ASQUES PID < EVANGELiNE WiLBOUR BLASHFIELD MASQUES OF CUPID MASQUES OF CUPID BY EVANGELJNE WILBOUR BLASHFIELD A SURPRISE PARTY THE LESSER EVIL THE HONOR of the CREQUY IN CLEON S GARDEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY EDWIN ROWLAND BLASHFIELD NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 1901 Copyright, 1901, by CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS Published November, Dramatic and all other rights reserved THE DEVINNE PRESS TO CHARLOTTE B. WILBOUR. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1 MASQUES OF CUPID Frontispiece A SURPRISE PARTY 2 A SURPRISE PARTY , . . . Title FACING PAGE 3 DRAMATIS PERSONJE I 4 IT is A SEVERE MENTAL STRAIN TO BE PERFECTLY FAIR AND TO DIVIDE HONORS IMPARTIALLY 12 5 DEAR ME THIS is MATHEMATICS AND I THOUGHT IT WAS FUN 24 6 THROUGH WARDROBE DOOR 36 7 COME DOWN-STAIRS AND HAVE SOMETHING ....... 48 8 THE RABBIT is READY 60 THE LESSER EVIL 9 THE LESSER EVIL Title FACING PAGE 10 DRAMATIS PERSONS 71 1 1 SWORD IN HAND STILL THRUSTING . . ^ > Between pages 7 8 and 79 1 2 AGAINST HIS ASSAILANTS DENIS DE BEAULIEU ) 13 I LL KNEEL HERE AS THOUGH I WERE AT CONFESSION ... 86 H . Between pages 92 and 93 15 KNEEL FOR AN AVE S SPACE viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE 1 6 WHY MARRY HIM OF COURSE . . . . . . ... . 98 17 FINIS ET Io6 1 8 EXEUNT OMNES . . . . , . . . . . . . ,. . 112 THE HONOR OF THE CREOUY 19 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY Title FACING PAGE 20 DRAMATIS PERSONS 1 1 5 21 BY THE AFTERNOON MAIL I 3 22 WHAT SHALL I Do ? . . . . .144 23 WERE ALWAYS DOING THE MOST EXCITING THINGS . . . .158 24 OPENS THE WINDOW .... J 7 2 25 YOUR LOVER S LETTER . . l8 6 IN CLEON S GARDEN 26 IN CLEON S GARDEN Title FACING PAGE 27 DRAMATIS PERSONS 2O1 28 THINK OF THAT 2 8 29 THE DOVE THAT FLEW OVER THE WALL 216 30 ALWAYS GRIEVING 22 4 31 MR. TURTLE STAYS AT HOME Too 2 3 2 32 THE WATER-BEARERS 2 4 33 PARTHENIS 248 34 CLEA 256 35 TAKE YOUR SON .......... 264 MASQUES OF CUPID LPP - L GEORGE CARRINGTON, a banker. ALBERT FIELDING, an enterprising business man. JOE MITCHELL, on the Street. TOM CAREY, a graduate of the Harvard Law School. DODO FIELDING, wife of Albert. POLLY FIELDING, unmarried sister of Albert. Time, to-day. Place, New York City A SURPRISE PARTY Scene A bedroom. Gas turned down. Foils, masks, boxing- gloves, crops, and photographs of actresses on the walls. Left, a French window; centre, a door; right, a small bed and a wardrobe. Left centre, a toilet-table with chair before it. Right centre, an arm-chair. Enter from door centre DODO and POLLY in ball costume. POLLY Oh! Dodo, wasn t it a glorious dance! Do you suppose they ll all be like this one? DODO, turning up the gas and going to the toilet-table No, they will not. POLLY, seating herself in the arm-chair Why? DODO, removing her opera-cloak Because you can t always be just eighteen, and the others will not be your first balls. And then things will grow com plicated. POLLY How? Do tell me. 3 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO, going to the window Ugh! this room smells of tobacco-smoke. Do you mind if I open the window ? ( Turning and seeing POLLY comfortably settled in the arm-chair. ) You little wretch ! you re going to stay for a gossip, and you mustn t take cold. (Goes back to toilet-table and sits down. ) What a bad glass ! POLLY You won t find it luxurious here, camping out in brother Harry s quarters. DODO It s more luxurious than the prospect of turning out of my own room at seven o clock for the man who is coming to take up the carpet. Here, in this hermitage at the top of the house, I can sleep late undisturbed and dream of your triumphs. POLLY, making a military salute I feel like a recruit who is praised by a veteran; but my success is all due to your manoeuvres. DODO, taking off her gloves and putting a silk bag, containing keys, tablets, etc., on the table Fve had experience enough to give you a fair start. I didn t introduce you to any intellectuals, or to any men who understand only the theory of waltzing, did I? Generally, I 4 A SURPRISE PARTY hate chaperoning girls, because they always want to go home before I do. Apropos of girls, did you see that odious Minnie Anderson whom Harry is so crazy about? No? I wish that he had been there with us. She was flirting vigorously with Dr. What s-his-name, and looked very plain in an unbe coming gown. Dear Harry! how he would have enjoyed himself ! Well, all is for the best, for if he were here instead of lobbying in Washington, I couldn t borrow his room for to-night. POLLY, leaning back in her chair, thoughtfully Dodo, what was that you said about things growing com plicated at balls? DODO, impressively I meant that when you are really launched you can t enjoy yourself in a simple, natural way; you have lots of preoccu pations. For instance : if Arthur takes you home you give Reginald a flower ; if you sit out a waltz with Bobbie, you must sup with Charlie, and if you dance too often with Tom, there s trouble with Dick. It s a severe mental strain to be perfectly fair and to divide honors impartially. And then men say that we have no sense of justice ! POLLY, sighing Dear me! This is mathematics, and I thought it was fun. (Hopefully.) But then it won t be so hard for me, as I shall not be as popular as you are, Dodo. 5 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO, rising You are an angel butterfly! (Crosses to right; kisses POLLY.) Now flit, fold your wings and go to sleep. Off with you! POLLY, rising Please, please, just five minutes longer. Besides, I must tell you the adventure I had on the way to the ball, and I want to know what it was you said to Madame Lepic, and I m so hungry ! DODO You shall tell me your adventure later. First, let us go down to the kitchen and forage. (Stopping and shuddering.) Oh! Polly, if there should be cockroaches down there! POLLY Never mind; I m not very much afraid of them. It s said that if you don t run away, they will. DODO I never had the courage to make the experiment. I love animals, but I cannot extend my affection beyond quadru peds. Too many legs spoil the POLLY Don t begin to generalize before you tell me about Madame Lepic. 6 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO There s really nothing to tell. The horrid, old thing thinks she can insult us with impunity so long as she does it in broken English. She met me in the hall, and, after she had appraised me with a look, said, before everybody: "Ctiere madame, how fine you are zis evening! Will you permit one little critique? Is not your charming gown too young?" Naturally, I feebly defended myself: "Dear madame, how kind of you to give me the benefit of your experience! Will you permit me, in my turn, one little critique? In English we say a new gown, not a young gown. I ve always admired that gray one of yours. How pretty and durable it is! Thanks so much! Au revoir" That was all. POLLY Chere madame, will you permit me, in my turn, one little critique ? DODO Two, if you like. POLLY Was it worth while to answer her at all ? It isn t like you to be spiteful. DODO Right, as usual, little mentor! Killing flies is a poor busi ness. But I was cross. I hadn t heard from Albert for three MASQUES OF CUPID days. If he s not going to find time even to write to me, I might as well not be married at all. He s always travelling, always working, always starting some grand, new scheme, and never has a moment for me. He s an unknown quantity to most of my friends, and if he were not the kindest, dearest, most generous of men, he would be perfectly unbearable. POLLY I cannot hear him vilified ! Faint with hunger as I am, I must defend a brother s cause. You will admit that he allows you to go about with any quantity of other men and to flirt ad libitum. DODO That s because he has such absolute confidence in my discre tion. Ouf ! I m hungry, too. Talking hollows one. Bring the matches, and we ll eat up to-morrow s luncheon. POLLY, taking match-box from table You haven t shown any curiosity about my adventure. DODO At eighteen every incident is called by that name. I ll wager that it was a most commonplace occurrence. (Opens window on left.) While we are carousing, let s hope this smell of tobacco will go out the window. 8 A SURPRISE PARTY POLLY And nothing worse come in. (Exeunt) Enter by open window, with many precautions, GEORGE CARRINGTON. Evening dress, boutonniere, Pierrot costume over his arm. GEORGE I beg your pardon. Please don t be alarmed. I m not a burglar and I m not intoxicated. I m the victim of a witless practical joke, and (Looking around.) There s nobody here. I m in luck. I hope I don t look as much like a thief as I feel at the present moment. Well, at any rate I m not freezing to death on an icy roof, with pneumonia star ing me in the face. What fools boys are! Was I as silly only five years ago? I don t believe even then I would have thought it funny to lock a fellow out on a cold night with out an overcoat. Now, how am I to get out of this? To begin with, where am I? (Walks about the room.) Top floor of a private house, evidently; probably close to the ser vants quarters, who will howl if they discover me, and be too scared to listen to reason. Man s room, I devoutly hope. (Throws Pierrot costume on the foot of the bed.) Looks like a bachelor s. However, nowadays one never can tell. (Examining walls.) Sporty, rather; but then the new woman is inclined that way. (Picks up cigarette-case on the toilet- table.) Doesn t prove anything either, nowadays. Might just as well be a girl s. (Takes up a silver pocket ilask.) Empty. (Examines a revolver.) I should call this fine, 9 MASQUES OF CUPID rather than superfine. I d like to borrow it informally, in case my motives in entering the house should be misunder stood. But that s out of the question. I might as well empty it, though. Dangerous, this leaving loaded weapons about. (Empties the revolver and replaces it.) Br-r-r. (Shivers.) Wish that I could do as much with this. ( Touching the flask. ) Now, what s to be done? I must settle on some plan of campaign. I thought I was in luck when I saw that open French window and swung myself down by it off that arctic roof ; but now that I am in, the question is how am I to get out again. Shall I rouse the house? That proceeding seems awkward, and might lead to complications. Shall I wait here until some one comes in? That s supine, and it might be a woman, who would faint before I could explain. Napoleonic tactics are the best. I must get there before the enemy. I ll go quietly down-stairs, try the front door, which I shall prob ably be able to open from the inside; if not, then there remain the basement door and the back yard. It isn t difficult to get out of a house. I believe there are the makings of a strategist in me, after all. (Goes confidently out by door cen tre and returns hastily.) There are voices girls voices in the hall. (Listening at door centre.) They are coming up stairs. They ought to be in bed at this hour, anyhow. Women have no business to be so dissipated. They are com ing here to this room. I can t stay here. They ll be sure to have hysterics, and ring the burglar-alarm before I can say a word. What am I going to do? (Looks under bed.) Too low. (Looks out of window.) Too high. Ah, here! ( Opens wardrobe door, enters it, and continues speaking from the inside.) I ll w r ait until an opportune moment, and then be guided by circumstances. 10 A SURPRISE PARTY Enter DODO and POLLY POLLY I am going to bed in a moment. Are you sure that you won t be lonesome here? DODO, shutting the window No such luck, with the maids at one end of the hall and Symonds at the other. GEORGE, aside, from wardrobe Mv worst fears are realized! / POLLY And you re not afraid of burglars? I ve always thought that we had provided an easy and pleasant entrance for them by putting those French windows so close to the roof. GEORGE, aside That voice sounds strangely familiar. I wish I could get a glimpse of its proprietor. DODO Little goose ! Fancy a girl who isn t afraid of a six-legged cockroach being frightened at a mere biped ! Why, a burglar is only a man, after all. ii MASQUES OF CUPID GEORGE, aside This isn t going to be so hard. I ll wait until the cock- roach-queller flits, and then appear to the sensible young person. POLLY A desperate man is as dangerous as any insect. Dodo, have you ever thought what you would do if a burglar should ap pear ? Now, I should scream with all my might. GEORGE, aside I won t make my debut while she is here. DODO That would be foolish, as you would undoubtedly be shot or stabbed. What would /do? I have had half a dozen different methods. When I was young and silly and eigh teen, I didn t dare to look under the bed or in my closet, so I used to shut my eyes and shout: "Come out, you burglar! Don t linger; you re discovered!" POLLY What a heroic system! DODO Wasn t it? Now I should try moral suasion, and an ap peal to the self-interest of the burglar. 12 \ A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE, aside Better and better; this is growing interesting. POLLY Explain, for that sounds contradictory. DODO I should first beg him to be seated, and then I should begin by asking him a few questions very quietly and coolly. POLLY Ah ! I see. The Socratic method. Do you think he would understand it? DODO Certainly ; many burglars, and generally the most desperate characters, are college graduates. POLLY Which proves the advantage of possessing a university edu cation in any walk of life. Why don t they mention that fact in the college reports? DODO Don t be frivolous; leave that to your elders. Then I should proceed to practical considerations, and demonstrate 13 MASQUES OF CUPID to the burglar that as most of the wedding presents are stored at Tiffany s, and as we never keep ready money in the house, it would be a waste of time and effort for him to pursue his investigations further. GEORGE, aside What an admirable mind that woman has ! POLLY But if he proved deaf to the voice of reason, and began to confiscate your toilet silver? DODO Then I should scream. POLLY Then your method ends where mine begins. Why not scream first and argue afterwards? Frankly, I like my way best. DODO But as men are wicked only through ignorance, one ought to try moral suasion first; it s only fair to the burglar. GEORGE, aside What admirable sentiments! 14 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO Besides, a scream is the last argument of women. POLLY Is it? I thought tears DODO The new woman doesn t cry. It makes wrinkles. POLLY, sadly All these things are so difficult to live up to I almost wish that I were an old woman. DODO You ll be one fast enough if you sit up all night gossiping. It will be light in less than two hours. POLLY But, Dodo, I m improving my mind. Your conversation is so instructive. DODO Sycophant, away ! To bed, to bed, and don t dare to dream of your insignificant adventure. 15 MASQUES OF CUPID POLLY, rising No; I ll only dream of my knight-errant. Good night, lion-heart. May Heaven be kind and not send you an erudite burglar on whom to try your dialectics. DODO, kissing POLLY Good night, saucebox. Do you know I think the nicest thing Albert has ever given me is his little sister. POLLY, going Not his yours, Dodo. Good night. (Exit) DODO sits before toilet-table and takes the flowers out of her hair She s a dear. The only in-law relative that I have. What a lucky woman I am! Young and not hideous, fairly rich, and so happy! I m afraid something is going to happen. It isn t normal to have as good a time as I have. (Unfastens her necklace. ) If I had collar-bones like that Anderson girl s, I d wear a yoke. GEORGE, aside I ll make my appearance before the despoiling process goes any further. (Opens wardrobe door a little wider, and shuts it as DODO screams.) 16 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO, with a start and stifled shriek What s that! (Shivers, rises and opens centre door.} I thought I heard something move. I m absurdly nervous. I ll call Polly. (Shuts the door.) No, I won t be such a coward. And how she would tease me! (Returns to toilet-table, sits before it.) Talking about burglars has made me feel creepy. (Begins to take doivn her hair, and puts a hairpin in her mouth.) I have a strange, cold feeling in my back, as though there were some one behind me. How silly I am ! Not a mouse could hide here. The bed s too low ; there s only the wardrobe to explore, and of course there s nobody in that. (Takes off her rings.) It s a mere form, but I d better look in it. It s weak of me, but it will be comforting to be quite sure. (Rises, puts her hand on wardrobe door.) Why, I m in a panic! I don t dare to open it. How absurd ! I ll try my old formula. (Loudly.) Come out, you burglar! Don t linger; you re dis covered ! GEORGE, opening the wardrobe door I cannot disobey so imperative a command. (DODO slowly sinks to her knees and gasps.) Pray don t be frightened. I am not what I seem. Listen to me just a moment. (DODO sways and is about to fall. GEORGE props her up against the arm-chair and looks around.) What shall I do? What do they give women when they faint? Brandy. There isn t any. I remember cologne or salts. (Goes to toilet-table, takes up smelling-bottle, sees revolver.) I ll hide this before she rouses the servants. (Puts smelling-bottle in his pocket, returns to DODO, and presses the revolver to her nose.) This will re vive you. 17 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO, moaning Oh, don t disfigure me! Spare everything I have, and take my life no, I don t mean that. (Sinks on GEORGE S shoulder. ) GEORGE, aside What an ass I am! (Throws down the revolver and takes out the salts.) There, there, my dear lady, reassure yourself. I am not the burglar you take me for. DODO, opening her eyes No; you re one of the Harvard graduates the most des perate kind. GEORGE I plead guilty to that charge, but DODO, faintly trying to rise Where s my voice? I can t scream. GEORGE, assisting her Deeply as I sympathize with you, I cannot regret it. You mustn t scream yet; you haven t argued with me, or asked me any questions. Screaming first is Miss Polly s method, not yours. 18 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO, straightening herself up with feeble indignation I thought you were only a burglar; it seems that you are an eavesdropper. GEORGE I deny the first charge, and plead guilty to the second one. I dropped from the eaves of your house to the balcony, found that window open, and entered the room, hoping to leave it without alarming any one. DODO, starting You intended to chloroform us? GEORGE This is maddening! Look at me, please. Do I look like a criminal? DODO They re sometimes very gentlemanly in appearance. GEORGE Many thanks! Will you listen to me a moment? You will be perfectly safe. Have you a bell here which communi cates with your servant s room? Yes? Where is it? DODO There, by the head of the bed. 19 MASQUES OF CUPID GEORGE Please put your hand on it while I tell you my story. It won t be a long one. (DODO goes to the head of the bed and puts her finger on the electric bell.) Now you re not afraid? DODO No, not much. (Aside.) He s rather nice. GEORGE Good. I want to explain my intrusion on your privacy. I was supping, after the Arion ball, in the rooms of a man who lives in the apartment-house a few doors from here. DODO I know the Pandemonium. GEORGE Yes ; a nice, quiet house. The rooms grew very hot, and to cool our heads we went up on the roof. It occurred to the other men that it would be amusing to rush down and lock the trap-door, leaving me out in the cold. This pleasantry was accordingly perpetrated, and in twenty minutes I was so chilled that I grew desperate; jumped on your roof, noticed the balcony running along the front of the house, saw that there was a window open on it, and swung myself down by it into this room. I thought it would be an easy matter to 20 A SURPRISE PARTY apologize and to leave the house, and that I was a lucky man to have escaped pneumonia. Now I realize that I should have remained on the roof. DODO, coming towards him Why? GEORGE Because I have unfortunately frightened and annoyed you, and I cannot forgive myself for my thoughtlessness. DODO But I can. It wasn t your fault. It was I who was silly. It may be irrational of me, but I believe your story implicitly. You must be chilled through. (Goes to toilet-table and takes up flask. ) GEORGE It s empty. DODO Ah! GEORGE I didn t empty it, though worse luck ! DODO, noticing the revolver on the floor Oh, that s dangerous! GEORGE, picking it up and replacing it on the toilet-table That s empty, too. I did empty that. 21 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO, suspiciously Why? GEORGE Because I thought it prudent to do so. DODO And why did you hide when we came in? GEORGE I was afraid of alarming you, and did it impulsively, with out thinking. I intended to introduce myself at an opportune moment. DODO Concealment is always a mistake. Are you still cold? GEORGE Rather; but don t mind about me. DODO You ll be ill if you don t have something hot. GEORGE No, I won t. Never mind about that. The kindest thing you can do is to get me out of the house as soon as possible. 22 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO But you have no overcoat, and GEORGE My dear lady, can t you understand that I ought to go immediately; that at any moment your maids or your butler may wake, and misconstrue the motive of my presence here? DODO Reassure yourself. I will explain that you are not a burglar. GEORGE, aside She is very disconcerting. I feel like a prude, and the sensation is as unpleasant as it is novel. (Aloud.) Please believe that I appreciate your kindness, but you must know that for me to be found with you here, at this hour, alone, would be very compromising. DODO Why, of course it would! I never thought of that. You must go at once, and quietly. Take off your shoes. GEORGE Is that necessary? DODO Yes; the stairs creak. 23 MASQUES OF CUPID GEORGE Anything to oblige a lady. (Sits in arm-chair, right cen tre, and removes his shoes.) DODO How unselfish and considerate it was of you to think of the proprieties when you were so chilled and uncomfortable ! Wait a moment. (GEORGE rises, shoes in hand.) I ll recon noitre before we retreat. (Exit by centre door) GEORGE What a dear little woman ! Taking my shoes off has made me feel uncommonly mean, though. I wish that I were out of this. DODO, reentering There is some one on the stairs coming up. Who can it be ? GEORGE The devil ! I beg your pardon. DODO No ; it isn t. It s a man. It s probably Symonds, our but ler. (Listening.) He s coming here. 24 I U f N A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE What does he want? DODO How do I know? GEORGE He mustn t find me here. Servants have such evil minds. I ll go out on the balcony. DODO No; you shall not. You ll die of cold there. (Knock at the door.) Step into the wardrobe. (GEORGE resists.) Ah, do, to oblige me. It will only be for a moment. (A second knock.) Hurry, hurry! (Pushes GEORGE, still protesting, into the wardrobe.) Coming! (Shuts wardrobe door.) What is it, Symonds? (Opens door centre and screams.) Albert Fielding! What are you doing here? Enter ALBERT, in overcoat and Derby hat, stick, umbrella, and portmanteau in his hand ALBERT Trying to find my wife. What does this mean? Why are you up and dressed at this hour, and in this room? What s the matter? Has anything happened ? Why are you so pale ? Are you ill? Say something. 25 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO, irately 111 ? Of course I m ill ! You have frightened me to death. I thought you were a butler a burglar, I mean. What right have you to come home so unexpectedly, after not writing to me for three days? ALBERT I finished my business sooner than I had expected, and took the nine-o clock express, thinking I would surprise you and I think I have. DODO You ought to know by this time that an agreeable surprise is as rare as a black swan. Why didn t you telegraph ? ALBERT I should have done so if I had known what a torrid wel come to expect. Perhaps next time you d like to have me send a herald on horseback to announce my arrival? GEORGE, aside, from the wardrobe Poor fellow! I pity him. DODO, throwing herself into the arm-chair and whimpering Oh! Allie, don t be cross with me! You startled me so. 26 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT, putting off his overcoat and patting her on the shoulder Poor little girl! Did I frighten her, and did I make her cross ? DODO No; but it isn t considerate to creep into a house in the small hours and suddenly appear. ALBERT bends over her. She turns her head away I acknowledge my transgression, and you will keep my sin ever before me. But apparently my arrival is not inoppor tune; I find you up and in full dress. (Suspiciously.) What are you doing here at this hour? Tell me! DODO, aside Now for it! How can I introduce them? I can t now; I must temporize. (Aloud.) I got home late from a dance, and as I couldn t sleep I have been sitting here reading. ALBERT Reading ? What ? It must have been a very naughty book, as you have hidden it. DODO Did I say reading? I meant thinking. 27 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT I wouldn t do it any more. It spoils your complexion. DODO, aside What does he mean? Why do I feel so guilty? and how can I produce that man while Allie is in one of his suspicious moods ? ALBERT Why are you in Harry s room? DODO Because mine is to be cleaned early to-morrow no, this morning; and I wanted to sleep late, undisturbed. I m dread fully tired. Is the cross-examination over? ALBERT, aside All this seems very strange. (Aloud.) What s the matter with you? (Taking DODO S hand.) You re trembling. DODO With cold, dear; only with cold. ALBERT, turning toward wardrobe Let me get you a wrap. 28 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO No, no; I don t want anything. It s only a nervous chill. (Putting herself in front of the wardrobe.) I can t wear Harry s things; they would crush my gown; it s a new one. Admire it, please. ALBERT Well, I like the lining and the sleeves; but you will take cold. (Sees Pierrot costume on bed and brings it to DODO.) Put this on. (Examining it.) Was your dance a domino party ? GEORGE, aside, opening the wardrobe door Shall I come out and claim my property? (DODO waves him back in terror.) She is badly frightened, and I feel well, as a man does who is hiding in a wardrobe with his shoes off. There have been moments in my life when I have been easier in my mind. DODO, aside What shall I say? (Aloud.) How curious you are to night! That belongs to Harry; he had it made for a Shrove Tuesday frolic. (Aside.) What will that man in the ward robe think of me? I can t keep account of the fibs I have told in the last five minutes; and how am I going to present him to Allie? (Aloud.) No; I won t put it on. I m warm now, and it smells of tobacco. 29 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT Just as you please. ( Throws the costume on the bed again; a card and handkerchief drop from the pocket as he does so. He picks them up and reads card.) "George Carrington." (Examines handkerchief.) "G. C." Curious things to find in Harry s pockets, are they not? (Looks hard at her.) DODO Oh, I don t know; one is always collecting other people s cards and handkerchiefs, especially at a carnival party. (Aside.) What is the next trial that Heaven reserves for me? If I could only get him out of the room! ALBERT What have you been doing while I have been away? DODO Longing for you to come back, most of the time. Allie, don t you want to ask the other questions down-stairs? You must be hungry and tired. ALBERT No ; I am not. I slept and ate on the train. I would rather sit here with you than do anything else. (Sits in arm-chair.) Come here, Dodo. Do you realize that it is eight weeks since I have seen you? 30 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO, with a glance of agony towards the wardrobe No, no; I m too heavy and you are too tired. Besides, it s absurd for old people to be sentimental. I m very well here. ( Takes a chair opposite him. ) What shall we talk about ? ALBERT Just what you like. It doesn t matter much what you say. The main point is that you are here, that I am with you, that the two long months are over. (Leans forward and takes both her hands.) DODO, visibly embarrassed It s very sweet of you to care so much. Now, stop cooing, and tell me all the great and good things you have done in these two months. ALBERT My affairs don t interest me at present. What have you to tell me? I have a presentiment that you have something important to break to me. Have you been getting into trou ble, flirting too much? Courage! Confess. You know I m not jealous. DODO I haven t; indeed, I haven t. I can t understand what should make you think so. I wish you d come down-stairs. It s so much cozier there. MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT How anxious you seem to decoy me out of this room ! (Aside.) There s some mystery here. (Aloud.) No, I pre fer to stay here. Down-stairs we should wake Polly, and in half an hour the carpet-cleaner will arrive. DODO That is true; morning is almost here. (Aside.) What shall I do? Fool not to have told him at once! Now the opportune moment, if there ever was one, is gone forever. GEORGE,, putting his head out of the wardrobe Does she contemplate passing me off as the carpet-man? I feel meek and lowly enough in spirit to be one, but my make up won t suit the role. (DODO motions him back.) My cue hasn t come yet, evidently. (Disappears.) ALBERT Do you realize that we are rarely together, Dodo? I am so absorbed in my business, and you are so seldom at home, that we don t have much of each other s society. I have been feeling a little left out of your life lately. Everybody tells me that I have a charming wife, but she s hardly mine at all, and I m afraid I resent your friends and admirers monopoly of you. 32 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO, aside This is opportune! It s only to me that such things happen. It s growing harder and harder every moment. (Aloud.) You dear boy! You have been coming to a con clusion that I reached long ago. I am not clever enough to take part in your life; but why shouldn t you share my plea sures and occupations? ALBERT Why not, indeed, if they would really please or occupy me? Let me see; what are you going to do to-morrow? DODO Nothing to speak of. (Taking tablets out of bag on table.) At nine o clock, manicure; at half after nine to ten. sewing- class to provide ALBERT Buttons for the husband of the new woman? DODO No; the new man uses studs garments for the destitute. ALBERT Oh, I remember that society, and the old man who refused to wear the aforesaid garments, saying that he might be poor, but, thank God! he wasn t deformed. 33 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO But, Allie. we don t sew them ourselves any longer; we pay poor women to make them. ALBERT And do you also pay poor men to wear them ? DODO You re impossible! From ten to eleven o clock, lecture on the Great Universal Seven-skinned Mother-father, by the Swami Humbugander, at Mrs. Hawtrey s; eleven to twelve, skirt-dancing lessons here; twelve to two, cooking-school and luncheon. ALBERT I hope that you are allowing plenty of time for the diges tion of the cooking-school luncheon. DODO We don t eat the things we cook ; we give them to the poor. ALBERT Well, if you do, the poor ye will not have always with you. I never knew what the League for the Abolition of Poverty meant before. 34 A SURPRISE PARTY DODO, reading Two to four, try on hats at Louise s; four to four and a half, lesson on the great principles of the American Consti tution and the method of their application to ward politics, at the Woman s League for the Diffusion of the Knowledge of Existing Methods of Political Procedure. ALBERT Only half an hour for that? Then you must omit nam ing the association at your meeting. DODO Don t be critical; it doesn t suit your type. (Consulting tablets.) Then, from four and a half to seven there are visits and teas, dinner, and the opera. GEORGE, aside, opening wardrobe door Is she going to keep us both here while she reads that diary through? Why didn t she choose a shorter one Pepys s, for instance ? ( Disappears. ) DODO Now, don t you think that if you left business and amused yourself with me for a few days it would refresh you? 35 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT Yes, no doubt, if I could take the rest-cure afterwards. (Taking the tablets.) I am sorry, dear, but, with the excep tion of the skirt-dance and the manicure, your programme doesn t tempt me. GEORGE, aside, opening the wardrobe door Why doesn t she tell him that there are half a dozen down stairs, and get him out of the room? (Disappears.) DODO The manicure is a dear old lady, and I m sorry that I can t ask men to the dancing class, for it s Mrs. Plumply Bant ing s turn to do a pas seul to-day. ALBERT grimaces DODO But don t you care for the Swami s lecture and the politi cal lesson? ALBERT Swami no Swamis, Dodo; and remember that in politics I am like the Dutch judge who said that he never heard both sides of a case because it mixed him up so. 36 WARDROBE DOOR A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE, aside, opening wardrobe door That sounds promising, and exceeds my fondest hopes. (Disappears.} DODO But you might go with me to Louise s. ALBERT No, my dear; that would mean financial ruin. You would look so charming in every hat you tried on that I should have to buy them all. DODO You desert me, as usual. I shall no longer call you Allie, but Alibi. ALBERT Ah, how clever you are! I already perceive the effect of the study of ward politics. DODO Well ! if husbands will give their whole time and strength to piling up money, wives must ALBERT Invent new ways to spend it, of course. Come, dear girl, don t let us quarrel. If I can t find time to study skirt-danc- 37 MASQUES OF CUPID ing with you, or learn the principles of ward politics as ap plied to the American Constitution, I give you these oppor tunities to become learned and agile. Somebody has to pay for the lessons. As husbands go, I am not a bad specimen at least, you can t accuse me of jealousy. By the way, how are they? DODO Whom do you mean by they? ALBERT Why, the Pretorian Guard, the devotees, the victims, the Sacred Legion of your adorers. No quarrels among them? No questions of precedence? GEORGE, aside, opening ivardrobe door Saint Venus! She s a flirt. We re lost! DODO Not yet. They, like the citizens of this glorious Republic, enjoy equal rights and no privileges. ALBERT You are quite sure that there is no sign of an approaching dictatorship ? DODO Quite. 38 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT Dear, if you ever let one of those fellows get ahead of the others DODO There will be a revolution and an absolute monarch. An Emperor Alibius. Ah! dear, you tempt me to be imprudent. But a despot has to stay at home to tyrannize. He can t be always running to El Dorado gold-grabbing. ALBERT Apropos of gold-grabbing, I have a glorious scheme on hand, known only to three other men and myself. Sit down, dear, and let me tell you about it. Remember it is a secret, and if any of those fellows on the Street should get hold of it (Movement in the wardrobe.) GEORGE, aside, from wardrobe The psychological moment has arrived! DODO Hush! Don t speak so loud. ALBERT Why? Who can hear us in this room, at this hour? Why do you stop me? 39 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO, Hurried Since the invention of the X-rays I never feel really alone. Don t tell me your secrets, dear. Indeed, I don t think I can understand them. ALBERT Oh, yes; you can understand this one perfectly a driv elling idiot could. You ve heard of the pearls they ve been finding in Arizona DODO, throwing her arms about his neck and kissing him And you have brought me some! You darling! ALBERT Hm ! no, I haven t. I got that kiss under false pretences. You ll have to take it back again. You see, in surveying on the shore of the lakes where they were found GEORGE opens wardrobe door. DODO motions him back Hang it ! If I weren t afraid of getting her into trouble (Disappears.) DODO, rising and putting her hand over ALBERT S lips Never mind, dear, I don t want you to tell me. Without meaning to, I should be sure to let it out. I talk in my sleep sometimes. 40 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT But you seldom go to church, so there s no danger. DODO No; but I attend lectures. ALBERT Where the Swami does all the talking. DODO That s the reason I always go to sleep. Don t, dear, tell me anything more. ALBERT You seem uneasy, not to say frightened. DODO I ? Why, what an idea ! I am only too tired and too stu pid to understand anything to-night. I danced every dance, you know, and I am dying of sheer fatigue. ALBERT That s my usual conge. I know the formula. Shall I un lace your gown? MASQUES OF CUPID DODO Oh, no, thank you; I can do it myself quite well. Please, I d much rather you wouldn t. Go do go! (Pushes him gently towards the door.) ALBERT I ll be hanged if I will until I solve this mystery. I ll go when you re quite comfy. Let me get you a dressing-gown. (Goes towards wardrobe.) DODO, running in front of him No, no ; I don t want one ! There isn t anything there that belongs to me. ALBERT Are you quite sure ? You may have put something in there in a hurry, you know. DODO shakes her head ALBERT Sometimes even a clever woman makes a mistake. DODO And sometimes a suspicious man does. 42 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT I think I am almost sure that there is something there which ought to come out now. DODO, putting her hand on his arm Allie, if you open that door, I shall faint. There are rats in that closet. For Heaven s sake, don t let them out! Do you want to kill me? ALBERT, throwing her off and seizing a foil from the zvall No; but I am going to kill the rat. DODO screams. ALBERT tries to open the zvardrobe door, which is thrown back in his face Enter GEORGE, shod in red bath-slippers, the lid of a hat-box on one arm, and a cane in his right hand GEORGE, placing himself in an attitude of defense and using the hat-box cover as a shield I have an apology to make to you, sir. ALBERT, fiercely Any apology will be insufficient, sir. 43 MASQUES OF CUPID GEORGE, still in a fighting attitude I insist upon giving you an explanation of my presence here, and in justice to this lady ALBERT We will leave her out of the conversation, if you please. As for your explanation, I think that I am already familiar with it. Explanations given under certain circumstances have a strong family likeness. It is what follows the explanation that interests me. GEORGE If you are going to take it in that way, I am at your ser vice. But you shall hear me first. ALBERT What is the use of wasting time. I know your story it s the usual one. I ll tell it to you, if you insist upon it. GEORGE Do so, then; but remember that my patience is not inex haustible, and that if some one beside myself were not impli cated ALBERT I ll try, then. (GEORGE and ALBERT lower their weapons.) You dined too well, of course. 44 A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE Pardon me, I supped with a bachelor friend. ALBERT This is an unimportant detail. To continue : a trifle ex hilarated, you mistook my house for yours, and by a strange coincidence, which is also an every-day occurrence, your latch key fitted my house-door, and you came up to this room, under the impression that it was yours. GEORGE I don t see the use of all this. Either you believe me, or you don t. What do you propose to do about it? ALBERT Don t interrupt; we ll come to that soon enough. GEORGE But I will interrupt. You ve had the floor the whole even ing, while I have been stifling in that stuffy wardrobe, hoping you d tire of talking and go, and now you want to impose your conventional version of my adventures on me. It won t do ; mine is the romantic, rather than the classical explanation. I was exhilarated, but I entered your house by the window on that balcony to avoid freezing on my friend s roof. (Aside.) Sounds unlikely; can t blame him if he doesn t believe it. 45 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT And you found GEORGE The room empty. Before I had time to leave it ALBERT A lady entered. GEORGE Wrong again. Two ladies. ALBERT I see you go me one better every time. What did you do then ? GEORGE I was in a panic myself, for fear of frightening them. ALBERT And, out of chivalrous consideration, you concealed your self in the wardrobe. GEORGE Yes. ALBERT Where you hoped to remain hidden until an opportune mo ment for 46 A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE Exactly. DODO Why, this is wonderful. I never knew before that you were a mind-reader. GEORGE A remarkable case of telepathy! Seer as you are, I wish you could realize that though this house, this cane, and pos sibly these slippers are yours, this story is mine, and I protest ALBERT Let us get on with it, then, for God s sake! While you were sneak hidden one of the ladies left the room. DODO Allie, why have you concealed this wonderful gift from me all these years? You would make a fortune with it. ALBERT Oh, I am the luckiest of men ! GEORGE And I am the most unfortunate. 47 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT And while you were giving Mrs. Fielding an elaborate ac count of your adventures GEORGE Your footsteps were heard, you knocked at the door, and, fearing that you were of a jealous and suspicious nature, I very weakly consented to hide myself again, to spare this lady an unpleasant scene. To my profound regret, I have been unable to do so, and I offer her my humble excuses for the trouble and anxiety I have given her. ALBERT A very ingenious story ! In my place, would you believe it ? GEORGE In your place, I should believe her. ALBERT This is a sceptical age! DODO Allie, I assure you it s quite true. GEORGE On my honor as a gentleman, it is true, and I am prepared to maintain its truth at any cost. 48 "A PS / V:. A SURPRISE PARTY DODO, shaking hands with GEORGE You re a fine fellow, even if you have made a lot of trouble in this family. ALBERT, hesitating Suppose you present me to your chivalrous friend. DODO I don t know his name. GEORGE, going to bed, dropping cane and hat-box cover, and picking up Pierrot costume, from the pocket of which he takes out a card Permit me. (Hands card to ALBERT.) It s so awkward introducing one s self, you know. ALBERT Not so awkward as some other things. (Reads.) "George Carrington." I ve seen that name before. (Aside.) What an unholy mess this is. And what am I to believe? And what ought I to do? He seems a gentleman, and I can t think that my Dodo and yet, that ridiculous story is too improbable. POLLY, knocking on door centre and calling outside Dodo, Dodo, wake up! Let me in. I am so frightened! I am going to faint. Quick, quick, open the door ! 49 MASQUES OF CUPID DODO Heavens! What is the matter now? Here s Polly fright ened to death, and I must let her in, and she ought not to find you here. She s had a nightmare, I suppose. I told her not to eat that Newburg. Oh, please hide yourselves do; she may be in her POLLY, outside Dodo, Dodo, let me in before we re murdered! Hurry! Hurry ! DODO Hide hide yourselves. I can t have her find you here. I won t be humiliated before Polly. ALBERT And I won t hide in that confounded wardrobe to please any body. GEORGE Nor will I. That piece of furniture has made trouble enough in this domestic circle already. DODO Then I must. I haven t the courage to go through another scene. (ALBERT detains her.) 50 A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE What a nuisance I am! I am willing to do anything to atone for my thoughtlessness. ALBERT Sh! Sh! (Sternly.) Dodo, open that door. (DODO obeys.) Enter POLLY in a dressing-gown, with her hair loose POLLY, clutching DODO Dodo, the maids say that there are burglars walking on the roof and trying the trap-door. They heard them distinctly, and came to tell me. We ll be murdered, and my birthday presents stolen. If brother Albert were only here, or that (Sees ALBERT and GEORGE, starts and gasps.) Albert why how ? Mr. Carrington how came you here ? ALBERT That s what we ve all been asking him. GEORGE It will hardly be worth your while to listen to my excuses ; they did not satisfy your brother. MASQUES OF CUPID POLLY, warmly I am sure that Mr. Carrington is incapable of doing any thing that requires an apology, though he may be courteous and modest enough to offer one where none is demanded. ALBERT Softly, softly, Polly! It seems you know this gentleman, and have the advantage of Mrs. Fielding, to whom I found him making an unseasonable and unexpected visit. POLLY Then I am to blame, for I asked him to come. ALBERT Are you awake? Do you know what you are saying? This visit was intended for you? POLLY Yes ; I asked him to call to-night. ALBERT Polly! POLLY I asked him to call to-night no, to-night I asked him to call. 52 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT When and where did you make his acquaintance? POLLY This evening, in the street. But why are we chatting here, when the burglars are perhaps entering the house, and we may be sent to our Maker inside of five minutes? ALBERT She s right. Mr. Carrington, load that revolver, and stand by the window, please. Polly, turn down the gas. (POLLY does so.) I ll watch the trap-door. They can t enter from the roof in any other way. ( Takes up foil and opens the door centre. GEORGE loads revolver, and POLLY sinks into the arm chair. ) DODO, running to ALBERT and putting her hand on his arm Come away; you ll be shot! ALBERT, coldly, removing her hand ceremoniously Don t be alarmed. I think the servants have been dream ing. None but honest folk would make noise enough to wake them. I m more interested in something else at present. (DODO, repulsed, looks haughtily at him and returns to left centre.) Now, Polly, you are perfectly safe. Stay where you are, and answer my questions. You met Mr. Carring ton this evening? 53 MASQUES OF CUPID POLLY, rising and going to centre Yes. GEORGE And I was afraid that I was never going to find you again. POLLY So was I, and I was racking my brains to think of some way of letting you know my address. It was stupid of me to forget when I asked you to come and let my sister thank you for your assistance. (Mischievously.) Frankly, I con templated a "personal," and composed one before I went to sleep. DODO, aside Little fox! GEORGE, aside Angel ! ALBERT, aside Guileless, innocent dove ! How little does the best business man understand women least of all, the women of his own family ! GEORGE A "personal" ? Let me hear it. POLLY I m not a born writer, and I haven t studied the "personal" style, but of course I knew that it should be terse, shouldn t it? 54 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT At thirty cents a word, one is perforce laconic. GEORGE, rapturously Do try to recall it ! POLLY It was rather neat for a beginner. Let me see. (Reciting mechanically.) If the hand young gentleman who extri cated a lady from a damaged cab last evening, at Fifty-sixth Street and Fifth Avenue, will call at Twenty East Thirty- sixth Street he will be warmly welcomed. GEORGE I have been so beyond my fondest anticipations. (To POLLY. ) How sweet of you to be so grateful for a slight ser vice, which gave me such pleasure to render you! And you were really going to send this notice? POLLY No; on reflection, I decided not to do so. ALBERT, with a sigh of relief Ah! GEORGE Why? 55 MASQUES OF CUPID POLLY Because I remembered that "personals" were rarely written by nice people, and I didn t want to frighten you away. ALBERT You misjudged him, my dear; he is a man of iron nerve. GEORGE I should never be courageous enough to decline such an invitation. POLLY But, tell me, how did you find out where we lived? And why did you come at such a strange hour? ALBERT That is a family query, Polly. Your friend has already answered it. Now, suppose you stop looking at him a mo ment, and answer a few questions in your turn. Where did you meet Mr. Carrington? POLLY Don t be severe, Allie. You can t be too nice to Mr. Car rington. He has put us all under obligations to him. 56 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT, ironically He has. POLLY You see, Albert, I went first to a "Rosebud" dinner, and was going with my maid in a cab to meet Dodo at the dance, when, at the corner of Fifty-sixth Street, we crashed into a hansom, and something I think it was a wheel fell off, and so did our cabman. Parkins and I climbed out, while he and the hansom man were discussing the accident. Just as we col lided, a man Mr. Carrington jumped from the hansom, ran up to us to know if we were hurt, and insisted on our taking his cab, which was uninjured. He followed us on foot to the Maplesons , and when he helped us out at their door I asked him to call on you (turning to DODO) and let you thank him, and he gave me his card. But somehow, though we chatted until Parkins reminded me that it was growing late, I forgot to tell him our address. Parkins said afterwards that it didn t matter, as she was sure that we would know each other again by sight, which was silly of her, because what good would that do ? ALBERT And that is all ? POLLY That s what Dodo said when I told her. (Glancing at win dow.) Ah, there they are! I had forgotten about them. Save us! Save us! (Rushes into GEORGE S arms. DODO clings to ALBERT S arm.) 57 MASQUES OF CUPID Two -figures appear outside the window GEORGE, pushing DODO and POLLY into the wardrobe, return ing to window, and pointing revolver at figures outside Stand and deliver! no, I oughtn t to say that. Clear out, or I ll fire! Scatter, before I count three. One (Discovers that the supposed house-breakers arc JOE MITCHELL and TOM CAREY.) What are you doing here, boys? Wasn t it enough to have got me into an infernal mess with your primitive ideas of humor, but you must frighten other people to death as well ? Be off, or I ll fire ! The joke s on you this time. ALBERT, joining GEORGE at window and throwing down his foil These gentlemen are friends of yours? GEORGE nods It is not the first time this evening that I have regretted the fact that they are. ALBERT Pray invite them in. I am growing accustomed to this sort of thing. We seem to be having a morning reception. Per haps they, too, have had a special invitation from some mem ber of the family. (Opens the window.) Pray come in, gen tlemen. I suppose you are giving me a surprise party to celebrate my unexpected return home. You re welcome. Pray make yourselves thoroughly comfortable. 58 A SURPRISE PARTY Enter TOM and JOE TOM and JOE, together We owe you an apology, sir; but no doubt Mr. Carrington has already explained everything. ALBERT No; we have been too busy since his arrival. Perhaps you will be good enough JOE Why, you don t mean to say that you and old George have been hobnobbing here for over an hour, and he hasn t told you the good one we got in on him? What have you been talk ing about? TOM, taking off his cap You are a cool hand. You find a strange man meandering over your ranch, and don t find out how he got in. The Klondike isn t in it with you. And then they say that taking fliers on the Street breaks up a man s nerves. ALBERT You have the advantage of me. TOM I think not. I m your friend Carey s younger brother. 59 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT The deuce you are ! Now what are you here for ? ( Aside. ) No wonder I didn t remember the cub; it s grown. TOM, mischievously Well, as Mr. Carrington here is too much of a man of the world to feel embarrassed or to offer an explanation under any circumstances, I suppose that a simple person like myself must do it for him. Superior people are apt to need some one to go about with them to enable them to remain superior. GEORGE Never mind commentary. Give us the text. TOM We were having a little supper, after the Arion ball, in Joe s rooms at the Pandemonium, when George said something, in his high and mighty way, about a man of the world never being at a loss in any situation. We naturally disagreed with him. Later, when the rooms grew stuffy, we went up on the roof to cool our heads, and George, who had been rather pensive and abstemious all the evening, wandered off unso- ciably by himself. JOE You see, he had just had an adventure. 60 A SURPRISE PARTY ALBERT At the Arion ball? (Looks apprehensively at the ward robe.) GEORGE I say, can t you let that alone? JOE No; before the ball. It spoiled his evening. A lovely un known had her cab smashed, and George gave her his, dogged her to her party, and then joined us, hard hit and very much down in the mouth. GEORGE Hush, Joe ! You know I refused to discuss the lady. JOE Y es; that was the ominous feature of the case. TOM When you have finished adding these irrelevant details, I ll go on with my story. JOE We re only supplying the human interest to your bald nar rative. 61 MASQUES OF CUPID TOM To continue for I shall finish my tale if I have to hold you both down. ALBERT Please go on. I am serious enough, in all conscience. TOM We thought it would be fun to leave the man of the world, who could so easily master any situation, out on the roof, to see how r he would get down to terra firma. So we piled in suddenly, locked the trap-door, and left George alone with the night and his worldly wisdom. Then we began to play poker and got interested, and it was half an hour before we went up to look for him, to see what kind of a ladder he had made of his savoir faire. Naturally, we didn t find him, and, after we had looked behind every chimney and tried every door, we noticed this convenient balcony, jumped down on it, and here we are. ALBERT And you are very welcome. (Goes to GEORGE and offers him his hand.) Mr. Carrington, I owe you an apology. GEORGE Don t mention it. I know how absurd my story seemed. It sounded incredible to me while I was telling it. I could 62 A SURPRISE PARTY never forgive myself for entering your house by the window if I did not hope to prove myself worthy of reentering it by the door. ALBERT And now, as talking is thirsty work, and we ve all done our share of it, come down-stairs and have something. ALL We will. JOE, aside to TOM He seemed a trifle stiff at first, but he s the right sort, isn t he? TOM Sure. DODO, emerging from the wardrobe with dignity Mr. Fielding, present your new friends to me. ALBERT, aside It s her turn now. Expiation looms before me. (Aloud.) Mrs. Fielding, may I present Mr. Carey and Mr. Mitchell? DODO Charmed, I m sure. There s nothing so nice as an im promptu party. You were on your way to the dining-room. I ll go with you, and make you a rarebit. I make them rather well. 63 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT, aside How sweetly she s taking it. (Aloud.) There isn t any thing indigestible that my wife cannot and does not make. DODO And dishes that can be eaten with perfect impunity at the club are so apt to disagree with husbands when partaken of in the sanctity of home. ALBERT, aside I am not so sure, after all, that she has forgiven me. DODO Dear Mr. Carrington, may I borrow your costume? GEORGE It, like its owner, is entirely at your service. DODO Always the knight-errant. (Takes Pierrot costume and hands it through wardrobe door to POLLY.) LBERT, aside to DODO Now we ll get out of the way and give Sis a chance. A SURPRISE PARTY GEORGE Can t I see Miss Fielding for a moment? DODO What do you think I borrowed your costume for? ALBERT Dodo, will you ever forgive me? DODO Ever is a long time, and I pity you too much not to forgive you now. ALBERT Darling ! DODO Do not misunderstand me. I forgive you because all ten der feeling for you is dead annihilated by the baseness of your conduct this evening. Enter POLLY in the Pierrot costume, from the wardrobe POLLY Please, may I come to the party too? Mr. Carrington, pre sent your old friends to me. We all talk alike in this family, don t we? GEORGE presents TOM and JOE to her 65 MASQUES OF CUPID ALBERT You must not say such things to me, even in jest. DODO Jesting is out of the question. I am too outraged by your insulting suspicions to be able to realize anything but the in dignities you have heaped upon me. ALBERT But, Dodo, I had every excuse for my suspicions. Appear ances were against you. Could I distrust the evidence of my senses ? DODO The man who trusts the evidence of his senses rather than his wife s word, is unworthy the name of of ALBERT Of what? DODO Of husband, even. O Allie, how could you think so meanly of me ? And how unreasonable of you to balance appearances, a little circumstantial evidence, against your knowledge of my character ! It is too bad ; you have broken my heart. ALBERT What can I say, except that I am sorry? Indeed, I am; and ready to eat any amount of humble pie. 66 A SURPRISE PARTY POLLY What are we waiting for? JOE Our hostess. I think Mr. Fielding is telling her our little joke on George. GEORGE, aside I fancy, from his expression, that he is rinding out how pleasant and easy it is to offer an explanation to an incredulous auditor. (To POLLY.) Don t interrupt them; talk to me. (Aside.) He needs a little more punishment. POLLY No; I have done so too much already. Come and help me get supper. (To JOE and TOM.) There s a call for volunteers. (Exeunt) DODO You can t say anything. If you could only unsay the mean, unmanly things you have said, it might be worth while. It is easy to forgive you, but I cannot forget that I have seen you whom I always thought generous and brave suspicious, petty, spiteful. If you had tried to kill Mr. Carrington or me, I could have understood and sympathized with you; but to MASQUES OF CUPID lash me with sarcasms, to stab him with sharp words it wasn t nice, it wasn t nice. You are not the person I thought you were. You are a stranger to me. ALBERT Try to put yourself in my place. Think over the situation, and the inference one would naturally draw from it. DODO Where were your intuitions? ALBERT I haven t any. I m only a poor, dull man, who has to de pend on his reason as a means of arriving at the truth. DODO And you see how infallible it is ! No, Mr. Fielding, your paltry reasons are plausible enough to convince any man, no doubt, but they cannot heal the incurable wounds those cruel words of yours have ALBERT Stop, Dodo, stop! (With emotion.) You call me cruel. Do you know what I have suffered in this last hour? Have you no imagination, that you cannot realize how suspicion, rage, and jealousy tear the heart they enter? Think what it is to try to be calm and reasonable with a red mist before 68 A SURPRISE PARTY your eyes. Try to imagine how a man feels who is stabbed by the hand he loves best, and then call me cruel if you dare ! DODO Allie, Allie, forgive me ! How dull I have been ! My poor boy! No; I did not understand I, who am so proud of my intuitions. ALBERT What a brute I am ! I have made you cry. DODO No; I m the brute. I ve made you suffer. Do you really love me so much as that? ALBERT Oh, that isn t anything. I love you enough to eat the rare bit you re going to make for us, and quite enough to make me regret that I am "a mere stranger" to you. DODO No ; now we are really becoming acquainted, and when you have played a little with me and I have worked with you, when you take me on some of your tiresome trips and tell me the things that worry you, then we shall become friends. ALBERT Very well. It s a bargain. May a new acquaintance seal it thus? (Kisses her hand.) MASQUES OF CUPID Enter POLLY and GEORGE POLLY Just look at that foolish old couple! (To DODO.) Come, turtles, those men are looking for the corkscrew, and the cheese is ready. DODO Come, children. (Exeunt omnes) Enter GEORGE GEORGE, turning to window Oh, blessed window, by which I entered Paradise! (Exit) Enter DODO DODO, going to wardrobe and patting it You dear old thing! I ll have you gilded all over. Com ing coming directly ! 70 DENIS DE BEAULIEU, a young captain. ALAIN DE MALETRorr, 1 the head of the house of Maletroit. HUGH BONTEMPS, man-at-arms in the service of the Sire de Maletroit. FATHER DOMINIC, a priest. BLANCHE DE MALETROIT, niece of Alain. Time, 1429. Place, Chateau Landon, France. i This play, with the permission of Mrs. Stevenson, is founded on the short story entitled, "The Sire de Matetroit s Door," by Robert Louis Stevenson. THE LESSER EVIL Scene The hall of a mediaeval town house. Centre, an open door studded with nails and ornamented with wrought-iron hinges. Right, a stand of arms, a shrine with tapers and flowers, and a lamp hanging before it. Right wall, a carved door, a chim- ney piece with a shield of arms above it, a fire burning on the hearth, and a deeply embrasured window with leaded case ments. Left centre, a credence with silver beakers and trenchers. Left wall, a low stairway leading up to a doorway hung with arras, a bench with cushions at its back. Left centre, an arm chair with a canopy over it, and a small table with a silver goblet on it. Right centre, a couple of wooden stools. No light but that of the fire and the shrine lamp. As the curtain rises the sound of stamping and shouting is heard without. ALAIN DE MALETROIT, seated in the arm-chair Ah-h! (Chuckles.) The fracas increases, swords rattle and clash, a heavy body rings on the pavement outside, the door is pushed open, and enter backzvards, sword in hand, still thrusting against his as- 73 MASQUES OF CUPID sailants, DENIS DE BEAULIEU. He staggers as though the door had yielded unexpectedly behind him. As it swings open a glimpse of a moon-lighted Gothic porch and a group of strug gling men-at-arms, their torches tossing to and fro, is seen outside. Then the door swings to again with a dull, clanging noise. DENIS Saved not too soon. (Listens. Cries outside: "Come out and taste our steel again!" "Come back, cockerel!" "Curse him!" "The devil ny away with him!" Blows shake the door.) I m breathed! (Leans against the door and pants.) I m scratched, too. (Wipes his sword on his handkerchief and bandages a cut on his wrist with it, fastening the knot with his teeth and right hand.) They are dragging him away! (The beating on the door ceases.) We ve made the devil of a mess on the porch steps. (Looks around, sheathes his sword and kneels a moment at the shrine; crosses himself. The noises outside grow fainter, and the footsteps retreat in the distance.) Those gentlemen are in too high a humor to be long delayed. I 11 wait here ; six to one is over much for me. (Listens again.) They are gone. (Peers through the darkness.) How dark it is! (Fumbles at the door.) I 11 venture out now. (Runs his hands over the door, feels the edges of it, passes his fingers over the nails, and handles the hinges.) What! no sign of a lock, no latch; not even a keyhole. What ails the door! (Shakes it violently.) I can t open it. (Throws himself against it.) I might as well push at a town gate ! ( Whistles. ) I m trapped. Oh, for a light! (Gropes his way to the shrine, lights one of the tapers by the name of the lamp, and bends his knee before the 74 THE LESSER EVIL Virgin s picture.) Thy pardon, Blessed Lady, my need is great. (Returns to the door, examines it carefully, presses the wood all along the edges.) Some secret spring! Some cun ning piece of smith s work. I m a prisoner. ( Unsheathes his sword, and, taper in hand, goes to right wall and looks at the arms over the chimney piece.) The Maletroit. I m in good hands. (Crosses stage to left and suddenly perceives ALAIN, ivho is smiling and reaching for his wine-cup.) ALAIN, bowing You are welcome. I ve been waiting for you since curfew. (He raises his hand and the tapestry curtains at the top of the staircase are drawn back. A Hood of light streams in.) DENIS You are mistaken, messire. I had no intention of tres passing on your hospitality, and I beg you to pardon my un seemly intrusion. (Replaces and extinguishes taper.) ALAIN, indulgently Tis of no moment. I fully expected you, and the fashion of your entrance is of no importance. Be seated. We have much business to settle together. DENIS I am an unwilling intruder. It was an accident which forced me into your door. 75 MASQUES OF CUPID ALAIN The door? A contrivance of my own. A neat bit of smith s work, eh? It is to it that I owe the honor of your presence here. So you were shy of my acquaintance. Well, for that you see I was prepared. Modesty is a sweet fault in a stripling, and a rare. It behooved me my honor required that I should overcome it. Thanks to my door, I have. Be lieve me, though uninvited, you are not unexpected or un welcome. DENIS Surely you mistake me for one more fortunate. I am not the person you expected. I am Denis, Damoiseau de Beau- lieu, a stranger in this town, and I entered your house be cause ALAIN Monsieur de Beaulieu, your explanations are ingenious, but superfluous. Permit me to retain my own ideas in regard to your presence here. Meanwhile, pray be seated. DENIS, shrugging his shoulders, seats himself on a stool to the right of ALAIN. A low murmur is heard behind the door to right. ALAIN sips his wine and chuckles. DENIS, politely, after a pause You are of a merry humor, sir. ALAIN falls into a Hi of prolonged, silent laughter 76 THE LESSER EVIL DENIS, rising and putting on his hat with a nourish Are you drunk or mad? Why do you insult me so wan tonly? Do you take me for a cutpurse? You refuse to hear my explanations, you laugh in my face, and by God ! I ll bear it no longer. Open that door, or I ll hew your rat-trap to pieces! (Lays his hand on his szvord hilt.) ALAIN Really, all that! You re saturnine, sir, and have no love of honest mirth. Compose yourself, my nephew. DENIS, in a passion, snapping his fingers in ALAIN S face Liar! I am no kinsman of yours. ALAIN, in a white nt of rage, his voice hoarse and shaken with fury Be quiet, you brawler! Do you suppose that when I set my trap I did not post my rangers within call? Stir one step, and I ll have you bound to your seat with your own sword-belt. (Lowering and softening his voice.) Sit quietly in your place, and we ll despatch our affairs without heat or noise. The choice is yours, sir. DENIS, after looking helplessly about him, shakes his head and sits down I am a prisoner, then ? (Aside.) He s mad. 77 MASQUES OF CUPID Enter FATHER DOMINIC from door on right, stares at DENIS and whispers to ALAIN ALAIN How is it with her? DOMINIC She has sobbed herself into submission. ALAIN Poor lamb! Tis a pity of her. A comely boy, well born, and of her own picking, too. She s over nice. DOMINIC It is a strange bridal, messire. Have patience with a trifle of maidenly coyness. ALAIN Much coyness she showed when she began the game. Now she shall play it out. (Turning to DENIS.) Monsieur de Beaulieu, my niece has been waiting for you. She grows im patient. Permit me to fetch her. DENIS bows and rises. ALAIN leaves the hall by door on right, and reenters, dragging, rather than leading, BLANCHE DE MALETROIT. ALAIN, sweetly A little shamefaced, you see. It is such an innocent dove! Here is your friend, my dear. Wish him good evening. 78 ; j ! \ THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE still holds down her head. ALAIN places his hand under her chin and raises it by force. She looks at DENIS, stares and gasps, then, with a scream, sinks upon her knees. BLANCHE It is not he! Uncle, it is not he! ALAIN Naturally, it isn t. Of course you never clapped eyes on him before. He s an utter stranger, isn t he? and you don t even know his name? BLANCHE, wringing her hands My uncle, I have never seen this man before. Oh, sir, help me ! Tell him the truth. DENIS, aside She s mad, too. (Aloud.) As God lives, sir, I have never seen Mademoiselle before! ALAIN, shrugging his shoulders How unfortunate ! But then these hurried marriages are not more miserable than the ceremonious variety. Come, bride groom, I will give you two hours in which to make my niece s acquaintance. Be brisk with your wooing, for Father Dom inic is waiting. 79 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE, rising and seizing him by the sleeve This is a sorry jest. Am I not punished enough? Surely, you would not thrust me on this stranger ? Pity me and him. You must believe me when I swear to you by my dead father s soul that I do not know him that he is not the man. ALAIN, roughly disengaging his sleeve And what is that to me? (Goes towards the door; before ascending the steps turns towards her.) My business, as head of the family you have disgraced, is to find you a hus band at once. I have done so. Make the most of him. On my soul, I believe that he is your own choice; if not, that s his affair and yours. Mistress, you have lost the right to question me, to pick and choose. I am too soft; instead of bundling you into a convent for the rest of your days, I have found your sneaking lover for you, and you had best thank God for a kind uncle. (Exeunt left door ALAIN and FATHER DOMINIC) BLANCHE, raising her bent head and turning angrily to DENIS And what, sir, may be the meaning of all this? DENIS God knows. I am a prisoner in this house, which seems full of mad people. I know nothing, and I understand nothing of it all. 80 THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE And what brought you here? DENIS The foul fiend, I think. I came to town to-night on busi ness of my own a heritage but why speak of that? I had an escort of five lances, two days leave of absence, and a safe- conduct from my commander. BLANCHE A safe-conduct? Did you think that would protect you in this lawless place, filled with roystering men-at-arms? The English and the Burgundians are both here, and God alone can tell which are the harder drinkers or the fiercer brawlers. DENIS Of course, I knew I ran a certain risk; but a soldier takes chances. BLANCHE Pardon me, you seem so young. DENIS, grandly Indeed, but a young man may be an old soldier. 81 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE, courtesying I crave a veteran s forgiveness. Will your venerability continue ? DENIS Willingly. I put up at the Tete d Or. After supper, when I asked the way to my late kinsman s house, mine host prayed me to remain by the fire. The town is not safe after curfew, he assured me. BLANCHE He was a wise man ; of course you did not follow his advice ? DENIS You are a wise woman; of course I did not. After a long search, I finally found the house, close-barred and black as a tomb. After half an hour of knocking and shouting and call ing down the curses of the whole drowsy neighborhood, which apparently goes to roost with its own chickens, I gave up my quest and tried to return to the inn. BLANCHE And you no doubt lost your way in our winding streets. DENIS Pardi, I did at once. Tis a godless town, this no images, no shrine lamps to guide a poor sinner on his way. I had 82 THE LESSER EVIL more than once to lament the decay of devotion in these parts. Not a glimmer of light anywhere. BLANCHE I won t defend our municipal regulations. Go on. DENIS I groped on, knowing that I must keep climbing the hill, and as I stumbled out of a tangle of black alleys into the space before your porch, I saw lights and heard voices. It was a patrol of men-at-arms, who had been making free with the wine-bowl, going the rounds. BLANCHE Oh, they might have killed you like a dog ! DENIS Not quite so easily, I hope. But they were in no mood to be particular about safe-conducts. Hoping that their own torches would hide me from them, I ran into your porch, but my foot rolled on a pebble, my sword rang against the stones, and they were on me in a trice. Luckily for me, the stair is narrow, and I managed to free my sword in time to trip up the others with the bodies of the two who first attacked me. Then I set my back against your door, which yielded. I darted in, it closed behind me and you know the rest. 83 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE No ; but I can guess. My uncle was waiting for you here. DENIS So he assured me after I had found out that the door wouldn t open again. And then he insisted that I should make your acquaintance. Perhaps you will follow my example, and tell me the answer to all these riddles. BLANCHE My uncle mistakes you for another man one whom whom he has never seen who wrote me a letter. The trap was set for him ; you have fallen into it. I would tell you all indeed, you have a right to know ; but will you not spare me the shame of it the (Hides her face in her hands.) DENIS I have no rights but those you give me. It seems we are companions in evil fortune. Can I not help you? BLANCHE Bless you for that kind word ! No, there is no help for me. I am justly punished for my own folly. But oh, Monsieur de Beaulieu, do not think too badly of me. I have been foolish, imprudent, but not so very wicked. I still know the meaning of honor. I am I was a Maletroit. You shall question me, 84 THE LESSER EVIL if you will, as it is through my fault that you are in such an evil case. DENIS Mademoiselle, keep your secret. You have given me your confidence; it remains for me to prove myself worthy of it. Is Messire de Maletroit within? (Pointing to the door left.) BLANCHE You would speak argue with him? You might as well plead with yonder wall. DENIS Will it please you to fetch him here? BLANCHE, going out of door left and turning You ll never move him. (Exit BLANCHE) Reenter BLANCHE and ALAIN, who greets DENIS with an ironical obeisance DENIS, taking BLANCHE S hand and leading her up to ALAIN Messire de Maletroit, in offering me the hand of your niece you have done me undeserved honor, and if her heart were free to go with it I should joy in accepting it. But I cannot profit by a misunderstanding which has placed her at my dis cretion. Therefore, I decline the hand of Mademoiselle. 85 MASQUES OF CUPID ALAIN, smiling, after a long silence There is indeed a misunderstanding, Monsieur de Beaulieu. You imagine yourself possessed of a freedom of choice which is not yours. Follow me, I pray you, to this window. (Goes, followed by DENIS, to the window on right and opens the casement.) You notice the stout rope fastened to the torch- holder. If you continue to decline the alliance I offer you I shall be obliged to have you hanged here at sunrise. It will annoy me, for you are far more useful to me as a live groom that as a dead fool. The honor of my house has been blown upon. I am convinced that you are the culprit. If you are not, so much the worse for you, as you now know our shameful secret, and I should not be the loving uncle and guardian (sneering) that I am if I allowed my sweet Blanche to be flouted. Choose, then, a bridal or a halter. A silence. DENIS looks fiercely at ALAIN and draws his sword DENIS I believe there are more gentlemanly ways of settling such difficulties. You wear a sword, and have used it well. ALAIN, after crossing to left, raising the arras and showing the passage filled with men-at-arms When I was a little younger I should have been delighted to honor you, Monsieur de Beaulieu, but now I am too old. Let your pinking-iron lie. I have provided against all emer- 86 HM F~F-C _v_. THE LESSER EVIL gencies. You can be riddled with pikes, if you prefer it to hanging. But, Sir Impetuosity, I counsel you to wait until sunrise. You may change your mind and my niece gains on acquaintance. Her complexion is really finer by daylight. And she evidently wants to speak with you. (Looking at BLANCHE, who makes an imploring gesture to DENIS.) I am debonair, and if you will promise to remain quietly here with Mademoiselle, I ll allow you two hours in which to decide on your fate. DENIS I give you my word of honor. (Exit ALAIN, bowing and smiling, followed by the men-at-arms) DENIS Is this some grisly jest? Is he a madman, and am I to die like a cutpurse I, a noble and a soldier? BLANCHE, running to DENIS, her hands extended It is all real. Nothing can turn my uncle from his pur pose. But you shall not die; you shall marry me, after all. DENIS, stiffly I am not so afraid of death as you seem to believe, nor so anxious to snatch at life at any cost to myself or others. It is not death that I dread ; it is the dishonor of the manner of it. 87 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE Oh ! I see you are no coward. It is for my own sake. I could not bear to have you slain for such a scruple. DENIS, coldly I fear that, in your haste to save my life, Mademoiselle, you are forgetting what you owe to a happier man. BLANCHE goes towards door on right with bent head; at the door she turns Monsieur de Beaulieu, do not spoil a noble act by base words. You strike at one who is unarmed. I cannot retort on you, but I ll go pray for you, sir. (Exit) DENIS What a churl I am ! Mademoiselle ! (Goes after her, stops and shrugs his shoulders.) Reenter BLANCHE You called me? DENIS Yes, and then repented of so doing. BLANCHE Why? 88 THE LESSER EVIL DENIS Because I wanted to ask your forgiveness, and I know how useless it is to do so. BLANCHE, giving him her hand It is already given. How could it be otherwise? Think what you are doing for me, for my misdeeds. (Begins to cry.) DENIS, going to her Do not punish me so severely, and pardon me if I seemed vexed at first. Death have I often affronted in fight and melee ; but the sight of that rope and when your uncle knows that I am a gentleman it s really too bad! BLANCHE I know that you are brave and generous. What I zvant to know is whether I can serve you now or afterwards (with a sob). DENIS Most certainly. Let me sit beside you, as though I were a friend, instead of a foolish intruder. Help me to forget how we are circumstanced. BLANCHE, seating herself in the state chair and motioning him to a place beside her, zvhich he does not take You are gallant, sir, very gallant and it somehow pains me. In such a sad plight as ours all ceremony should be 89 MASQUES OF CUPID waived. Ah, Monsieur de Beaulieu! (Covers her face and weeps. ) DENIS, taking her hand Mademoiselle, reflect on the little time I have before me, and the great bitterness into which I am cast by the sight of your tears. Spare me the spectacle of what I cannot cure, even with the sacrifice of my life. BLANCHE, rising A truce to gallantry, I pray you. (Wipes her eyes.) I am very selfish. I will be braver, Monsieur de Beaulieu, for your sake. But think if I can do you no service in the future if you have no friends to whom I could carry your adieux. Put it in my power to do something more for you than weep. DENIS My mother is married again, and has a young family to care for. My brother Guichard will inherit my fiefs and my sword. Will you keep these for him? (Takes off his sword and ring and hands them to her. She puts on the ring, takes the sword reverently, and presses her lips to it. DENIS turns suddenly and sees her bending over it.) BLANCHE I cannot see the device. My eyes are dim. (Passes her hand over them, then reads:) "Do not draw me without cause; do not sheathe me without honor." Tis a brave motto. (Crosses to right and places the sword before the shrine.) 90 THE LESSER EVIL DENIS And this reliquary, tis the dearest thing that I call mine. Look ! Therein is a bit of the arrow which pierced the blessed Saint Sebastian. Twice has it saved me once from an Eng lish shaft and again from the tertian ague, when we lay in the ditches before Paris. Send it, if you can, to Diane de Montre- cour, Lady of Roche Vaillante, who is now with the king at Orleans. (Takes the reliquary from his neck, kisses it de voutly, and gives it to BLANCHE.) BLANCHE You love her? DENIS With all my heart. She is the only woman in France who will wear mourning for me. BLANCHE Is she married? DENIS Yes, unhappily. BLANCHE And she is young? DENIS She is just nineteen. BLANCHE And beautiful, of course? I know she is beautiful. ; ^^***xa**fl9^j9S5rJ THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE You forget Blanche de Maletroit. DENIS You have a sweet nature, Mademoiselle, and are pleased to estimate a little service far beyond its worth. BLANCHE, with exaltation It is not that. You mistake me if you believe I am always thinking of myself. I say so because you are the noblest man I have ever met because I recognize in you a dauntless spirit. DENIS, bitterly And yet here I die in a mouse-trap, with no more noise about it than my own squeaking and for a woman who loves another man. BLANCHE No, no; you mistake. I never loved him. If I could sum mon courage to tell you all ! Will you hear me ? Then sit, turn your face from me, and I ll kneel here as though I were at confession and tell you as truly as though I spoke before God s vicar. And never look at me, or I ll lose heart. DENIS As you will. Need I take precious time to assure you how dear this confidence is to me? 93 MASQUES OF CUPID DENIS sits in state chair and she kneels beside it BLANCHE I am an orphan, Monsieur de Beaulieu, the last of the Male- troit, and I should have been a boy. My uncle has always hated me, and I have been lonely and unhappy all my short life. Three months ago, in church, a young captain began to stand near me, and I could see that I pleased him. I was so glad that any one should care for me that when he passed me a letter I took it home with me and read it read it over and over again. Since that time he has written many. He was always anxious to speak with me, poor fellow! and kept ask ing me to leave the door open some evening, that we might talk together on the stairs. How my uncle came to suspect me, I cannot tell ; but this morning, as we came from mass, he took my hand in his, forced it open, and read my little billet. It contained another request to have the door left open, and this has been the ruin of us all. Uncle kept me in my room till evening, and when he could not force me to tell the captain s name he set this snare for him, into which you have fallen. Ah, how you must despise me ! DENIS, seizing BLANCHE S hands and looking into her eyes And is this all ? BLANCHE, staring at him Is it not enough? 94 THE LESSER EVIL DENIS, rising and helping her to rise And you do not love him? BLANCHE I swear it. I was lonely and unhappy, and he seemed kind and gay. DENIS You have made me very happy, and now I have but one regret. BLANCHE And that is? DENIS That I must leave the happy world which holds you. BLANCHE This is mockery ! after what you have just heard. What ! no hard terms, no names that stain as well as strike? Begin at once don t keep me in suspense and let me know that I have lost my only friend. DENIS, kissing her hand Dear lady friend, if so indeed I may call you forgive me. I might have known that you and innocence were comrades. And you did not love him, and you don t regret that my rude entrance here has bereft you of a bridegroom ? 95 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE Hear me to the end, Monsieur de Beaulieu. When I asked you to marry me, it was because I respected and admired and loved you with my whole soul from the moment that you took my part against my uncle. If you had seen yourself and how noble you looked, you would pity rather than despise me. You were like the glorious warrior angels so brave, so pitiful to poor, guilty me. Of course, I would not dare to bare my heart to you, had I not vowed when you refused me that I would never marry you, even should you repent of your first denial. I also am too proud to force myself upon you, Mon sieur de Beaulieu. DENIS It is a small love that shies at a little pride. The daylight comes in through the casement BLANCHE, noticing it with a shudder Oh! what shall I do? (Running towards him.) DENIS, leading her to the state chair and seating himself beside her Lighten my last moments for me like a true and tried com rade. Let us talk of pleasant things. Help me to forget that I must soon leave you. Yours is a lonely life, you tell me? 96 THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE I thought we were to talk of pleasant things. What s that? (Looking at the bandage on his hand and rising.) You are hurt wounded, and I have babbled on unheeding. May I not be your leech ? I have some skill in surgery. DENIS It s not worth your pains; only a cut which gives me no concern. But if you will. (Holds out his hand to her.) BLANCHE A cut! It is a deep, cruel gash. (Takes off his handker chief and replaces it by her own, putting his furtively in her pouch. Takes from the credence a silver box and anoints the bandage.) This is a balm from Padua, made by one Maestro Peter, and so prompt to heal that by to-morrow night (Stops and grasps the chair.) DENIS You re faint. Oh, the brave surgeon to turn sick at the sight of blood! Your own, poor coward, is deserting your cheeks. Courage, courage, most valiant carver of flesh! (Seats her in the chair and goes to credence. Pours out a beaker of wine and gives it to her. She drinks.) BLANCHE Won t you pledge me? (Hands him back the beaker.) 97 MASQUES OF CUPID DENIS To our next meeting! (Drinks.) BLANCHE O my dear champion, we shall meet again ! He who lays down his life for another wins thereby a place in paradise, and when my poor little soul comes a-knocking timidly at heaven s gate you ll plead for me, my knight, and your great sacrifice will save us both. Give me the cup. To our next meeting! (She touches it to her lips and then dashes it down, break ing it.) A silence DENIS, in a rather forced tone Have you a balm to heal the wounds you make? BLANCHE No ; nor to salve those you inflict by use of these strained courtesies. The language of gallantry here, in this awful strait, seems like a mockery. Be more simple with me, I entreat you! DENIS May not real feeling borrow the terms of gallantry, and sin cerity masquerade as compliment? 98 4 THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE I know little of such matters. I am a rustical, unlessoned hermit, Monsieur de Beaulieu. My only friends are my dogs and my horses, my only pleasure is in reading, and my only companion is Dame Alyse, who was young when my uncle was a squire. Day after day we sit a-stitching of tapestries. Last year twas the Massacre of the Innocents a most en livening piece. This year tis the Sacrifice of Isaac. I work the angel; Dame Alyse does the ram. DENIS And when you re weary of that? BLANCHE Then we change about Dame Alyse does the angel, and I do the ram. DENIS Now, here s variety ! And then you read romances ? BLANCHE Yes. I love them dearly not so well as hawking, though. DENIS You like hunting, too? 99 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE, with enthusiasm Better than aught else. Ah, Monsieur de Beaulieu, next summer you must come to Joyeuse. Such coursing as we have there! And I will match my Roland against any goshawk in your mews for what you will DENIS glances at the ivindow and smiles at her; she stops in confusion I wish I could. Take this for your falcon s collar, and when he rises into the blue you ll think of a friend who would fain have watched him with you. (He cuts off a few plaques from his gold chain.) BLANCHE But you ll write me a device on it. DENIS I m no minstrel, and time lacks for rhyming, but I ll try. (Scratches on the inside of the plaques with his dagger.) BLANCHE, reading the scratched lines " I am Roland the gerfalcon. Should you find me, have the grace To return me to my mistress For reward look on her face." Tis a pretty posy, but more suited for a brass collar than one of gold, and I rejoice, for my blushes sake, that it is writ on the under side. 100 THE LESSER EVIL , /^ DENIS Since you love venery, you must read a most rare book of mine, written by Dame Juliana s self and covered with notes by Phoebus own hand. I will send it you (Stops and shakes his head.) BLANCHE, rising and taking both his hands It is folly to feign. We cannot forget that Death is wait ing outside. Surely there must be some way out of this. DENIS My way is through the loop in yonder rope. A villain s death for one nobly born. A cock crows in the distance BLANCHE Monsieur de Beaulieu, make your peace with Heaven while I watch here. It is almost morning. Go kneel for an Ave s space before the altar. You should not die unshriven. DENIS You ll wait here for me? You ll not desert me? BLANCHE Y ou ask me that? Why, wain ropes could not drag me hence ! 101 MASQUES OF CUPID DENIS Then I go; but you ll not leave me! I shall miss you so. (Exit into chapel.) BLANCHE He s gone! I must be quick. (Raises the arras and beck ons. ) Hist-st ! Hugh, Hugh ! Come here softly sh ! Enter HUGH Hugh, you have always been kind to me, ever since I came here a little orphaned child. Do you remember how I used to ride on your sword and dress your dagger for a doll? Do you remember? HUGH V Deed I do, mistress. You were a mischievous little mawkin. BLANCHE And twas you taught me to ride, Hugh, and with you I made my first cast with a hawk. You were always patient with me, weren t you? and as kind as you were brave and handsome. HUGH What is it? What am I to do for you, mistress? BLANCHE Only this. You alone guard the secret stair. Uncle trusts you as he trusts no other. Take this ring (showing him 1 02 THE LESSER EVIL DENIS S ring) to the host of the Tete d Or. Bid him send here at once the five lances of Monsieur de Beaulieu. Lead them hither by the covered way. Save a gallant gentleman s life, and earn the eternal gratitude of Blanche de Maletroit. HUGH Now is that all? Tis only rank treason. BLANCHE No; it is mercy; you save an innocent man from a vile death. HUGH And what is to become of me after I have played the traitor ? BLANCHE Monsieur de Beaulieu will reward you richly, and you shall have every jewel in my casket. (Takes off a chain and tries to put it around his neck. He prevents her. ) HUGH No, thank you, little lady. I m a plain man, and I hardly ever wear jewels. How would I appear in ear-bobs? Think you a bracelet would set off this wrist? BLANCHE How can you jest? 103 MASQUES OF CUPID HUGH, gravely Sweet mistress, in this matter I cannot serve you. I would fight for you, lie for you, spill my blood for you, but turn traitor to the man whose bread I have eaten betray his trust in me I can t do that. BLANCHE Hugh, you were my last hope. Now I am indeed forlorn! ( Groans. ) HUGH, taking off his sword and presenting it to her Here, take my sword and run me through the heart, but don t make me a wretch. BLANCHE, taking the sword and lunging at him Your heart s too hard; it would turn the steel. I know a better way to have at it. (Throws down the sword and em braces him.) Hugh, how can we save him? My learning is at fault. In all the tales I ve read there is always a hench man to be bribed, a page to smuggle a billet, a seneschal to be tricked some way out of the trap; but here everybody is so virtuous! A disguise might HUGH I wouldn t try changing clothes with him if I were you. 104 THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE Oh, why are you so honest, so loyal? It s horrible! The time is going going; what shall I do? HUGH Why, marry him, of course, and end all this pother. We re all tired of it, and we want to get out of harness and go to bed. BLANCHE But he won t have me, Hugh? HUGH He won t have you? (Starts for the door.) Just let me get at him! (BLANCHE stops him.) BLANCHE He doesn t love me, Hugh. HUGH Well, he will when I have finished with him that is, what there is left of him will. BLANCHE Dear Hugh, you don t understand. I won t have him, either, though (whispering) I love him dearly. 105 MASQUES OF CUPID HUGH The ways of gentlefolk are past finding out. You love him, and yet when you have him fast between the priest and the hangman you let him go. BLANCHE But honor and maiden pride forbid that HUGH That s noble frippery, but not for my wear. (Takes her hand.) Now, leave honor by, doff maiden pride and put on common sense. You love him, you can marry him, and you give him to the hangman. Fie on such honor! BLANCHE But he doesn t love me! HUGH, angrily Then he has neither ears, eyes, nor heart, and isn t worth the saving. And you won t let me enlighten him with a proper belting? Well, if he doesn t love you, tis your fault. BLANCHE My fault? HUGH Yes, yours. 1 06 THE LESSER EVIL BLANCHE What is it? Am I ugly, shrewish, dull, ill clad? Tell me; don t spare me. HUGH % No; you re none of those. I ll tell you in a word. You see, you have no You don t You are not BLANCHE It is most subtly defined, Hugh, but I fear my understand ing is at fault. Is my defect so grave that you cannot find a name for it? HUGH No, no. This talking is harder work than trench-digging. You are well, we know that you are lovely, kind, and brave, but what you need is a little more BLANCHE Yes, yes; a little more ? HUGH Just a touch, you know; not too much, but a trifle. It will set you off give you an air a er er a you-know-what. Oh, I am beggared in words! 107 MASQUES OF CUPID BLANCHE Oh, Hugh, what do you mean? HUGH It s all you need to bewitch a man, were he Saint Anthony himself. Now you have a small quarter of an hour in which to practise on him. (Pointing to the chapel door.) In with you begin ! (Leads her towards the door.) BLANCHE, in distress Don t leave me till you ve shown me how. You were wont to talk plainly. Tell me straightly, what is it I lack, dear Hugh? HUGH Well ! This is a new trade for me. Teach kittens to play, doves to be white, lambs to frisk, and girls to coquette. Mis tress, with your leave, you re more the stripling than the maid. When you speak to a man you look him straight in the eye. Now, your gentlewoman ogles and looks down, thus and bites her lip, and looks again side wise, and then away with a frown. When you walk you go straightly, with no rustling of petticoats, no swing of the hips, no glance o er the shoulder like this. When tis supper-time you re hungry as a man, instead of crying, "What, meat again so soon! La! I ve no stomach." When your wine-cup s filled you never say, "No; not another drop; I really cannot, and I do protest." And then you never faddle with your hair, play with your 108 THE LESSER EVIL necklace, toy with your fan, complain you are freezing while the others sweat, yawn when they laugh, or smile in sermon time in fine, my dear and lovely mistress, you want those pretty tricks, those darling cozenries, lacking which a woman s little better than a page in petticoats. BLANCHE A thousand thanks! I read your lesson well, how have I undervalued you ! Hugh, I stand amazed. How much you know ! Where did you learn it all ? HUGH I ve paid dear for my lessons. My schoolmistresses did not learn me for nothing. BLANCHE Why didn t you teach me all you know ? It s too late now. With death at the door, I cannot mince and grin and say (imi tating HUGH), "Monsieur de Beaulieu, an it pleases you to bestow on me your hand and name, I ll starve at supper time, freeze when you glow, bite my lips, cock my eye, shake my skirts, giggle when you talk sense, and when you grieve be as gamesome as my monkey." All wisdom comes too late. I must keep to my boy s ways, or I shall be like the donkey who played the lap-dog in the lame Greek s fable. (Changing her tone and putting her hands on HUGH S shoulders.) Then you ll not help me ? This is your last word ? 109 MASQUES OF CUPID HUGH Don t look at me like that, or I ll turn traitor in my own despite. BLANCHE One grace only, I beseech of you. When you come with the others to take him, he will resist. You can do that for him with your good sword which my uncle would shamefully per form with a rope. Hugh, you cannot refuse you are a sol dier not a hangman. Think in what a piteous plight I am when the only favor I can give the man I love is a swift and honorable death ! HUGH If he prefers it to you, the fool deserves it. (Goes to shrine, kisses the crucifix.) I promise. (Going, he turns.) Tis a fine stripling and a good swordsman. Give him another chance, mistress; even if he loves you not, wedding with you is better than being hugged by a noose. BLANCHE Thanks, Hugh. You always over-praise me. Remember. (Exit HUGH. The sky outside the window grows rosy. A trumpet-call is heard in the distance.) They ll be on us in a moment. (Takes the szuord off the prayer cushion and goes to the door right.) Monsieur de Beaulieu! (Enter DENIS.) My dear champion, take your sword. When they enter I will rush upon them with this. (Shows him the dagger at her girdle.) They love me will hesitate a moment, falter, and no THE LESSER EVIL my death will delay them long enough for you to throw your self upon them and find a noble deliverance ! A sword thrust is more honorable than a halter. DENIS Not when your life is the price of such honor. BLANCHE You will not rob me of the one poor service I can do you? And what sufficient reason have I for living after you are gone? (The soldiers are heard outside. BLANCHE throws herself in front of DENIS and takes out the dagger.) DENIS, sternly Give me that toy! (Tries to take it from her, she resists; he wrenches it out of her hand and tosses it out of the open window 1 . HUGH, at the head of the men-at-arms, appears at the top of the steps.) BLANCHE, while DENIS holds her back Cruel! Cruel! (To soldiers.) Spare him! Ah, don t kill him; he is not the man. He is innocent! (The men-at-arms descend the steps.) You do not know what you are doing. Nay, never dare to touch him ! I command you ! I too am a Maletroit. Stand back! Ah, Raoul, Hugh, Blaise, wait one moment ! I am sure you would let him go if you would only listen to me. I have such good reasons, which I will in MASQUES OF CUPID explain if you will stay one moment. It is so difficult to think when one is hurried. This must not happen such monstrous things are not done Oh, pity HUGH Mistress, your uncle s coming! (BLANCHE sinks back ex hausted. ) DENIS, quietly I am at your service, but I would say one word to this lady first. (Leads BLANCHE to the window.) Blanche, you have seen whether I fear death. You know well enough that I would as gladly leap out of that window into the empty air as to lay a finger on you without your consent. But if you care for me at all, do not let me lose my life in a misapprehension for I love you better than the whole world. BLANCHE Oh, why didn t you say so before? HUGH, paternally Yes, why didn t you, Monsieur de Beaulieu? Think what a lot of pother you might have saved us all ! BLANCHE, in a very small voice Will you marry me, Monsieur de Beaulieu, please? 112 , THE LESSER EVIL DENIS, passionately Ah-h-h ! ( Embraces her.) HUGH gives a whispered order and the soldiers face the other way. Enter ALAIN DE MALETROIT, unperceived by DENIS and BLANCHE still clasped in each other s arms ALAIN, smiling Good morning, my nephew! iff : TANCREDE, VICOMTE DE BEZIERS, cousin of the Marquise de Crequy. EDME, COMTE DE SEMOULE, the heir of the de Semoules. JACQUES DE BEAUVOIR, a Parisian journalist. RENE DE CREQUY, Marquis de Crequy, brother of Desiree. BAPTISTE, butler of the Marquise de Crequy. YOLANDE-ALIXE-MARIE-jEANNE, etc., DE CREQUY, Mar- quise de Crequy. DESIREE DE CREQUY, granddaughter of the Marquise de Crequy. LUCY WESTERN, an American widow. Time, July, 1880. Place, the Chateau of Crequy on the Loire THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY ACT I Scene Central hall in the chateau. Centre, a monumental staircase leading to the upper floor; on the landing six doors, three to left and three to right. On the ground floor right and left centre, long French windoivs opening on the park. Left, a carved chimney piece ; before the hearth a Louis XVI arm chair, foot-stool, and work-table. Right, a rack ivith crops, sticks, and tennis-rackets, a bamboo table covered with news papers and reviews, and several wicker lounging-chairs, on one of them a pair of driving- gloves and a leader. On the walls, above and below the gallery formed by the overhanging upper floor, family portraits soldiers, courtiers, and beauties hung between hunting trophies and panoplies. Enter from door on left BAPTISTE with newspapers, letters, and parcels, which he places on ivork-table at left, and begins to sort slowly. Enter from window on right DE SEMOULE, tennis-racket in hand 117 MASQUES OF CUPID DE SEMOULE The letters have come. Is there anything for me? BAPTISTE I do not know yet, Monsieur le Comte. Monsieur le Comte need not give himself the trouble to wait here. I will bring him his correspondence. DE SEMOULE No, thanks. I ll remain here. You have a cargo, Baptiste. BAPTISTE Truly, Monsieur le Comte, one would say that we had come to the country in order to shop by mail in Paris. Every post brings us as many packages. And the orders they never end; and the mistakes and the objects to be exchanged! Monsieur le Comte can imagine how much head is required to keep these affairs in order. DE SEMOULE Well, Baptiste, you have a genius for administration. You re a real Buonaparte. BAPTISTE Monsieur le Comte is too indulgent. If Monsieur le Comte will pardon an old servitor, I would suggest that a Sully or a 118 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY Colbert would be a more appropriate comparison to employ in this house. DE SEMOULE You mustn t be more of a royalist than the king, Baptiste. Well, and my letter? BAPTISTE Pardon; in one moment, Monsieur le Comte. (Continues to sort the parcels.) The "Debats" of Monsieur le Vicomte, the "Semaine Religieuse" of Madame la Marquise, the Her ald" of Mistress Western, and the "Gil Bias" of Monsieur de Beauvoir. DE SEMOULE, impatiently Yes, yes ; but my letters ? BAPTISTE I am coming to them, Monsieur le Comte. (Continues his enumeration.) The dog-biscuit of Mademoiselle, the false hair of Madame la Marquise, the digestive capsules of Mon sieur le Vicomte. DE SEMOULE Very interesting, without doubt; but how long before you will finish exposing the family and distribute the letters? BAPTISTE, respectfully but firmly One must have order in everything, Monsieur le Comte. If I do not proceed with system I shall lose my head. (DE 119 MASQUES OF CUPID SEMOULE throws himself into a chair and lights a cigarette.) A bill for Madame la Marquise, a message from the other world for Mistress Western, a postal card, very badly written, for Monsieur de Beauvoir. Ah, finally the letter of Monsieur le Comte! (Puts it on a tray and presents it ceremoniously to. DE SEMOULE, who pounces on it; as he does so another letter which has adhered to it drops to the floor. He picks it up.) DE SEMOULE For Mademoiselle Desiree. From Tours. What a curious handwriting ! BAPTISTE We do not know any one in Tours. (Holds out the tray for the letter.) DE SEMOULE No. I ll give it her myself. You can go. (Exit BAPTISTE) DE SEMOULE seats himself and reads his letter Enter quietly by window on right DESIREE DE CREQUY. She goes softly to DE SEMOULE and calls in his ear DESIREE Cuckoo ! (DE SEMOULE starts, rises, and throws down his cigarette. ) Nervous ! At your age ! What a wreck you are ! 120 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE SEMOULE Pardon me, Mademoiselle, but as I was thinking of you, your voice startled me. DESIREE What a lame excuse! You were absorbed in a letter a letter from a lady, I ll wager. DE SEMOULE Well guessed ! It is from a lady the Baronne de Keradec, my aunt. DESIREE Then it should be written on parchment, in the Gothic char acter, and fastened with a great seal. DE SEMOULE, coming nearer to her Don t ridicule my letter; there is much about you in it. DESIREE, retreating to the other side of the table It must be dull reading, then. Forsake your family papers and finish this set with me. Mrs. Western and Monsieur de Beauvoir have beaten me shamefully since you left. DE SEMOULE I am made desolate by refusing you, but I must see Madame de Crequy before dinner. This letter 121 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE Will not fly away, and Granny is always better tempered after tea. Come, come, you can t refuse a distressed damsel, unless you prefer the society of mademoiselle votre cigarette. Your letter is only a pretext. DE SEMOULE And have you no suspicion as to what it contains ? DESIREE No ; I am of an unsuspicious nature. DE SEMOULE I mean, cannot you guess? DESIREE, nervously We don t guess any more, even in America. (Crossing to table on left. ) The post has come, and you have had the heart to keep it from me. DE SEMOULE There is nothing there but dog-biscuit and a book for you, and DESIREE Food for the flesh and the spirit. You call that nothing? 122 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE SEMOULE And this. (Takes the letter from his pocket and gives it to her.) DESIREE How long has it been in the poche rest ante? DE SEMOULE Five minutes only, I assure you. DESIREE, looking at the letter Tours ? Tours ? Whom do I know in Tours ? Not a soul. What a curious hand! A begging letter, of course; I get so many of them I, who never have a penny! It will keep. ( Tucks the letter into her belt. ) Come ! DE SEMOULE With pleasure. (Rings bell on left of chimney piece.) Enter BAPTISTS DE SEMOULE Give this letter to Madame la Marquise, and ask if I may see her at six o clock. 123 MASQUES OF CUPID BAPIISTE, taking the letter which DE SEMOULE hands him Very well, Monsieur le Comte. (Exit BAPTISTE on left) DESIREE Can you come with me now? DE SEMOULE To the end of the world, Mademoiselle. DESIREE No; only to the end of the lawn. (Exeunt by window on right) Enter the MARQUISE DE CREQUY from zvindow on left, with DE SEMOULE S letter in her hand. Seats herself in the arm chair by the hearth, looks over the parcels, and unfolds the letter. Sound of wheels outside. Enter the VICOMTE DE BEZIERS, accompanied by BAPTISTE with a portmanteau which he carries up-stairs to third door on right of landing. Exit BAPTISTE through said door. 124 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE, rising At last ! I am so relieved that you have returned ! I never had more pressing need of your counsel and your aid. DE BEZIERS, kissing her hand and seating himself on left I suspected as much from your telegram, and here I am. Count on my devotion and command my services. First, what has happened? Has the king sent you a manifesto, or has Desiree run away? THE MARQUISE Worse than that ! Rene has. DE BEZIERS What? THE MARQUISE Run away. DE BEZIERS From his regiment? Deserted? He, a soldier and a Cre- quy ! Impossible ! THE MARQUISE He is only half a Crequy, you remember. DE BEZIERS But that is enough to hold on to the other half. How did it happen how could it happen? 125 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE, leaning back in her chair It will be such a consolation to tell you all. I have been forced to control myself so long. You can imagine the state of my nerves. DE BEZIERS Will you not begin at once, dear cousin? I am all im patience. THE MARQUISE Naturally. Well, you know that, though I had chosen a diplomatic career for Rene DE BEZIERS The refuge of all spoiled children. He couldn t manage his own estates, so you thought that he could direct European affairs. THE MARQUISE No. I wanted him to figure at courts, for, in spite of his American mother, Rene has the "grand air." DE BEZIERS, moving uneasily in his chair Pardon me, but what relation is there between Rene s ap pearance and your present misfortune? THE MARQUISE I am coming to it, cousin, if you will be as patient as you are energetic. 126 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEZIERS Pardon my impatience; it arises from my desire to be of immediate service to you. THE MARQUISE A thousand thanks ! I fear that you find me nervous, agi tated, even irritable, but I have suffered so much. DE BEZIERS Yes, of course you have been annihilated ; that goes without saying. Rene, then, ran away? THE MARQUISE Yes. When the news arrived, like you, I refused to be lieve it. DE BEZIERS And in detail this news was? THE MARQUISE Unbearable, my cousin, insupportable ! I had a nervous at tack when I received it, and all yesterday DE BEZIERS And what steps did you take? What did you do? 127 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE I went to bed immediately and took eau de melisse, but there are blows which no tisane can soften. DE BEZIERS You sent no word? THE MARQUISE Yes, immediately to my doctor. DE BEZIERS, in despair, changing his line of attack Who knows of this besides yourself? THE MARQUISE Desiree only. DE BEZIERS Good! What did she do? THE MARQUISE Put me to bed, sent for the doctor, telegraphed to you, enter tained our guests, and invented any number of excuses to account for my illness and our confusion. DE BEZIERS She s worthy of her grandmother. She should have gone into diplomacy. My dear cousin, we must use despatch as 128 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY well as discretion. Tell me, without delay, what has hap pened ? THE MARQUISE It is a long story. DE BEZIERS, Sighing I am sure of it. THE MARQUISE, Suspiciously Eh? (DE BEZIERS looks at her with an expression of elab orate guiltlessness, and she continues.) You may remember, four months ago Rene began his year of military service. DE BEZIERS His volontariat yes. THE MARQUISE From the first the subalterns, all of them more or less repub licans, were unreasonably severe with him. They were envious of his name, his position, and imposed on him the hardest and most disgusting tasks. His pride, the pride of the Crequy, revolted, and he refused to perform them. DE BEZIERS, rising suddenly Sacrrrrrre noin d tm sabre! Pardon, but I can t hear such enormities unmoved. (Sits down again.) 129 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE I am glad to see that you share my indignation. Well, to abridge (DE BEZIERS sighs) a long recital of petty tyrannies, my poor Rene was always in disgrace for some outbreak, and passed five out of seven days in prison. DE BEZIERS, earnestly But, my cousin, surely you lectured him. Naturally, you showed him how unmanly his conduct was. It was his coun try, not his sergeant, that he was refusing to serve. THE MARQUISE, ivith dignity I know my duties, and I try to perform them. I did reason with Rene s colonel. DE BEZIERS With Lemors? That martinet that manual of military discipline! How did he receive your remonstrances? THE MARQUISE 111 very ill. He also referred to Rene in terms which I cannot repeat. DE BEZIERS Were they so very bad? 130 t THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE Yes no I don t know. I have forgotten, for I didn t understand them. They were incomprehensible to me. DE BEZIERS An old soldier would hardly speak the language of Vol taire or of Madame de Crequy. But pity my suspense, and continue. THE MARQUISE, reflectively I wrote them down. Have the goodness to ring, and I will send for my note-book and show them to you. DE BEZIERS, rising and walking up and down the room Mais saperlipopette! we are losing time, and every in stant is precious. THE MARQUISE, nettled Dame! What would you? You asked me for details, and I am giving you details. Will you listen to them? Yes or no ? They are to leave or to take ! DE BEZIERS Le diable m enfourche si je THE MARQUISE You were saying ? MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEZIERS, controlling himself with an effort That time is invaluable if we are to act effectively. Was Rene helped by your intercession? THE MARQUISE Incredible as it may seem, they were even more harsh with him than before. DE BEZIERS, sitting down again Sapristi! How strange! (Aside.) To think that at twen ty-five I almost broke my heart because I couldn t marry her ! Lord, I thank thee for thy many mercies ! THE MARQUISE Eh, my cousin, you who have escaped the sorrows of do mestic life have much to be thankful for. DE BEZIERS So I was just thinking, cousin. Let me know, I conjure you, the immediate cause of the catastrophe. Remember the value of every moment. Pardon me if for once I beg so charming a talker to assume the style of the reporter; imagine that you are telegraphing to me. 132 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE pauses a moment and begins rapidly Day before yesterday, while the officers were giving a break fast to some comrades from another garrison, Rene, who had also been breakfasting copiously, rode his horse into the mess- room, and, sword in hand, made the tour of the table, break ing the glasses as he passed. DE BEZIERS, rising Sacre nom d une pipe! Pardon, I can bear no more. THE MARQUISE It was a horror, wasn t it? Then he was out again before they could stop him. Rene rides like a centaur. DE BEZIERS Saprelotte! The moment is badly chosen in which to com mend his horsemanship, though I admit that if he had been one of Dumas s mousquetaires it would be an amusing episode instead of a calamity. He was finally arrested and THE MARQUISE Put in prison, of course, but managed to escape the same evening, leaving a note very witty and well turned, by the way to his sergeant. 133 MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEZIERS Peste soit de son esprit! (Sits down and reflects a moment.) You don t know where he is ? THE MARQUISE No. DE BEZIERS To whom would he naturally turn when in trouble? THE MARQUISE He ought to confide in me, of course; but I fear that the misguided boy prefers to put his trust in his sister. DE BEZIERS And she has not heard from him? (The marquise shakes her head.) Keep an eye on Desiree s correspondence. He may try to communicate with her. THE MARQUISE, turning over the parcels There is nothing here but dog-biscuit and a volume of Coppee. DE BEZIERS There is a complication in this matter, cousin. The act of amnesty now before the Senate, framed especially to pardon the insurrectionists of 70 and 71, also includes deserters 134 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY from the army. This saves Rene from death or expatriation, and at the same time publishes his misconduct to the world. THE MARQUISE And a Crequy would despise such a shameful pardon. DE BEZIERS, sternly A deserter should not. Rene must be found and forced to return in time to save his honor. THE MARQUISE And ours. DE BEZIERS He must be compelled to realize the gravity of his offence. How should you like to read his name on the list of the par doned between a petroleuse and a communist ? THE MARQUISE, shuddering He must be found ! DE BEZIERS He has had a long start. I will telegraph at once to Colonel Lemors, who is an old comrade of mine ; we made the African campaign together. Then a message to Limier he is the best agent for private and domestic work, I think. With your permission. (He rings.) Enter BAPTISTS 135 MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEZIERS Have Topsy saddled at once. I ll go alone to the telegraph office. No groom. BAPTISTE Very well, Monsieur le Vicomte. (Exit BAPTISTE) THE MARQUISE What a comfort you are! Shall we ever have done with the misfortunes the American marriage has brought upon us? DE BEZIERS, ClSldc I can t stand another jeremiad, and her notions of causation are so confused! (Aloud.) I remember that the American dowry came into the family at an opportune moment. THE MARQUISE Yes, indeed! Rene s father had run through everything, and we were mortgaged up to the eyes when Miss Wainwright accepted him. DE BEZIERS Therefore, cousin, you should have felt some gratitude to the American heiress, especially as she pushed consideration to the point of dying as soon as she had provided an heir for the Crequy. 136 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE But she took my son s heart with her, and a year afterwards we buried the rest of him. DE BEZIERS Which proves that she must have been a captivating person, for constancy was never a quality of the Crequy (THE MARQUISE looks at him. He adds hastily) men. THE MARQUISE She was charming, but always in revolt. My poor Rene inherits her spirit of insubordination. Have you not often re marked what insurgents, what revolutionists are these Ameri can grandchildren of mine? Conventions do not exist for them. They take nothing for granted. It was because Rene felt the ferment of this blood that he could not yield to dis cipline. DE BEZIERS Permit me to be of another opinion, my cousin. The Prince de Joinville, who participated in their Civil War, has often spoken with me of the military talent of the Americans. Their uniforms left much to be desired, and, as in England, there was no commissariat, but they lacked neither fortitude, patience, nor discipline. Rene is not an American. He is a French noble (aside) terribly spoiled by his grandmother. 137 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE And Desiree. Is she not untamed? She was rebellious before she went to America to visit her relatives. Now she is emancipated. DE BEZIERS You should not have let her go. THE MARQUISE But they were so insistent, and so rich, and so childless. It wouldn t have been considerate to refuse. DE BEZIERS Well, at least she isn t the uglier for it, and she doesn t lack a stock of pretenders who seem willing to brave the dangers of independence. By the way, whom have you in the house? THE MARQUISE De Semoule, an aspirant. DE BEZIERS And the best of good matches. Everything that is most eligible. THE MARQUISE A formal demand for Desiree has just reached me from Madame de Keradec. Do you care to see it ? 138 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEZIERS Not now. Who else? THE MARQUISE Jacques de Beauvoir. DE BEZIERS Everything that is most ineligible that is, unless his uncle and cousin should have the kindness to die and leave him the title and the money. He is too attractive to be a safe ac quaintance for a romantic girl like Desiree. THE MARQUISE He was invited to amuse Mrs. Western. DE BEZIERS And who is Mrs. Western? THE MARQUISE An American friend of Desiree. DE BEZIERS Pretty? THE MARQUISE, shrugging her shoulders That s according to taste. Enter BAPTISTE 139 MASQUES OF CUPID BAPTISTE The horse of Monsieur le Vicomte is ready. DE BEZIERS Very well. Is she young? BAPTISTE Five years this spring, Monsieur le Vicomte. (Aside.) He knows that as well as I do. DE BEZIERS You can go, my friend. (Exit BAPTISTE.) I meant Mrs. Western. THE MARQUISE In the thirties. Don t let me detain you, as every moment is precious. DE BEZIERS Divorced, of course? THE MARQUISE No, a widow. What a cross-examination ! Topsy dislikes to stand, and the telegraph operator is 140 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEZIERS A widow! Is it possible? I never heard of an American widow except the spouse of Washington. Are you sure? THE MARQUISE, impatiently I haven t seen her husband s certificate of decease, but he died while Desiree was in America. The telegraph operator dines early, my cousin, and you should hurry; we must use despatch as well as discretion. DE BEZIERS, aside Attrape, mon vleuxl (Aloud.) I go; I fly to the station. Au revoir. (Aside.) Young, pretty, a w r idow Tiens, tiens, tiens! And I expected nothing but annoyances here. Some times one is rewarded for doing one s duty. (Exit DE BEZIERS) THE MARQUISE Opens the BARONNE DE KERADEC S letter Enter DE SEMOULE DE SEMOULE Madame, if you are occupied I will wait. THE MARQUISE I was re-reading Madame de Keradec s letter. Her courtesy makes me overlook the extreme informality of your proposal. 141 MASQUES OF CUPID What are we coming to? The hand of a Crequy was never sought with such scant ceremony before. DE SEMOULE Pardon the impatience of an anxious lover. My aunt de Keradec will arrive in a few days, but I could not wait for her. She doesn t travel; she makes "progresses" like Louis XIV. Mademoiselle de Crequy is so surrounded, so courted that I was tempted to make haste. Say that you pardon my lack of punctilio ! THE MARQUISE You must not fancy, dear Edme, because my grand daughter is half American, and has contracted some deplorable habits in that country of liberty, that we do not require all the usual forms even, perhaps, a little more ceremony than is cus tomary, because she is inclined to disregard it. DE SEMOULE My Breton aunt will supply that. Even in our family she is called Madame I Etiquette. Then you accept my offer? THE MARQUISE Provisionally, yes, though I am a little shocked by its lack of form. I cannot accustom myself to these republican manners. 142 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE SEMOULE Yet you accept. (Kissing her hand.) How happy you have made me ! THE MARQUISE Of course nothing is really settled until I have seen Madame de Keradec and your lawyers. DE SEMOULE What does Mademoiselle Desiree say? THE MARQUISE I haven t had time to tell her yet. DE SEMOULE May I find her for you? THE MARQUISE Yes, if you will. And don t look so ridiculously happy. DE SEMOULE I am afraid I can t help it, Madame. (Exit DE SEMOULE OH Tight) 143 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE takes out her letter, again Enter DESIREE from window on right. THE MARQUISE rises and embraces her THE MARQUISE My dear, sweet child ! I have good news for you. DESIREE, eagerly Then you have heard something. I thought so when I saw our cousin gallop away. Tell me all this moment. THE MARQUISE Cousin Tancrede has not been consulted yet. As head of the family I have already decided. This letter DESIREE Read it to me at once, I beg of you ! THE MARQUISE Really, my dear, you are a little too eager. DESIREE Scold me afterwards read it first. 144 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE The Baronne de Keradec DESIREE What does she know about Rene? THE MARQUISE Nothing, fortunately, my dear; but this letter is a formal demand for your hand. DESIREE Yes, yes; but how about my brother and your good news? THE MARQUISE Alas! we have none, my poor child; but we are doing all that we can to find him. Madame de Keradec hopes to be here DESIREE Where has Monsieur de Beziers gone ? THE MARQUISE To the telegraph office to send to Paris for a private de tective. DESIREE Is that all he can do ? What did he say what did he advise ? 145 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE Desiree, you are too excited to be told at present. You have a little fever. Go and drink a large glass of sugared water with some orange flower in it. DESIREE, throwing herself on her knees before THE MARQUISE and taking both her hands Dear grandmother, let me stay ; be indulgent to me for once. I, too, am suffering. For hours I have talked and laughed and run after a ridiculous ball with such a leaden heart ! Let me help if I can; and if I can t, let me go away alone and cry. THE MARQUISE This is weak and selfish of you, Desiree. If you really wish to aid us, you will continue to control yourself. Think of Rene, think of me, and be calm ! DESIREE I will try. Now, what can I do? THE MARQUISE Accept Edme de Semoule like a brave girl. Your brother is in good hands. Our cousin has many resources. 146 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DESIREE Please explain some of them to me; and I would rather not marry Edme de Semoule, if you don t mind. THE MARQUISE Why, may I ask? DESIREE He isn t my type. THE MARQUISE It pleases you to treat a grave matter with deplorable light ness. What are your objections to Edme? DESIREE Their name is legion. THE MARQUISE Mention one. DESIREE Eh ! It is difficult. THE MARQUISE Did I not say so? DESIREE I admit that he has all the negative virtues. THE MARQUISE Do you prefer the positive vices ? 147 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE Yes, a few of them. What I mean is that he lacks per sonality. He is just like all the other young men of his class. THE MARQUISE What do you ask for? A genius, a Buonaparte an excep tion to human kind? I fear that you will not find one, and if you should, he is not likely to be a marrying man. Be rea sonable. Edme is noble, rich, elegant, and madly in love with you. What more do you want ? DESIREE Some one whom I can love and admire, who has worked, suffered, achieved. Edme de Semoule has never done any thing for himself. He is elegant, thanks to his tailor; rich by inheritance; and noble because he has "taken the trouble to be born." He is a kind of superior mechanical toy, a product of other people s knowledge and energy. THE MARQUISE And your ideal is the self-made man? That is the Ameri can phrase, is it not? To have wisely used one s advantages is, then, to have lacked character? DESIREE No ; but a man should not only have he should do and be. 148 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE Don t forget that Edme is a gentleman, and that means a great deal if you reflect upon it. Perhaps you also do not realize that much having means doing. DESIREE It means keeping, of course. In spite of your reasoning, he still seems to me a spoiled child of fortune rather than a man. Besides, I don t love him. THE MARQUISE Marry him first, and love him afterwards. Who will pre vent you? DESIREE Who knows ? Suppose I should meet some one afterwards who for whom I might feel (Hesitates.) THE MARQUISE The electric spark, the coup de foudre, as you call it in this scientific age ? The self-manufactured person of your dreams ? DESIREE Yes. THE MARQUISE That will be your husband s affair. Pride is an excellent lightning-rod, my child. 149 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE Love is a better one. Besides, I am afraid of French hus bands. THE MARQUISE Are there any others for a Crequy ? DESIREE You found an American wife for one. THE MARQUISE A wife? That is different. Your mother became a Crequy. DESIREE Not entirely; and her children are only half French nay, only one third, for the mother makes us most. THE MARQUISE And the grandmother not at all, I see. DESIREE Don t be ashamed of us. The American eagle is as fine a bird as the Gallic cock, though he needs more space and flies over your barnyard walls. 150 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE I never supposed that the eagle was a domestic bird. Look at the American divorces ! DESIREE At least he has only one mate at a time, while your Gallic THE MARQUISE Hush, Desiree ! I am shocked ! DESIREE We were talking of natural history THE MARQUISE Instead of something more important. This is a serious matter. Desiree, my dear little girl, come here close to your poor old grandmother, who scolds you and bores you, but who loves you tenderly. (DESIREE seats herself at THE MAR QUISE S feet.) Listen to me, and don t believe me hard or cruel. Whatever you may think or desire, my child, you are a Crequy. You have a name to sustain, and a duty to per form to those who have gone before you. Obligations are laid upon the women of a noble house as well as upon the men. It is our part to uphold the dignity of the family even by the sacrifice of our happiness. Rene has forgotten his duty; you, by unselfishly performing yours, can make amends for his wrongdoing. You don t belong to yourself. A parvenu or a MASQUES OF CUPID gypsy can ignore traditions and the high claims of ancestry and live for the felicity of the individual, but we, who possess a past and hope for a future, have a larger destiny to fulfil. DESIREE, rising Granny, you touch me, but you do not convince me. You argue that I should marry Monsieur de Semoule because my remote progenitors would approve of it. How do I know that they would, by the way? If I had two lives I would live one to gratify my ancestors, who lived theirs to please themselves. Having only one, I will follow their example. THE MARQUISE There is no obligation that one cannot reason away. Yours are the morals of the savage, Desiree no, I wrong the savage. He possesses tribal feeling, and has been known to sacrifice himself for a brother. DESIREE A brother! What do you mean? THE MARQUISE I mean, if you must have it written large, that the de Se- moules have rallied to the support of the republic and possess political influence; that the minister of war is Edme s god father. Rene needs friends ; give him a powerful one. 152 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DESIREE Can we not appeal to Monsieur de Semoule as a friend for help? THE MARQUISE After we have refused him as a husband? He would then display a fine zeal in Rene s cause, would he not? He adores you, Desiree; you can do what you will with him. DESIREE Please let me think a moment. This means a great deal to me. No, what is the use? If Monsieur de Semoule will help Rene, I ll marry him and be miserable. There! THE MARQUISE, klSSlHg her My dear one, never fear ; in seeking the happiness of others, you will find your own. And, Desiree, how well the arms will quarter ! I have already thought of a charming combina tion for the linen. DESIREE Can we tell him about Rene at once? THE MARQUISE I must wait until I have consulted our cousin. We may have some good news before to-morrow which will show Rene in a better light. Until then I must pledge you to secrecy, my dear. 153 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE, indifferently As you will. Arrange it to suit yourself. THE MARQUISE My little one, you have lifted a weight from my heart. I have not been a happy woman, Desiree. I lost my son in his youth; I have seen the invasion of France, the proclamation of a republic, and the disgrace of the Marquis de Crequy. And now you have made me glad. Isn t that worth some thing? Come here, Madame la Comtesse, and embrace your poor old Granny. DESIREE, kissing her Are you sure this sacrifice for it is one is necessary ? THE MARQUISE I know, my dear ; but I am too happy to play the role of the mourning Agamemnon. We will deck the victim with the historic Semoule sapphires. How they will become you ! DESIREE Granny, you hurt me don t ! One condition, please : I am not to be hurried into this marriage. I will have a long en gagement. THE MARQUISE, in trepidation But not a VAmericaine. No rides in bogheys, no evening rambles. 154 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DESIREE It will be a la frangaise, if you will, or even a Vespagnole, if you prefer it. If Monsieur de Semoule dies for me, he can sigh for me a while. THE MARQUISE But he may not submit to these fantastic arrangements. Take care; you may lose him. DESIREE Then I ll be an old maid, and dress St. Catherine s hair. THE MARQUISE One says that, but one doesn t mean it. DESIREE I do. I have no vocation for matrimony. THE MARQUISE So I told Monsieur de Beauvoir yesterday. DESIREE You told him I was averse to marriage but apropos of what? He spoke of me? What did he say? Dear Granny, tell me quickly. 155 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE There is no occasion for excitement. We were discussing the modern young girl, and I cited you as an instance. What can it matter what that boulevardier thinks of you ? DESIREE He is much more than a boulevardier. He is a writer of eminence. THE MARQUISE He is, above all, a good swordsman, and supports his opin ions with the point of the small-sword. No wonder his ar ticles are authoritative. DESIREE He makes himself respected even by those who are too prejudiced to appreciate one who has cleared his own road to distinction. THE MARQUISE Ah! The self-manufactured person again. Tiens! have you joined the ranks of Monsieur de Beauvoir s many ad mirers ? He has a large assortment of them. DESIREE Which, as he hasn t a penny, proves his attractiveness. 156 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY THE MARQUISE, aside She praises him too openly to care for him. {Aloud.) Then, Desiree, it is decided, is it not? Enter DE BEAUVOIR THE MARQUISE Will you be my crutch as far as the garden, Monsieur ? DE BEAUVOIR, giving his arm to THE MARQUISE, with a wistful glance at DESIREE Too much honored, Madame. (Exeunt by window on right, DE BEAUVOIR laden with zvraps) DESIREE seats herself by table on left, sighs heavily, and leans her head on her hand. Takes the letter out of her belt and is about to open it; lays it on the table as DE BEAUVOIR enters. DE BEAUVOIR I have come back for Madame de Crequy s fichu. I have just settled her comfortably. 157 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE, rising and giving him the fichu What Esquimaux old people are ! She started wrapped as though she were going on a polar expedition. You are sad, Monsieur de Beauvoir. DE BEAUVOIR I am, Mademoiselle. DESIREE It is dull for you here after Paris. Even Mrs. Western cannot amuse you. You are losing your spirits. You need another duel, perhaps, to enliven you. DE BEAUVOIR Happiness is grave, and the happiest days of my life have been spent under this roof and the most wretched as well. DESIREE You literary people are so paradoxical ! Is that a reflection on our hospitality? What can we do to make all the days pleasant? DE BEAUVOIR Nothing, Mademoiselle. I am like the puppy who cries for the moon. It is a grotesque spectacle, yet the poor beast suffers. DESIREE He at least tries to tell the moon the cause of his sufferings. 158 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEAUVOIR Because he is a puppy, and does not realize that she is quite out of his reach. Pardon me, I interrupt you. (Glancing at the letter on the table.) DESIREE Only a letter from some poor person, probably. There is a great deal of suffering in the world, Monsieur. We are not the only unhappy ones. DE BEAUVOIR Wet DESIREE I am not swimming in felicity, either. Perhaps it is part of the scheme of things. It makes one kinder, doesn t it, to suffer ? DE BEAUVOIR If one can relieve it. Otherwise the sight of it embitters. But you why should you feel pain? DESIREE We all have our moons and Granny hasn t her fichu! What a tardy Mercury you are! Hurry, hurry, Monsieur! DE BEAUVOIR But I must ask you 159 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE No; you must not ask me anything. She s sneezing now, I am sure of it. Run run, please! DE BEAUVOIR Why will you never talk seriously to me for two consecutive moments. I want DESIREE Please go now; she will soon want something else. Au rcvoir. (Exit DE BEAUVOIR by window on right) DESIREE watches him off, shakes her head, takes up her letter again, and reads "You, who have always been my good angel, do not desert me now. You have heard of my folly. If you can find the money for me I will go to America and begin a new life. Don t betray me; my life depends on your secrecy. I will be at the King s Oak in the park at three o clock to-morrow morn ing. Meet me there if you still love me. I promise you that I will yet prove worthy of your tenderness, and of all the sac rifices you have made for me in the past." Rene is found, thank God! No wonder I did not recog nize that disguised hand. Now, what shall I do? I cannot count yet on Edme s influence with the minister, nor can I persuade Rene to return to the regiment to be imprisoned or shot. 1 60 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY And to take refuge in America is to bid farewell to honor. I must give him the money, and leave him free to choose for himself. And where is the money to come from? Enter DE BEAUVOIR DE BEAUVOIR Madame de Crequy wants a footstool. What is the matter, Mademoiselle; are you ill? DESIREE, crumpling up the letter and thrusting it into her belt again Yes no. I was a little startled at your entrance. This heat sets my nerves on edge. DE BEAUVOIR You look pale. Can I get you anything? DESIREE, hysterically Yes; find me a true friend and a wise adviser, and on your way to Olympus to borrow Persuasion, stop at the Credit Lyon- nais and draw me five thousand francs. DE BEAUVOIR Are you jesting, Mademoiselle, or do you really need help? 161 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE, more quietly Not from you, Monsieur de Beauvoir. But you can counsel me. You have had much experience. DE BEAUVOIR Of a kind. Well? DESIREE, with difficulty They tell me I have heard that you are not very good. Is that true? DE BEAUVOIR bows his head silently. After a pause DE BEAUVOIR Remember that I have not always known you, Mademoiselle. DESIREE, collecting herself Indeed, it was not to question you that I asked. It was because you possess a knowledge of the world which I have not acquired. Do you believe, judging from your own ex perience, that a person still young, and with a kind heart, who has committed a great error, can be reclaimed? DE BEAUVOIR Yes; I think so, because I am convinced that an older per son who has been guilty of more than one misdeed could, under 162 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY certain circumstances and with the prospect of certain rewards, renounce the error of his ways and become quite exemplary. DESIREE You don t realize the gravity of the offence. I meant a real misdemeanor something which, if known, would dishonor the culprit and his family. DE BEAUVOIR What do you mean? You alarm me. DESIREE Do you think that the sacrifice of the happiness of an inno cent individual to the welfare of a guilty one is the best means of reclaiming the wrongdoer? DE BEAUVOIR It puts the wrongdoer under a terrible obligation to be re claimed. Mademoiselle, you trouble me; what have you to do with wrongdoing and dishonor? You do not even realize what these large terms mean. DESIREE I cannot tell you; to do so would be to violate a trust. And don t look at me like that. Forget that I am a girl and you are a man, and think of me as a human creature in dis tress who seeks your help. 163 MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEAUVOIR, losing his self -command My help ! Ask me for the last drop of my blood, and you shall have it. You know that I have no will but yours. Dis pose of your own according to your pleasure. DESIREE Hush hush ! It is all so hopeless ! I am the fiancee of another man. Let us forget these insane words ; it is my fault that they were uttered. DE BEAUVOIR Why do you torture me so? Haven t I been on the rack ever since de Semoule s courtship began? Why do you fill my mind with miserable doubts of you? DESIREE, looking into his eyes I swear to you, on the word of a Crequy, that though I am wretched I am doing no wrong. Don t you believe me? DE BEAUVOIR How can I help believing you, when you speak to me in a certain voice? I am no longer mad; don t be afraid that I shall lose my head twice. Accept a word of advice from me let no man bind you to secrecy, and tell your trouble to de Beziers before you sleep. He is a safer father confessor for you than I am. Perhaps some day you will realize what it 164 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY costs me to reject the office. Dieu vous garde, mademoiselle. (Goes towards door on right as MRS. WESTERN and DE SE- MOULE enter it.) MRS. WESTERN to DE BEAUVOIR Well, of all perjured persons you are the worst ! We have had time to build a cairn with garden gravel for the ancestor s feet while you were supposed to be fetching her footstool. DE BEAUVOIR I ve such a poor memory ! MRS. WESTERN You had better go and apologize while I make tea. No, she won t need one now. She s in a good humor, and is talk ing archaic scandal with a neighboring antiquity who has come to call. (Exit DE BEAUVOIR) Enter BAPTISTS with the tea service, which he places on the bamboo table, then lights the lamp under the kettle, and waits on right. DE SEMOULE Can I assist you, Madame? Permit me. (Puts three scanty spoonfuls of tea into the pot.) 165 MASQUES OF CUPID MRS. WESTERN Twice as much more, if you please. If yours is the French method of making tea, I don t wonder that Balzac called it "an insipid and melancholy beverage." Desiree, come here and help me. Comte, there s a draught on the lamp. (MRS. WESTERN seats herself at the table, DESIREE crosses to right, and DE SEMOULE closes the French window.) MRS. WESTERN to DESIREE What is the matter with de Beauvoir? Has he said any thing? Really, it isn t fair of you ! He was destined to be my prey, and you ve been poaching on my preserves. I shall have to fall back on the Vicomte, if he isn t too much damaged! Where is he? DESIREE, hurriedly I must speak to you. Get rid of them, please. MRS. WESTERN Comte, go and ask the Marquise how many cups of tea I am to send out, and what fauna and flora she will take with it to-day. Thanks so much. (Exit DE SEMOULE by window on right.) Baptiste, go and hunt on the lawn for a powder-puff rolled up in a lace handkerchief. If you don t find it there, search the garden ; if it s not in the garden, examine the urns on the terrace, and then, if you don t succeed, try the fountain and be thorough, Baptiste. (Exit BAPTISTE on right.) Now, my dear, unfold; they ll be gone some time. It will 1 66 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY take your obsolete relative fully five minutes to decide on the particular pharmaceutical delicacy she ll qualify her tea with to-day, and as for Baptiste (Shows the handkerchief tucked into her sleeve.) It will do him good. Stooping is excellent to reduce the stomach. Divulge I am all ears. DESIREE Lucy, promise me that you will never tell. MRS. WESTERN Never? I solemnly promise not to do so until you have told all your friends first. DESIREE Don t jest; it s tragic enough to me. I am engaged, and I want you to lend me five thousand francs. MRS. WESTERN, smiling To de Beauvoir? To buy the ring with? DESIREE No; to Edme de Semoule. MRS. WESTERN Grands dieux! as you say. What for? 167 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE Not to amuse myself, I assure you. I can t explain, but we need protection, and he can help us. MRS. WESTERN Can t you obtain it in any other way? Marriage lasts a long time, especially in this country, my little Desiree. And if it is de Semoule, why do you need money? DESIREE For something else. I cannot ask any one but you. Don t question me about it, but if you can, let me have it. MRS. WESTERN You shall have it, my dear, to-morrow or next day. DESIREE I need it at once to-night. MRS. WESTERN It is fortunate that I cashed a cheque on Monday. Come to my room before dinner, and I ll have it ready for you. Mum s the word, of course. When did the betrothal take place? DESIREE An hour ago. 1 68 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY MRS. WESTERN Is this the mean, furtive way in which alliances are arranged ? I expected a trumpeting herald on horseback to demand the hand of the haulte et puissante damoiselle de Crequy, or at least the grenadier aunt in a post-chaise, surrounded by Breton henchmen with bangs and bagpipes. And where are the sacks of gold and the contracts to sign and seal, and the faithful retainers carousing on the lawn, and the mayors and the no taries, and the corbeillesf Well, French nobility has degener ated. Desiree, I am disappointed in you. DESIREE Patience, my dear; we ll have them all later. Granny and Monsieur de Semoule have only just settled it. MRS. WESTERN Without consulting you? DESIREE She told me of it immediately afterwards. MRS. WESTERN And you accepted without any shilly-shally? Well, we fast Americans go by slower stages in the affairs of the heart. De Semoule is well bred, well broken, has an unimpeachable pedi gree, and fetches and carries to perfection. And he has as many castles as Puss in Boots, and lots of ancestral hardware ? 169 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE, sadly Yes. Every one will be delighted. MRS. WESTERN, rising Accept, then, my. congratulations and my best wishes for your future happiness. (Embraces DESIREE formally, and sud denly clasps her in her arms.) My dear girl, don t marry a man you can t love. Think of the heaven you miss. DESIREE I can t do otherwise. I ve thought it over, and, as you say, Monsieur de Semoule is MRS. WESTERN "Heavy, heavy damned heavy." Don t be shocked; that s Pickwick. You know de Semoule wearies you, and indeed he is a most palpable bore. DESIREE Don t, Lucy; you re speaking of my fiance. MRS. WESTERN Don t let them coax or bully you into a loveless marriage. Fight resist; I ll help you. 170 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DESIREE You don t understand; it is of my own free will that I marry him. MRS. WESTERN I give you up. I don t understand you. Perhaps it is be cause you are such a mixture; I never can tell which element will be uppermost the French or the American. And some times one predominates, sometimes the other. DESIREE You mean that I have a piebald character. Perhaps you are right. MRS. WESTERN With due respect to you, my dear, I should put it in a pret tier way. What do you call variegated ice-cream in French? I ve forgotten. DESIREE Panachee? MRS. WESTERN That s it. You have a panachee nature, and I can only sympathize with the American half. Oh, my kettle! How sad it is that whenever we try to philosophize and rise into the pure ether of abstract thought, some material kettle always boils over! (Returns to the table, sits down, and pours out the tea.) If you change your mind, even after the cadi and the scrivener arrive, I ll stand by you. 171 MASQUES OF CUPID Enter DE SEMOULE, followed by BAPTISTE, mopping his face BAPTISTE Madame, I have searched everywhere. I fear that the dog of mademoiselle has eaten the handkerchief of madame. MRS. WESTERN Let us hope that it will not give him a false digestion, as you say. Take out this tea and the rum, and the araki, and the orange-flower water to the marquise. (To DE SEMOULE.) I won t mix them myself. The result looks too much like an aquarium to seem wholesome. Baptiste, don t forget Monsieur de Beauvoir s absinthe. And you what can I do for you? DE SEMOULE No tea, thank you. I have already had a madere and a madcleine. Monsieur de Beziers is just returning, I think. Enter DE BEZIERS. Kisses DESIREE on the forehead, and shakes hands with DE SEMOULE DESIREE Lucy, may I present the cousin of whom I have so often talked with you? Mrs. Western, Monsieur le Vicomte de Beziers. DE BEZIERS takes the hand which MRS. WESTERN extends to him and puts it to his lips, then shakes it awkwardly 172 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY MRS. WESTERN I was deeply interested in your family all last winter, and there is so much that I want to ask you about. But first let me give you some tea. DE BEZIERS Tea! (Aside.) Quelle drogue! (Aloud.) No, thank you, Madame; I am quite well. What good fairy has awak ened your interest in the de Beziers ? MRS. WESTERN A glass of Malaga and a cake, then, Vicomte. I sup pose tea is an innovation despised by the ancien regime peo ple. I belong to a history class, and last winter we studied mediaeval France, and, as you know, the de Crequy and the de Beziers were always doing the most exciting things. (Pours out a glass of wine for DE BEZIERS and gives it to him.) Is it true that an ancestor of yours broke the nose of King Richard at Fontevrault in revenge for that- unpleasantness at Chaluz? DE BEZIERS, aside She begins well ! To recall to me the only Beziers who was ever hanged! (Aloud.) It is a family legend, Madame. MRS. WESTERN Desiree tells me that your castle of La Ferte still retains the archers walk around the walls. 173 MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEZIERS I hope that some day you will do me the honor to make the tour of it, Madame. I have some portraits there, also MRS. WESTERN Yes ; I have read of them, and I am most anxious to see the one of Agnes Sorel. They say it is prettier than Fouquet s. DE BEZIERS But, Madame, it is you who will have to be my guide there. You know my possessions better than I do. MRS. WESTERN You Frenchmen are such flatterers ! I am glad that I took that history course, though; with the stereopticon views, it makes Touraine, and the old families, and the antiquities much more fascinating (DE BEZIERS grimaces. She perceives it and continues) though there are some people and some things which have so much intrinsic charm that it seems hardly fair that they should also possess that which association lends them. DE BEZIERS, aside Elle tache de me faire oublier mon pendu, et elle s y prend gentiment. 174 THE HONOR OF THE CREOUY MRS. WESTERN I have heard that you continue the family tradition, and have also been a soldier. DE BEZIERS In 70, of course; what Frenchman was not one then? In Senegal also, and when I was a youngster I made the Sicilian campaign with the "Thousand." MRS. WESTERN, rising and seizing DE BEZIERS S hand You were with Garibaldi? This is the most exciting mo ment of my life! I must shake hands with you. Sit down and tell me all about it! Is it true that you were warned be forehand of all Bomba s movements? DE BEZIERS, somewhat embarrassed yet charmed, begins to narrate his Sicilian adventures DE SEMOULE to DESIREE Madame de Crequy has told you, Mademoiselle? DESIREE Yes ; and I accept, Monsieur. DE SEMOULE What adorable frankness! 175 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE I hope that you will continue to find it adorable, for I desire to be always frank with you. Let us try to be good friends, monsieur mon fiance. DE SEMOULE Only friends? Something more, I hope. DESIREE I want a friend more than I do a lover. DE SEMOULE I will be both if you will let me. And this marriage pleases you, does it not? Enter THE MARQUISE and DE BEAUVOIR. The dressing-bell rings THE MARQUISE Run along, my children. Go and make yourselves beauti ful, and don t be too late. We have some aborigines to dinner who will appear on the stroke of eight. I hope they haven t neglected you, cousin. As I need more repairs than any of the rest, I ll leave you without ceremony. Goes up-stairs and exit by door on left of landing 176 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEAUVOIR to DESIREE You are better? Please tell him to-night; it is the only favor I ask of you. DESIREE I can t. Don t blame me, and don t think ill of me. DE BEAUVOIR turns away. DESIREE goes up-stairs, dropping the letter from her belt as she does so, and disappears on the landing to right. DE BEAUVOIR and DE SEMOULE talk together on the left MRS. WESTERN You are too fascinating to leave, Vicomte, but I must de- materialize. Thank you so much ; it is only a Frenchman who can talk really well about himself. DE BEZIERS I have been very egotistical, Madame. After dinner I hope that you will permit me to question you in my turn. I have always been interested in the New World, though I possess only old books on the subject. Fenimore Cooper and Cha teaubriand early aroused my interest in the Indians, and I should like to know more of them. Do they mix socially with the whites, or do they constitute a society apart ? Do you visit many Indian families? 177 MASQUES OF CUPID MRS. WESTERN I never saw an Indian in my life, except the basket Indians at Saratoga and other watering-places. DE BEZIERS, meditatively I never heard of the basket tribe, but if, as you say, the Indians now frequent watering-places, they have certainly changed much since the days of Uncas. MRS. WESTERN It will take too long to explain how much. By the way, what is this hunt this rallye papier for to-morrow morning? DE SEMOULE It is merely an excuse for a gallop. You call it a paper hunt in English. MRS. WESTERN And in American? DE BEZIERS I doubt if you have anything so tame in the country of great lakes and boundless prairies, where you hunt the bison and the grizzly MRS. WESTERN And the aniseed bag. 178 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE SEMOULE You can, however, break your neck at a paper hunt if you will. MRS. WESTERN You reassure me but how ? Describe the manner of it. DE SEMOULE It is a hunt with a human fox. For instance, to-morrow I play the role of Renard, and lead the chase through the forest, with a bag filled with scraps of paper on my back. I have an hour s start; I double, make detours, and follow as cir cuitous a course as I can, scattering from time to time a hand ful of the scraps. An hour or so later the hunt follows, and tracks me by means of them. MRS. WESTERN It sounds amusing, and almost reconciles me to rising at five o clock to-morrow. DE BEZIERS May I be your cavalier? MRS. WESTERN I have already accepted the escort of Monsieur de Beauvoir. I can t say that I regret it, as he is within earshot. Au revoir, tout le monde. (Exit by staircase and door on left of landing) 179 MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEZIERS, follozving her A bientot, messieurs. (Exit by door on right of landing) DE SEMOULE to DE BEAUVOIR One moment ; if you are to escort Madame Western, you will need a few directions. You are neither of you at home in the forest. Let me make you a rough map of it. DE BEAUVOIR You know it, then? DE SEMOULE As well as my own park. If I had a bit of paper (Looks on the table.) I believe every scrap in the house has gone into my bag. (Sees DESIREE S letter lying on the stairs.) This will do. (Smooths it out, and, laying it on the table, begins, without opening it, to draw on the blank side of the sheet. DE BEAUVOIR leans over him.) Here are the cross roads; be sure to keep to the right of that clump of beeches; there s a bad piece of ground between them and the clearing. Leave the brook on your left when you turn here. There! you can t get lost with that, unless in such charming company you should desire to do so. We ought to finish before the sun is too high. (Gives DE BEAUVOIR the map.) DE BEAUVOIR We leave here at half after five o clock. What an hour! 1 80 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE SEMOULE It s too warm to ride late in the day in this hothouse of a Touraine. Pity me. I start at four o clock. DE BEAUVOIR So early? DE SEMOULE Yes. Remember that with my detours and doubling I go over the ground three times. I m off. Au revoir. (Exit by door on right of landing) DE BEAUVOIR examines the paper and turns it over carelessly, sees and reads the letter on the reverse of the sheet. Puts it down, passes his hand over his eyes, and then re-reads the letter and presses his fists to his temples. DE BEAUVOIR Wait a moment! Let me be quite sure. She was reading this when I came in. Yes, and she said something about five thousand francs and needing a friend. She couldn t tell de Beziers no that would be betraying a trust. (Laughs bit terly. ) And she looked into my eyes and lied ! How can she be so false with such a face! And I would have sworn that she was candor itself! La coquine, la drblesse! To lie with such good eyes! It is not possible! To have given the treasure of herself to this whining cur. (Looks again at the letter.) "The sacrifices you have made for me in the past/ 181 MASQUES OF CUPID I must not think of them. Such thoughts lead to the mad house. Bah! She isn t worth it. "You have been very wicked, Monsieur de Beauvoir" and I could have knelt to her ! Well, well, the woman I loved never existed except in my own fancy. It s none of my affair, and this is her property. She ll soon miss it. (Rubs out the map on the back of the sheet and replaces the letter on the stairs.) Goes to window on right and waits. Enter DESIREE, looking anxiously about; she picks up the letter, and slips it into the front of her gown. DE BEAUVOIR watches her, unseen 182 ACT II Same scene, quite dark except for a small night-lamp on the table. Enter DESIREE in a long cloak with a hood. She goes quietly down-stairs, opens the window and steps out, closing it as well as she can from the outside. As she leaves the window, enter DE BEAUVOIR softly from the door of his room. He re mains on the landing a moment, and then disappears through the same door. The stage remains vacant a few seconds. A bell rings; the barking of dogs, the opening and shutting of doors, are heard outside. Enter BAPTISTS, carrying a candle and a telegram. Looks at the ill-closed window, shakes his head, and shuts it. Goes up-stairs and knocks at door on right. BAPTISTE Monsieur le Vicomte ! (Muffled imprecations from the other side of the door.) Yes, Monsieur le Vicomte, a telegram. Pardon, will Monsieur le Vicomte have the goodness to repeat ? I am a damned imbecile? Bien! Monsieur le Vicomte. From the ministry, and the messenger is hurried, extremely hur- 183 MASQUES OF CUPID ried, Monsieur le Vicomte. A special message from Ver sailles from Where did Monsieur le Vicomte tell me to go to? Ah! I am mute, dumb as a carp. Is there any an swer? I am putting it under the door. None? I am retiring without saying a word, though I found that those lazy valets had left the windows open, and we might have been pillaged and assassinated. Do I hear? Fifty francs pourboire to the messenger. (Goes down-stairs grumbling.) Ah! no, that is not just. Fifty francs for a young man, almost a boy, who has only taken the trouble to saddle a horse and carry a tele gram. It s too much. And I, who have risen, dressed, and brought that same telegram up all these stairs, do not even receive a thank you. fa ne se passera pas comme fa. Twenty francs will be amply sufficient for that young man ; the rest is my commission. Take service with the great if you desire in gratitude. I rise, dress, climb many stairs, and am sent to the devil for my pains. It is enough to make one turn re publican ! (Exit BAPTISTE) Re enter DE BEAUVOIR from his room on the landing. He looks at his watch and then opens the window Enter DESIREE, panting DE BEAUVOIR Hurry, Mademoiselle ! De Semoule may be down any mo ment. Quick, or you will be discovered! 184 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DESIREE I am already, it seems. Why are you here? DE BEAUVOIR To save you from the consequences of your folly. DESIREE, haughtily You are very good, I am sure. Since when have my affairs become your concern? DE BEAUVOIR Since your letter fell into my hands. Don t try to justify yourself ! Spare me the pain of putting you to the blush. DESIREE But I have done nothing to blush for. Did I not give you my word that I was doing no wrong? DE BEAUVOIR Yes; with a look of such divine innocence that I longed to throw myself at your feet. My heart strives to believe you even now when you speak to me, when you look into my eyes ; but how can I with that letter seared into my memory? You say you are wretched. You don t know what misery is ! You haven t seen your idol broken not only broken, but defiled. You don t realize what you were to me; you don t know what you stood for. Ah! Go, go! 185 MASQUES OF CUPID DESIREE Not until you think better of me. Promise me to suspend your judgment until I am able to explain my actions. I shall be, some day. DE BEAUVOIR Have mercy on me, Mademoiselle ! Do not try to brazen it out. Leave me one poor rag of illusion. Let me think of you as misled by your love for one unworthy of you. It has been agony enough to have proved you weak and light; do not let me find you impudent as well. DESIREE, indignantly How dare you ! DE BEAUVOIR, sternly Remember that I have read your lover s letter that I saw you go to your appointment. DESIREE, loudly and angrily I a lover! I! You lie, Jacques de Beauvoir you lie! Enter DE SEMOULE from door on right of landing DE SEMOULE, running down-stairs What is the matter ? De Beauvoir ! Mademoiselle ! What does this mean? 1 86 r THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEAUVOIR I have just met Mademoiselle, who has this moment returned from the stables, where she has been dosing Snob, who is sick. DE SEMOULE And why are you here? DE BEAUVOIR I unfortunately mislaid the map you made me, and came down here to waylay you for further information. DE SEMOULE, Why didn t you come to my room? DE BEAUVOIR I was afraid of awaking our neighbors. DE SEMOULE Mademoiselle Desiree, will you kindly go up-stairs imme diately? The next time your dog needs attention at such an unseemly hour you will be good enough to delegate the care of it to one of the grooms. DESIREE Monsieur de Semoule, you have not yet acquired the right to use this tone to me, and when I have told you the real cause 187 MASQUES OF CUPID of my presence here you will probably never care to possess that right. (To DE BEAUVOIR.) No, Monsieur, I will not allow a gentleman who has such a horror of untruths to shield me with any more falsehoods. ( To DE SEMOULE. ) Monsieur met me two minutes ago as I was entering this window. He assumed that my absence from the house was due to some dis honorable motive. I assured him that I had nothing to be ashamed of, and that some day I hoped to explain matters. He continued to doubt my word, and DE SEMOULE Pardi, that doesn t astonish me! Now, Mademoiselle, / request you to justify yourself to Monsieur and to myself at once by solving this mystery. DESIREE Unhappily, I cannot. I have promised secrecy to another person. DE SEMOULE But you had no right to do so; it is your duty to speak. I command you! DESIREE And I refuse to obey you. If you cared for me, you would accept my simple assertion, unsupported by evidence. DE SEMOULE, taking DESIREE aside You don t realize what you are asking of me. It is fright ful to live in ignorance of the acts of the woman one loves! 1 88 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY I want to have you all to myself, to know your thoughts even, and you coolly declare that you have a secret understanding with some one else ! Can t you comprehend the unreason, the cruelty of it? I ask for nothing that I am not more than ready to give. But while I would gladly abandon my whole life to your scrutiny, you are, at the cost of your reputation, hiding something from me. Desiree, when you gave me your hand you resigned your independence; you no longer belong to yourself. DESIREE shakes her head and turns from him DE BEAUVOIR Let us respect her secret. Don t torment her. She is probably more sinned against than sinning. Mademoiselle, pray go ! DE SEMOULE No; I insist upon an explanation. I will not allow her to remain mute under such imputations. Mademoiselle, if you have done wrong, you owe it to me to confess it; if not, your duty to yourself obliges you to speak. DESIREE And my duty to some one whom I love better than either compels me to remain silent. DE BEAUVOIR, taking her hand One who loves you would prefer to have you clear yourself. I entreat you to speak! 189 MASQUES OF CUPID DE SEMOULE, taking the other hand As your fiance, I order you to speak ! Enter DE BEZIERS from door on right of landing, with a tele gram in his hand; he looks down on the group below DE BEZIERS What has happened now? (Runs down-stairs.) Gentle men, unhand my cousin ! What is it, Desiree ? DESIREE They are insisting that I shall tell them where I have been. DE BEZIERS And where have you been? DESIREE You, too? Cousin, forgive me; I can t tell you. I have given my word. DE BEZIERS But, my dear child, you are in a very compromising situ ation. I absolve you from any promise that you have made to anybody. (Patting her hand.) Collect yourself, and tell us. I am sure it can t be very bad. ( To DE BEAUVOIR, hand ing him the telegram.) Here s a line in my despatch which con- 190 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY cerns you. I regret to be the bearer of evil tidings. Come, Desiree, our friend here must start immediately for Marseilles, and I can t have him leave you in this doubtful position. Ex plain at once ! DESIREE I cannot ! I must not ! DE BEZIERS Evasion only harms you, Desiree, and inclines us to believe that you have something to conceal. DESIREE How often have I told you that I have promised secrecy? I must stand to my word as you would to yours. Are prom ises to be held sacred only as long as it is pleasant to do so? You are noble have you no idea of honor, of keeping faith with the helpless ? You are gentlemen, and yet you are ready to believe that a carefully nurtured gentlewoman no, what is better, an honest girl whom you have always found truthful is deceiving you for some shameful reason. I do not under stand what baseness you suspect me of. Your doubts would crush me if I did not despise them. Monsieur de Semoule, I give you back your word. Monsieur de Beauvoir, you have insulted one who is defenceless. My cousin, I looked to you for vindication, and you have put me to shame. Oh, why don t you believe in me! Is there not something irresistibly convincing in the accent of truth? Can you look in my face and doubt me? 191 MASQUES OF CUPID Enter MRS. WESTERN, in a peignoir, from room on left of landing MRS. WESTERN, leaning over the rail No; I can t, and I don t believe they can, either. (Coming down-stairs.) Whatever you have stated, Desiree, I ll swear is true. But what is the matter? (To DE SEMOULE.) It is quite time you started. Desiree, why are you not dressed? (Glancing at the telegram.) Bad news? I am interrupting a family council, I fear. Shall I go, or can I be of use? Enter THE MARQUISE in a morning deshabille and a laced cap THE MARQUISE What s all this noise? I thought our guests had arrived. Something has happened? (Descends the stairs.) What do these funereal faces mean? Desiree, why are you here in this toilette? DESIREE, in grim desperation I was obliged to go out at three o clock, and when I re turned these gentlemen met me and wanted to know where I had been. THE MARQUISE What? Is she crazy? It is inconceivable! Nothing like this has ever happened here before. (To DE BEZIERS.) My cousin, do you call this decent? Is it a practical joke? Have 192 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY you the answer to this riddle? (Talks with DE BEZIERS, who draws her aside.) MRS. WESTERN Was it to gather May dew for the complexion I hear you do it here or to pay a bill, Desiree? Never mind; I ll stand by you if the ancestress is unpleasant. THE MARQUISE, shaking DESIREE by the shoulder Finish this pleasantry; you can t understand to what mis construction it exposes you. DESIREE, sullenly I cannot. You are the last person who should desire me to speak. THE MARQUISE Heinf But this is absurd! And she looks as though she were in earnest! Speak. DESIREE, calmly It is impossible! THE MARQUISE Nom d un petit bonhomme! and yet I haven t the habit of swearing. But you announce this enormity to me with such calmness ! It is too inhuman to endanger the honor of a fam ily with such tranquillity. These are the manners of Sioux! Perhaps they are American, I do not know. What can I say 193 MASQUES OF CUPID to you? Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, I have borne much, but this cross is too heavy for me! DESIREE, bursting into tears and throwing herself into MRS. WESTERN S arms Lucy, Lucy, take me away. Not one of my own people trusts me! DE BEAUVOIR Madame cle Crequy, I have the honor to ask you for the hand of Mademoiselle. MRS. WESTERN Bravo ! Athos is still alive ! THE MARQUISE Monsieur, this is very precipitate. DE BEAUVOIR to DESIREE Mademoiselle, I believe you. I have no proofs, but I am convinced that yours are the accents of truth. Give me the right to defend that belief. DESIREE How can I thank you for your faith in me? 194 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY MRS. WESTERN By complying with Amadis s request, my dear! You re surely not going to let this romance go out of the family. It s real Dumas; give him your hand, and let us sing a Te Deum. DESIREE I cannot so ill repay your generosity as to profit by it. I have been smirched by insinuations, suspicions Enter from window on left RENE DE CREQUY RENE Who suspects my sister? My little knight, how faithful you were to me ! DESIREE Oh, why did ycu return? RENE To give myself up and suffer the chastisement which I de serve. After you left me, sccurette cherie, I was tempted to take one last look at the old house. As I neared the open win dow I heard voices. Pardon me I listened. Dear one, your fidelity to your word, your mute defence of me, went straight to my heart, and I determined to deserve your love by redeem ing my honor. Grandmother (to THE MARQUISE), I won t ask you to forgive me until I have earned your pardon. Cousin (to DE BEZIERS), I am going back to my garrison, will you accompany me? 195 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE Oh ! my Rene, what will they do to you ? DE BEZIERS Nothing very dreadful, for the law of amnesty passes to-day. RENE Good-by, Desiree. You must sustain the honor of the Cre- quy alone; I think you can. THE MARQUISE But you at least, Rene, will explain this mystery. (THE MARQUISE, DE BEZIERS, DE BEAUVOIR, and MRS. WESTERN gather about RENE.) DE SEMOULE to DESIREE Why did you not trust me ? Can you forgive my suspicions ? DESIREE, smiling Indeed I can, and I am most grateful to you. To them I owe my knowledge of Monsieur de Beauvoir s chivalry. I could thank you for them. DE SEMOULE Does that mean that all is finished between us? 196 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DESIREE It was hardly begun, was it? and certainly did not go far enough to spoil our old friendship. I still count on it, Mon sieur de Semoule. DE SEMOULE I am not quite resigned enough to play that role yet. You have never cared for me, then? Do you think that I have deserved this? DESIREE No. You deserve something far better a wife who loves you. DE SEMOULE turns away from her, then goes back Mademoiselle, I will say good-bye to you now, as directly after the hunt I shall go back to Semoule, and I may not see you again for some time. I will write to Madame de Crequy. Accept my sincerest vows for your future happiness. ( To the group about RENE.) Au revoir, mesdames et messieurs. (Exit DE SEMOULE) DESIREE loosens her cloak. DE BEAUVOIR offers to assist her DESIREE It s done, thanks. You haven t congratulated me on my rehabilitation, nor apologized for your mistrust of me, as Mon sieur de Semoule has just done. 197 MASQUES OF CUPID DE BEAUVOIR I saw that he had, Mademoiselle, and that you were most indulgent. DESIREE What perspicacity ! It was his reward for being so prompt. DE BEAUVOIR He had every reason to be, Mademoiselle. DESIREE And you? DE BEAUVOIR I confess, to my shame, I regret that you are no longer in need of a champion, and that you do not want my poor assistance. DESIREE But I do, Monsieur, and you promised it me, and for a long time. I still hold you to your word unless you offered it only out of pity. DE BEAUVOIR Pity! Yes, it was out of pity for my starving, longing, desirous self. DESIREE And you have none left for poor me? Must I instigate Granny to ask your intentions. 198 THE HONOR OF THE CREQUY DE BEAUVOIR Ah! Desiree, Desiree! THE MARQUISE to DE BEZIERS Do you notice that, my cousin ? Do you call that civilized ? Are we in Kamschatka or Chicago ? They ignore my presence, they defy decorum! How are we to end this, and recall de Semoule ? DE BEZIERS Wait a moment! I have some more news for you which has just reached me from the ministry. The bodies of de Beauvoir s uncle and cousin were washed ashore with the wreck of their yacht on the island of Sainte Marguerite yesterday. (THE MARQUISE crosses herself.) I handed the telegram to him just before he made his declaration. THE MARQUISE As I was about to say when you interrupted me, cousin, I hope that Desiree has given de Semoule a definite dismissal. She should do so after showing her preference for Monsieur de Beauvoir with such barbaric frankness. How chivalrous it was of him to come to the rescue as he did, and to believe in her so blindly ! He will certainly make a good husband. MRS. WESTERN to DE BEAUVOIR She s coming to congratulate you. Sit up and beg pretty. 199 MASQUES OF CUPID THE MARQUISE Monsieur de Beauvoir, receive my condolences and my sin cere sympathy with your sorrow. You have had a great blow. We shall have a mass served in the chapel to-morrow morn ing. I suppose you leave at once? MRS. WESTERN Is this the mediaeval, aristocratic form of congratulation to a fiance? DESIREE I don t understand, dear. MRS. WESTERN Neither do I, nor have I for the last half hour. These lightning-change engagements are bewildering to the Occi dental mind. Don t shake the kaleidoscope again, please, until I ve had my coffee. Marquise, can t you give us our conge in true classic fashion by blessing Desiree and telling Monsieur de Beauvoir to take her, my boy!" THE MARQUISE, smiling and shrugging her shoulders, puts DESIREE S hand into DE BEAUVOIR S 200 CLEON, an Athenian citizen, father of Clea and Amphione. CHARMIDES, an officer of hoplites. LYSIS, a student, betrothed to Amphione. GRYLLUS, a young athlete, betrothed to Clea. CRITIAS, father of Lysis. BATTAROS, slave of Cleon. CLEANTHES, a child, son of Clea. AMPHIONE, younger daughter of Cleon, sister of Clea. CLEA, daughter of Cleon. DORIS, nurse of Clea. PRAXILLA, slave of Cleon. PARTHENIS, a flute-player. ECHO, an Indian parrot. Slave girls, water-bearers, singers Time, 411 B. c. Place, Athens 201 IN CLEON S GARDEN Scene A garden. Right, a porch, with seats on either side of house door. Left centre, and left, a high wall, surmounted by vases filled with plants and noivers, running across the back of the stage; in the middle this wall is broken as though it had been forced inward on the garden bed at its base. Left, an arbor overhung with grape-vine, under it a semicircular mar ble seat and a wall fountain, the water falling from a lion s mask into a small basin. Right centre, a chair, with a scarf and parasol lying on it. A peacock is sunning itself on the wall, doves are drinking at the fountain, and ECHO, the parrot, meditates in a cage hung from one of the beams of the arbor. ECHO, in a low voice, almost a whisper Lysis ! Lysis ! A rough, curly head rises above the gap in the wall, and LYSIS looks eagerly into the garden, waits a moment, listens, and then sinks out of sight. ECHO, plaintively Come back, come back to her who loves you. 203 MASQUES OF CUPID The head of LYSIS again appears ECHO, sardonically Ha ! ha ! ha ! ( Chuckles evilly. ) LYSIS shakes his fist at the parrot and disappears Enter AMPHIONE by house door on right, glances at the win dows, saunters about the garden, gathers a rose, dabbles her hands in the fountain, and finally, going to the gap in the wall, calls in a low voice, almost a whisper. Lysis ! Lysis ! An indignant growl is heard behind the wall AMPHIONE, in a slightly louder tone Lysis ! Lysis ! ECHO, in an ecstasy of malevolent delight, Happing his wings Ha! ha! ha! Donkeys to sell, donkeys to sell, donk ! AMPHIONE, going to the parrot and stroking its head You do well to mock me. I ll wait no longer for that slug gard. Good-bye, Echo; good-bye, pretty bird! (Crosses to the porch on right and lingers an instant at the door.) 204 IN CLEON S GARDEN Enter LYSIS, climbing over the ivall and leaping down into the garden LYSIS You here, at last. AMPHIONE, with dignity Health to you, Lysis ! LYSIS By Herakles! I have need of it, and of patience also. If you count by heart-beats I have waited a century for you, and have been insulted by your bird into the bargain. AMPHIONE I should think you were rating a tardy slave. You have had but little experience, Lysis, if you don t know that girls are always late. Besides, 7 am not; I have been calling and calling you until even the parrot laughed at me for a fond fool. LYSIS It is not the first time that I ve noticed that you are more considerate of his feelings than of mine. AMPHIONE Well, of all the absurdities! It will puzzle even a pupil of Socrates to prove that. 205 MASQUES OF CUPID LYSIS Heartless one ! You know I am too distracted to prove any thing but my insensate love for you. Since I learned that your sister is to be married to-day, and thus the only obstacle to our wedding is removed, I have quite lost my head as well as my heart. I am the butt of all my comrades; only yester day, when the Master bade me define harmony, what do you think I answered? AMPHIONE How can I tell ? LYSIS I said, "Her eyes are just the color of the agates in Clitopho s mantle-clasp," and shamed myself before them all. AMPHIONE, sadly Poor Lysis! I am so sorry. (With animation.) Are they, truly? LYSIS And this morning at the barber s, when the bungling ap prentice asked me how I would have my hair trimmed AMPHIONE He was a bungler. I thought you looked unaccountably queer to-day. 206 IN CLEON S GARDEN LYSIS, piqued Were you ever satisfied with the cut of it ? When you have quite finished your criticisms of my appearance I ll continue. AMPHIONE Criticisms indeed ! That remark was a graceful preamble to a request for a lock of it. What did you answer, dear one ? LYSIS, mollified I said, "In little clusters of curls quite hiding the ears." I can hear them laugh still. Too much joy has driven me out of my wits. AMPHIONE Never mind; I ll help you find them again. LYSIS We will look for them together. Amphione, do you realize that I shall no longer be obliged to sneak into this garden like a thief, and tantalize my famished eyes with stolen glimpses of you? But you re not half as happy as I am! AMPHIONE I pity my sister, Lysis. She who desires to consecrate her life to her husband s memory is forced to remarry, which to her seems sacrilege. 207 MASQUES OF CUPID LYSIS Yet your father is right. She is young, and Gryllus is not the first comer. Athens still echoes with his triumphs at the games. Cleon (health and long life to him!) is old and her child has no protector, but what I never understood was why he insisted on deferring our wedding until she had accepted a husband. AMPHIONE That is because he is so systematic. It is against the rules of all well-ordered families that the younger sister should marry before the elder is disposed of. Poor Clea, the hope of making us happy has counted for much in her yielding to my father s commands. LYSIS Then she no longer believes that Charmides is alive? AMPHIONE I do not know; for years she held fast to the hope of his return. She says he promised her to come back, and some of our soldiers did escape, you know. LYSIS, sadly It were kinder to wish that he found a speedy death on the field. 208 IN CLEON S GARDEN AMPHIONE Indeed, I hardly think a delicately bred gentleman could sur vive the torments the Syracusans (on whose heads may the earth lie heavy!) inflicted on our soldiers. LYSIS Amphione, when I remember how those Sicilians treated their Athenian prisoners, branding them like cattle, penning them in those hideous quarries to freeze at night and burn by day, to die of hunger and thirst, to rot while still alive when I think of what our friends and kinsmen endured, I forget even you, my girl, in a raging, impotent desire for revenge. AMPHIONE Your picture is incomplete. You have forgotten the gay folk who walked the pit s edge at sunset, and leaned down over the charnel-house to mock at the ill-starred captives whom unkind Death had slighted. Oh! for the last two years we have been crammed with horrors. Every Athenian who es caped has told his piteous story in my father s house; to every ship that hailed from the west we ve sent for news; we have sought Charmides as Demeter did her daughter, but not with her good fortune. LYSIS And yet to-day Clea weds Gryllus. 209 MASQUES OF CUPID AMPHIONE Most unwillingly. Father has so beset her with prayers, en treaties, threats, arguments, and endless disputation. If she kissed her boy, he d shake his head and groan, "Poor, helpless child ; he s quite defenceless in an evil world." If by chance I sighed LYSIS, coming close to her You sighed for me, and never would confess it. You feared to make me too happy, I presume. AMPHIONE, crossing to the other side of the stage Lysis, you promised that if I d meet you here you would always stand three paces off. LYSIS, stopping Then I overestimated my capacity for resistance; it is at such promises that Zeus laughs. Like Hippolytus, "my tongue has sworn, yet my mind is free." AMPHIONE You are not in the least like Hippolytus, who was a very modest young man. LYSIS And came to grief in consequence. Well, I ll renew my promise if you ll tell me why you sighed. 210 IN CLEON S GARDEN AMPHIONE Agreed. I sighed of course I sighed because my girdle was too tight. LYSIS You wasp ! AMPHIONE It always is when my heart aches for you. LYSIS, fervently You honeycomb! (Throws himself Hat on the pavement and grasps her robe.) AMPHIONE Your promise ! LYSIS I am three paces off. There ! There ! There ! (Kisses the hem of her chiton.) Enter by door on right CLEA and DORIS LYSIS leaps to his feet, AMPHIONE hurries to the fountain and caresses one of the doves AMPHIONE, aside Be calm, Lysis, and look innocent, as I do. 211 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEA, seating herself in the chair on right and handing the scarf and parasol to DORIS Health, Lysis! Why are you here? AMPHIONE, playing with the dove It is all the fault of the dove that naughtily flew away. Lysis happened to be on the other side of the wall, and CLEA That is where he should be now. Lysis, be patient. In a few days you can carry yonder little plague and her doves home with you, though you won t need the doves there. Now, go before my father returns. LYSIS Farewell, Clea farewell, Amphione. (He climbs over the wall and disappears) AMPHIONE Can I help you, Clea? CLEA, smiling No. You had better clip your dove s wings, Amphione. 212 IN CLEON S GARDEN AMPHIONE Not for the world, Clea; they are too useful. (Exit by door on right) CLEA, turning quickly to DORIS You have no news for me? DORIS Mistress, if I had, would 1 have waited for your question? CLEA You made every inquiry spared no pains? DORIS I did your bidding as you yourself would have done it. If I do not know my lesson now, it s not for lack of repeti tion. I am the fable of the port, the custom-house officers break stale jests on me, the meanest bargeman gibes at me and says it s not a husband but a lover that I seek, and the common sailors proffer CLEA Peace! You found the ship from Catana you asked the captain 213 MASQUES OF CUPID DORIS If he had heard aught of one Athenian, Charmides of the Alcmaeonidae, once taxiarch of hoplites, now prisoner or slave in Sicily. CLEA And you offered the reward for information? DORIS Yes; poor mistress, how often have you been disappointed! CLEA This is the last time. Gryllus s wife will send no more. (Covers her face with her mantle.) DORIS, touching CLEA S arm timidly Mistress, you have done your duty by a dead husband, and now there is a live lover at your door; you have waited for Charmides four long years CLEA Penelope waited twenty. DORIS In the old days, when a body had plenty of time. Here s your father. 214 IN CLEON S GARDEN Enter CLEON What, daughter, idling here when it is nearly noon and nothing done? Still mourning, always grieving, even while your wedding dinner is on the fire. You should end the threnody before you begin the epithalamium. Was ever man so plagued by wilful girls? A third daughter would send me to the tomb. CLEA Would I were in mine ! CLEON May the gods be deaf to such impious wishes ! You are thrice blessed, Clea in your son, in your bridegroom, and in your over-indulgent father. CLEA Indulgent! When he bids Charmides s wife take another lord? CLEON His widow, you mean. CLEA For me he lives. CLEON These are sickly fancies. Gryllus will cure you of them. Clea, for two years, moved by your prayers, I have tried to find your husband; now I am convinced he is dead, I desire you to take another bridegroom, to bestow a father on your 215 MASQUES OF CUPID child and a son on my old age. Could a parent be more just or reasonable? CLEA But remember the soothsayer s prediction; you believed it once "When twice the olives have been gathered she who weeps will welcome a husband." CLEON Exactly, and I still believe it, for a husband means Gryllus, of course. Surely you will not refuse to obey the mandate of the gods? CLEA But I read it not so. The prediction ran welcome a hus band. That points to Charmides, beyond a doubt. CLEON Poor child ! Much brooding on your grief has made havoc of your wits. You will welcome Gryllus, who is even now desirous of seeing you. CLEA I will you mean I must! CLEON Clea, I need a strong arm to lean on. A father of daughters only should get him sons by well-chosen alliances ; thus a wise man circumvents the adverse fates and transmutes his curses 216 IN CLEON S GARDEN into blessings. Sons will uphold my rights. Now, take this gap in the wall, for instance. If Gryllus and Critias had sus tained my suit the city would have repaired it long ago. Am I to blame for careless driving? What is it to me that it was a sacred car that broke the bricks? If a city can afford pro cessions it can afford to pay for the damage that they cause. So I said then, and so I repeat CLEA Yes, so you repeat. CLEON Now, give me a popular and well-known son-in-law like Gryllus, and you ll see the masons here within a week. Come, pluck up heart ; your father pleads, your sister pines unwedded, the bridegroom waits, and the wall needs mending. Enter GRYLLUS, from right GRYLLUS to CLEON Health, father! (To CLEA.) I have brought you these. They were my mother s. (Gives her a casket.) CLEA I would that she herself could have given them to some happy girl. GRYLLUS She could not give them to a fairer one. You do not care to look at them? 217 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEA, putting the casket aside I would rather talk to you. CLEON That s the first civil thing she has said to him. I ll leave them by themselves. Battaros! Battaros! (Claps his hands.) Enter BATTAROS. CLEON seats himself under the arbor on left, and looks over the lists that BATTAROS presents to him ECHO Charmides, come back come back ! GRYLLUS That is the only piece of your property that I ask you to leave here. CLEA As you will. The bird but voices the cry of my heart. GRYLLUS I will teach it another call. CLEA It is too old and dull to learn. 218 IN CLEON S GARDEN GRYLLUS Do you not fear the anger of Aphrodite, inhuman one ? CLEA No ; the marriage gods protect a faithful wife. GRYLLUS But not a cruel widow. CLEA It is you who are cruel to give me that name. GRYLLUS I ask no better than to call you wife. CLEA A reluctant one? Have you no pride? GRYLLUS Can pride and love find room in the same heart? Pride? Clea, I have bathed your threshold with my tears; I have watched like a chained slave beside your door; I have courted your father, pampered your nurse, flattered your porter, and caressed your dog ECHO Donkeys to sell donkeys ! Shut up, shut up ! 219 MASQUES OF CUPID GRYLLUS stops and froivns CLEA, smiling But you have not propitiated my parrot. Gryllus, listen; it is not yet too late. Have pity on yourself, on your own blooming youth. Do not take an unloving wife to your warm, young heart. Renounce me, give me up. I am like a funeral urn, without well turned enough and fairly colored, but within filled with tears and ashes. GRYLLUS The love that fires my heart will dry the tears and kindle the ashes into flame. CLEA Have mercy, Gryllus ; let me go. GRYLLUS Have pity on me, Clea, as you hope for pity. You speak as though I could choose in this matter. I did not elect to love you. Do I control the hammering of this smithy in my side ? Do I regulate the tumult in my veins ? You ask me to renounce you as you would beg a pet quail of me. You fancy that you love CLEA I fancy, Gryllus! GRYLLUS You would not plead with the gasping runner to turn back .when, with weak knees and thundering heart, he gains the goal ; 220 IN CLEON S GARDEN you would not dare to ask the jaded wrestler, when he grips his adversary for a final throw, to loose his clutch; and yet you CLEA Beseech your clemency for your own self. It were better for you to bid the furies to your wedding feast than to drive me to despair. GRYLLUS What! In a rage? I like you better so. The ashes still glow, Clea. CLEA Ah, no. Alcestis, newly wrested from the tomb, cold with the awful dews of death, was not more chill to mortal touch than I shall be to you, Gryllus. GRYLLUS Her husband s arms warmed her to life again. CLEA, rising impatiently with a groan O, immortal gods, who will deliver me from this man? ECHO, startled Charmides, Charmides, come back, come back ! CLEON silences the parrot, and then turning to GRYLLUS 221 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEON Have you finished your billing; remember the bride isn t dressed yet. GRYLLUS One moment, father. (To CLEA.) I tender you the olive branch, while you, with that sharp sword you wear between your lips, still stab a heart that loves you, even while you pray for mercy. You suffer, so do I ; let the sense of your own pain make you more pitiful. Reflect a little on my torments. You have never sighed for one whose every thought is given to another. CLEA No; nor do I understand such fierce love. If not madness, it is sheer self-will. GRYLLUS Of course you do not understand it; sooner could you per form the feats of the Pentathlon. A woman s puny side could never hold a heart like mine. Madness! Why, so it is. I could almost believe that you had spun my brain round on a magic wheel and scorched my heart before a witch s fire. Have you not brewed a philtre for my drinking? But no, you are your own enchantment. CLEA Go sing that fustian under some flute-player s window. Am I one who consorts with sorcerers? But you are changed. You used to be a modest lad, as shy and silent as you were strong. Now fame has come to you, and all those crowns, 222 IN CLEON S GARDEN and turned your head, not I, with magic wheels. Potions ! Why, your training-diet (ugh! those masses of red meat!) has fevered your blood. Nowadays you are more of a fight ing-cock than a man. It is to the man that I appeal. GRYLLUS And the man s answer is most reasonable. Clea, you do not love me, but you are my promised wife. Forbear to strive weakly with me. I will not understand denial; I am armed against refusal. Such love as mine o erleaps all your defences and overwhelms your feebler resolution. On your dear head I swear to be a tender father to your child, a help ful son to Cleon. I will sustain your scorn with far more patience than one who loves you less tempestuously. Then, should I renounce you, Cleon would still find you another mate who might be less kind to your boy, less dutiful to your father, less known to Athens and to Greece than Gryllus. CLEA I see the athlete has not forgotten the sophist s lessons, am silenced, not reconciled. GRYLLUS Be silent, then, and yield to stronger wills. CLEA I do, for my child s sake. 223 MASQUES OF CUPID GRYLLUS It is three long hours before I come for you. Farewell. (To CLEON.) Father, we have finished our conference. CLEA to GRYLLUS Conqueror, I salute you. What a noble victory you have gained over the defenceless ! Burn your Pythian chaplets ; to day s exploit outshines all your past triumphs. Go in state to thank the gods for this most glorious conquest. Fare you well. (Exit CLEA) CLEON I fear you found her somewhat fanciful. GRYLLUS, smiling Father, I d scorn to win a prize without a contest. Her resistance heaps sulphur on my flame. I m for the Acropolis ; give me your company. CLEON The gods go with you! I have much to do, and have al ready sacrificed at daybreak. Farewell, my son. GRYLLUS We ll meet at dinner. No, don t attend me; spare cere mony. 224 I IN CLEON S GARDEN (Exeunt CLEON and GRYLLUS) Reenter CLEON, leading in AMPHIONE by the ear CLEON For shame! How often have I told you that the door of the women s apartment is the boundary set for a maiden? A little further and you would have been in the street. To have you shy and retiring I must chain you like a slave. AMPHIONE Why were women born with feet ? Why were they not made like eels until their fathers find husbands for them? If you spoil my ear, you must add another farm to my dower. CLEON No prating ! You would confound Socrates himself. Eels, indeed! Here s a model for you, gadabout. (Taking up a small turtle from the flower-bed.) Here s an example for all modest women : she s always in her house, you see a home- keeping female this. AMPHIONE And so would I be if I had a face like that! (Taking the turtle.) You are convinced that turtles are patterns of do mestic virtue all turtles? 225 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEON, warily Um well, yes. AMPHIONE Battaros, Battaros, come and take father s mantle and split up his cane for firewood. Father, you ll hang your shoes in the temple of Aphrodite Urania. CLEON What nonsense is this? AMPHIONE You said all turtles were examples to be imitated, therefore you ll keep me company here, for virtuous Mistress Turtle never leaves her house because Mr. Turtle stays at home, too. CLEON What a pitiful jest! (Pinching AMPHIONE ^ cheek.) If you tease your husband as much as you worry your father, I shall have you on my hands again inside of a fortnight. AMPHIONE And you will miss your plague so much that you will be glad to have her back again, whereas if I were really a good, thrifty housekeeper you would be offering sacrifices to be rid of me. 226 IN CLEON S GARDEN CLEON Is this another pleasantry? Am I expected to ask why? AMPHIONE Because a notable housewife is worse than a gadfly. She must always be reproving; fault-finding is her business, repre hension is her pleasure. She awakes to cavil, goes to table to upbraid the cook, and after having rebuked and reprimanded all day, retires still objurgating and scolds on in her sleep. CLEON What a paragon ! I wish I had such an one to regulate my household. Come, bustle, bustle ! There are a thousand things to do. Where is your sister? AMPHIONE Gone to the temple with Doris. CLEON Have the girls been to Calirrhoe ? AMPHIONE Long since, and the cook has come. Praxilla has given him the honey for the cakes, and is weighing the spices. Father, when I am married we shall bake honey-cakes every day. 227 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEON Would you were wedded and eating them now ! How can I go through this twice? You must help dress your sister, and, child of tardiness, see to it that you are both ready in time! Prodigies happen occasionally. Keep an eye on the wreaths, and stay on your own side of the house when Parthenis and the singing-girls arrive. And don t look out of the window, Amphione. You have worn holes in the window-seat with your elbows. AMPHIONE Well, would you rather that the window-seat had worn holes in my elbows? CLEON Hush, hush ! Now, what are you waiting for ? Have you lead in your sandals. (ECHO, excited by CLEON S rapid utter ance, punctuates his speech with ear-piercing shrieks.) Can you keep your mind with that ill-omened bird here? I devote its head to the infernal gods ! AMPHIONE, running to the cage and soothing ECHO Hush, pretty one! Be quiet, parrot of my heart, and you shall have a bit of cake when dinner is over. No, no; don t mention donkeys, for father is here ; that s a sweeting ! CLEON You would wheedle the very bird off his perch. In with you! (Exeunt CLEON and AMPHIONE) 228 IN CLEON S GARDEN Enter CHARMIDES, by the breach in the wall, wrapped in a cloak, with a travelling-hat drawn over his eyes ECHO, fluttering his wings Welcome, Charmides ! Come back ! Come back ! CHARMIDES starts, looks hastily around, and steps into the arbor as PARTHENIS and the singing- girls, followed by two water- bearers, enter from door on right. The water-bearers leave their empty jars on the left near the fountain, and begin to decorate the porch by festooning heavy wreaths of laurel and myrtle from pillar to pillar. Enter PRAXILLA, her arms full of flowers PRAXILLA When you have finished, set these lilies closely about the fountain, and then come to me. The altars of the household gods should be freshly crowned. ( To PARTHENIS. ) You have the names all pat now? (Exit PRAXILLA) FIRST SINGING-GIRL We know them well, don t we, Parthenis; especially the bridegroom s ? 229 MASQUES OF CUPID SECOND SINGING-GIRL Cat! Don t torment her. FIRST SINGING-GIRL We remember Gryllus s name, though he has forgotten ours. Times are changed. SECOND SINGING-GIRL You will make her cry, and that will spoil her playing. One can t sob into a flute. PARTHENIS, with an air of indifference, unwraps her musical instruments FIRST WATER-BEARER You know Gryllus, then ? SECOND SINGING-GIRL Do we? We sang at the supper which the city gave him after he returned from the games. That was a day! You should have seen him in his purple cloak driving through the big, ragged breach in the town wall. The cheering you could hear it at the Peirseus had maddened the horses, and the chariot danced, but he was as unmoved and smiling as he was later in the Prytaneium. 230 IN CLEON S GARDEN SECOND WATER-BEARER And you sang the ode? FIRST SINGING-GIRL Fairly well. We had scant time for practice; he gave us each a bracelet, but Parthenis s was the prettiest. FIRST WATER-BEARER I suppose he is a great man, but I can t realize it, because he is so pleasant and so kind to us all here. SECOND SINGING-GIRL That s because he is quite daft now. He ll be masterful enough by and by. He s one of the sort that throw everything into a wife s lap at first, and a month later will keep the key of the store-closet and measure out the wine. SECOND WATER-BEARER I can t believe it of him. Why, I have seen him stand for hours, motionless as his own statue on the Altis, watching what he thought was the window of our mistress s room. He mis calculated, though, and kept his vigil under the one where old Doris was snoring, with her wig off. SECOND WATER-BEARER He gave Praxilla two drachmae for an old fillet of 231 MASQUES OF CUPID PARTHENIS, breaking her ftute and throwing it down I can t bear any more, and I won t play at his wedding there ! (She rushes out by door on right) SECOND SINGING-GIRL Poor Parthenis ! You ve pricked her sorely with your needle tongues. Now, Mother Philenis will give her a beating. Come, let s go after her. FIRST SINGING-GIRL By the Two Goddesses ! I meant no harm. She must learn not to cling to a man like a limpet to a rock. Enter DORIS, carrying lamps DORIS Not finished yet? You ll not fever your blood with over much haste. Are you waiting for the sun to warm your backs? I know a quicker way. Your jaws must ache. It isn t work that tires you! Growl as much as you please, but trim and light these lamps at once. And you, singing birds, what are you doing here? SECOND WATER-BEARER Please, Doris, they have been teasing the flute-player, and she has run away. 232 IN CLEON S GARDEN DORIS Now, aid us, Adrasteia! After her, you grasshoppers! I ll make you sing a lamentation. Out, out, or I ll write your score on your shoulders with my stick! (Exeunt the singing-girls in haste on right) DORIS What are you staring at? Can t you gape and work at the same time ? Hurry ! The lamps are wanted for to-day s wed ding, not for next season s Thesmophoria. And don t fill them as though you were pouring a libation, and beware of looking so long for lovers in the wicks that the bridegroom will lose his way in the dark. (Exit DORIS, muttering and shaking her head) FIRST WATER-BEARER By Artemis ! I would rather meet Empusa any day than that old hag. She grows worse and worse. They trim and light the lamps FIRST WATER-BEARER We should look for signs in them to-night. Eunoa, see the lump in this wick. What does that stand for? 233 MASQUES OF CUPID SECOND WATER-BEARER What you ll never get a husband. FIRST WATER-BEARER No ; it means that we may expect a stranger. SECOND WATER-BEARER O wise soothsayer! Dozens of them are invited to the banquet. CHARMIDES, stepping out of the arbor and approaching the startled girls Do not be frightened, but tell your master that a traveler from Catana would speak with him. FIRST WATER-BEARER A traveler from Sicily is always sure of a welcome in this house. (Aside, nudging her companion.) That s he. Now, is not the lamp a true prophet? SECOND WATER-BEARER He? Who? The husband you are always looking for? FIRST WATER-BEARER No; the stranger, of course. 234 IN CLEON S GARDEN (Exeunt by door on right) CHARMIDES throzvs back his cloak and takes off the petasos Enter AMPHIONE from right. CHARMIDES clasps her in his arms CHARMIDES Clea, my own Clea! Don t you recognize me? Am I so changed ? AMPHIONE, struggling You are Charmides or his ghost, but I am Amphione. CHARMIDES, releasing her Is it possible ! Little Amphione grown so tall ! Where is my wife? (Goes towards the house door.) AMPHIONE, detaining him Stop wait a moment, let me draw breath. We thought you were dead, Charmides; you are like one come back from the dim underworld. The shock the sudden joy after long years of mourning have turned me faint; they may kill Clea. You are like a shade, my brother; where have you been all these years? Oh, why didn t you send us one little word? 235 MASQUES OF CUPID CHARMIDES \Yhere have I been? In Tartarus, little sister. I am in deed a shade. Why did I not send you word? That s perti nent a timely question. In the quarries they did not supply us with tablets, so I could not write home from them. Later, I was sold, with other worn-out cattle, to a Syracusan miller. From his mill, where I ground corn, I could have written with a straw filched from the manger of my fellow-laborer, a galled ass whose shoulders were not more raw than mine, and for ink, there was the blood from my back, but I lacked a messenger, Amphione. AMPHIONE My poor Charmides! CHARMIDES, taking her hand Clea is well? She still mourns for me, you say? AMPHIONE She dwells with your memory. (Aside.) Oh, what can I do? CHARMIDES Then fetch her, fetch her or let me seek her. AMPHIONE L will. Patience, I beseech you ! You understand, Char mides, we have sought you for years, and now we thought 236 IX CLEOX S GARDEX you dead this is the first time that this sad house has held a feast since the fleet sailed. To-day oh, pardon, dear, it was for no want of love, I do assure you she was overruled, and I am much to blame. CHARMIDES, Smiling Why? Because you have a wedding here without waiting for my return? Poor child, it was most natural; my only wonder is that you should have tarried so long. AMPHIOXE Charmides, we are unworthy of your forgiveness. How did you know ? CHARMIDES I heard the slave-girls chatter. But why does the bride wear white roses in her cheeks ? What troubles her ? AMPHIOXE The surprise your return why of course I am the bride. They told you so ? CHARM DDES I guessed as much. Xow let us go to Clea. AMPHIONE She is here. 237 MASQUES OF CUPID AMPHIONE, placing her finger on her Up, hurries CHARMIDES into the arbor, and then joins CLEA at the door Enter CLEA from right, accompanied by PRAXILLA, carrying a jewel-casket, and DORIS, holding a case of cosmetics in one hand and an oil-jar in the other. CLEA seats herself in the chair, and PRAXILLA opens the casket CLEA Let me breathe a little before I fasten my fetters. There is a strange heaviness in the air. Amphione, how pale you are! These perfumes are too heavy. (She motions aivay the case which DORIS offers her.) DORIS You would both be the better for a touch from my box. Your bath was too cold, mistress, or your prayers were too long ; you have gone white as the Hermes yonder. CLEA Yes, I have tired the gods with unanswered supplications. I have hoped even until now for some sign from them, but they are as pitiless as men AMPHIONE Clea, hush ! I have news for you a stranger just arrived from Catana 238 IN CLEON S GARDEN LEA, gasping and trembling And you have held him in talk long enough to learn this without warning me? Charmides is alive? AMPHIONE Rejoice! He is. CLEA, rising Is he well ? Is he wounded ? Is he sick, in prison, in slav ery? Does he send for ransom? Tell me one word if you are in truth, my sister. No silence! Bring this stranger here, that I may question him and bless him, and fall at his feet and offer sacrifice to him as though he were a god. AMPHIONE Softly, softly, Clea. You are reserving nothing for Char- rnides himself. Dismiss your women. (Exit DORIS and PRAXILLA) I ll fetch the man. AMPHIONE crosses to the arbor, and leads out CHARMIDES, muffled in his cloak CLEA His step! (Runs towards him and falls at his feet. He raises and enfolds her in his arms.) 239 MASQUES OF CUPID A silence AMPHIONE steals out by the porch door CHARMIDES, slowly putting CLEA away from him and looking at her So like and so unlike the face I held between my eyelids in the glare of the quarry, in the blinding dust of the mill. That was the treasure which they could not wrest from the famished slave. And yet after a little space, do what I would, the color paled, the lines wavered into haze. Were you so tall, and was this arm which warms my throat so round four years ago? Speak to me speak, if you are not some treacherous dream. CLEA I cannot. Bliss is mute. CHARMIDES Let me taste it, then, hearing your voice. Tell me what indeed I know that you love me me the scarred captive, the branded slave as you once did your bridegroom? CLEA No, I do not love you as I loved you then, but ten thousand thousand times as much; indeed, my life, I never really loved you till this moment. 240 I IN CLEON S GARDEN CHARMIDES Sweet sophist, your affection was my only reason for living. For years I have fought Death when my comrades called on him, because I had promised you to return. CLEA Love, I will make your life so sweet that you will not regret your hard-won victory. How you have suffered ! I see your past torments in your wasted face, and this dear arm, once strong as a young tree, has scarcely strength to hold me. Oh, my love, my love, how could they hurt you ! CHARMIDES I am much changed, I know ; nay, be frank with me. Clea, I have been branded like a beast, scourged like the slave I was, harnessed to millstones, driven around with blows, and muz zled, that in the extremity of my hunger I might not devour the raw flour that I ground. CLEA Oh, pity stop ! My heart, inured to sorrow as it is, is not framed to bear the thought of your misery. CHARMIDES But it is over now no, not quite; such agonies of flesh and spirit leave scars on mind and heart. Such outward degrada- 241 MASQUES OF CUPID tion may not debase, but it embitters. It is a defeated soldier, a broken, melancholy man that I bring back to you, my wife. CLEA Pardon me, my dear lord. It is as conqueror that you re turn. Have you not, like Alcmena s son, wrestled with Death and triumphed? If you have lost the light heart of youth, have you not won the virtues of the hero : patience, fortitude, and an unwavering will ? I shall be too proud of such a hus band ; dear gods, what good thing have I done that you should give so much? CHARMIDES, kissing her What balm there is in those soft lips ! They charm my wretchedness ; but, Clea, your hero has been branded, and on his scored back is written slave until he dies. CLEA Would you be more than a god, Charrnides ? Was not Her- akles beaten, and did not Apollo drudge in the house of Ad- metus? Do you come to a poor, ignorant girl, who has never been taught the wisdom of the schools, to be told that your dauntless spirit, the real Charmides, was always a free man ? CHARMIDES What a wise little person you have grown to be! Has Socrates brought his demon to your father s house? 242 IN CLEON S GARDEN CLEA Love is my master, Charmides. CHARMIDES Love is not stern enough to play the pedagogue. CLEA Mine was the wingless Eros of Anacreon ; have you forgot ten the old song of the love that forges the soul as the smith does his iron, tempering it in flame and steeping it in icy waters after many blows ? CHARMIDES That belongs to a sunny past which is slowly coming back to me. My blows have left tangible furrows, Clea. CLEA, embracing him Every scar on that beloved flesh cries out to me. Your wounds are mouths which testify to faithful love and unfalter ing endurance. You wear them nobly, Charmides. CHARMIDES Why, sweet, almost you persuade me but in my new-found happiness I am forgetting Amphione s wedding. I am but a sorry marriage guest. 243 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEA, starting Amphione s ? CHARMIDES Yes ; I shall shame you all. I must borrow a wedding gar ment. Go you first, my love, and smooth the way for me I shall strike terror to our household. CHARMIDES muffles himself in his cloak again. CLEA, in a dazed way, leads him towards the house. At the porch door they are met by BATTAROS and AMPHIONE, who carries a veil on her arm. BATTAROS, kneeling dozvn and kissing CHARMIDES S hand Rejoice, my master! AMPHIONE That s sensible, don t uncover your face. Battaros has made your bath ready, and your own clothes Clea has kept them in beautiful order, Charmides are airing. Make haste and join us here when you are dressed. CHARMIDES You are already a bustling housekeeper, Amphione. AMPHIONE The gods avert it! Now, go, Charmides. Clea must stay here. The bride needs her. Go, go ; it s not for another four years that you are leaving her. 244 IN CLEON S GARDEN (Exeunt BATTAROS and CHARMIDES) AMPHIONE Clea, wake up ! You have been dreaming long enough ; ac tion is now imperative. I have done what I could, but father was gossiping outside, and paid no attention to my messages. Does Charmides know? About you and Gryllus I mean, of course. CLEA Fool that I was, I forgot everything else when I saw his face. AMPHIONE Who would think you were my elder! Now, / had pres ence of mind enough to fib to him immediately. You are saved, Clea, by the astuteness of your younger sister. CLEA I am too bewildered to follow you. AMPHIONE I told him that it was my wedding day. CLEA To what purpose? 245 MASQUES OF CUPID AMPHIONE To shield you, marble-head. Hera aid us! Can t you un derstand that if we can get rid of Gryllus, and send for Lysis in time, we can have a wedding after all, and Charmides will never know that it was to have been yours? CLEA I cannot deceive him, and yet I would rather die than tell him. He has already endured so much. O my child, what shall I do! AMPHIONE Trust to me ; the child will arrange everything. Here comes father. We must break the news to him discreetly. Now be tactful, Clea. Enter CLEON by porch door CLEON You wanted to see me. I haven t a moment to spare. Where s the man from Catana? AMPHIONE, motioning to CLEA to be quiet In the house, taking a bath. CLEON Before seeing me! That seems informal. 246 IN CLEON S GARDEN AMPHIONE I sent him to the guest-chamber with Battaros. CLEON Since when has it been your duty to receive strange trav ellers? AMPHIONE You were not here. I sent for you. CLEA, putting her hand on CLEON S shoulder He brought us joyful news, father, but there will be no wedding here. AMPHIONE, taking her father s hand Oh, yes, there will be! Clea, you are spoiling everything. / will take Clea s place, father, and none of the cakes will be wasted. CLEA Cannot we send immediately for Gryllus, father? AMPHIONE No ; we must despatch a messenger to Lysis first. CLEA Letting him know that there is no marrying for him to-day. 247 MASQUES OF CUPID AMPHIONE Bidding him prepare to be married at once. CLEA You are mixing up matters, Amphione. Gryllus should be informed first, or he will be affronted. AMPHIONE And you are bewildering father, Clea. Lysis should be in formed first, or he may not be prepared. CLEA But he is coming in any case. AMPHIONE And so is Gryllus. CLEA, drawing CLEON towards her Surely it is most important to warn an expectant bridegroom that he is not to be married, after all. AMPHIONE, pulling CLEON away from CLEA It is indubitably more urgent to warn an unsuspecting boy that he is to be married immediately. 248 i Hr PA IN CLEON S GARDEN CLEA, releasing CLEON Do as you please, then, for we can t waste time in discussion. The names in the hymeneal chorus must be changed. AMPHIONE And the porter must be instructed to inform the wedding guests who is to wed which, and to dispel their former mis conceptions. CLEA And the flower-girls sent to Critias s house! CLEON during this rapid dialogue has looked in amazement from one daughter to the other. Still holding them both by the hand, he now marches to the door on right. CLEON No, girls, there will be no wedding to-day; instead, we ll start instantly for the shrine of Esculapius. You are both out of your wits. AMPHIONE Father, let me explain. CLEA No, permit me to CLEON No ; you are too mad to answer a straight question. I don t even know which Clea wants to marry, Critias or Lysis, or 249 MASQUES OF CUPID why Amphione has decided to appropriate Gryllus. I am in a maze, and shall soon be as crazy as you are. Come ! AMPHIONE Hear me first. Father, brace your nerves against a shock. CLEON Your advice is belated. AMPHIONE, rapidly Father Charmides has returned he was in the quarries first and has been a slave and didn t have time to tell me how he escaped but he had promised Clea to come back you re member and kept it and arrived just now and is dressing and will be here in a moment and of course Clea can t wed Gryllus now and we can t tell Charmides how cruelly we have com pelled her to do so can we, dear? and it must be kept secret mustn t it and I offer to take her place and be married to-day to Lysis if you can persuade him on such short notice and none of the flowers and food will be spoiled and you won t have had all this trouble for nothing and Critias should be told too and I ll trouble you to arrange my veil Clea please. CLEON Charmides has returned! Why, how how CLEA Wonderful, is it not? 250 IN CLEON S GARDEN CLEON I call it inconsiderate. CLEA Father ! CLEON But to-day of all days without any warning CLEA Not another word until you hear his story; then you will regret even the few you have uttered. CLEON Are you quite sure that it was he ? There have been frauds substitutions. ( CLEA turns from him in indignation. ) Don t be vexed. I am charmed to welcome Charmides, but you will admit that the situation is an awkward one. It s all very well for you, but it is hard on me. Lovers are always selfish. I forfeit Gryllus s influence, perhaps even his friendship AMPHIONE You will lose that of Charmides also when he learns that you forced Clea to remarry. You should not reproach us with selfishness ; for your sake we have tried to conceal it from him. CLEON That was considerate, chuck. Frankly, I didn t expect it of either of you. Now I begin to understand the nature of the 251 MASQUES OF CUPID suggestions which you urged upon me so strenuously. If you had only begun your story at the right end I should have been a more intelligent auditor. I ll follow your instructions. If we only had more time! Keep Charmides away for a little while, and I ll answer for everything. Now for the messages. (Exit CLEON, hastily, on right) AMPHIONE Now, Clea, quick, my veil ! ( CLEA fastens the gauze scarf on AMPHIONE S hair. ) Battaros ! ( Clapping her hands. ) Bat- taros ! Why doesn t he come ? (Enter BATTAROS. ) Battaros, be as slow as you can in dressing your master, and when he is quite ready break a jar of unguent on his himation, nard spots badly, and don t find him another mantle too quickly. Tell him how old Cerdon brought the sandals home only last year which were ordered before the fleet sailed; suggest sending to Sporgilus s shop for a barber ; keep him occupied a few minutes. You understand? (BATTAROS nods and goes out) CLEA Amphione, I can t consent to this deception. It breaks my heart to lie to him. AMPHIONE You would rather break his. What barbarous probity ! It is your duty to save him pain. Think of what he has already suffered. 252 IN CLEON S GARDEN CLEA I do; indeed, I do. AMPHIONE Then be quiet, and let father and me perjure ourselves in peace. How do I look? CLEA Like a little girl with her mother s veil on. AMPHIONE I am in truth a naive little girl to expect a compliment from a member of my own family. Enter GRYLLUS from right GRYLLUS Is it true? Has Charmides returned? Speak! CLEA My husband is here. GRYLLUS Then this is no place for your lover. I will not remain to blight your joy. Farewell, Clea; in your felicity you have the measure of my misery. CLEA Stay, Gryllus ; stay and be an honored guest at my sister s wedding feast. 253 MASQUES OF CUPID GRYLLUS No, Clea, no; I have no appetite. The spectacle of your bliss would poison my meat. Farewell ! Be happy and forget Gryllus, who would willingly have made you so. CLEA Farewell. Good fortune attend you ! GRYLLUS May the blessed immortals hear you ! But what is left for one to whom Aphrodite is adverse? CLEA The wild-olive crown at Olympia. GRYLLUS smiles, sighs, and leaps over the wall Enter CHARMIDES AMPHIONE Already ! CHARMIDES, going to CLEA At last! I have been as long in dressing as an over-ripe coquette. Everything went wrong, and Battaros has grown such a clumsy fellow ! He used to be adroit, but to-day he did nothing but break and spill things. 254 IN CLEON S GARDEN AMPHIONE It was emotion, Charmides. CLEA shakes her linger at AMPHIONE AMPHIONE You will be the king of our feast; nobody will notice the poor, insignificant bride, and you will have to give us a public recital of your adventures CHARMIDES If you think I ll dim your splendor, let me sup in private with Clea. I ask nothing better. AMPHIONE How unselfish of you! No, we count on your story, and have dismissed a juggler and a pair of dancers in consequence. Odysseus will have a clear course. CHARMIDES Who will want to hear poor Odysseus, when he can look at Nausicaa? CLEA Remember, Charmides, you have not even told us how you found your way here. We, too, shall be questioned. 255 MASQUES OF CUPID AMPHIONE He hasn t told you? What were you talking of all that time ? CLEA You will know when you have been a wife a week. CHAR HIDES If I am to recount my Odyssey later, spare me now. Tell me, in your turn, why is our wall so battered ? AMPHIONE and CLEA laugh It made my heart sink. I feared that some misfortune had befallen your father s house. CLEA It s a question of principle with father. You will have the wall mended, my love, and set a votive tablet in the gap there. Here s father. Enter CLEON, CRITIAS, and LYSIS in white, with garlands on their heads LYSIS and CRITIAS greet CHARMIDES. AMPHIONE and LYSIS salute each other joyously 256 IN CLEON S GARDEN CLEON, embracing CHARMIDES Rejoice, my son! The girls have told me all no, now I think of it, I don t even know how you got here. I shall be assailed with questions. Give me a hint before the guests ar rive. Begin at the end. CHARMIDES It will take too long. Let it suffice you to know how I escaped from the Syracusan miller. My fellow drudge, hav ing no such reason for living as I possessed, died, overdone, one evening. His poor shell, covered with a rag of sacking, was to be cast out with the other husks and ashes at night. I laid it on my straw and took its place. A blear-eyed slave, half blinded by the smoke from the ovens, unknowing, carted me to the mounds beyond the city walls. On the road he lost part of his freight. When, a month later, I found myself in Catana (I will not linger on the itinerary), where the poor remnant of our army had found a refuge, I fell sick. For weeks I lay like a dead man. Later, when I struggled back to life, the generosity of a handful of my old soldiers, who had taken service with the Catanians, sent me home in a little bark which, favored by Athene, escaped the pirates. I ll swear that I was the first man ashore. CLEON, patting CHARMIDES S shoulder Well done, my son ! Why, man, how thin you are ! Never mind, you ll soon be sleek again. We ll stuff you like a wres- 257 MASQUES OF CUPID tier. ( To CRITIAS. ) You can t kill these boys. Ah ! Youth youth, always prized too late ! Call no man unhappy who is CLEON, CHARMIDES, and CRITIAS talk together. LYSIS joins them AMPHIONE to CLEA, after leaving LYSIS, with whom she has been chatting Sister, don t you think that we might put it off until next week or to-morrow? CLEA Put off what? AMPHIONE My wedding. CLEA Now help us, Adrasteia ! What s the matter ? AMPHIONE I feel limp; hear my heart thump, Clea. Marriage is very solemn ; it did not seem so near until just now. CLEA My dear, that s nothing; those are common tremors; one never enjoys one s own wedding. I was far worse than you. 258 IN CLEON S GARDEN AMPHIONE To leave you all ! To go alone to that strange house ! Clea, if Praxilla felt as I do, I should say that she was afraid. No, no, no; I can t be married to-day! CLEA, quietly Very well. You shall stay here. I will explain to Lysis that you have made a mistake, and on reflection you have dis covered that you don t care for him enough to be his wife. You can start this evening for Megara to visit your Aunt Leucippe until father is pacified. Let me undo your veil. (Sighs.) Poor Lysis! AMPHIONE Don t touch my veil yet. You think Lysis will mind very much? CLEA, smiling Yes for a while ; but he is young and proud, and his hand some neighbor, the rich armorer s only daughter, is admirably fitted to console him. Don t trouble yourself. I think he will soon be resigned. AMPHIONE, resolutely She is quite incapable of making him happy. Pin on that veil firmly, please. I may shake, but I am going to keep my word. 259 MASQUES OF CUPID CLEA, very gravely Yes, dear, you will; for / can endure this deception no longer, and I must confess it to Charmides. Hush! not one word; I cannot do otherwise. (She goes to the group of men.) Charmides, we have deceived you. I am a faith less wife. A passive tool in others hands, still believing that you were alive, still doting on you, I yielded to incessant im portunity, and this wedding day was to have been mine yes, mine ! A silence CHARMIDES I thought I knew what agony was. Poor fool ! I never felt it till now. This treachery is crueller than stripes Clea faith less. But that is such a new thought ; if I accept it I uproot all lesser convictions. With that conclusion I must reconstruct my theory of life. Was it so difficult here in this pleasant place, with flowers and blessed sunshine, and kind faces all about you to be constant? If I had only known ! I could have died so easily. (To CLEON.) I thank you, Cleon, for your entertainment. It was handsomely done, the cheat you put upon the tattered skeleton, the kill-joy who came to life so inopportunely. How I startled you, and how you must have hurried and wriggled ! How admirably you drilled your house hold to feign at such short notice, too! The kind looks, the hearty greetings, they were shams also, and the warm hand clasps were no less fraudulent ? Liars, liars, all of you ! Cleon, dishonoring your white beard ; perjured Amphione, with those clear eyes; and Clea, who deceived me even while her heart 260 IN CLEON S GARDEN beat on mine. It hurts too much ! The comedy is over now, and the spectator, having duly praised the actors and their piece, may take his leave. Not without paying, though; I ll be munificent. (To CLEON, and touching CLEA S arm.) Here s something that I prized more than my own soul; I ll leave it with you. The piece is false, but with care and a little shuf fling it may be passed again. (CHARMIDES turns to go.) CLEA, detaining him I cannot be generous, but I would be just. I have a treasure of yours in my keeping which I have forfeited ; I would make restitution. Pray wait for me; I ll fetch it. (Exit CLEA on right) CHARMIDES I cannot stay. CLEON, approaching CHARMIDES Suffering has warped your judgment. Was it so criminal for me, feeling assured that you were no more, to find another husband for her? CRITIAS Indeed, could you expect a young woman to remain a widow in the flowering time of life? 261 MASQUES OF CUPID LYSIS, putting his hand on CHARMIDES S shoulder If Clea s sister cherishes me half as much as Clea loves you, I shall be satisfied. AMPHIONE, taking CHARMIDES S hand Brother, you shall not go till you have heard the truth. (To LYSIS and CLEON.) You are too cold. If I had learned like you to speak, to plead, to make even the worse cause appear the better, I would be eloquent now. Clea did not love you, she adored you; you were of her her very being; call her slaves, and they will testify how her thoughts never strayed from your image. (Calling.) Praxilla! Doris! CHARMIDES You need not call them. I will take your word. LYSIS Doris and Battaros met every ship with inquiries for you. In this marriage, believe me, Clea was much constrained. CLEON We have spent two great talents in offering rewards ; in en tertaining tramps, refugees, deserters, strangers from Sicily; in searching for you, in fine. 262 IN CLEON S GARDEN CRITIAS Clea laid siege to the altars of the gods. You will find votive gifts for you in every temple. Who knows ? you may owe your life to her ceaseless prayers. AMPHIONE The very trees and flowers and birds are living proofs of her devotion to you. Look here, and here. (Shozvs him his name carved on the tree trunks.) There s Charmides, spelled out in violets, the flowers you prefer. (Leads him to the garden- bed.) Here s a loquacious witness for her. (Unhooks the parrot s cage and sets it on the chair.) Tell us, pretty, pretty, pretty birdie, what is it Clea taught you say it, dear Echo. CHARMIDES This is too childish; let me go. AMPHIONE, on the verge of tears, clinging to his hand, and kneeling beside the cage Stay, stay! O Echo, don t be aggravating. (She fondles the parrot and whispers to him. ECHO puts his head on one side and surveys the anxious group about his cage cynically.) Call Charmides! Oh, how perverse! If we would have him mute he would tire the very air with countless repetitions of your name. 263 MASQUES OF CUPID ECHO, coyly, in a whisper, while they all bend towards him Charmides, Charmides, come back to her who loves you. (Then, in an eldritch shriek.) Char Charmides! The auditors hastily retire from the vicinity of the cage CRITIAS An eloquent witness, that. The whole agora could have heard his deposition. Enter CLEA, zuith the small CLEANTHES, very pink and sleepy, in her arms. She kneels before CHARMIDES You have judged and condemned me. I can make no de fence; I bow to your decree of banishment from your loved presence. I am self-sentenced to lose what I hold only less dear than you. Take your son with you, and in pity to me remove him quickly. (SJie turns away her head and weeps.) My punishment is more than I can bear. She holds out the child to CHARMIDES. He kneels beside her and receives CLEANTHES from her, raises him to his lips arid is about to kiss him, but instead replaces him in CLEA S arms and embraces them both. CHARMIDES His mother first. Kisses CLEA 264 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. JUN 11 1936 LD 21-100m-7, 33 .** I f607 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY