Enter TRISTRAM and FLORA hurriedly (R.).
Fly, Tristram, down the stairs: she is coming.
O, wala! wala! If she has seen us—
2140Fl. Quick! And dout the lamp. [Exit R.
[Exit down the stairs, back, making a great noise; the
lamp suddenly goes out.
Enter Diana in robe-de-chambre, with a lamp in her hand.
Stop, sir! stop, stop! I see you: I bid you stop.
Flora, Flora!—I’ll ring the alarm. [Pulls a rope.
Enter Ricardo (L.).
RICARDO.
I heard your ladyship call.
D. He is here, Ricardo: I heard him, I saw him.
2145D. He ran off down the stairs. Follow him and seize him.
Bring him back here. Quick!
Is this the way I am treated? and not a servant!
Flora! Come, Flora! Flora! is no one awake?
Enter (L.) St. Nicholas hurriedly, half-dressed, carrying
suits of clothes, a dressing-case, etc.
D. Stay, sir! where go you?
2150 Fire! fire! The palace is on fire! Fly, fly!
D. Stay, sir, I say: the house is not on fire.
N. Where is the fire? Mercy! O, heaven save me!
D. There is no fire at all.
D. I rang the bell myself to awake the house.
A man broke in.
D.I do not know.
He has got away. Go, wake Sir Gregory.
N. (going). First let me fetch my sword!
D. Nonsense, St. Nicholas; we need no swords.
Go, wake Sir Gregory, and send him here:
Send him at once. [Exit N. (L.)
2160Were you too late, Ricardo?
Did you not catch him? Has he escaped?
R.In the dark,
Whoever it was, had passed the door before me,
And, like a hare, faster than I could follow,
Sped o’er the grass into the house.
D.You saw him?
Where went he in?
R.At Frederick’s door. I reached it
In time to hear the key turn in the lock.
D. ’Tis he, then, and escaped in spite of us.
But I’ll find out with whom he dares....
R. (aside). ’Twas the fool Tristram:
I saw him plainly enough. Should I not tell her?—
2171D. Ricardo, go and fetch Sir Gregory;
I have sent St. Nicholas for him, but the man
Is scared with terror.
R. (aside). While all goes well with me, the less I meddle
The better. I’ll let her find this out herself.
D. I’ll ring the bell again.
So here you crawl at last! I had better keep
No maids at all than such a drowsy troop.
Not frightened by the fire-bell! You must have
Wondrous good consciences. Now, tell me at once—
There was a man outside my chamber-door
Laughing and talking. Answer at once!—who was it?
2181 Who was it was here?
I heard my lady call;
But did not think that it could be my lady
At such an hour.
D.Nay: I should be asleep
Of course, but I was not.
Enter Gregory and Ricardo (L.).
My major-domo
At last. Come in, Sir Gregory, come: you are wanted.
I am shocked, your ladyship, at what hath happened:
Ricardo hath told me. But there seems no doubt
The unknown intruder hath escaped. Be sure
You may retire in safety, without fear
2190 Of being disturbed again. I will go round
And see that all’s secure. To-morrow morning
There shall be full inquiry.
D.To-morrow? Nay,
I do not leave this spot till I know all.
I guess who ’tis.
G.I pray your ladyship
Retire. The cold air of the hall, the excitement
At such an hour may harm your ladyship.
D. No. If I die I’ll learn the truth at once.
I know else how ’twill be. You’ll go to bed
And sleep till noon; and when you wake you’ll say
2200 ’Twas all delusion, that I never heard
A man at all. That what Ricardo saw
Was but a bush, a shadow, a bat, an owl
He frighted from the ivy: and so in the end
All will make light of it.
G.Heigh! Give me a light.
The lamp has been extinguished on the stairs.
I’ll go and search about.
[Takes a light from one of the maids, and Exit, back.
R. (aside).I’ll stay and watch.
D. Now, ye dissemblers, stand forth one by one
And answer me.
R. (aside). This will seal Frederick’s fate.
She must betray her mean suspicion, and I
2210Witness the degradation of her idol.—
(The maids are congregated at back, R. as they come out of
the passage. They stand forth singly to be questioned,
and come in turn to front, R.)
D. Dorothy first. Dost thou know, Dorothy,
What man it was whose voice I heard up-stairs;
Who, when I left my room and gave the alarm,
Ran out?
Dor.I do not know, my lady.
D.I ask
Didst thou not see or hear him?
Dor.I was asleep, my lady.
D. Then stand aside. Now, Kate.
Dor. (aside). Here’s a fine game!
D. Sawst thou or heardst thou anything?
K.Nothing at all, my lady.
2220K.I was asleep, my lady.
D. Step thou aside. Now, Flora.
K. (to Dor.).Will she lie?
Fl.I am grieved my lady
Should think I could deceive her.
D.I did not ask
If you deceived me. Heard you any noise?
Did you see any man?
Dor. (aside to K.). Oh! oh!
Fl.I was asleep, my lady.
Fl. (aside to K.). Did she believe me?
K. (to Fl.).Well!
Thou’st got a brazen face!
Dor. (do.).Art thou not shamed?
D. Marcela next. Didst thou hear anything?
2231 I heard no noise until my lady called.
Mar.I was asleep, my lady.
D. ’Tis strange. Stand thou aside.
Dor. (aside).Now then for Rose.
Mar. (do.). She really was asleep.
Fl. (do.).Then what shall come?
D. Now, Rose, thou’rt left alone. Thy fellow-servants
Have all denied the thing of which some one
At least is guilty. Thee I did not suspect:
But do not fear to tell the truth. Who was it?
Tell me who is thy lover. No tittering there!
Your levity makes you all accomplices,
Ay, every one.
2140My lady, I have no lover.
D. Tell me who this man was.
Rose.I do not know.
I heard no noise till Marcela awoke me.
D. Didst thou awake her, Marcela?
Mar.Yes, my lady.
She was asleep. Rose always speaks the truth.
It wasn’t Rose.
D.You are all then in one plot:
Or shame has made you lie. But never think
To escape. I know the gentleman, and know
He visits one of you: and which it is
2250 I’ll learn to-night: unless perhaps you’ll say
He makes love to you all.
Mar.Indeed, my lady,
He is quite a proper man.
Dor.And all his courtship
Has been most regular.
D.Come, come: confess.
Who is it?
Fl.It’s me, my lady. I must confess.
Fl.Forgive me, I beg; for I abjure
I never asked him: but, as I often tell him,
He takes such liberties; which, as you know him,
I need not tell your ladyship: and ’tis true
We have been some time engaged.
D.Engaged!—to you!
Here’s a fine story!
2259R. (aside). She has not said his name.
Fl. Indeed, ’tis true, my lady; and I am sure
My lady will pardon me. And since he hath told me
How kind your ladyship hath been to him....
D. By heaven, I’ll have you whipped,—whipped!
D. And speak of marriage, you impertinent hussy!
Fl. It was the money which your ladyship gave him,
That made us think of marrying.
D.Worse and worse!
To spend my present on my waiting-maid.—
O thy pretension! thy pretension! Think you
He really loves you?
D. What hath he ever said to make you think
He loves you, Flora?
Fl.He told me very often,
Before I’d have him....
Kate.And that I warrant.
He’s not one of your struck-dumb mumbling sort,
That haven’t a word.
D.Silence! And tell me, Flora,
Something he has said.
2275Fl. He calls me his little love,—his duck:
And says a hundred thousand pretty things
As often as we meet.
D.A hundred thousand!
His compliments are cheap. Duck, too!
Fl.My lady,
’Tis what men say. It does not mean a duck.
Kate. ’Tis true, my lady; ’tis a common saying.
D. Silence! No one of you dare from this moment
2282 To speak to me. You are all alike disgraced.
And, that you are not more shamed, disgraced the more.
I shall discharge you all.
D. To-morrow morning. Bút, Flóra, for you
I cannot think of punishment sufficient.
Merely to have had a lover,—to have concealed it,—
To have even admitted him by night,—were nothing,
Had the affair been....
Re-enter Sir Gregory up the stairs with Tristram’s hat,
holding it up.
2290G. Found on the stairs,—the intruder’s hat, my lady:
He had thrown it on the lamp to extinguish it,
And thereby is detected.
R. (aside).Now’s revelation.
D. Why,—but whose hat is this?
R. Is not this Tristram’s hat?
D. (aside). Hath he come hither in his servant’s clothes?
K. At least what’s left of it.
Fl. ’Twas thus, my lady. As he ran down the stairs,
I bade him dout the lamp. I did not mean
That he should burn his hat.
D. (aside). What can this be?
It can’t have been Tristram.—Answer me, Flora:
2301 Was it master Tristram visited you to-night?
Fl. Of course, my lady. I’d not deny it.
D. (aside).I see!
After all, only Tristram.—Came he alone?
Answer me at once.
Fl.I am much ashamed, my lady,
He came alone. And yet, my lady, I swear
I never bade him; nor asked him, for that matter.
I heard his step, and found him waiting there
By the big clock. How he came in I know not.
D. Enough: I shall discover. All leave but Flora.
2310(Aside.) Thank heaven they have not guessed ... and yet how nearly
My jealousy betrayed me! (To Fl.) I told you, Flora,
I shall discharge you. Tho’I do not doubt
Tristram came here without your invitation,
Yet in concealing his pretensions from me
You have disobeyed,—deceived me.
Fl.I was afraid
My lady would forbid him.
D.Silence, girl!
Go to your room. I’ll speak of this to-morrow.
Fl. I hope my lady will forgive his boldness.
I have told my lady all.
D.Begone! begone! [Exit Fl.
2320(To R.) What think you of this, Ricardo?
R. ’Tis the wrong fox we have hunted.
D.Ah, I think
Fox is the word. I half believe that Frederick
And Tristram are in league.
R.I guessed the truth
When Flora first confessed.
R. You think too ill of Frederick.
D.Nay, Ricardo:
Do not defend him. ’Tis enough to shame him
That Tristram is his servant.
G.I pray my lady
Will now retire.
D.Yes, true, Sir Gregory.
’Tis time, high time. And let this trophy here
2330 Be sent to its owner; and to-morrow morning
Bid him come speak with me. Tell him, Ricardo.
Good-night. [Exit Gregory lighting her out, R.
R. I am now secure of her: since in my presence
She hath so consented to disgrace her idol.
He is quite dethroned: she knows too that I know.
He is past recovery. Could she but have seen him
Walking with Laura in the garden, plotting
Their flight to-morrow! And I to climb by such
A ladder of comedy, tottering with laughter,
To love’s very heaven! After three years of pain
Three days of farce, disguise, and folly; and then,
Suddenly win my joy!
2341And thou, Sir Gregory,
Shalt be my major-domo.
R. (taking his arm). I say,
Sir Gregory, I’ll have you for my major-domo.
SCENE · 2
Frederick’s room; open portmanteaus, &c. lying about.
Near the fireplace R. is a cupboard with key in lock.
A table in centre.
Enter FREDERICK carrying music, and TRISTRAM.
FREDERICK.
All my clothes are in, you say, Tristram?
TRISTRAM.
Everything, sir.
F. You pack well, Tristram: put in these. (handing
music.) Is there room for the music?
T. Anything, sir. Lie there, ye wrigglers. (begins
to sing to himself.)
F. And this book.
2350 T. Where is it you may be going, if you please,
sir?
F. Never mind. You pack very well, Tristram.
I shall miss you.
T. If the Countess has sent you to Milan, will you
not want your best black velvet doublet?
F. I shall wear that on the journey.
T. Wear your best black velvet on the road! Well!—Stay
we long away, sir?
F. Never mind. Now shut it up and give me the
key.
T. I should like to know, sir, how long we stay
2360 away, and when we are to start.
F. Give me the key. Now, Tristram, I understand
that the Countess has dismissed you from her household.
That saves me explanation. Here’s your wages
(puts money on the table) for the current quarter. You
are no more my servant.
T. Good heavens! do you discharge me, sir? I beg,
what have I done to offend you?
F. Never mind.
The Countess has discharged you,—that’s enough.
Tho’you’re a fool, Tristram, to say the truth,
I have got accustomed to you, and shall be sorry
To part with you. I have quite as many reasons
For wishing you to stay, as you have given me
2375 To be dissatisfied. But so ’tis fated;
And what God willeth, Tristram, needs must be,
After the opinion of certain clerkës.
T. I am not to go with you to-day to Milan?
F. No, Tristram. Now we part.
T.Consider, sir,
2380 That Flora is discharged as well as me:
Cannot you take us with you?
T. What shall we do, sir? What shall we do?
F. I’ll tell you what. While you were in my service
You served me ill, pried into my affairs,
Took bribes to spy upon me:—I know,—attend.
If you would win my favour, you must serve me
Now you are discharged. You can assist me, and if
You serve me better, I’ll use my interest, Tristram,
To get you a decent place.
F. ’Tis this. An hour from hence I must be off.
2391 St. Nicholas will likely enough be here
After his marriage settlement. Now, Tristram,
He must not find me. Wait for him here:—do you see?—
And if he comes, get him out of the way.
And if Ricardo comes, tell him that I
Am gone to seek him and shall soon return:
Bid him await me here. If by your help
I get off quickly, I will help you; if not,
Tristram, I’ll cut your throat from ear to ear. [Exit.
T. Heavens! what has possessed my master, and
what’s to happen to me? O wala, wala! It all comes
of love: or rather, I should say, it all came of my hat.
I would it had been consumed entirely. This hole in
the crown is not to be mended ... and all round
’tis like tinder, it breaks with a touch. Of what contemptible
material are these hats made! It might have
been sewn up else. Now ’tis a picture of me. Yes, the
hat is me, as it were; the hole in the crown is the ruin
of my fortunes wrought upon me by the fiery lamp,
which is my love for Flora. There’s a parable. Could
I write a poem on this, it might appease the Countess.
Deary me! What are Flora and I to do? Money being
the root of all evil, I must look first to that. All
depends on that. Let me see what I can muster.
There’s my pay; there’s the Countess’present, and
my little savings. (turns out his purse and pockets on to
the table.) I’ll put it all in heaps of ten. No, heaps
of five: better in fives, there’ll be more heaps; and
there’s comfort in the number of heaps. Tho’less
lordly, ’twill be more showy. Five, ten, fifteen,
twenty. (knocking at door.) Come in,—twenty-five.
Enter St. Nicholas.
ST. NICHOLAS.
Tristram! Where’s your master?
T. Twenty-five. My master’s no more. Twenty-six.
N. Frederick is dead?
T. (singing). What dead, my dearie?
Oh no, my dearie.
N. What is this nonsense, Tristram?
T. When I meet with a poet, St. Nicholas, I can
2430 speak poetry.
N. I came to see your master, Tristram; and you
said he was dead.
T. I said he was no more, not that he was dead:
and, as I say, he is no more my master. I am, as
’twere, a gentleman at large; and I sit here by invitation,
engaged on my own affairs, which do not need
assistance.
N. I came to see your master on important business,
Tristram. Be civil enough to tell me where he is.
T. My master is nowhere. This was twenty-six.
N. I shall wait for him here.
T. Well, if you choose to wait, I know what you
come after. ’Tis not the sonnet.
N. When will Frederick be back, Tristram?
T. But I’ll give you back your sonnet, if you will
write me a poem about my hat, this hat. ’Tis but to
versify my own imaginations. See! I am the hat: the
hole in it is my discharge: the flame which burnt the
hole is Flora,—that’s the Countess’maid. All is good.
There’s the blackness of the hat, the fire of the lamp,
the abysm of the hole: it lacks but the moon, which
you might shift to see through the crown; and if you
could weave in with that your sphinx and something
about death, I think that I might tickle the Countess’
ear to reconsider of my discharge; for she loves
poetry.
N. Curse thy impertinence, Tristram. Where’s thy
master?
T. I will shew you where your master is, if you
curse me or aught of mine, master Nick.
2460 N. Darst thou speak to me thus?
T. Did you not call me a thief, and base-born
clown?
N. Art thou not both?
T. Whate’er I be, Mr. Poet, I have now no master,
nor any obligation to any gentleman to make believe
for his convenience that thou art aught. Thou! Why
thy brainpan hath nought in it but shoddy, I warrant.
Thou combed ass! thou left-handed goose!—to curse
2470 me!
N. By heaven, I cannot away with thee.
T. No, that you can’t. (Aside.) I have it. I’ll shut
him in the screeky cupboard.—Well, sir: I know what
you come after. ’Tis the marriage papers, is it not?
I was bid see to them. Look in that cupboard.
N. Ah! are they there? (Goes to cupboard and looks in.
T. pushes him behind, and shuts door on him, locking it.)
T. There curse me, and seek your papers.—(Aside.)
I think I have him now. If this does not satisfy my
2480master, I’ll never try to please him again.
N. (within). Let me out at once. There are no
papers here. What did you shut me in here for?
T. To follow your occupation—to lounge, lounge
in the cupboard. Am I a thief?
N. Let me out, I beg of you, Tristram.
T. Not till you have made my poem, or told me
a cure for the rheumatics. Ay, bawl and kick: I
will finish my accounts. Kick away, one for each
pile. Twenty-six it was: twenty-seven, twenty-eight,
twenty-nine, thirty. Why you overdo it: you kick by
the ducat. With three and a half, (pocketing.) thirty-three
ducats and a half. Silence! silence! ’Tis more
kicks than half-pence, as they say. If you will be quiet,
I will give you back your sonnet. (Takes it out and
reads)—
Master of mine, remember for pitie.
Ha! who’s your master now?—I will recite the end
part, which I have never read.
Once in a vesture of pale crimson came
That willowed Archdelight, whose eyes are dim
2501 With gazing on a book of writhing flame:
My stars! and no wonder neither.
And with him Hope, the stringless harp-player,
Himself an embelem, harped in mine ear
His long-lost Sapphic song and nuptial hymn.
Hem! Very good, sir, as far as it goes. You should
finish this and have it ready by the wedding. See!
I will thrust it to you under the door. Won’t you take
it back? If I have not charmed him to sleep with his
own verses! Ha! he bites—he lives. (N. pulls it to
him from within.) (To himself.) This is very well. But
I wonder why my master wished him out of the way;
and why he is sent to Milan; and taking all these
things with him; and why he is travelling in that
doublet. He hath no care for his clothes. Yet I’ll do
him a last service, and brush it for him. ’Tis sadly
dusty (having taken it down). He shall not say that his
old valet neglected him in aught. So lie there. (puts
doublet on table.) Pockets full, of course. If I were
a gentleman, I’d have no pockets. How can velvet
lie? How can one smoothe it down, stuffed out in
a lump like this ... an old handkerchief, I’ll warrant
... no ... a glove: a lady’s glove: a very secret
affair: one he hath stolen to write verses on. I shall
tell the Countess of this. (Knocking at the door heard.)
This will be Mister Ricardo, I suppose. Come in!
Enter Sir Gregory.
GREGORY.
Tristram, where’s your master? Not at home?
T. shakes his head.
G. Do you know where he is?
T. shakes.
2530 G. Has St. Nicholas been here?
T. nods.
G. Is he gone?
T. nods.
N. (kicking harder), Sir Gregory! Sir Gregory! I
am here!
G. Do you expect your master soon?
T. nods.
G. I may sit and await him?
(T. bows and gives a chair. G. sits to table, T. takes
doublet from table. The glove falls on the floor.
G. takes out papers, and lays them on the table to
read them.)
T. (hanging up doublet). Now shall the cupboard-door
speak to the old gentleman. (pretends to busy
himself. N. makes a great knocking.)
G. Come in! There is some one at the door,
Tristram.
T. shakes.
G. I think there is. (goes to the door and opens it:
finds no one, and returns.)
(Aside.) Frederick is unaccountably remiss,
Most unaccountably remiss.—
Tristram, I am sure I hear a noise. What is it?
T. (going up to G., shouts in his ear).
They are sweeping the chimney in the next room, Sir Gregory.
G. Ah.—You would much oblige me, Tristram, if
you would go and seek your master, and tell him that
I am here.
T. (nodding). I can’t refuse, and I’ve done my duty
by St. Nicholas. Yet ’tis sad to miss any of this play.
I will go, and be back in a trice. (Passing the cupboard,
to N.) Thou silly! he’ll never mind thee.
N. Curse you, Tristram!
T. Hush thee, my babe. [Exit.
G. (walks about restlessly).
The man’s as strange as his master. How Diana
Can trust her affairs to one so wholly unfit,
So unmethodical! And what discomfort
The fellow lives in. The room in such disorder:
2560 He might be going away for good. Two such
Immense portmanteaux. What’s all that for now?
There is something going on that I do not know of....
Tristram’s discharged ... that’s true. (sees glove on floor; and picks it up mechanically to put it on the table.)
A lady’s glove!
Yes, ’tis a lady’s; thrown upon the floor.
What see I? that embroidery ... ’Tis Laura’s;
Laura’s. St. Nicholas hath been here.—
No, no. Yet the only other explanation....
It cannot be ... I see it all.... ’Tis true....
Her tears and strange farewell to me this morning:
Her treatment of St. Nicholas: and Frederick,
Why he mistook the contract ... these portmanteaux.—
By heaven, by heaven, there’s no time to lose:
They’re off. (going out, passes close to cupboard. N. makes more noise than ever.)
Ha!—Heigh!
’Tis here, then: not in the chimney. Eh!—who’s here?
(Opens cupboard.) St. Nicholas!
N.O, Sir Gregory, you would not hear.
G. Who shut you in the cupboard?
G. And is this Laura’s glove? Look at it.
G. Then tell me: did you bring it here? Could you
By any chance have dropped it here?
N. (disclaiming by gesture).I? No, sir.
I came to seek for Frederick.
2580G. (to himself).What can this mean,
Unless to keep his rival out of the way?—
Listen, St. Nicholas, I have discovered something
Concerns you nearly.—I think—I am sure—
Nay: I’ll not tell you what I suspect....
’Tis but suspicion. But you have been, I fear,
Most shamefully beguiled.
N.Ay, that I was.
He said that I should find my settlement
In the cupboard.
G.Patience. I will go to Laura
And learn the truth. Meanwhile, seek out the Countess,
2590 And beg her give me an interview at once.
I’ll come to the ante-chamber. By heaven, St. Nicholas....
And yet I scarce know.... There’s no time to lose:
Come quickly. [Exeunt.
SCENE · 3
A room in the Palace.
You say you start at once.
D. Here is my letter: give it to the Duke.
The answer is not urgent: it may keep you
A day or two at Milan.
F.You wish, my lady,
I should return?
I understood
Your ladyship to accept my resignation.
2600 It lies with her convenience but to fix
The day of my dismission.
D.Do you wish
To leave my service?
F.I could never serve
Where I am distrusted.
D.Would you reconsider
Your angry speech, I would make some concession.
F. I had cause for anger.
D.That I would concede.
But I too was provoked; and in the end
I came off worst.
D.I sought
To learn your secret, and was merely fooled.
F. I understand not how your ladyship
Was first provoked,—at least with me.
2610D.Nay, true:
’Twas a mistake. We need no explanation,
And may be friends again.
F.I cannot offer
Her ladyship my services.
F. ’Tis better that I should. I thank your ladyship
For many kindnesses. I pray sincerely
You may be better suited.
D.No fear for that,
2617 Frederick: for by my soul I think
There is no other man would so have wronged me
2619 As thou hast done.... My only fault hath been
To have thought too well of thee. But do not dream
I am unprepared. I have seen thro’thee, Frederick;
Yes, thro’and thro’. My offers of concession
I made to prove thee, lest thou shouldst pretend
That I was unforgiving. In the letter
I have writ the Duke, thou bearest the commission
Of thy successor. Henceforth I reject thee:
And treat thee as thou deservest. Go, sir, go!
Indeed, I care not whether you go or not.
F. I have then your leave to stay away?
D.My leave?
2630 I bid thee go, and never see me more.
I have done with thee, sir. Go!
And that’s the man I loved; the man for whom
I sank to jealousy. Who is’t he loves?
He love! The fool was right: he loves himself.
Now will he bide at Milan. Ah, good sir,
Thy lady is not there, and yet thou goest
Most cheerfully,—thou goest. And it was thou
Didst write soft verses: music too,—thy music.
And I thinking I loved thee was betrayed
A thousand times ... and to be scorned—by thee!
2641Scorned for another. (Weeps.)
Enter St. Nicholas hastily.
D. (going off). Nay, sir: I cannot see you.
N. But listen a moment. Tristram locked me in
the cupboard....
D. What is this? I cannot see you.
N. But Sir Gregory sent me to entreat an interview
at once,—he said at once.
D. Then tell Sir Gregory that I will see him in half
an hour; until that time let no one disturb me on any
2650 account,—not even Sir Gregory. [Exit.
N. I’ll be well satisfied. I’ll be revenged.
To shut me half an hour in a dark cupboard,
With all the flock and flue, ’mong cast-off clothes,
Old boots and shoes: call me an ass, a goose,
And mock my muse ... a fellow ... a common fellow.
A man that is the servant of the servant
Of the adoptive sister of my Laura!
He shall be swinged. Sir Gregory will right me:
Sir Gregory will avenge me. Had heaven but given me
2660 His inches, why, I’d do it myself. I’d flog him,
Till he cried mercy, mercy! mercy, St. Nicholas,
Mercy, I pray! No, no: no mercy, sir.
Down on thy knees! No mercy, sir, from me.
No mercy. (beating a chair.)
St. Nicholas, where’s the Countess?
N. (shouting). She says that she will see you in half an hour.
G. In half an hour!—Nay, I must see her at once.
You have been betrayed.
N.I have. I have been betrayed.
But you shall see me avenged.
G. And I must see her at once. (going in.)
N. (withstanding him). She bade me say
She could not see you.
2670G.Do not stay me, man;
Your happiness is at stake.
N.Nay, she forbade it.
She said in half an hour.
G. (half-aside). Why does he stay me?
In half an hour he says. What can I do?
By that time he’ll be off. (Aloud.) St. Nicholas!
His coach is at the door: in half an hour
’Twill be too late: he will have got away.
Go to the stables, mount yourself at once
With three or four of the grooms, and ride together
To the further gate of the park. There wait for Frederick’s carriage:
2680 Stop it. If she is within, I give you warrant
To bring them back: if she be not within,
Follow. She awaits him somewhere on the road.
Wherever it be, take them, and bring them back:
You have a father’s warrant.
N. Who is it you speak of, sir?
N. Whose carriage shall I stop?
2690G. Who is the lady, ask you? Why Laura, my daughter.
G. I went to her room: she’s flown, and with a maid.
She hath packed up clothes and gone. I am right, I am sure.
N. And shall I stop them?
G. Lose no more time. Begone! Do as I bid.
N. There’s some mistake; Laura with Frederick!
Why, we were to be married!
G. Fly! fly! St. Nicholas, else ’twill be too late.
The man’s a dolt: he’ll never be in time,
2700 And I that call him fool, why what am I?
With my grey hairs—and such an idiot,
Not to have seen! And if I had only known
That Frederick loved my Laura, and she him....
Why did they never tell me? My dearest Laura, ...
To marry without my knowledge, ... run away
Without my blessing ... it shall not be ... as if
Against my will ... not to ask my consent ...
And count on my approval. O Laura, Laura!
If I had known—and now no doubt
2710 ’Tis past all hindrance.... Am I not a fool
To wish to stop them? Perhaps they have not started,
I may be in time. I will tell Frederick all,—
I do not disapprove ... nay, I approve.
’Tis better far ... and yet how can I?—
My word is plighted to St. Nicholas.
’Tis better they should get clear off. Heaven speed them!
Why did I send that idiot after them?
I wish they may escape. O Laura, Laura!
Without my blessing. Yet thou hast my blessing.
2720 God bless thee! I try and hinder thee? O no.
I will go stop St. Nicholas. [Hurries out.
SCENE · 4
Frederick’s room as before.
