Chapter IV: Part 4

Achieve! I like the word. Achieve, achieve! Ruin and downfall, death and waste of fame! Achievement of the Revolution! Ha, I’ll tell thee, farceur, what it hath achieved: It hath achieved the death of the Gironde, Death of Marat, and death of D’Orléans, Death of great part of its abhorrèd brood! It hath achieved the Company of Marat; It hath achieved Jacques Carrier in Nantes; It shall achieve more death and infamy! Death! The word you are so fond of. Death! And Infamy, the thing you can’t bestow! It shall achieve the death of Carrier, The death of Lambertye and of Lalain, The death of Danton and of Robespierre!— Nature will give a grave obscene and dark, And Time will see that docks and darnels grow!

[_Uproar._

THE FIRST JUDGE

Death,—stand aside, condemned.

_Enter_ SÉRAPHINE.

CÉLESTE

Ah, Séraphine,
Come up here, Séraphine!

[SÉRAPHINE _mounts the stair and sits beside_ CÉLESTE,
ANGÉLIQUE, _and_ NANON.

NANON

Where is Yvette?

SÉRAPHINE

I know not, I!

ANGÉLIQUE

I saw her gliding by, Beneath the moon, last night when all was still. Against a cannon in the empty square She leaned, and on the river looked.

SÉRAPHINE

What harm?

ANGÉLIQUE

Why, none!

CÉLESTE (_her eyes upon the prisoners below_)

Ha, ha! it is the old man’s turn!

A GAOLER

Château-Gui!

THE WOMAN

Ah, Château-Gui!

FIRST JUDGE

Château-Gui!

MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI

O my father!

COUNT LOUIS

Unclasp thy hands, my child!
What is it, Lambertye?

FIRST JUDGE

Thou ci-devant, Thou art accused, imprimatur, of this: Once thou didst serve Capet!

COUNT LOUIS

The King?

FIRST JUDGE

Capet.

COUNT LOUIS

I served the King of France.

FIRST JUDGE

Twice over, death! For thou didst serve Capet; For thou dost dare say the King of France!

COUNT LOUIS

The King of France!

THE CROWD

Ah!—

COUNT LOUIS

Son of Saint Louis!

THE CROWD

Ah!—

COUNT LOUIS

Royal Martyr!

THE CROWD

Ah—h—h.

MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI

O my father!

THIRD JUDGE

All titles, terms of honour and of state, Majesty and reverence are forbid, Not to be spoken! They are ci-devants, They are condemned.

THE CROWD

Condemned!

COUNT LOUIS

Ha, ci-devants, Titles and symbols, names and attributes, Condemned for splendour and for high estate! Ha, Croix de Saint Louis! Ha, Château-Gui! Thou goest to heaven in famous company: King, Saint, Martyr, Reverence, Majesty.— Best make the company a regiment— Regiment du Roi, in vestments gorgeous! Forbidden words! Who says to me “forbid”? Ye sans-culottes, ye bourgeois, creeping things, Adders and asps that slew a king and queen! I am a courtier of the olden time Who served le Grand Monarque, knew Mazarin, And in a Court shall still be courtier, Croix de Saint Louis, with the _grande entrée_, While ye do prowl in filthy ways of hell, Nor hardly see its red-lit Œil-de-bœuf Where everlasting Terror, groaning, reigns,— But, being lackeys, keep the lackeys’ place!

FIRST JUDGE

Enough!

SECOND JUDGE

Death!

THE CROWD

Death! The Loire!

COUNT LOUIS

O Kings of France! O sons of Clovis and of Charlemagne! Louis the Pious and the Debonair! Philippe August and Fair, and Charles the Wise! And thou the sainted King, the Blessed Louis! And Charles Bien-Aimé, Victorieux, Crowned by the maiden of Domrémy! And the good King Henri, Henri the Great! Louis the Just, Louis le Grand Monarque! Louis the Loved, and Louis lately dead, The Martyr King, the Martyr, Martyr King!— O Kings of France in that fair land ye be, To your châteaux and to your palaces Prepare to welcome dying loyalty! For knightly faith is marching forth from France. Throne, sceptre, orb, and majesty have passed, Ermine and coronet and spur of gold, Renown and splendid honour, valiant sway, Ancien Régime, noblesse of old France! The oriflamme upon its golden stem, The banner of the lilies waving high!—

THE CROWD

Ah—

COUNT LOUIS

The lily banner and the oriflamme!
Forgotten yonder stripes of shame and woe!

THE CROWD

The tricolour! Death! The Loire!

FIRST JUDGE

Death to-night!

COUNT LOUIS

Nightshade, mandrake, and hemlock o’er ye wave!— But I am going where, I make no doubt, The favourite flower is still the fleur-de-lis!

THE CROWD

Ah!

COUNT LOUIS

And the word forbid is _république_!

THE CROWD

Down! down!

COUNT LOUIS

Princes and peers of France!

FIRST JUDGE

Have done!

COUNT LOUIS

Anjou, Lorraine!

THE CROWD

Ah—h—h!

COUNT LOUIS

Bourbon and Valois!

[_Uproar in the hall._ MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI
_clings to her father’s arm_.

Forbidden words! Well, well, my child, I’m done! My breath is out.—Forbidden words! Ma foi! ‘Tis to my taste to deal in contraband!

[_The First Judge rings the bell violently. The tumult
subsides._

A GAOLER

Château-Gui, take place beside the priest!

THE ABBÉ

Ah,
Monsieur le Comte!

COUNT LOUIS

Monsieur l’Abbé!

[_He offers his snuff-box._

FIRST JUDGE

The next.

_Enter_ YVETTE. _The crowd murmurs as it makes way._

THE CROWD

Yvette Charruel!

A MAN

Goddess of Reason!

[YVETTE _mounts the stair to the gallery and sits beside_
SÉRAPHINE.

CÉLESTE

So pale!

ANGÉLIQUE

No rose?

NANON

Only her lips are red.

CÉLESTE

So heavy-eyed?

YVETTE

I have not slept.

A YOUNG GIRL (_near her_)

Oh, oh,
Thy voice! ‘Tis like a violin playing!

ANGÉLIQUE

I know thou didst not sleep.—How looked the Loire Beneath the moon last night?

YVETTE

Much as ‘twill look
Beneath the moon to-night.

[_With her chin upon her hand she studies the throng
below._

SÉRAPHINE

The prisoners—

YVETTE

Who rises there?

FIRST JUDGE

Thou ci-devant, De Vardes!

THE CROWD

De Vardes! De Vardes! Aristocrat! De Vardes!

DE VARDES

Rémond Lalain—

LALAIN

René de Vardes.

DE VARDES

This court— Pray you conceive it is some greensward trim, My cartel sent, received, the duel fought, And thou the victor, since so wags the world, Heart’s blood of mine upon thy rapier dark! And I the vanquished in the sight of men, Drowsing to death upon the bloody sod. And all this folk but seconds, witnesses, They are not here, nor there; we are the men! Now, seeing death hath some prerogative, I charge thee stand, antagonist! nor leave This sunny field with thy triumphant friends Until I bid thee go!

LALAIN

I hear!
(_To the crowd._) Silence!

DE VARDES

When I do think that once I called thee friend, My wonder grows! The orchard’s blooming now Where we did lie at length on summer eves The while the mavis sang and sea winds blew, And to the nodding clover droned the bee,— Two striplings couched beneath an apple tree, Talking of knights at arms and paladins And what we each would dare in worthy cause! That brow of thine was not so swarthy then, Thine eyes were frank, we read from the same book The deeds of Palmerin and Amadis. Then up we lightly rose and went our way, Hand touching hand,—Orestes, Pylades! I, Jonathan the Prince, and David thou! The figure holds, for Jonathan will die, But wilt thou mourn him, David? No, I say!— Nor o’er his kingdom shalt thou reign, Rémond!

LALAIN

René—

DE VARDES

I am, monsieur, the Baron of Morbec!

THE CROWD

Ah!

LALAIN

Silence! (_To_ DE VARDES.) As thou wilt! He is long dead That youth thou namest David.

DE VARDES

Ay, Citoyen,
He slew himself. I see his punishment.

LALAIN

Oh!—

DE VARDES

Wretched man! What hast thou done? I know, And thou, Rémond, dost know I know! Enough. O better far to lie upon this sod And hear the wings of death above my head, Than to be thou, thou stainèd conqueror! Dishonoured thou from helm to bloody heel! Enough! When the cock crows and the morning star Shines steadfast over Loire I shall be gone. One stays, that’s God. Do thou beware, Rémond, For God will hearken unto Jonathan— Thou canst not hurt a flower that he loved!

LALAIN

No?

DE VARDES

No!

LALAIN

Thou mightst have had thy life—

DE VARDES

I?

[_He laughs._

YVETTE

Air!
You hem me in, Citoyennes! Air! _De grâce!_

NANON

The air is good enough for us, Yvette!

ANGÉLIQUE

Why do you grow so pale, so pale, Yvette?

[YVETTE _takes from her hair the bonnet-rouge_.

SÉRAPHINE

Psst! Little fool! Put on the cap again!

YVETTE

It is too heavy!

SÉRAPHINE

Saint Yves! Put it on!

DE VARDES

The duel’s o’er; the night is drawing on; Dark is thy form against the crimson sky, Rémond Lalain! Stand further off, my foe! And now I think I see thee not at all, And that is well! I would forget thee quite. Live out thy life unto its sordid close! Live on, and in the future find the past! But while thou treadest earth touch not again That flower I spoke of! Touch it not, Lalain!

LALAIN

Draws on the night—

DE VARDES

I’ll bathe me in the Loire! Death has been ever called a River wide. This ford I fear not!—Soldier of the King, I’ll pass the stream, though cold, though cold and dark! The bivouac lights are shining through the trees, He waits within my tent, my General!

FIRST JUDGE

Death!

SECOND JUDGE

Death!

DE VARDES

Now sheath thy sword, Rémond!
The field of honour leave to death and me!

[_He crosses to the condemned._

COUNT LOUIS

Monsieur le Baron!

THE ABBÉ

René de Vardes!

DE VARDES

Monsieur le Comte, Monsieur l’Abbé, again I find myself in best of company!

[_The judges whisper together._ LALAIN, _his eyes
upon the floor, drums upon the table with his hand_.
YVETTE _unpins the tricolour cockade from her breast,
gazes upon it for a moment, then throws it from her.
The women about her watch her greedily._

SÉRAPHINE

Name of a name! Yvette!

YVETTE

I like white best.

SÉRAPHINE

Saint Gildas! Saint Maudez!

YVETTE

I ever loved
The fleur-de-lis!

SÉRAPHINE

Saint Yves le Véridique!

YVETTE (_She rises_)

_God and the King!_

[_Uproar in the hall. All turn toward the gallery._

A JUDGE

Who cried that?

A BRETON SAILOR

Sainte Vierge!
Yvette Charruel!

LALAIN

No!

DE VARDES

Mon Dieu!

THE CROWD

Yvette—
Yvette Charruel!

SÉRAPHINE

Saint Servan! Saint Linaire!

YVETTE

I denounce the Citoyen Rémond Lalain!

THE CROWD

Ah!—

NANON

Ah, let me get at her!

LALAIN

Citoyens!
Heed her not—she’s mad!—The next prisoner!

YVETTE

I denounce Carrier and Lambertye! Chicanneau, Sarlat, Petit-Pierre, and Gaye, The Company of Marat, the hideous deaths, The Noyades and the Dragonades of Nantes! I tell you that the blood you shed must stop! One cannot sleep at night with thinking on’t. You put to sleep, O God! too many!

THE CROWD

Ah!—

A VOICE

There is no God! nor ever was in Nantes!

ANOTHER VOICE

She has spoken against the Republic!

YVETTE

There was a glory in the morning sky, Where now is naught but miserable red! A trumpet blew, but we have listened since To the false jingle of a tambourine! There stood a mighty judge, robed, calm and proud, Where is he now? I see but murderers!

A VOICE

But murderers!

YVETTE

I denounce the Republic!

[_Uproar._

THE CROWD

Oh, harlotry!—No, blasphemy!—Down, down! The Bar! the Judgment Bar!—The river!—Death! The Loire!

YVETTE

I am coming.

[_She descends the stair. Men and women clutch her
and thrust her forward to the bar._

I am here! I am Yvette, called Right of the Seigneur. My mother was the peasant girl, Yvonne; My father was the Baron of Morbec. I am tired of _Ça ira, Carmagnole_, I would sleep with the Loire for my pillow!

THE CROWD

Ah—h—h!

LALAIN

A head beside thine on that pillow!

DE VARDES

Mon Dieu!

YVETTE

Perhaps, Citoyen!

A VOICE

I denounce
Yvette Charruel!

OTHER VOICES

And I!—And I!—And I!

_CURTAIN_

SCENE II

_The banks of the Loire. Night. Branching trees; between their
trunks is seen the river. There is a full moon, but a drifting
mist obscures the scene. In the background, upon the river bank,
dimly appears a crowd of the condemned, men, women, and children,
soldiers and executioners of the Company of Marat. From this
throng comes a low, continued, confused sound of command,
entreaty, distress, and lamentation. In the foreground the
condemned form into groups or move singly to and fro._

_Enter_ YVETTE _from the shadow of the trees_.

A SOLDIER (_following her_)

Holà! Give us not the slip!

YVETTE

Thou soldier! There is no gold could make me flee this place! How long dost think before they throw me in?

THE SOLDIER

A little while!

[_He returns to the river._ YVETTE _sits upon the
earth at the foot of a tree, and with her chin upon
her hand watches those who come and go_.

YVETTE

He comes not yet! O Our Lady!
I would not drown till I have seen him once!

A WOMAN (_passing with a man_)

How shines the moon! Did we not always say, We two would die by such a moon as this? Rememberest thou—

THE MAN

Rememberest thou that night,
That Versailles night within the Orangerie?

THE WOMAN

Rememberest thou—

[_They pass._

A SOLDIER (_calling to another_)

To bind them hand and foot,
We need more rope!

THE SECOND SOLDIER

Just thrust them in the stream
With bayonets!

A CRY FROM THE RIVER

Miséricorde!

[_A child with flowers in her hand speaks to_ YVETTE.

THE CHILD

I’m tired—

YVETTE

Rest here, thou little bird!

THE CHILD

My name’s Aimée. I did not know that flowers grew at night. Is that the moon?

YVETTE

It is the silver moon!
Aimée’s a pretty name. My name’s Yvette.

THE CHILD

Kiss me, Yvette—I’ll look now for Ursule!

YVETTE

Who is Ursule?

THE CHILD

My _bonne_—Adieu, Yvette!

[_The child passes on._

VOICES FROM THE RIVER

Hélas! Hélas! Miséricorde!

[_A nun advances from the shadow. She is in ecstasy,
her hands clasped, her eyes raised._

THE NUN

The skies open: heaven appears! Heaven my home! O for the wings of the dove, The eagle’s speed! The gates of pearl are opening, My harp is strung. The Virgins come to meet me. Sainte Agnès, Sainte Claire! Our Lady stoops to greet me. My father smiles. My brothers two I see there! Who is that one Who kneels and to me beckons? ‘Tis he I loved! What radiance grows, what splendour? Who waiting stands? Light! O Light! O Christ my Lord! Heaven my home! O Love! O Death, come quickly! I would be gone!

[_A soldier touches her on the arm._

THE SOLDIER

Thy time it is!

[_The nun regards him with a radiant and dazzling
smile, then turns and moves swiftly before him to the
river._

THE VOICES

Woe, woe! Miséricorde!

YVETTE

Heaven my home! Shall I see heaven then? Oh me! so much of ill thou’st done, Yvette! Alas! Alas! What if I cannot win To heaven! but must ever weeping stand With all the lost and strain my eyes to see The form I love move ‘neath the living trees, And all in vain, so great the distance is!— Not see him! O Our Lady, let me in!

THE VOICES

Woe, woe!—I die!—I die!—O countrymen!

YVETTE

O God, and is it true I murdered her, That lady high, that fair, so fair Clarice? O God! I would that she were happy here, Alive and laughing, gay of heart again! O God! I do repent me of my sin!

THE VOICES

Ayez pitié!

[_From a group of the condemned is heard the voice
of_ THE ABBÉ.

THE ABBÉ

_Miserere mei Deus
Secundum magnam misericordiam tuam!_

THE CONDEMNED (_kneeling_)

Have mercy, O God!

VOICES FROM THE RIVER

Miséricorde!

[YVETTE _kneels_.

THE ABBÉ

_In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum, Redemisti me Domine Deus veritatis!_

THE CONDEMNED

O God, receive our souls!

VOICES FROM THE RIVER

Woe, woe! We die!

SOLDIERS

That one is swimming there! Your musket! Fire!—

[_A musket shot._

Ha, ha! Ha, ha!

THE ABBÉ

_Dulcissime Domine Jesu Christe, Per virtutem sanctissimae Passionis tuae Recipe me in numerum electorum tuorum!_

THE CONDEMNED

O Christ, receive our souls! O Christ who died!

THE ABBÉ

_Maria, Mater gratiae, Mater misercordiae, Tu me ab hoste protege, et hora mortis suscipe!_

THE CONDEMNED

O mother of God!

VOICES

Miséricorde!

THE ABBÉ

_Omnes sancti Angeli, et omnes Sancti Intercedite pro me, et mihi succurrite!_

VOICES

Miséricorde!

SOLDIERS

Petit-Pierre!—André!
‘Tis time for yonder folk beneath the trees!

THE ABBÉ

_Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis, In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen!_

[_The condemned arise from their knees._

THE SOLDIERS

Come your ways!

[THE ABBÉ _and the condemned vanish into the mist
upon the river bank_.

VOICES

Ayez pitié!

[YVETTE _rises from her knees. She plucks the yellow
broom that grows beneath the trees._

YVETTE

And if I may I will her servant be, And I will bring her posies every day!

THE VOICES

We die!

SOLDIERS

So, two and two! Ha, ha!

[_There appears in mid-stream on the river Carrier’s
festal barge. It is lit from stem to stern. There is
music aboard, singing and revelry of men and women._

LAUGHTER FROM THE RIVER

Ha, ha! Ha, ha! Ha, ha!

THE VOICES

They laugh! They sing!

[_A sound of singing from the passing barge._

A WOMAN’S VOICE

_Fair Chloris bathed her in the flood,
Young Damon watching, trembling stood,
Behind the frailest hawthorn wall!
The month was May—_

A MAN’S VOICE

No, Prairial!

THE WOMAN’S VOICE

_Her ivory limbs they gleamed and turned,
Young Damon’s heart so hotly burned,
Into the stream he leaped therefor!
It seemed July—_

THE MAN’S VOICE

No, Thermidor!

[_The barge passes._

VOICES FROM THE RIVER

O hearts so hard!

OTHER VOICES

Oh, woe! Adieu! Adieu!

[_An old woman speaks to_ YVETTE.

THE OLD WOMAN

They’ve drowned my son, my sailor son Michel! Oh, oh, my heart! he’s drifting out to sea!

YVETTE

Poor mother!

THE OLD WOMAN

Oh, to and fro he sailed, he sailed! The Indies knew him and the Northern Seas! He’d bide at home a bit, then off he’d go, Another voyage make, strange things to see! Then home he’d come and of his travels tell. Oh, oh, my son, my sailor son Michel!

[_The old woman passes on._

_Enter_ SÉRAPHINE.

SÉRAPHINE

I’ve sought her here, I’ve sought her there, in vain! And perilous it is to seek one here!

YVETTE

Séraphine!

SÉRAPHINE

Yvette!

YVETTE

Where is monseigneur?

SÉRAPHINE (_weeping_)

I know not, I!—Saint Lazaire and Saint Jean! I nursed thee ere thou wast so high!

YVETTE

Poor Séraphine! Dear Séraphine!

SÉRAPHINE

Alack!
They’re watching there!

YVETTE

Oh, then away!
‘Tis death to weep for one who dies! Away!

SÉRAPHINE (_weeping_)

Oh, oh! When thou wast but a little thing Thou hadst the coaxing ways! Alack! Alack!

YVETTE

Poor Séraphine!

SÉRAPHINE

Dost mind the sunny path
Up the steep cliff to chapel in the woods?

YVETTE

I mind—I mind—To thy warm hand I clung, A little child. Now I must walk alone!

SÉRAPHINE

Oh, oh! And thou wast Goddess yesterday, The fairest Goddess ever seen, they say!

YVETTE

Speak not of that!

A VOICE (_calling_)

Séraphine! Séraphine!

YVETTE

It warns, that voice! Adieu, adieu, adieu! Thou must begone!

SÉRAPHINE

If I do look at thee I’ll stay forever here! Adieu! Adieu!— Oh well-a-day! Oh well, oh well-a-day!

[_Exit_ SÉRAPHINE.

YVETTE

So late it grows, so long I’ve waited here! I feel the morning air!—Will he not come? O God! what if they’ve slain him otherwhere? Ha! Death is busy far and near to-night! They may have shot him yonder by the sea! He may have sunk above, below this place! Though Grégoire swore to me it would be here, Here where they brought me would they bring him too, And ere the set of moon we would be gone!— O God! The cries of drowning men I’ve heard, But not his voice among them! No, no, no! He’ll make no moan, he will die loftily!— Ah, God! only to see him ere I drown!

THE VOICES

Miséricorde!

SOLDIERS

Prenez garde! Halte là!

A MAN’S VOICE

I die who fought for France in bloody fields; At Lille I fought, at Bordeaux, Avignon!

YVETTE

A soldier!

[_Another voice sings hoarsely._

THE VOICE

_Tremblez, tyrans! et vous perfides,
L’opprobre de tous les partis!
Tremblez, vos projets parricides
Viennent enfin recevoir leur prix!
Tout est soldat pour vous combattre—_

[_The voice dies._

YVETTE

A soldier!

ANOTHER VOICE

Diantre! A whiff of grapeshot now, A sabre-cut, or e’en a trampling charge! But this cold death—

[_The voice dies._

YVETTE

A soldier!

ANOTHER VOICE

Baste! I’ll tell
The Duc de Biron—

YVETTE

All soldiers!

_Enter_ DE VARDES _and_ GRÉGOIRE.

GRÉGOIRE

I tell you truth, monsieur—

DE VARDES

So dense the throng I have looked up and down for this long hour,— This hour so long, this hour so fatal short, Seeing it is my latest hour of life, And that I cannot find her whom I seek!

GRÉGOIRE

She is not dead, monsieur!

DE VARDES

So many are!

GRÉGOIRE

I would have known.

DE VARDES

Some æons past thou wast A serviceable fellow! Get thee gone! And if thou findest her, I’ll give thee thanks, I have no gold—

GRÉGOIRE

Monsieur le Baron—

DE VARDES

Go!

[_Exit_ GRÉGOIRE.

And if I find her not, if time shall fail, Then through thy labyrinth, Eternity, Love’s silken clue shall lead me safe at last—

YVETTE

Monseigneur!

[DE VARDES _turns_.

DE VARDES

Yvette!

[_Two soldiers of the Company of Marat pass beneath
the trees._

THE FIRST SOLDIER

‘Tis near the cockcrow!
What devil’s work we’ve had, and have!

THE SECOND SOLDIER

Courage!
There are not so many now! Then home and sleep!

[_They pass._

DE VARDES

Oh, rest thee on thy lover’s breast, my heart! My life, my love, my dear, my Duchess Jeanne! Oh, ‘neath the moon thou’rt like a lily flower!

YVETTE

René, René!

DE VARDES

Thy lips!

[_They kiss._

No, no, thou’rt not That Vivien whom I did call thee once. She was an evil fay; thou’rt pure and good! Nor art thou that fair piteous Duchess Jeanne Who died for love, whose look thou wearest now! Thou never wast that woman star-begirt, Whom they did hail as Goddess here in Nantes. No Goddess thou, thou wan and broken flower!— This is green Morbec, thou’rt the herd girl there And I thy fisher, home from out the west. My heart, my love, my silver rose, my _douce_!

YVETTE

The flowers drifting from the fragrant trees! Unearthly light—

[_They kiss._

DE VARDES

Now come, Eternity!

VOICES FROM THE RIVER

It is so sad to die!—No, no, ‘tis sweet! Adieu, adieu!

SOLDIERS

So, down! Ha, ha! _Les Noces
Républicaines!_

DE VARDES

_Les Noces Républicaines!_

YVETTE

‘Tis what they call this death—

SOLDIERS

So near the dawn!
Here are the _tricoteuses_.

VOICES OF WOMEN

Not yet they’ve done! Diantre! So many weddings in one night! Here are the girls from Carrier’s barge at last!

OTHER VOICES

Petit-Pierre! André!

SOLDIERS

Céleste—Nanon!
Zephine, ‘Toinette!

THE WOMEN

_Vive le son! vive le son!
Dansons la Carmagnole!_

A TRICOTEUSE

‘Tis light enough to knit! I’ll sit me down. Fi! how the grass is trampled here!

A SOLDIER

Lalain and Lambertye—

A WOMAN

We left them there Upon the barge, Lalain and Lambertye; And they were drinking deep, and dicing too, And Lalain had his arm round Angélique!

[_They laugh._

DE VARDES

Seest thou not through yonder trees the stone, The Druid Stone where I did see thee first When thou didst lie asleep upon the grass? How long I stood and looked, thou dost not know!

YVETTE

Beside the stream I slept and dreamed of thee! I knew it not, but sure I dreamed of thee, For in my sleep I thought I saw a king!

DE VARDES

O love!—

YVETTE

It is Morbec arises there! The sands that stretch above the idle waves, And all the little shells upon the shore!

DE VARDES

The convent bell is ringing! Seest thou not The fountain old, the fruit trees in the sun?

YVETTE

Oh, life was never made for happiness! The hour’s too short, the wine spills from the cup, The blossom’s shaken ere we know ‘tis sweet!

VOICES FROM THE RIVER

Miséricorde!

A SOLDIER

Those two have waited long!
Hi! Petit-Pierre, ‘tis time to marry them—

DE VARDES

This Saint John’s Eve we’ll walk in other woods! And we will find and name a castle fair, And rose and heartsease we will plant thereby! Here ends this road, but we must onward go. There is a longer hour, a deeper cup! The blossom’s gone, but we shall see the fruit. And life was made for happiness, my _douce_!

A VOICE FROM THE RIVER

_Mourir pour la patrie,
Mourir pour la France._

DE VARDES

It is a hymn of Chénier’s.—France! France! Not since the days of Clovis hast thou lacked Strong sons to die for thee, thou Lioness! But now thy own brood hast thou eaten up, And in the desert shalt thou roar alone, Seeing the hunters nearer, nearer creep! They’ll snare thee fast, they’ll make of thee a show! France, France!—and yet thy sons shall ransom thee!

A SOLDIER

A length of rope, André!

ANOTHER

Petit-Pierre—

YVETTE

They come!

DE VARDES

I will go first.

YVETTE

‘Tis not their way! They’ll bind us fast together, throw us in Bound fast together—

DE VARDES

Is it so? Why, then We are together still, my heart, my life! We will not struggle as we sink to rest.

A SOLDIER

Man and woman, come your ways!

SECOND SOLDIER

The river
Waits, your marriage bed is spread!

[_The knitting women sing from the river bank._

THE WOMEN

_We are the tricoteuses!
Our wool we knit beneath the sun and moon!
Knit! knit! knitting every one!_

_We are the tricoteuses!
The skein we knit is ravelled out full soon!
Knit! knit! the knitting now is done!_

YVETTE

The light is growing in the east! My heart It is so full I cannot speak to thee!

DE VARDES

Put thou thine arms about my neck, Yvette, And lay thy head upon thy lover’s heart, And veil thine eyes with all thy shadowy hair. Now let them bind us with what cords they will, The spirit moves unbound, triumphant, free, Not through the Loire, but through a vaster stream! Oh, it is something dimly great to die! And then to die together, is’t not sweet? And not through illness, age, decrepitude, But the armed man is ready for new wars. And thou—

YVETTE

I hear the lark!

A SOLDIER

Come, come away!

[YVETTE _and_ DE VARDES _move together towards
the river, into the mist and the shadow of the trees_.

A VOICE FROM THE RIVER

_Vive la République!_

_CURTAIN_

The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
U · S · A

------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Mary Johnston

THE GODDESS OF REASON. _A Drama._
Tall 12mo, $2.00, _net_. Postage
extra.

AUDREY. With Illustrations in color.
Crown 8vo, $1.50.

PRISONERS OF HOPE. With
Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD. With 8
Illustrations by HOWARD PYLE, E.
B. THOMPSON, A. W. BETTS, and
EMLEN MCCONNELL. Crown 8vo,
$1.50.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN & CO.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcriber’s note:

1. Moved advertisement from first page to the last page.

2. Silently corrected typographical errors.

3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.