Chapter II: Act II: Scene 1

[_In the bedroom of the DUCHESS--exquisite, fantastic, with walls
panelled in odd peacock blue. Upon these walls are crystal
appliques of a bizarre design, looking like strange ear-rings and
holding within them amber lights. In the centre of the room falls
a crystal candelabra with five small slender scarlet candles. On
stage right a slender bed made entirely of the body of a swan--a
canopy over it of pale rose net is attached with three blue
feathers to the ceiling. This canopy drops over the head and foot
of the bed. On stage left is a dressing mirror and table draped
in fresh white muslin and rare lace. Below this table is a
door--another door is directly opposite and behind the bed which
faces the audience. In direct centre is a tall oblong window
draped with a daffodil yellow taffeta faintly striped in mauve. A
little in front, beneath this window, is a directoire sofa
covered with pillows of exquisite brocade. The chairs and other
appointments of furniture are cream-colored, bespattered with
flowers and reminiscent of Venice. On the right, just off centre
a marble faun with grotesque features on a black onyx pedestal.
The DUCHESS has set around its throat many of her priceless
necklaces._

_A maid is seen preparing for the DUCHESS when the curtain
rises._

_Enter the DUCHESS after a few seconds' interval._]

DUCHESS

How is it possible that he is not returned? How long has he been gone? Did you notice what o'clock it was when I sent him? Answer me, answer me something. Don't stand about bemused as if you had never heard of a clock, or Piccolo, or a letter since you were born.

MAID

He cannot have had your note beyond a few minutes, Madame, but I think----

[_She bends in an attitude of listening. The DUCHESS is before her
in opening the door on right._]

[_PICCOLO, the same equerry seen before, enters bowing low._]

PICCOLO

Your Grace.

DUCHESS [_with unconcealed impatience_]

Did you find the clown?

PICCOLO

Yes, your Grace.

[_He is obviously disturbed._]

DUCHESS

Could he read my letter? Did he appear to be reading it? [_She walks swiftly up and down_] Maybe he cannot read.

PICCOLO

He did not receive the letter from me, your Grace.

DUCHESS

How do you mean?

PICCOLO

I think it was he who was standing with Messire Phedro, who took it from me to give it to him.

DUCHESS

You tasselled ass, why did you let him have it?

PICCOLO [_trying to save himself_]

Nay, your Grace, he gave it at once to the clown, for I know it was the clown standing with him by the spidery confusion of his limbs. Messire Phedro said I was to tell your Grace that you were understood and would be obeyed.

DUCHESS [_half to herself_]

Well, maybe there is some reason. [_she turns to the equerry_] Go about your business. Don't stand around as if you were expecting the lash or you will feel it.

[_The equerry rapidly retires. The DUCHESS turns to her maid._]

DUCHESS

Ugh! Rid me of all this glittering discomfort.

[_The maid helps her out of the stiff wonderful dress and into a
lovely azure garment sprayed with silver flowers._]

DUCHESS

[_Fixing the maid with a peremptory eye._]

I will only consent to be disturbed by one person tonight. He will come alone or with Messire Phedro. He will be stooped, a little below the medium height, and will probably be in black. If the Prince command me I am already at rest. If the Queen command me I am ill. Do you understand that I will be at home to no one save this one visitor?

MAID

Your Grace is obeyed.

[_The DUCHESS walks over to the window and throws it wide open.
Moonlight falls strongly in the garden just outside and water
splashes noisily from the plump hands of a dancing Cupid, poised
airily upon a minute Doric column. The DUCHESS turns, frowning
impatiently as she watches the maid's motions about the room._]

DUCHESS

Go, go. How can you take so long to straighten a pair of slippers.

[_The maid retires precipitately. The DUCHESS turns once more
towards the window, glancing across the court._]

There are shadows in Charles's room, wrangling shadows.

[_She puts her finger to her lip, biting it in a meditative
manner._]

Ah, somebody is trying to break away. What a bore it would be----

[_There is a sound of a key clicking in the latch; the door on
stage left opens. PHEDRO comes swiftly into the room. He checks
an exclamation of the DUCHESS, speaking hurriedly._]

PHEDRO

I know, I guessed. Listen, Gwymplane has not had your letter. This was the only possible way. I have told him his blind girl is in the palace, in order to draw him hither. Play to that, first.

[_The DUCHESS hastily slips on a mask._]

GWYMPLANE [_entering_]

Where are we now?

DUCHESS [_coming forward graciously_]

I believe you seek--

GWYMPLANE [_hastily_]

The blind girl in my troupe. It appears she is in the palace.

DUCHESS

[_Trying to conceal her joy at his arrival._]

The palace is so amazingly large. Have you an idea in what part of the palace to look?

GWYMPLANE [_bitterly_]

Some slight idea.

DUCHESS

Then you cannot do better than to send Phedro to the exact spot.

GWYMPLANE

Very well. We both will----

[_He makes a motion of departure._]

DUCHESS

No, no. [_detaining him with her white arm_] Let him go and discover where she is and if he cannot bring her here, then he shall return and take you to her.

GWYMPLANE

But that will lose time, I must----

DUCHESS

Mistakes are so much more disastrous than delay. One can pass unnoticed where two will be remarked. Trust to my better knowledge of the court.

GWYMPLANE [_reluctantly_]

Very well, Madame. Only speed, Sir, speed, and return to me.

PHEDRO

I will, dear mummer.

[_He exits._]

DUCHESS

[_Turning to GWYMPLANE with gracious triteness._]

Ah, what an unexpected delight that I might tell you what pleasure your performance gave.

GWYMPLANE [_standing stiffly attentive_]

Then my work is lavishly rewarded, Madame.

DUCHESS

[_In the tone of one who confers by asking a favor._]

Do unmask. It is so very warm in these rooms.

GWYMPLANE

I consider but your comfort, Madame, in wearing my mask.

DUCHESS [_smiling subtly_]

Nay, you would be surprised at what considers my comfort and what does not. Your mask, for instance, does not.

[_She sinks upon her chaise longue, intensely graceful and
beautiful. GWYMPLANE lets his eyes rest upon her for a moment._]

Your mask, do remove it. I have always heard artists were most gallant to women. See, I remove mine.

GWYMPLANE

[_Stifled with surprise and emotion._]

Madame ... Madame....

DUCHESS

Come! I command you to obey me. Pray take off your mask! You can have no idea how I hate mentioning a desire twice.

[_GWYMPLANE removes his mask. The DUCHESS looks at him intently
and sighs._]

DUCHESS

It must be wonderful to be you.

[_She motions him to a black cushion with golden tassels at the
foot of her couch._]

GWYMPLANE

[_Who has by this time mastered himself._]

To be me, Madame? [_bitterly_] But of course your life is a revel of laughter; so why should not your thoughts be forever jesting through your words?

DUCHESS

I am not jesting.

GWYMPLANE [_surprised_]

Madame?

DUCHESS

It must be wonderful to be you and wind through forests and across hills into new cities with your drummers beating attention for you, through lines of unknown faces, faces over whom you have a rare--a great power. For you can moisten them with tears--choke away their breath with laughter. And afterwards, when you have finished your performance and are walking on the outskirts of some alien city, tell me, do not certain ones steal out to you and tell you of the blasphemous fancies you have stirred awake in their souls?

GWYMPLANE

What are you saying, Madame, what are you not saying!

DUCHESS

[_Leaning forward and taking one of his beautiful hands._]

O, Gwymplane, I am lonely. You can have no idea how lonely. Everything around me is so false to my desires, is so alien to what I feel myself to be.

GWYMPLANE

You are so beautiful, Madame. Your loneliness only makes you more so. It lends the quality of a goddess to what is already earthly majesty.

[_He is about to press his strange lips to her hands, when
suddenly he remembers and resists._]

DUCHESS

Ah, you were going to kiss my hand. Why didn't you kiss it? [_She stretches it out close to his mouth._] See--here--here it is, most soft and white.

[_GWYMPLANE draws away, passing his hand across his brow. The
DUCHESS leans toward him, almost over him._]

I am very lonely, Gwymplane. Give me a few moments of forgetfulness. O, tell me about your life--tell me about what has happened to you.

[_She lays her hand upon his shoulder. GWYMPLANE takes it, kisses
it, and looks up at her with flaming eyes and chalk-pale face._]

Ah, that is nice! The touch of your lips chills, burns me with forgetfulness. The touch of your lips is like a tide hushing, sucking my wakefulness down into depths of terrible oblivion. O, listen, you are grotesque--your limbs are like the coils of nightmare. I love you because you are so grotesque--because upon your face is stamped the contorted beauty of your mind--your mind that is surely as amazing as your face. O, Gwymplane, tell me of what you have thought, tell me of what you are thinking.

GWYMPLANE

[_Who is led into rapture by her words, kneels and suddenly
kisses her feet._]

I am kissing your little white feet. It is like brushing my face amongst sprays of silken flowers.

DUCHESS

Ah, do not talk beautifully to me, Gwymplane.

GWYMPLANE

But you are beauty! What other language would you understand?

DUCHESS

Do not talk to me beautifully, Gwymplane. Talk to me with the savage pulsating words of your clown language. Talk to me as if you held a whip in your hand. [_She catches at his hand_] What marvellous hands you have! Deceitful hands--for they look unlike the things they do--the things they must do.

GWYMPLANE

[_Sitting upon her couch and bending over her lips._]

I think you are something I have stolen out of a temple--a wonderful winged crowned figure that I have stolen out of a temple and profaned. I feel as if we were in a black barge upon a scarlet sea, as if in a moment it would dip over the horizon line and we should be lost forever together. O, I feel as if all the light in the world were flowing from behind the chalice of your pale face. I love you, I love you.

DUCHESS

[_Drawing away from his straining arms and lips._]

You love me, you love me! But you do not talk to me as if you were a clown. You do not speak to me with those curiously pungent words that are flung between men and women in the thickets near the booths. [_almost pettishly_] You do not talk at all like a clown, Gwymplane.

GWYMPLANE

[_His eyes slowly travelling over her body._]

I do not understand--I cannot understand why you permit my hands to touch you. Does not the flame from my hands burn you as they tremble and hover nearer, nearer to your scorching loveliness? But I think you are ivory, ivory dyed in hues of dawn and sunset.

DUCHESS

Ah, I wish you would not speak to me beautifully. I tell you beauty is not so dear to me as ugliness. O, Gwymplane [_with a rather coarse gesture nudging his arm_], O, Gwymplane, tell me of love as I want to hear of it, and I will love you better than all the rest!

GWYMPLANE

The rest? [_he presses his hand to his temple_] There are no rest. There was one--O God! I am lost! Nothing matters now [_in a shrill voice_]. I--I have found out what I can be!

DUCHESS

[_Stretching herself and smiling upon him._]

How happy I am with you, my distorted lover! Only I wish you had not taken the white paint from your face. I wish your lips were fantastically scarlet as when you danced. I wish you were in your clown's dress and that the circus dwarfs could be here, playing their evil music while we talked. Kiss me.

GWYMPLANE

[_Drawing away and gazing at her in rapture._]

But my heart is here, underneath your slender foot. O, my heart has no will of its own but is only a reckless fever leaping, shivering after crumbs of your favour.

[_He is about to kiss her, when suddenly the DUCHESS turns
aside--an odd numbness creeping over her features._]

DUCHESS

Something is wrong--terribly wrong. You do not speak to me like a clown. You are not like a clown. Who are you--what are you really?

GWYMPLANE

My love [_he turns to kiss her shoulder_], I am your lover. What does any other reality matter tonight?

[_There is a knock at the door on stage left. GWYMPLANE starts to
his feet, flinging upon the DUCHESS a look of terror._]

DUCHESS [_biting her lip--calls out_]

Who dares to disturb my rest?

VOICE OF PRINCE CHARLES

It is I.

DUCHESS

Well?

CHARLES

Phedro told me he thought he heard you cry out a moment ago?

DUCHESS

Ah, so it is he--[_her face has grown dark and furious_] or does he push in some accident to favour me.

GWYMPLANE [_in a low voice_]

Treachery--if I had not been so mad all evening I could have smelt it on every gust of air.

JOSEPHINE

Hush, don't ruin us.

CHARLES

Did I hear you speak?

JOSEPHINE

No, Charles. I was merely muttering a few imprecations at you for disturbing my rest.

CHARLES

You want for nothing?

JOSEPHINE

For nothing save to be left in peace.

[_The footsteps of the PRINCE are heard receding. Suddenly
through the open French window steps DEA. GWYMPLANE shudders back
with horror. The DUCHESS looks in amazement and anger at the
lovely apparition. GWYMPLANE with a gesture of supplication
implores her to be silent. The DUCHESS returns his look
contemptuously._]

DEA [_advancing into the room_]

Where am I? Someone took me out of one room and pushed me in here.

DUCHESS

I am the Duchess of Beaumont. You are in my room.

DEA

O, I am glad, Madame. I have been terribly frightened all evening.

[_GWYMPLANE stands frozenly against the wall._]

DUCHESS

Really? By what?

DEA

I was looking for the Queen. I was being guided to the Queen's apartment when suddenly I found myself in a room with some gentleman.

DUCHESS

Ah, what gentleman, I wonder?

DEA

I do not know. I am blind and he would not answer me. But I felt his hand to see if it was the Court Steward's. It was not the Court Steward's hand, for this man wore a ring with a gigantic stone.

DUCHESS

[_Always unquestionably upon the right scent of anything damaging
to her vanity._]

An oblong stone?

DEA [_pausing_]

Yes, your Grace, I am sure it was an oblong stone.

DUCHESS [_her face becoming very malicious_]

Well, what did he wish of you?

DEA

He said many things to me. He told me how I appeared to him in all things beautiful, and that he wished to steal me away forever from the troop and for himself because he loved me.

DUCHESS [_starts_]

[_GWYMPLANE wrings his hands in impotent fury._]

Strange those bundles we possess, that are of no value to us whatever, should, nevertheless, when they fall into the river, become precious as gold. [_she snaps her fingers_] So much for faithfulness! And you answered this gentleman?

DEA [_looking around abstracted_]

Your Grace, is there anyone else in this room?

DUCHESS

I don't think so.

[_GWYMPLANE starts imperceptibly. The malicious DUCHESS, reading
his thought, shuts the window and locks it. GWYMPLANE looks at
her in terror._]

And what did you reply to your preposterous lover, little gipsy thief?

DEA

Madame!

DUCHESS

Unconscious, charming thief of affection that should tonight, if ever, have been faithful! So [_half to herself_] one can be jealous of a man without caring a rap for him! Well, it is something to have found out that vanity is the ruling passion. I shall take more care of its feelings than ever after this. But--your story, little blind girl.

DEA

O--I stretched my arms out against this gentleman and prayed, and my prayer was heard, for Phedro came and said he thought he had heard you call, and this man went out telling me to remain, when a pair of hands suddenly laid hold upon my wrists and led me out into the air, then pushed me into this room.

DUCHESS

Think how disappointed your lover will be when he returns and finds you gone!

DEA

I do not care what he should think.

DUCHESS

Your affections are already a wreath upon some mortal head, eh?

DEA [_modestly_]

Yes, I love, I am beloved.

DUCHESS [_quizzically regarding her_]

By whom, pray?

DEA

Messire Gwymplane of the circus troop.

DUCHESS [_throwing back her head and laughing_]

No? Beloved by Gwymplane, you say?

[_GWYMPLANE looks at her in a horror of bewilderment, the point
of her conduct beginning to pierce his heart._]

DEA

O yes, beloved by Gwymplane.

DUCHESS

It seems to me, child, that upon this somewhat fantastic night we have perhaps changed partners.

DEA

Madame?

[_GWYMPLANE stands rigidly silent. The DUCHESS plucks a flower
from a vase, throwing the petals over DEA'S head in a gesture
half gay, half brutal._]

DUCHESS

At last the whimsy of my soul is outmatched by the turn of events.

DEA

I hang upon your words, Madame, yet I do not understand them.

DUCHESS

Still you and I have proven to each other, with and without intent, the existence of a quality common to the world at large--faithlessness, look you.

[_With an almost violent gesture she drags DEA over to GWYMPLANE
and places her hand upon the familiar form._]

DEA

[_Feeling with gradually hurrying, hysterical fingers._]

Gwymplane, my love!

GWYMPLANE

Ah, Dea, yes.

DEA

How wonderful to find you in this terrible nightmare--like a fire flaming up before snow-lost feet.

GWYMPLANE

My Dea.

[_She puts her hand upon his shoulder, the DUCHESS regarding them
through her lorgnette._]

DUCHESS

What an idyl! How it refreshes me to watch. However, come, clown, take the girl and begone. Here is a crown for your love--it did not please me, you know, so you are getting far more than your deserts.

DEA [_halting_]

Your love, Gwymplane? She said your love?

GWYMPLANE

Anyone can misuse a word, but my voice is lost in a stammer of shame.

DEA

I do not understand, but for what is love save to pass understanding? [_She puts her arm through his_] Come, let us go.

DUCHESS [_with furious malice_]

What a charming way of conducting life, little blind girl! When your lover is tired of pursuing his latest fancy and has been thrown out [_almost stamping her foot_] he will return and grow warm in the rays of your faith.

DEA

Gwymplane will not fancy anyone save me. Ursus says so, and besides I know it--I could not live if I did not know it.

DUCHESS [_laughing_]

[_GWYMPLANE steps menacingly towards her._]

Clown, clown, you shall not murder me because I do not champion your deceits. [_to DEA_] Your lover does not care that I should repeat the poetry of his conversation to me this evening, but it was such rare poetry--more rare than I wanted in fact. [_mimicking derisively_] "I feel as if we were in a black barge upon a scarlet sea, as if in a moment our boat would dip over the horizon line, and we two should be lost forever," or--here is another pretty line--"I feel as if all the rays of light in the world were flowing from behind the chalice of your pale face."

DEA [_putting her hand to her heart_]

Oh, Gwymplane--the last thing she said--was so like--so like----

DUCHESS

Maybe it is a stanza that he says to all of us. Poets are peculiar creatures--they have their lines by heart and insist upon repeating them, even at the wrong moment.

DEA [_staggers_]

Gwymplane, my love--for you are my love--I am terribly hurt somewhere--Let us go.

GWYMPLANE

[_Supporting DEA and turning to the DUCHESS._]

You did not have your pleasure, I know, and----

DUCHESS [_pointing imperiously_]

Go, clown. I can add the situation up myself. No, I think I want another word with you.

[_GWYMPLANE, unheeding, tries to pass her with DEA upon his
arm._]

Fool, obey me, or embrace a peril that will choke you and your little friend of disobedience. Come, she shall await you in my private conservatory.

[_She makes a gesture as if to separate them._]

GWYMPLANE

I shall go with her.

DUCHESS

Nay, suspect no more mousetraps. Lead her there yourself; see that she is comfortable among the candles and flowers, then return to me for your own interest and for hers.

[_GWYMPLANE leads DEA out door on left and returns._]

You have had a strange evening for a mountebank--an evening filled with such events as to strain almost any amount of discretion.

GWYMPLANE

I shall not talk.

DUCHESS

Not of ourselves, of course. No man, not even a clown, but draws a veil across his rejected flesh.

GWYMPLANE

Well then?

DUCHESS

But in that spiritual condition which follows being repudiated your muscles will probably be seeking, straining, to express your mind and the direction will probably be to avenge your blind girl.

GWYMPLANE

All that in my own way, Madame.

DUCHESS

And your way will be? Come.

GWYMPLANE

Ah, Madame, I am weary of your commands. Over my actions you have a certain power, but, as my mind and what shall come out of it is still mysterious to me, I am afraid you must share the discomfort of my own ignorance.

DUCHESS [_in a more kindly tone_]

Listen to me, clown. You were brought to me tonight to relieve me of a whim, I admit that. And you brought me no relief.

GWYMPLANE [_with sophistication_]

The question interests me dispassionately, Madame. But, considering you waived my personal defects [_he winces_], just why did I not--please you?

DUCHESS

But I told you before--I wanted a clown, and you talk like the very essence of all these lords and poets. But that is aside--I am to be married tomorrow.

GWYMPLANE

I know,--to him--and you wish him spared the public lash of scandal, I suppose.

DUCHESS

He need not be spared it entirely--I do not ask that. You can make plea to the Queen, if you wish, the day after the ceremony--only not tomorrow. Much rests on that for me.

GWYMPLANE

Madame, with the insolence of your class, you are asking favours of one whose degradation you have sought and shared.

DUCHESS

Perhaps, but you must remember that I am the sister of the Queen and can impose obedience to the most insolent favours I choose to demand.

[_A loud knock from the door leading into the conservatory.
GWYMPLANE starts towards the door. The DUCHESS holds him back._]

Truly an eventful hour. [_she raises her voice_]

Ah, what now?

VOICE OF THE QUEEN

I heard you were so indisposed you could not come to me even upon the most urgent matter.

[_The DUCHESS signifies with a gesture of fury that she is aware
of being fatally played against. In the meantime the QUEEN is
putting her own key into the lock. JOSEPHINE turns with
supplication to GWYMPLANE, at length too afflicted by the
situation to guard her poise._]

DUCHESS

You would not talk like a clown. Be----I know you--a gentleman. Save me! Save us!

[_She points to a door._]

In there--a blind closet. Do not attempt to escape or we shall hear you.

GWYMPLANE

[_Bowing low and casting an ironic eye upon the panic of the
DUCHESS._]

There is at least a peculiar variety in your demands, Madame----

[_The door barely closes upon him as the QUEEN enters continuing
her speech._]

QUEEN

Consequently, if you are too ill to attend the Queen, it is but human for the Queen to await anxiously upon you. But, my dear--

[_The DUCHESS is biting her lip with ill-concealed rage._]

You do not look ill--you look angry. Have there been disturbing things?

[_She plucks the curtain aside, and lets it drop, but continues
looking about her with assumed carelessness._]

DUCHESS

Nothing more disturbing than being continually interrupted--I do not speak of your Majesty's visit--when I wished to remain undisturbed.

QUEEN

How annoying to have one's solitary reveries continually scattered by people hammering at the door. What did they all want? Who were they?

DUCHESS

There was Charles.

QUEEN

And after that?

DUCHESS

O, various people asking ridiculous questions.

[_She plucks a large bit of heliotrope from the bowl and bites it
rather vengefully._]

But, my sister, do confide in me the august matter that can necessitate your being abroad at such an unearthly hour.

QUEEN

There is no one that can overhear us? You have dismissed your servants?

DUCHESS

O, hours ago. [_rather insolently_] You may feel quite at your ease with me.

QUEEN

You will forgive my poking about, Josephine? But you are so vague--all artistic and beautiful natures are vague--you might easily have forgotten that Piccolo is hanging about somewhere waiting to carry a last goodnight word to your impatient bridegroom. Why, there is a strange girl sitting at this very moment in your conservatory. Her face was somehow familiar.

DUCHESS [_commencing to be rather distracted_]

Ah, yes, a late hamper of my wedding clothes. The girl awaits for me to repay her pains for coming. But, indeed, your Majesty, I would be flattered if you would accept my word that we are alone here.

QUEEN

Dear child, naturally, I accept your conviction that there is no one about, but I do not trust your memory. I admire too much the artist in you for that. Ah! Do I hear someone scratching apologetically upon the window? [_smiling_] Really, no wonder your sense of privacy is outraged tonight.

DUCHESS

Who now?

PRINCE [_in a slightly frantic voice_]

I, Josephine. Did anyone pass in by this window a few minutes ago?

DUCHESS

[_Looking at the QUEEN, whose ironic countenance struggles with
real emotion._]

Who should? You perceive the curtains are drawn.

PRINCE

A girl--one of the troupe of mountebanks--a blind girl. Phedro brought her in with a most important letter for the Queen. He left her a moment, returned, and she was gone. He hesitated to disturb you at this late hour; so I told him I would come myself and ask.

QUEEN [_suddenly speaking in a tone of relief_]

Ah, with a note for me. Is it only that? For Heaven's sake, don't go on talking through a closed window, Charles. It gives such an air of tension to everything. Josephine, open the window to Charles.

[_Josephine obeys._]

PRINCE

[_Stepping into the room so befogged with his own agitation as
to have no room left for astonishment at the presence of the
QUEEN._]

Josephine, your Majesty, are you quite sure----

DUCHESS

My dear Charles, do you think I am in the habit of not noticing the intrusion of perfectly strange women into my apartment at night?

PRINCE

Then you saw no one?

[_DUCHESS smiles enigmatically._]

QUEEN [_addressing the PRINCE_]

Why are you so anxious that this message from the blind girl is delayed? Or are you just naturally upset about everything tonight, being so near the altar?

DUCHESS

Ah, yes, so near the altar. Tell me how have you spent these last free hours, Charles?

QUEEN

I hope you have spent them romantically, fingering a lute or something.

DUCHESS

Fingering something--was it a lute, Charles?

[_CHARLES glances at the DUCHESS in alarm. The QUEEN intercepts
the look and grows a little uneasy herself._]

QUEEN

You seem to be throwing dirt at one another out of a bonbonniere. I have a feeling I should extremely dislike to hear you actually explain yourselves. I wonder where Phedro is. He has hinted to me of extraordinary news for tonight. [_she opens the window and looks out_] And now it is almost dawn.

[_She calls PHEDRO, and opens the door through which she has
entered the room, calling PHEDRO._]

VOICE OF PHEDRO

Majesty, I come.

[_He enters. The DUCHESS gives him a fearful look, which he
returns with a grim smile._]

QUEEN

You promised significant news for me after midnight and in the apartment of the Duchess. I have come. It is long beyond midnight. What have you to say?

PHEDRO

We are strictly in private, your Majesty?

QUEEN

Assure yourself. I had some feeling about it myself a few minutes ago.

[_PHEDRO steps at once to the door where the mountebank is
concealed, but the DUCHESS with a haughty look actually
forestalls him, opening the door herself. GWYMPLANE steps into
the room. The QUEEN pretends to be speechless. The PRINCE is._]

[_stiffly_] Your Grace, the Duchess of Beaumont will please explain.

DUCHESS

Oh, this mountebank was merely seeking the blind girl from his troupe, who had been admitted, or possibly abducted, into the palace.

QUEEN

Abducted, really? By whom? For whom?

DUCHESS [_with a glance at CHARLES_]

We do not know, but we guess possibly.

[_At the word "abducted" GWYMPLANE steps menacingly up to the
PRINCE. The QUEEN catches the look of hauteur and hatred that is
exchanged between them. She hastily discovers some growing
discomfort from which she slides away in her usual fashion by
pursuing another channel of thought._]

QUEEN

Nevertheless, why does he seek his partner in your Grace's closet?

PRINCE

Josephine, good God--what are you?

DUCHESS

What you are or would be, Charles--a star of the nobility, shedding its single glory for the last time.

QUEEN

Come, come, cease your language. Why was this mountebank in your Grace's closet?

DUCHESS

He flew to the nearest door in the opposite direction from whence came your Majesty's voice. I suppose he lost his head in his embarrassment. That is a quality of the lower classes.

QUEEN

Your answers are tedious evasions. They explain nothing save what you wish to conceal--your dishonour. [_she turns to GWYMPLANE_] Mountebank, I think you have ruined and frustrated the life of a most important personage in our court.

PHEDRO

Hold, hold. A bat has not torn a lily as you suppose, your Majesty.

QUEEN

No? Then what _has_ happened, Phedro? And do drop your metaphor. We are not wise enough so late to do it justice.

PHEDRO

Two stars have blundered together, that is all. Her Grace the Duchess of Beaumont and His Highness Prince Ian of Vaucluse.

PRINCE

My brother? Here? But my brother is dead! Where can you have imagined to have seen my brother?

PHEDRO

[_Approaches GWYMPLANE making him a low bow._]

Prince Ian of Vaucluse.

[_GWYMPLANE, as if he saw madness, loses the nervous control of
his features by which he can efface his terrible grin, and his
face grows convulsed with it._]

QUEEN [_regarding him and laughing shrilly_]

Here is some monstrous joke devised by Phedro. Why, Josephine, if this were true, then he--the clown--would be your fiance, nor have a right to reject you, since sharing in your rather disreputable offence. Ah, what folly! [_she places her hand upon her heart, gazing at PRINCE CHARLES_] But how I would like to credit the wildest phantasy tonight.

[_The DUCHESS is looking on disdainfully as if witnessing rather
a boring farce._]

PHEDRO [_looking intensely at the QUEEN_]

When the thing that we have longed for comes true, it may sound like madness. I have every credential to prove my extraordinary announcement.

QUEEN

[_Looking whimsically from one to another._]

Ah, let us suppose for a moment, Josephine, that this were true. Surely you would be happy in a marriage so fortified by natural selection, and, as for Charles--the loss of certain things might be replaced by others.

[_She gazes at him tenderly._]

DUCHESS

[_In a sudden outburst of confusion and ennui._]

We are all gone mad. I feel as if we were in a web. I marry with a clown--the clown a lord--the lord a deformity. [_She shudders_]

GWYMPLANE

O, I cannot stand this hellish whirl another instant. It is biting my ankles off and blinding my eyes in a red sting of madness.

[_He attempts to throw open the door. PHEDRO swiftly forestalls
him with widespread arms and a grim expression; GWYMPLANE turns
away bowed from his ferocity of pain and bewilderment, while
PHEDRO, with an incredible, greased swiftness, lets himself out
the door, and returns almost upon the instant with DEA terrified,
supported on his arm._]

PHEDRO [_turning suavely to DEA_]

My dear young lady, calm yourself. Where is the letter?

[_DEA takes it from her breast. GWYMPLANE looks at the letter in
agonized amazement._]

DEA

You said I was to give it to the Queen.

PHEDRO

You are in the presence of her Majesty.

[_DEA makes a low curtsey, and holds out the letter. The QUEEN
takes it from her with a strange, stiff gesture._]

Your Majesty, this is the missive sealing officially my tale.

QUEEN

[_Reads the letter, her face played upon by expressions varying
from incredulity to ironic joy. Turning to PHEDRO._]

There is no doubt about this?

PHEDRO [_turning a page_]

You note your Chancellor's signature.

QUEEN

[_Finishes the letter and stands looking intently ahead of her.
She suddenly speaks in a rather strange voice._]

I hate to be trite, but my inner laughter is far too loud to be tamed into wit; so I think I must use the stock phrase, and observe that truth is never so tedious as fiction. [_she passes her hand over her brow_] Come, clown, you may go, or rather my lord, you have my earnest leave to exchange our presence for the open air, while we sit in judgment over these discoveries. You may take the young lady with you, who apparently cannot see [_with a bitter look at CHARLES_] the interest she evokes.

[_GWYMPLANE drags DEA out half fainting, but turns in the door,
facing them all._]

GWYMPLANE

Take care. It is dangerous to be marionettes too long--even now your limbs may be turning into sawdust.

[_They exit without paying the QUEEN respect._]

QUEEN

[_Turning to PRINCE CHARLES and then to the DUCHESS._]

How very uncomfortable he will make the House of Lords. Artists are terrible people, especially when they get out of their _metier_, and even if they were born gentlemen. [_she takes a hand of the DUCHESS and of CHARLES_] I request you both to be in my cabinet tomorrow morning as early as you can manage to rouse yourselves after this rather full evening, and we shall see what it is fair to do in love [_she glances softly and rather whimsically at the PRINCE_] and war. [_looking fixedly at JOSEPHINE_]

[_She throws both their hands away from her as if they had stung
her. An equerry opens the door, and she exits abruptly._]
_PRINCE and the DUCHESS [bowing low to her departing back and
murmuring_]:

Your Majesty is obeyed.

_CURTAIN_

SCENE 2

[_It is night upon the deck of a small schooner, whose sails are
outlined against leaden streaks, commencing to herald the dawn._

_DEA lies extended upon a low couch, beside the chair of URSUS.
In the dim light her form possesses the eternal majesty of
sculpture. From afar the voices of sailors chanting some sad
litany of the sea. URSUS leans back in his chair, looking up into
the face of departing night. GWYMPLANE paces in and out,
anguished with unrest._]

URSUS [_to GWYMPLANE, who hardly heeds him_]

Nothing follows us. It never occurred to them that a man should want to escape good fortune. They never think to bolt the door when they have gilded the walls. O, how profitably one can surprise these people who think the entire world reflects their contemplation of self.

GWYMPLANE

[_Who has not heard the preceding speech at all, comes in,
halting abruptly._]

Life, life. It has suddenly burst its leash--torn in among us like a mad dog and wounded us, mortally, I think, [_glances at DEA_] O, the pain, the tragedy that can come out of nonsense. Will Dea live, can Dea live?

URSUS [_sighing heavily_]

Perhaps, perhaps. How quiet and smiling she looks. There is some great pathos about her peacefulness as if Heaven were restoring to her something cruelly lost in this world.

GWYMPLANE

[_Walking over to her couch and wringing his hands._]

My love, my little love.

[_URSUS rising and soothing his agonized posture with a gentle
hand, which GWYMPLANE shakes off._]

GWYMPLANE

Oh, there seems no corner in myself into which I can creep, pull down the blinds, and shut out those horrible, jeering, grotesque, indecent processionals that I joined and made last night.

URSUS

My poor son! You threw your body to the jackals for an hour. You forgot there was a soul in your body to get mangled along with the rest.

GWYMPLANE

Oh, my soul was not in all that.

URSUS

Most people perish from thinking like you. [_earnestly_] Somewhere in you is a blinding, transfigured face, struggling up out of the sprawled, coiling limbs of infinite pasts, yet put it in certain conditions and it retains its fearful stamp of former bestiality. But during death, death the last condition we follow, what a likeness unto God appears upon the features of the worst of us.

GWYMPLANE [_who is too tortured to hear_]

Oh, how can I ever again catch at her lovely virginal hands? [_he lifts one very gently_] Her hands have the sudden beauty and strange fragrance of flowers that bloom among shadows. How can I ever press my lips against them again without bruising their dear shy softness by this weight of unworthiness I carry within me?

URSUS

Only through hope.

GWYMPLANE

Hope is for people who have not such keen noses as I. I can smell the decay in myself far too well to go near the person I love with it. Only to sleep, to sleep, and not have to make my way any more, through these biting, malicious, stifling memories. How can a man's soul exist after he knows what sodden morasses the body can clamp him into!

URSUS

Stumbling may teach a man to hold his lantern nearer the ground.

GWYMPLANE

My arms are broken. They cannot hold anything except despair.

DEA [_stirring faintly_]

[_URSUS is immediately at her side and bends over her. GWYMPLANE
stands looking down over the back of her couch._]

How fast we are going! What are we on that is moving so swiftly?

URSUS

We are sailing away, Dea, you, Gwymplane, and I, toward happiness and safety.

DEA

I have always been happy, until----

[_She puts her hand on her heart. GWYMPLANE winces._]

URSUS [_speaking gently_]

Let me put my hand across your forehead and smooth you back into dreams as I used to when you were a child. That will be best.

DEA

I wonder, have I not passed what is best. You say that I am on a boat, but it seems to me I am going somewhere by myself, swiftly, eagerly, and that I am carrying my love for Gwymplane like a sheaf of lilies under my arm.

[_GWYMPLANE bends over, whispering her name out of the bursting
anguish of his heart._]

Gwymplane, I feel your breath across my cheek. I feel your tears upon my face. Oh, why are you crying?

GWYMPLANE

My love, my dear love, there is too much beauty about you. You are an answer to the last wish of a man's heart that blows him over the gates of Paradise. Anyone would weep if the face of God were to shine out suddenly through their prayers.

DEA

Oh, I understand all that. I have felt that so often about you.

[_She puts her hand tenderly on his. Suddenly she raises herself
on her elbow._]

Gwymplane! Ursus! I think--I think I am about to see! There are bright stretches of colour beginning behind my eyes.

[_She lifts herself into a sitting position, stretching out her
arms. There is a long pause._]

O, I do see, I see!

[_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 to URSUS_]

I believe she sees.

[_He suddenly cringes away from her, and speaks in a whisper to
URSUS._]

Maybe she will see me at last.

URSUS

She sees the sky of heaven.

[_DEA drops back upon GWYMPLANE'S arm._]

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._]

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_]:

How beautiful! How right!

[_And fluttering in GWYMPLANE'S arms 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._]

Good-night, Ursus, I am going up into the prow to seek some fresher air.

[_URSUS sits with his head on his arms, which are resting on
DEA'S coverlet. 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._]

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_

SCENE 3

[_An antechamber communicating with the QUEEN'S bedroom._]

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 the atmosphere lately. Naturally the sea is a bit choppy for our painted sort of barks.

[_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._]

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 it _is_ off, Josephine must have made him appear unbecoming and _she_ probably brought 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._]

1ST LADY

The Queen's bell.

[_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. My room 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._]

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._]

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 I wonder 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 some _fleur d'oranger_ and bathe your temples in _eau 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._]

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._]

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._]

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._]

A LADY

The air seems sizzling with lightning. Tell us, has the Queen done her some rudeness again? We were just saying how charming she 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 become _declassee_.

[_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 at his 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 the DUCHESS, 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._]

Very well, you can wait here.

[_The DUCHESS looks at her with incredulous amazement. Suddenly
the voice of the QUEEN is 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 the DUCHESS as they file out. The DUCHESS
stands, staring frigidly ahead of her and looking supremely
beautiful._]

DUCHESS [_clenching her hands slightly_]

Fools! They would look better without their heads.

[_Enter the QUEEN, 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._]

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 my _savoir 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 your _fiance_.

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.

[_The DUCHESS is 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.

[_Enter PRINCE. He bends over the QUEEN'S hand 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 over JOSEPHINE'S hand 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 at PRINCE, 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 at JOSEPHINE over 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 that it 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 for JOSEPHINE crosses the QUEEN'S
countenance, 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._]

Mingling hands, ah, that was why--[_she bites 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.

[_JOSEPHINE is about to exit, when PHEDRO enters 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.

[_CHARLES throws 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 my rooms 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 perfect _pendant_ to 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 the
DUCHESS which 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 is far 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._

_The QUEEN precipitates his departure with a wave of her hand, to
which he instantly submits._]

[_Exit PHEDRO._]

DUCHESS

[_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 the QUEEN, who returns it in
proper measure. There is a silence. PRINCE looks tenderly at the
QUEEN, 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 is so 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----

[_The QUEEN laughs 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 the report 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 that life grows sour upon our palate. [_she smiles over at CHARLES'S bewilderment_] 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, literally means, "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.

[_She comes to him, takes his hand, looks up at him, but he will
not let his face be natural. She smooths his face, apparently
looking for some effect of Nature. Finally his features do relax
into a rather sheepish, furtive smile._]

Ah, now, I see you do not want to talk about it any more, and you do want to get right away. There, go.

[_She pushes him toward the door, and out through it, and he is
heard remonstrating with her down the hallway. In a few seconds
she re-enters with his boutonniere in her hand. She looks rather
strangely about her, and presses his flower to her mouth._]

QUEEN

My child, my love, it had to be good-bye this time.

[_Far in the distance the air of "Clair de Lune" is being played
upon myriad guitars and flutes._]

_CURTAIN_

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

On page 74, the opening bracket in: [GWYMPLANE _with a strange sad
gesture_] was moved: GWYMPLANE [_with a strange sad gesture_]

Stage directions indented in the original book are shown as
blockquotes.

Quaint and inconsistent spelling and punctuation have been retained
from the original book.