Chapter VI: Part 6

_G._ (_walks about restlessly_).
The man’s as strange as his master. How Diana
Can trust her affairs to one so wholly unfit,
So unmethodical! And what discomfort
The fellow lives in. The room in such disorder:
He might be going away for good. Two such 2560
Immense portmanteaux. What’s all that for now?
There is something going on that I do not know of....
Tristram’s discharged ... that’s true. (_sees glove on
floor; and picks it up mechanically to put it on the table._)
A lady’s glove!
Yes, ’tis a lady’s; thrown upon the floor.
What see I? that embroidery ... ’Tis Laura’s;
Laura’s. St. Nicholas hath been here.—
No, no. Yet the only other explanation....
It cannot be ... I see it all.... ’Tis true....
Her tears and strange farewell to me this morning:
Her treatment of St. Nicholas: and Frederick,
Why he mistook the contract ... these portmanteaux.—
By heaven, by heaven, there’s no time to lose:
They’re off. (_going out, passes close to cupboard.
N. makes more noise than ever._)
Ha!—Heigh!
’Tis here, then: not in the chimney. Eh!—who’s here?
(_Opens cupboard._) St. Nicholas!

_N._ O, Sir Gregory, you would not hear.

_G._ Who shut you in the cupboard?

_N._ Tristram.

_G._ Tristram?

_N._ _assents._

_G._ And is this Laura’s glove? Look at it.

_N._ (_nodding_). It is.

_G._ Then tell me: did you bring it here? Could you
By any chance have dropped it here?

_N._ (_disclaiming by gesture_). I? No, sir.
I came to seek for Frederick.

_G._ (_to himself_). What can this mean, 2580
Unless to keep his rival out of the way?—
Listen, St. Nicholas, I have discovered something
Concerns you nearly.—I think—I am sure—
Nay: I’ll not tell you what I suspect....
’Tis but suspicion. But you have been, I fear,
Most shamefully beguiled.

_N._ Ay, that I was.
He said that I should find my settlement
In the cupboard.

_G._ Patience. I will go to Laura
And learn the truth. Meanwhile, seek out the Countess,
And beg her give me an interview at once. 2590
I’ll come to the ante-chamber. By heaven, St. Nicholas....
And yet I scarce know.... There’s no time to lose:
Come quickly. [_Exeunt._

SCENE · 3

_A room in the Palace._

_DIANA and FREDERICK._

_DIANA._

You say you start at once.

_FREDERICK._

The coach is waiting.

_D._ Here is my letter: give it to the Duke.
The answer is not urgent: it may keep you
A day or two at Milan.

_F._ You wish, my lady,
I should return?

_D._ Why not?

I understood
Your ladyship to accept my resignation.
It lies with her convenience but to fix 2600
The day of my dismission.

_D._ Do you wish
To leave my service?

_F._ I could never serve
Where I am distrusted.

_D._ Would you reconsider
Your angry speech, I would make some concession.

_F._ I had cause for anger.

_D._ That I would concede.
But I too was provoked; and in the end
I came off worst.

_F._ Not so, my lady.

_D._ I sought
To learn your secret, and was merely fooled.

_F._ I understand not how your ladyship
Was first provoked,—at least with me.

_D._ Nay, true: 2610
’Twas a mistake. We need no explanation,
And may be friends again.

_F._ I cannot offer
Her ladyship my services.

_D._ You leave me?

_F._ ’Tis better that I should. I thank your ladyship
For many kindnesses. I pray sincerely
You may be better suited.

_D._ No fear for that,
Frederick: for by my soul I think 2617
There is no other man would so have wronged me
As thou hast done.... My only fault hath been 2619
To have thought too well of thee. But do not dream
I am unprepared. I have seen thro’thee, Frederick;
Yes, thro’and thro’. My offers of concession
I made to prove thee, lest thou shouldst pretend
That I was unforgiving. In the letter
I have writ the Duke, thou bearest the commission
Of thy successor. Henceforth I reject thee:
And treat thee as thou deservest. Go, sir, go!
Indeed, I care not whether you go or not.

_F._ I have then your leave to stay away?

_D._ My leave?
I bid thee go, and never see me more. 2630
I have done with thee, sir. Go!

[_Exit F. bowing._

And that’s the man I loved; the man for whom
I sank to jealousy. Who is’t he loves?
He love! The fool was right: he loves himself.
Now will he bide at Milan. Ah, good sir,
Thy lady is not there, and yet thou goest
Most cheerfully,—thou goest. And it was thou
Didst write soft verses: music too,—thy music.
And I thinking I loved thee was betrayed
A thousand times ... and to be scorned—by thee!
Scorned for another. (_Weeps._) 2641

_Enter St. Nicholas hastily._

_ST. NICHOLAS._

My lady, I pray.

_D._ (_going off_). Nay, sir: I cannot see you.

_N._ But listen a moment. Tristram locked me in the cupboard....

_D._ What is this? I cannot see you.

_N._ But Sir Gregory sent me to entreat an interview at once,—he said
at once.

_D._ Then tell Sir Gregory that I will see him in half
an hour; until that time let no one disturb me on any
account,—not even Sir Gregory. [_Exit._ 2650

_N._ I’ll be well satisfied. I’ll be revenged.
To shut me half an hour in a dark cupboard,
With all the flock and flue, ’mong cast-off clothes,
Old boots and shoes: call me an ass, a goose,
And mock my muse ... a fellow ... a common fellow.
A man that is the servant of the servant
Of the adoptive sister of my Laura!
He shall be swinged. Sir Gregory will right me:
Sir Gregory will avenge me. Had heaven but given me
His inches, why, I’d do it myself. I’d flog him, 2660
Till he cried mercy, mercy! mercy, St. Nicholas,
Mercy, I pray! No, no: no mercy, sir.
Down on thy knees! No mercy, sir, from me.
No mercy. (_beating a chair._)

_Enter Sir Gregory._

_GREGORY._

St. Nicholas, where’s the Countess?

_N._ (_shouting_). She says that she will see you in half an hour.

_G._ In half an hour!—Nay, I must see her at once.
You have been betrayed.

_N._ I have. I have been betrayed.
But you shall see me avenged.

_G._ And I must see her at once. (_going in._)

_N._ (_withstanding him_). She bade me say
She could not see you.

_G._ Do not stay me, man; 2670
Your happiness is at stake.

_N._ Nay, she forbade it.
She said in half an hour.

_G._ (_half-aside_). Why does he stay me?
In half an hour he says. What can I do?
By that time he’ll be off. (_Aloud._) St. Nicholas!
His coach is at the door: in half an hour
’Twill be too late: he will have got away.
Go to the stables, mount yourself at once
With three or four of the grooms, and ride together
To the further gate of the park. There wait for Frederick’s carriage:
Stop it. If she is within, I give you warrant 2680
To bring them back: if she be not within,
Follow. She awaits him somewhere on the road.
Wherever it be, take them, and bring them back:
You have a father’s warrant.

_N._ Who is it you speak of, sir?

_G._ Heigh!

_N._ Whose carriage shall I stop?

_G._ Why, Frederick’s.

_N._ And who’s the lady?

_G._ Who is the lady, ask you? Why Laura, my daughter. 2690

_N._ Laura with Frederick!

_G._ I went to her room: she’s flown, and with a maid.
She hath packed up clothes and gone. I am right, I am sure.

_N._ And shall I stop them?

_G._ Lose no more time. Begone! Do as I bid.

_N._ There’s some mistake; Laura with Frederick!
Why, we were to be married!

_G._ Fly! fly! St. Nicholas, else ’twill be too late.

[_Exit N._

The man’s a dolt: he’ll never be in time,
And I that call him fool, why what am I? 2700
With my grey hairs—and such an idiot,
Not to have seen! And if I had only known
That Frederick loved my Laura, and she him....
Why did they never tell me? My dearest Laura, ...
To marry without my knowledge, ... run away
Without my blessing ... it shall not be ... as if
Against my will ... not to ask my consent ...
And count on my approval. O Laura, Laura!
If I had known—and now no doubt
’Tis past all hindrance.... Am I not a fool 2710
To wish to stop them? Perhaps they have not started,
I may be in time. I will tell Frederick all,—
I do not disapprove ... nay, I approve.
’Tis better far ... and yet how can I?—
My word is plighted to St. Nicholas.
’Tis better they should get clear off. Heaven speed them!
Why did I send that idiot after them?
I wish they may escape. O Laura, Laura!
Without my blessing. Yet thou hast my blessing.
God bless thee! I try and hinder thee? O no. 2720
I will go stop St. Nicholas. [_Hurries out._

SCENE · 4

_Frederick’s room as before._

_Enter FREDERICK and RICARDO._

_FREDERICK_ (_hastily_).

Good-bye: I’m off. Speed you as well as I.
Laura is to meet me in the park: an hour
Will put us out of reach.

_RICARDO._

Farewell. God speed you!
All is prepared at Milan; and ere you are married,
I shall be accepted.

_F._ Write me word.

_R._ I will.

_F._ I’ll not believe it till I see your hand.

_R._ Not if Diana write herself?

_F._ To me?
That might persuade me. Good luck to you, Richard!
And thanks for all your favours.

_R._ Favours! eh! 2730
To an old friend! Well. Good-bye!

_F._ Good-bye.

[_Taking up coat, Exit._

_R._ (_leisurely_). He’s gone. Bravo! give him two minutes more
And he will be clean gone: and when he is gone
I shall not fear to tell Diana all.—
He is lost to her; and that I have won her liking
Ends her caprice. Now, ’tis my pleasant duty
To send my letter to Sir Gregory (_takes out letter and
peruses it_).
And open his eyes: he must not be left groping.
(_looking it over._) First who I am; and what I have done, and do
To assist his daughter in her happy match. 2740
When he knows that, he’ll bless me: and he must tell
Diana of Frederick’s marriage; but of me
Keep counsel awhile—better to put that plainer (_goes
to inkstand and writes_).
Yet a slight hint of something to Diana,
If I could manage it, would serve me well.

_Enter Tristram._

(_still writing._) Ah, Tristram: come in, Tristram:
(_aside._) This leaky fool is just the man to do it.—
Lend me your company for half an hour.

_TRISTRAM._

Your company! here’s wonders. I never knew you
ask that before. ’Twas always stand off, Tristram:
and you may go, Tristram: and we don’t want you,
Tristram. What’s come to you now, that you ask my
company?

_R._ Your master’s gone, Tristram; and I shall feel lonely.

_T._ My master is gone: and, as I believe, many
thanks to you. I don’t know why ever you came here;
but since you came all has gone wrong: there’s been
more secrets and less sense: and now my master, or
I should say, my late master, has quarrelled with the
Countess and me; and I am turned loose on the world.

_R._ Do you want a fresh place, Tristram?

_T._ If I did, you are scarcely the man I should look
to; thank you all the same.

_R._ I could give you some good advice.

_T._ I don’t want your advice neither, sir.

R. You love secrets, though: I have one I could tell you.

_T._ I have had enough of secrets. I wish you could
tell me something that isn’t a secret.

_R._ It’s no secret, Tristram, that you love Miss Flora.

_T._ No, damn it: but it was a secret: and the best
of them all. But now my master’s gone, I dare tell you
a secret, sir. I always disliked you extremely from the
first: and I don’t think better of you now.—I have to
put a few things together before the maids come to do
the room; and if you don’t go, I shall leave you to be
dusted out. 2780

_R._ Wait, Tristram: I can teach you better manners.
And I have a service to ask of you. Here’s a purse to
help you and Flora. (_giving._)

_T._ Well, this is a different matter. I am sure,
sir, I am very much obliged to you. But I never
saw the colour of your money before. (_Aside._) More
ducats!

_R._ No: because you served me better by trying to
disoblige me. Now I pay you to oblige me in a trifling
matter. ’Tis to find out Sir Gregory and deliver this
letter to him.

_T._ Certainly, sir. Is there anything else that you
may require, sir?

_R._ Yes. Just light me a taper, and I’ll seal the
letter. You see I don’t trust you altogether, Tristram:
not yet.

_T._ You may, sir. I want no more of Mr. Frederick’s
secrets. Not that they were at all times unprofitable,
though he never himself gave me a penny on their
account. 2800

_R._ (_having sealed_). Here ’tis. Will you please take
it at once?

_T._ (_taking_). I will, sir. (_Aside._) More secrets still:
and more ducats. [_Exit._

_R._ Enough should grow to reach Diana’s ears
From Tristram’s curiosity. Meanwhile
I’ll watch my time. My rival’s safely gone ...
But how to face Diana? I think ’tis best
To take her by surprise: a weaker force 2809
Then overwhelms. I will go change my dress. [_Exit._

SCENE · 5

_The hall up-stairs, or other room in Palace. TRISTRAM and FLORA
meeting._

_TRISTRAM._

Ha, Flora! where’s Sir Gregory? What red eyes:
blubbering!

_FLORA._

I am discharged, Tristram, discharged. The Countess
has discharged me for keeping company with you. And
she has been crying too, to have to part with me.
What ever will come to us?

_T._ What matters? I’ll cheer thee, girl. Look here!
More money. There’s five pieces of gold: and all for
carrying this letter to Sir Gregory. Where is he?

_Fl._ Who gave it you?

_T._ That Mr. Ricardo. It’s a mystery, Flora: but
there’s something in it, I do believe.

_Fl._ Mr. Ricardo?

_T._ Ay. Who should he be that scatters gold, and
seals with a crown, look! and says that he will find us
new places, and all sorts of fine promises? A man
that would flick me away whenever I came near him.

_Fl._ Did he, Tristram? 2830

_T._ Ay, that he would. But I heard him say once
that he came here for his cure. I take it he’s cured now;
and he would make friends all on a sudden, and
begs me kindly carry this to Sir Gregory. ’Tis his
farewell, no doubt. He will go home, and take me
with him.

_Fl._ And me too?

_T._ Not if you blubber. Where’s Sir Gregory?

_Fl._ I don’t know. The Countess has bid me go
seek Lady Laura. 2840

_T._ Come! I’ll with you as far as the library,
where I think I should find the old gentleman.

[_Exeunt._

_Enter Diana._

_DIANA._

Rejected! by the man I loved rejected:
Despised by him, and by myself betrayed!
And all will know it—I could not hide it.

Our nature hath this need: woman must love.
But oh! to have made my idol of a stone,
To my wórship a déaf unanswering stone!
At last I am cured. Since not my rank suffices
To set me above the rules I gave my maids, 2850
I’ll never love. Am I to stand and wait,
Till some man fancy me, and then to melt
And conjure inclination at a nod?
O man, thou art our god: the almighty’s curse
Crowns thee our master: from the green-sick girl
That mopes in worship of the nearest fool,
To the poor jaded wife of thirty years
Who dotes upon her striker, ’tis the same....
That’s not for me. Nay, give it up altogether:
Go free. If man’s so base; if that high passion,
That spirit-ecstasy, that supersensual, 2861
Conscious devotion of divinity
Of which I dreamed, is only to be found
In books of fanciful philosophy,
Or tales of pretty poets ... why then away
With books and men! my life henceforth shall prove
Woman is self-sufficing: in my court
No man shall step, save such as may be needed
To show my spirit holds them in contempt.
Women shall be my friends and women only; 2870
And I shall find allies. I had in Laura
All that I could desire, a friend, unselfish,
Devoted, grateful, and as yet untainted
By any folly of love: and her I schemed
To marry away. ’Tis not too late: I’ll save her:
She shall not be enslaved: she doth not love.
Her heart is free and generous; it has shrunk
By instinct from the yoke: she will join with me;
And if I tell her all,—or if she have guessed,—
Now when I tell her she will comfort me. 2880
Comfort and counsel, friendship, that I need
And she can give. I never will part fróm her.

_Re-enter Flora._

_Fl._ Oh, my lady: the Lady Laura is gone, she has run away.

_D._ Run away!

_Fl._ Sir Gregory is coming to tell you all about it.
She has run away with Mr. Frederick.

_D._ Nonsense! How dare you tell me....

_Fl._ I guess it’s true though. I remember now I used
to say how strange it was that such a sweet lady, and
so clever and proper a gentleman as.... 2891

_D._ Silence, Flora! What has come to you? What
makes you say this?

_Fl._ Because she’s not to be found. But Sir Gregory
will tell you.

_D._ Send Sir Gregory at once. (_Aside._) This is impossible,
impossible.

_Fl._ See here he comes.

_D._ (_aside_). Ah! if this were Frederick’s secret!

_Enter Sir Gregory._

What is it? Sir Gregory, tell me. 2900

_GREGORY._

I scarce dare tell your ladyship the tidings
I have to bear.

_D._ (_aside_). It’s true! it’s true!

_G._ My daughter
Has run away with Frederick.

(_Diana sinks on a chair; Flora runs to fan her._)

Ah! my lady!
What have I done? I was too quick.

_D._ Nay, nay,
Flora, begone. I can hear all. You knew it?

_G._ I had not the least suspicion of the truth;
Altho’it needed but the merest trifle
To clear my sight. I chanced to find her glove
In Frederick’s room. All flashed upon me at once.
I ran to seek her. She was gone. A message 2910
She left was given me, that she would be away
All the afternoon: but since she had taken with her
A valise....

_D._ She, ’twas she.... O most dissembling,
Ungenerous, ungrateful....

_Fl._ I said ’twas true.

_D._ Begone at once I bid you. [_Exit Flora._

_G._ I ran in haste
To tell your ladyship; but for some reason
Could not be admitted: so I took such steps
To arrest them as I might....

_D._ Ha! they are seized?

_G._ I have since repented of my haste: a letter
Put in my hands reveals the whole: ’tis passed 2920
Beyond prevention. It has been maturing
Under our eyes for months. We must give way.
’Tis strange we never guessed it. This very morning
I was in Laura’s room; and when we parted
She made such long farewells, and looked at me
With such reluctance, and such brimming eyes,
I saw she had some trouble untold; and thinking
’Twas her dislike of Nicholas, I repented
I had ever urged the match. I little thought,
Dear girl, ’twas sorrow that she dared not tell me
Her joy. 2931

_D._ (_aside_). Her joy! no doubt! Here’s a fine father!
What doth he wish? Ah, doubly have I been fooled.
How plain ’tis now to see. The only one
I have never once suspected; the only one
It could have been. And Frederick must have told her
My love of him. All I would have kept secret
And thought was hid, hath been as open as day:
And what I sought to learn hath been kept from me
By them I trusted to discover it.
Tristram, no doubt, whom I supposed a fool, 2940
Hath merely played with me. Thank heaven they are gone.
I’ll never see him again. Befooled: befooled.

_G._ They have been befriended by the Duke of Milan.

_D._ The Duke of Milan too!

_G._ It was his letter
I spake of. Frederick is, he tells me there,
His old school-friend; he begs my pardon for him,
Will fête the bride and bridegroom in his palace,
And have the Archbishop marry them. ’Tis thither
They are fled.

_D._ Then all this is a plot of the Duke’s!

_G._ (_aside_). I dare not tell her more. 2950

_D._ Who brought the letter?

_G._ I wish my dear girl joy. She has chosen well.

_D._ Who brought the letter?

_G._ Tristram gave it me.

_D._ (_half-aside_). How came he by it?

_Re-enter Tristram._

_T._ My lady! I have something now.

_D._ Tristram, I bade you leave the court: how dare you
Appear before me again?
Silence, I say. I know your news: you have served
Your master with such lying skill, I wonder
He did not take you and your Flora with him:
There was not room enough perhaps in the coach
For two such couples.

_T._ How, if you please, my lady, 2960
Are Flora and I two couples?

_D._ Silence. Tell me
How you get letters from the Duke of Milan.

_T._ How I get letters from the Duke of Milan?

_D._ There’s nothing now to hide, so tell the truth.

_T._ I swear, my lady, that I know no more
Of the Duke of Milan than a babe unborn.
Your ladyship accused me once before
Of having been at Milan, when ’twas plain
That I had not gone, and never wished to go.
Knowing my lady’s strong impartiality, 2970
I should not venture.

_D._ This will not do.

_Enter Ricardo._

(_Gregory beckons Tristram aside, and during Diana’s first speech whispers him, and Gregory and Tristram go out._)

_RICARDO._

My lady.
The culprit is discovered.

_D._ Ah, Ricardo!
I had forgot ... was this thy plan? ... if so
I cannot praise thy skill sufficiently.
All hath gone well. And since no doubt thou hast served
Thy master and his friend in all thou hast done,
And under the pretence of aiding me
Hast been the ready man, more than another,
To practise on me, and do me injury;
I’ll school my patience till I have satisfied 2980
My curiosity to know what thought
Urged thee,—whom I confess I wholly trusted,
And whom I thought to have made my friend,—that thus
Against the laws of hospitality,
Without the excuse of passion, thou shouldst wrong
A lady so unkindly.

_R._ Ah, Diana!
Hast thou not guessed my secret?

_D._ By heaven, sir,
Did the Duke send thee here to insult me too?

_R._ Dearest Diana, I am the Duke of Milan.

_D._ Ha! thou! Thy face behind the bush. ’Tis thou.
Should I have known it? No. I can thank God
I knew it so little. By help tho’of thy acts
I recognize your grace. ’Tis like thee indeed,
That hast not scrupled thus to steal upon me
Masked and disguised; by forgery and falsehood,
Written recommendations of thyself,
Making thee out to be some gentleman 3000
Of trust and honour. Oh ’tis admirable,
The use thou makest of thy rank, to creep
Into my secresy, thereby to assist
Thy friend, my secretary, to elope
With an orphan and my ward. Haste, haste! I bid thee;
Lest thou be late for the feast. Bear them from me
My glad congratulations. (_sinks on a chair._)

_R._ (_running to her_). Diana! Diana!

_D._ I need no aid from thee, sir. Nay, begone!

_R._ In kindness hear what I came here to say.
In justice hear my answer to the charges 3010
Thou hast made. But first I claim my promise.

_D._ How!
What promise, sir?

_R._ Your secretary’s place
If Frederick left.

_D._ Make you me still your jest?

_R._ O dearest Diana, think not that I jest.
I’d be thy secretary all my life,
So I might only take the place which Frederick
Held in thy affections.

_D._ (_rising_). In my affections! why,
What means your grace, I beg?

_R._ Diana, Diana!
Have I not won thee? Did I not obey thee
By silence and long absence, till my life 3020
Grew desperate, and my misery made me bold
To come to thee disguised? I thought that thou
Perchance wert adverse to my suit for thinking
I loved thee only for thy beauty’s sake,—
Since at first sight I loved and only sight,—
And for thy mind’s grace thou wert rightly jealous
Of such a passion. Now, if I guess well,
I have won some favour in these happy days....

_D._ Favour!

_R._ And if thou hast dreamed thou hast loved another,
’Tis no impediment: for first this man, 3030
Whom thou hast honoured is my nearest friend;
And not to have loved him were to have disregarded
The only part of me thou ever knewest.
But him, for very lack of loving rightly
Thou hast much mistaken and wronged, and, as I think,
Now for misunderstanding bearest ill-will.

_D._ I bear him no ill-will, your grace.

_R._ Nor me?

_D._ But what you have done?

_R._ Love can excuse me all.
What woman judges by proprieties
The man who would die for her, and who without her
Regards not life? Passion atones my fault. 3041

_D._ Your only excuse is your offence.

_R._ ’Tis thus:
If I am not pardoned, I am not loved; but if
I am loved, I am pardoned. If thou sayst to me
I never knew thee, but I know thee now,
And like thee not: thy three years’love for me
I count for nothing, thy devotion nothing,
Thy misery nothing: thy adventure here
I set against thee; and the hour thou goest
I shall lose nothing: If thou canst say this, 3050
Speak ... and I promise
To turn away for ever. Is that thy mind?

_D._ Is’t possible?

_R._ What possible?

_D._ Thy-—-truth.

_R._ My love? Nay, love’s a miracle, a thing
That cannot be where it seems possible,
And where ’tis most incredible is most worth
Our credit.

_D._ That is true.

_R._ That thou didst doubt
Was worthy of the greatness of my love.
But now I claim thy faith. Thou mayst believe,
Thou must believe. Indeed, indeed, Diana, 3060
Thou mayst believe. Look’st thou to find love strong?
I have heavenly security:—devoted?
I have no self but thee:—patient? I plead
Three years of patience:—humble? I was content
To be thy servant:—wise? I knew thee better
Than thou thyself; I knew that thou must love:
Or is love tender?—See my childish tears
Crowd now to hear my sentence.

_D._ Ah, this were love,
If it were só.

_R._ Diana, it is so.
There is nought to-day in all the world but this,
I love thee. 3071

_D._ Alas! how was I wrong! Sir, sir!
Thou bringst me, or at least thou seemst to bring me,
The gift of God. Whether it be so or no
How can I tell? ’Twould wrong it—nay I cannot
Take it in haste. I cannot. I understand.
Nay, leave me. I know not what to say ... your blind
Attachment, is’t not cured?

_R._ Cure all but that
By my acceptance. (_kneels._) I am thy true lover,
Thy only lover. Bid me rise beloved.

_D._ Hush, some one comes. Rise! rise! 3080

_R._ Thy hand! ’tis mine, ’tis mine.

(_Kisses it and rises._)

_Enter St. Nicholas with Gregory. Frederick and Laura following._

_ST. NICHOLAS._

They are caught, your ladyship: they are caught,
Driving away together: and Frederick
Was making love to Laura in the coach.

_R._ Now now! how’s this? Frederick so soon returned;
And taken by the honeysucker!

_N._ Sir,
Your honeysucking Frederick would have robbed
My sweetest flower: but like a skimming swallow
That takes a fly in his beak, I snapped him up
At the park gate.

_R._ He’ll prove a bitter morsel, 3090
I fear, St. Nicholas.

_N._ My lady, speak.
What shall be done to them that have infringed
The laws of the court? Whatever punishment,
I pray it fall on Frederick with more weight
Than on my Laura. I would not have such rigour
As might defer our marriage.

(_Gregory goes to Laura. Ricardo to Frederick._)

_D._ I shall award my judgment on you two,
Who have mocked not my rules only, but the common
Conventions of society, and preferring
The unwritten statutes of the court of Milan 3100
Have joined to act a lie, and me, your friend,
Deceived and wronged, whom ye had done well to trust.
One only honourable course is left—
My judgment on you is that you be married
As soon as may be. Therefore, Frederick,
I beg that you will draw the contract up
Between yourself and Laura with all speed.
And that my sister shall not lack a portion,
I will endow her with as goodly a sum
As what St. Nicholas promised. Now this time
Let there be no mistake. 3111

_N._ What’s this, Sir Gregory?
Cannot you hear?

_FREDERICK._

Your ladyship, I am bound
For ever to your service.

_L._ (_to D._). Am I forgiven, Diana?

_F._ (_to R._). Richard, how’s this?

_R._ (_to F._). I have won. (_aloud._) And let me say
That I for friendship’s sake will do as much
Toward Lady Laura’s portion as the Countess.

_N._ Sir Gregory ... Sir Gregory!
Is this the way I am treated? You do not hear?
Sir Gregory, speak!

_G._ (_to N._). I hear not what is said, St. Nicholas:
But I can see: and since you have caught your bride 3130
Running away, you must not look to me
To help you hold her. Surely what I promised
I promised in good faith: but what hath happened
Sets me at liberty. (_Laura goes to Gregory._)

_N._ And I am left out?
Am I a sacrifice?

_D._ Sir, be consoled:
You were not more deceived than I.

_N._ At least
Tristram shall not escape. I do beseech you
He may be punished for stealing my sonnet,
And shutting me in the cupboard.

_Re-enter Tristram and Flora._

_D._ Who come here?

_T. and Fl._ My lady, we ask for pardon. 3140

_R._ I take on me
To speak for them.

_D._ No need for that, your grace;
They are forgiven.

_N._ Why doth she say 'your grace’.

_T._ (_to R._). Ah, why 'your grace’indeed?

_R._ This Tristram here
Hath done us many a service. Flora too
Hath played a useful part. May not their marriage
Follow on ours, Diana?

_N._ Yours!

_T._ (_to audience sympathetically_). His!

_D._ They may have so much promise with all my heart.

_T._ Thank you, my lady.
I never did understand anything in the ‘Humours of
this Court,’ and I never shall. 3150

FINIS

NOTES

THE CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES

This play, named after the chorus, is on the same subject as Calderon’s _El Principe Constante_, from which the little common to both plays is directly taken. Some of the differences are historic, but the most dramatic. _Sala ben Sala_, whose fine figure is substituted for _Muley_, is a famous warrior; and the whole story has this claim on English attention, that the Portuguese Regulus, _Ferdinand_, and his brother _Henry_, ‘_the Navigator_’ of more solid renown, were grandchildren of _John of Gaunt_, through his daughter _Philippa_, who was married to _King Joam I_. The history is shortly given in the _King of Fez’s_ long speech, page 103, line 120 et seq.

1886.

In the first edition the hymn _Jesu dulcis memoria_ is directed to be sung to the music written for it by Allegri and Anerio. This was intended to indicate the sort of polyphonic music which I imagined for the stage effect. As the date of the play must be about 1420 its use would be an anachronism, but it is one that would never be observed, and it may therefore fairly be allowed.

1902.

THE HUMOURS OF THE COURT

_The Humours of the Court_ is founded on two Spanish comedies, which when I read them, appeared to me to be variations of the same story. These are Calderon’s _El secreto á voces_, and Lope’s _El perro del hortelano_; the latter already used by Molière. My play owes its plot to Calderon, and to Lope the first scene of its third act, which is the opening scene of _El perro del hortelano_. But since in that play the secretary is actually detected in what, in my play, he is only falsely suspected of, and yet, in spite of this, is married by Lope to the Countess, it may be judged that Lope’s play is something farcical. I believe this is a full statement of my indebtedness, for where I have borrowed incident I have not, that I remember, translated.

_Yattendon_, 1893.

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Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. All other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.

The varied ellipses remain unchanged.

The titles have various decorative borders. These have not been shown.

Several sections are in prose. In order to preserve the line numbering,these have not been re-wrapped.