Chapter XXXI: Act III

SCENE.--_A small, dark room in the house lent by_ DON SALLUST _to_ RUY
BLAS. _It is late at night, and_ RUY BLAS _is pacing up and
down in a state of wild agitation._

RUY BLAS: I only am a pawn with which he plays
Against the queen. He seeks to ruin her
By means of me. No! I will save her yet.
Save her and lose her! Cunning though you are,
Don Sallust, you have overlooked one thing;
Even a lackey will lay down his life
To save a noble woman whom he loves
From ruin and dishonour.

[_Going to the table, he pours something into glass._

Oh, my queen!
Never more shall we meet upon this earth.

[_As he raises the glass to his lips,_ THE QUEEN _enters._

THE QUEEN: Don Cesar!

RUY BLAS: Oh, my God, my God!

THE QUEEN: Fear not.
I shall protect you.

RUY BLAS: What has brought you here?

THE QUEEN: Your letter, Cesar.

RUY BLAS: Letter? I have sent
No letter.

THE QUEEN: What is this, then? Look and read.

[_She gives him the note he wrote for_ DON SALLUST _as
his lackey._

RUY BLAS (_reading it_): "My life is in great danger.
You alone can save me."

THE QUEEN (_continuing_): "Come this evening to my house.
No one will recognise you if you use
The side door by the corner." Here's your name, "Cesar."

RUY BLAS: Go! Go! It is a plot against you.
I cannot now explain. Fly for your life!

THE QUEEN: But you are in great danger. No! I'll stay,
And help you, Cesar.

RUY BLAS: Go, I tell you! Go!
The letter is not mine. Who let you in?

DON SALLUST (_striding into the room_): I did.

RUY BLAS: Go, madam, while the way is clear.

DON SALLUST: It is too late. Doña Maria is
No longer Queen of Spain.

THE QUEEN (_in terror_): What, then, am I?

DON SALLUST: A lady who has sold her throne for love.

RUY BLAS: No!

DON SALLUST (_whispering to_ RUY BLAS): I am working in your
interests.
(_Aloud to_ THE QUEEN) Now listen, madam. I have found you here,
Alone with Cesar, in his room, at night.
This conduct--in a queen--would lead the Pope--
Were the fact published--to annul your marriage.
Why not avoid the scandal?

[_Taking a parchment from his pocket, he presents it to_
THE QUEEN.

Sign this deed
Admitting everything, and we can keep
All the proceedings secret. I have put
Plenty of money in the coach that waits
Outside the door. Ride off in it and take
Cesar with you, to France or Portugal.
No one will stop you. But if you refuse
Everything shall be published. Here's a pen.

[_He leads the terrified_ QUEEN _to a writing-table, and
puts a pen in her hand._ RUY BLAS _stands in a corner,
motionless and bewildered._

THE QUEEN: Oh, I am lost! Lost, and yet innocent!

DON SALLUST: You lose a crown; but think of what you gain--
A life of love and peace and happiness.
Don Cesar loves you, and is worthy of you.
A man of noble race; almost a prince.

[THE QUEEN _is about to sign, but_ RUY BLAS _snatches
the pen from her hand, and tears up the parchment._

RUY BLAS: You must not sign it! This man lies to you.
I am Ruy Blas, a common serving-man.

[_Turning fiercely on_ DON SALLUST.

No more of it, I say! I'll have no more!
You mean, contemptible scoundrel! Tell the truth!

DON SALLUST: This creature is, in fact, my serving-man,
Only he has blabbed too soon.

THE QUEEN: Great Heavens!

DON SALLUST: No matter. My revenge is good enough.
What do you think of it? Madrid will laugh!
You exiled me, my lady; brought me down
Into the dust. I'll drag you from the throne
And hold you up--the laughing-stock of Spain!

[_While he is speaking_ RUY BLAS _silently bolts the door;
then, creeping behind_ DON SALLUST, _he snatches his
sword from the scabbard._

RUY BLAS: Insult the queen again, you wretch, and I
Will kill you where you stand. You foul, black snake,
Crawl in the further room and say your prayers.

[DON SALLUST _rushes towards the outer door;_ RUY
BLAS _pushes him back at the sword's point._

THE QUEEN: You are not going to slay him?

RUY BLAS: This affair
Must be now settled once for all. Go in!

[_This to_ DON SALLUST, _whom he has now almost
driven into the further room._

DON SALLUST: Give me a sword, and let us fight it out.

RUY BLAS: Surely a nobleman would never stoop
To fight a duel with his serving-man?
No! I am going to kill you like a dog!

THE QUEEN: Spare him!

DON SALLUST: Help! Murder! Help!

RUY BLAS: Have you done?

[DON SALLUST _leaps at_ RUY BLAS, _and the two men reel
into the further room, and the door closes behind
them._ THE QUEEN _covers her face._

THE QUEEN: Oh, God!

[_There is a silence._ RUY BLAS _returns without the
sword._

RUY BLAS (_falling on his knees_): Pardon me, madam, pardon me!
I am less guilty than I seem. At heart,
I am an honest man. My love for you
Led me into the trap that villain laid.
Will you not pardon me?

THE QUEEN: No!

RUY BLAS: Never?

THE QUEEN: No!

[_Staggering to the table, he seizes the glass and
drains it._

RUY BLAS: Well, that is over, then.

THE QUEEN (_running up to him_): What have you _done_?

RUY BLAS: Nothing. But, oh, to think you loved me once!

THE QUEEN: What was there in that glass? I love you still!
What was it? Poison? Tell me.

RUY BLAS (_as she clasps him_): Yes, my queen.

THE QUEEN: Then I have killed you! But I love you now!
More than before. Had I but pardoned you--

RUY BLAS: I should have drunk the poison all the same.
I could not bear to live. Good-bye!

[_He falls down, and_ THE QUEEN _holds him up in her
arms._

Fly! Fly!
No one will know. That door.

[_He tries to point to it, but sinks back in the agony
of death._

THE QUEEN (_throwing herself on him_): Ruy Blas!

RUY BLAS (_reviving at the sound of his name_):
Thanks! Thanks! [_He dies._

FOOTNOTES:

[K] In appearance, "Ruy Blas" is a pendant to "Hernani." In the earlier play, Victor Hugo gives a striking picture of the Spanish nobility in the days of its power and splendour. In the later drama, which he composed in 1838, he depicts in lurid light the corruption into which that nobility afterwards fell. But, as a matter of fact, "Ruy Blas" is a violent party pamphlet with a direct bearing on the French politics of the thirties. It is the decadent French nobility--vanquished in the revolution of 1830--that Hugo really attacks; and Ruy Blas himself is a representative Frenchman of the era of romanticism. Stendhal (Vol. VIII) was the first writer to study this new type of character--the young man of the lower middle classes, full of grandiose dreams and wild ambitions and strange weaknesses, who thought to arrive by intrigue at the high position which the great soldiers of the preceding generation had won on the battlefield. Balzac (Vol. I) elaborated the character in his "Human Comedy"; and Hugo, by ennobling and enlarging it, created the sombre, magnificent figure of Ruy Blas.

The King Amuses Himself[L]

_Persons in the Drama_

FRANÇOIS I., _King of France_
TRIBOULET, _his jester_
BLANCHE, _Triboulet's daughter_
SALTABADIL, _an assassin_
MAGUELONNE, _his sister_
DAME BERARDE
_A woman; a man; a crowd of people_