hast brought thy north, With thee, a frigid shade, here where the hours Are poppy-fingered, and their dreaming breasts Unshuttered as the summer!
Her. Is it true,
This joy, that smiles as though its fountained heart
Could not be emptied?
Meg. True as that I love you.
Her. But if it is no mask, why should revolt O'ercloud your borders?
Meg. There's no just revolt.
Her. But Chartrien said----
Meg. Are you yet poison-tinct With that old rebel tale his credulous heart Dressed new in his while honor till both grew One sooty treason?
Her. Where is Chartrien now?
Meg. Wherever he may hatch a discontent
And cluck us trouble. But of late he spurs
His heart of venture, and dartles to our towns
To stir the scum there.
Her. Scum? You've such a thing In Cordiaz' happy land? I'll see that scum. It breathes, does 't not? Has eyes, and tongue? Can answer if one speaks?
Meg. You're merry, princess.
Her. As graves at night. All is not open here. I shall go farther,--knock at doors where Truth Keeps honest house, not gowned for holiday.
Meg. One want we have,--that you will stay with us
And be the fairy soul of Goldusan.
Then must our land, so measureless endeared,
Be cherished as the darling care of Heaven,
Where storm may breathe but as a twittering bird
That fears to shake its nest.
Her. You've only words! Words like these thousand-thousand smiles that seem Half real and half painted,--teasing, strange,-- All feeding one illusion round my way Till even the ground unqualifies beneath me And makes each step a question.
Meg. 'Tis the doubt
You look through that transforms our face
Of truth and paints us vaguely hued.
O, for our many smiles, wilt not give one?
Her. Nay, there's a darkness fringing on this grove.
It creeps above the walls, it touches me,
And makes me shudder winding at my feet!
Meg. You've sipped of fancy at a witch's knee! [Plucks a flower]
But see,--your serpent shadows nurture this.
Confess to its perfection, and be shriven
Of any thought less fair.
Her. Oh, if I might!
No, keep it. Let us find our friends.
Meg. [Drops the flower] My hand
Defiles it for you.
Her. Nay----
Meg. Where is the fan
I carried yester-night?
Her. 'Tis--lost.
Meg. 'Tis burnt!
Her. What wind's your gossip?
Meg. Truth paused at my ear. But, princess, if there's any charm will draw Your eyes to me unburdened of their hate, I'll find it though it lie beneath the ruin Of every other hope!
Her. I'll leave you, sir.
Meg. Forgive me! Love will speak,--ay, storm its need.
Though each vain word pile up the barricade
That fends the heart desired.
Her. My lord, no hate Is in that barrier. I'm free of that.
Meg. Thanks for that little much. Your highness speaks
Of journeying. What can I say to gild
My own Peonia till it distant gleams
The gem of pilgrimage? There you will see
How earth is dressed when the devoted sun
Is pledged to her adorning. Trees that mass
Their bloom in forest heavens, giving her
A nearer sky. Unthwarted vines that scarf
Her mountain shoulders with their pendent clouds.
Lakes where a dreamer's bark may drift unoared
And chance no port save beauty. Everywhere
The dart and wave of color that would beckon
A neighbor planet looking once this way.
Come, be my guest. One day! I'll ask no more.
Her. I do not know. Senora Ziralay
Will be my guide. I go with her.
Meg. With her?
Her. What is 't? I touch the shadow. You are not Her friend?
Meg. She hates in secret, while her smile
Levies the world for love.
Her. I'll hate where she does, And know my soul is safe.
Meg. Her husband holds
By love and purse to Cordiaz, but she
Is a LeVal.
Her. LeVal? And kin to--him?
Meg. Rejan? His sister. And I know her nature
Is tinted as her blood, whatever hue
It wears at court.
Her. A sister to the man
That I gave up to death. And I have dared
To love her--take her kiss----
Meg. [Cautioning] She's here.
[Enter, lower right, Senora Ziralay and Guildamour]
Her. Senora! We spoke of you.
Sen. And with such gloom?
Meg. No, no!
Sen. It lingers yet, my lord. Do I in absence cast Such knitted shadows?
Meg. Safely asked of us,
Who know your bright philosophy. How fares
That magic broom with which you'd sweep the earth
Of every ill? Is 't still invincible?
Sen. Much worn of late, my lord, as you should know, Who give it work.
Meg. You'd leave us not one grief
To keep us praying and rebuilding Heaven?
Abolish Death perhaps?
Sen. True mock! I would
Except the death that's like a waiting bed
When not another turn may mend the day;
When sleep is sweeter than the thumbed book,
And hearth-near voices drowse like waves that lap
Shores unconcerned. Now we are murdered, all.
Meg. No, no. Senora!
Gui. Ay! Do we not vaunt,
And set it rarely down, a thing to note,
If age unmoor the life-disused raft,
For th' chartless cruise?
Sen. Now we go hurried out, With half our dreams unpacked, and earth made poor With a few grains of dust where should have risen Our wisest years in flower.
Meg. Fate, fate, Senora!
Sen. What's fate but ignorance? And not always that
Comes hobbling with excuse. Sometimes a man,
Whose eyes fling lances at the foes of Life,
Is knouted from the world----
Meg. No more, I pray!
This is a festal night. Reserve your sermon
For our next fast.
[A musical group plays softly under trees left. Enter lower right, Hudibrand, Cordiaz, Rubirez, Vardas, Ziralay and others]
Hud. Here, daughter? You've been sought.
Cor. The search was mine, your highness. I would beg A grace of you.
Her. You grant one as you beg,
Your majesty. I'll not do less than give
Your own again. But pray you name it, sir.
Cor. This garden where our amity has borne Its fairest blossom shall be called henceforth The Grove of Peace, and we would beg your highness To queen our christening.
Her. A queenly part, And royally I thank you, but I'll play it With humblest prayer that Heaven may keep unbroken These new-sworn bonds between my land and yours.
Cor. So pray we all.
Her. Is this our scene?
Cor. Not here. Come you this way, my friends. We'll cast the wine To yon cascade, and let the waters bear it Down to my capital.
[All go off upper right, except two officers, who remain centre, and a guard who walks to and fro by wall rear, sometimes visible, sometimes hidden by the wood and rocks]
First Off. This peace will prove
As stout as any spider's thread that swings
In a blowing rain. Fah!
Second Off. Climb what hill you please, You see the rebels' smoke.
First Off. But where in name
Of magic does Bolderez get his gold?
The rebels we pick up have lost no meals.
Second Off. Enough he gets it. Goldusan sleeps well. Bolderez is so near that if his men Were eagles they could pick out Cordiaz' eyes And he'd not wake to miss 'em.
First Off. Cordiaz
Is not asleep, but so bedimmed and fooled
By a thievish Cabinet that what he sees
Takes any name they give it.
Second Off. He is old.
First Off. Ah, there you hit it. Warriors should die young. When age unsoldiers them their field-worn hearts Have no defence against a crafty peace, And falling power will seize on any prop Be 't foul or fair, to keep on legs.
Second Off. My faith!
His crutches are so villanous, a fall
Were better than his gait.
[Enter Ziralay, lower right]
First Off. Well, Ziralay,
What news?
Zir. Where's Cordiaz?
Second Off. He comes.
[Re-enter group from the cascade]
Zir. [To Cordiaz] My lord,
The Assarian prince is captured, and is held
Within the town.
Cor. What? Chartrien?
Zir. Yes, my lord.
Cor. Fit period to this dedicated day!
Our gentle bonds are now forged whole. The man
Who was Bolderez' hope, most luminous
Of all who drew rebellion to him, now
Is darkly fallen.
Rub. This golden aid cut off,
Bolderez stands so bare his nakedness
Will sprint to nearest cover.
Cor. I'll see his face. Bring here the prisoner.
Off. I'll speed the order, Your majesty. [Exit]
Rub. Shall he be shot, my lord?
Cor. Shot? No. But kept close prisoned.
Rub. That is mercy
You have denied the blood of Goldusan.
Why grant it to Assaria?
Var. In him swells
A strength was never in LeVal. I urge
His instant death.
Cor. No, friends. He is a son
Of our great neighbor, and his death would wound
The courtesy of nations that is kept
By lenience unabraded.
Var. Breath so bold
Will from a prison fan the treachery
Whose flame would die without it.
Her. Father, speak!
Cor. We'll hear our friend, Assaria's majesty, If he have word for us.
Hud. I pray your highness
To let no ghostly and unfounded fear
Of my Assaria----
Cor. Fear, my lord?
Hud. I mean
No more than ask you to be just, nor let
My presence here enforce your chivalry
To do your country wrong. Think of your people,
Not the approval of a gazing land
Whose distant nod is given in ignorance
Of your stern cause.
Her. Here's not my father! So
The clock runs backward, and time ends.
Meg. [To Cordiaz] Your highness,
My voice is not so loud as others here,
But could I send it far as sound may go,
It should take mercy's part in this debate.
Var. You need no trump, my lord. A limpet's whistle Would tell us where you stand.
Meg. I stand with Cordiaz, His majesty of Goldusan!
Cor. This matter
Is not for open market. Come, my friends,
Let us go in. Please you to walk before.
[_Rubirez, Ziralay, Vardas, and Megario enter the house, upper left. Their majesties linger at entrance. Guildamour retreats on path, upper right. Officers go off, lower left. Hernda and Senora Ziralay wait unnoticed, right_]
Cor. Is 't kindly done, my lord, to pose your station In public against mine?
Hud. My neutral words
You've packed with import all your own. I strive
To bend not right or left, but keep my way
As even as Justice.
Her. [To Senora] Justice! There's a stone That was my father.
Cor. Yet, my lord, this prince
Is of your house.
Hud. Is it for Cordiaz
To teach me mercy?
Cor. By my soul!
Hud. I know
Whence starts this softness. Mercy has no fane
Where you leave offering.
Cor. I know you too!
By holy Heaven, your head was never bared
In Justice' temple! You now seek my fall,
Because I've turned at last to check the hand
That rifles Goldusan. Is 't not enough
That I've unjewelled all her treasured hills
To alien avarice--that her forests bleed
The priceless sap of all primeval Springs
Into your golden stream? But I must lay
My people under bond,--sell them as slaves
To buy your stolen railways!
Hud. Stolen, sir?
I've paid----
Cor. I know what you have paid! You've sent Your henchmen creeping in the night, to buy At beggar's price our toil-built roads, and where You could not buy, you bribed and thieved, till all Was yours!
Hud. What of my toil, that built the lines Through half your provinces?
Cor. You paid yourself! Took from my governors, half gulls, half thieves Of your own breed, a hundred times the worth Of every graded foot, in lands and mines And water-power that holds the prisoned light Of robbed futurity! Now we must buy Once more those tracks, long over-bought,--pay you A value centuple for every mile,-- Pay you in bonds--bonds in hell's verity-- Whose interest will outrun each reckoned year The summed returns from our fool's purchase! No! That is my word while I am Goldusan!
Hud. You wake too late. I'll tell you so, my lord, Since this imprudent burst thrusts courtesy From court. Your ministers have given assent----
Cor. Have given! You'll over-steal enough To quit their boldest price!
Hud. I'll not defend
Your chosen servants, sir.
Cor. My servants! Oh,
What State is free from scuttling greed that bores
For treasure through the stanchest hold?
Hud. This moral chant comes late from you, my lord,
Who've fingered heavily in many a pie
Spiced in the devil's kitchen.
Cor. But to sell
My people! Pay you this devouring price
For stock that hardy yields the groaning third
Of interest on your bonds! What shall we do
To pay it? Rob our treasury, and ask
Our worn-out slaves to fill it up again?
Not ask, but goad and lash,--for you must have
Your own--you honest mortgagees of babes
Unborn----
Hud. Is all the scarlet on our hands?
What of that mountain province, sold entire
To foreign pockets, and the dwellers there
Torn up like shrieking roots and cast abroad
To fasten where they could?
Cor. And where was that But in your hell-mouthed mines? You wanted slaves And got them.
Her. I shall die, Senora!
Sen. Listen!
Hud. The tyrant Cordiaz grown pitiful?
Then stones are butter, alabaster is
Uncrumpled down. You should have wept before
The Pueblo strike, then fewer corpses had
Gone out to sea.
Cor. Don't name that thing to me! Don't speak of it! I will not bear that curse!
Hud. Mine aged convert, lies it in your will, Or juster Heaven's?
Cor. 'Twas your property My troops defended--and Rubirez lied. Swore that the men foamed mad as tusked beasts, And must be trashed to place,--men who had asked No more than bread when you shut up your doors----
Hud. Not I, my friend.
Cor. Your tool then. One of all Your million hooked hands fast in the heart Of my poor country, shut your doors, thereby To starve the wretches till they crawled to you And begged their chains again. But they--their veins Were not all tapped--they'd blood left, and arose From their dumb prayers to fight for life--and then....
Hud. You sent the troops.
Cor. Because Rubirez lied!
Hud. Because you knew there'd be no after-sale For your high favors, once let titles drift Unguaranteed. And when your work was done-- Your work, my tear-washed saint, why weary patience Could not take further time to count the dead, Or dig so many graves. They were piled up And carted to the sea----
Cor. Oh, every tide
Brings back their faces--staring, staring up!
Will God not answer them? I dare not shut
My eyes....
Hud. And this is why you weep so late?
Come, Cordiaz, you're broken. Leave a throne
Your own fears shake. You know that I must win.
Own you are mastered----
Cor. Mastered! While I've breath I am a king. If I win peace of God, And his white angel let my dark soul out, 'Twill be for this--the last throe of my strength Was spent against you!
Hud. Madly you've uncased
Your madness, and I know my weapons.
Cor. So!
I too, my lord, know how to sleep and wake
With hand on steel.
Hud. Then is there more to say?
Cor. All's said. We're waited for. Assaria, Will 't please you enter?
Hud. I thank you, Goldusan. [They go in]
Her. Don't comfort me, Senora. Not a breath. I'll not disfigure shame with comfort's patch, But droop as low as leprous dust, and take Some pride in that. 'Tis dark here, dark. Pray God I am asleep!
Sen. Dear princess!
Her. Men do well
To keep the women blind. If once they knew,
They'd breed no more, but let a bairnless world
Escheat to God. Yet you, Senora, knew,
And you have children. By your motherhood
You've bound you Life's accomplice,--given it heart
And veins and an accepting soul!
Sen. I have!
Deny our hearts these babes, and we deny
The future that we fight for. Ah, defeat
May be endured by those who hold in lap
The victors of to-morrow!
Her. Oh, my father!
Sen. This truth was edged and swift. You should have had Love's lips to teach you----
Her. I've been taught, my friend, But would not learn. [Rising] Senora, it was I Betrayed your brother!
Sen. Yes.... I know.
Her. To death! You do not understand. I killed him!
Sen. No.
There, love,--forget a little. I've a hope
He is not dead.
Her. Not dead? What gives you hope?