Enter FREDERICK and RICARDO.
Good-bye: I’m off. Speed you as well as I.
Laura is to meet me in the park: an hour
Will put us out of reach.
Farewell. God speed you!
All is prepared at Milan; and ere you are married,
I shall be accepted.
F. I’ll not believe it till I see your hand.
R. Not if Diana write herself?
F.To me?
That might persuade me. Good luck to you, Richard!
And thanks for all your favours.
2730R.Favours! eh!
To an old friend! Well. Good-bye!
R. (leisurely). He’s gone. Bravo! give him two minutes more
And he will be clean gone: and when he is gone
I shall not fear to tell Diana all.—
He is lost to her; and that I have won her liking
Ends her caprice. Now, ’tis my pleasant duty
To send my letter to Sir Gregory (takes out letter and peruses it).
And open his eyes: he must not be left groping.
(looking it over.) First who I am; and what I have done, and do
2740 To assist his daughter in her happy match.
When he knows that, he’ll bless me: and he must tell
Diana of Frederick’s marriage; but of me
Keep counsel awhile—better to put that plainer (goes to inkstand and writes).
Yet a slight hint of something to Diana,
If I could manage it, would serve me well.
(still writing.) Ah, Tristram: come in, Tristram:
(aside.) This leaky fool is just the man to do it.—
Lend me your company for half an hour.
Your company! here’s wonders. I never knew you
ask that before. ’Twas always stand off, Tristram:
and you may go, Tristram: and we don’t want you,
Tristram. What’s come to you now, that you ask my
company?
R. Your master’s gone, Tristram; and I shall feel
lonely.
T. My master is gone: and, as I believe, many
thanks to you. I don’t know why ever you came here;
but since you came all has gone wrong: there’s been
more secrets and less sense: and now my master, or
I should say, my late master, has quarrelled with the
Countess and me; and I am turned loose on the world.
R. Do you want a fresh place, Tristram?
T. If I did, you are scarcely the man I should look
to; thank you all the same.
R. I could give you some good advice.
T. I don’t want your advice neither, sir.
R. You love secrets, though: I have one I could
tell you.
T. I have had enough of secrets. I wish you could
tell me something that isn’t a secret.
R. It’s no secret, Tristram, that you love Miss Flora.
T. No, damn it: but it was a secret: and the best
of them all. But now my master’s gone, I dare tell you
a secret, sir. I always disliked you extremely from the
first: and I don’t think better of you now.—I have to
put a few things together before the maids come to do
the room; and if you don’t go, I shall leave you to be
dusted out. 2780
R. Wait, Tristram: I can teach you better manners.
And I have a service to ask of you. Here’s a purse to
help you and Flora. (giving.)
T. Well, this is a different matter. I am sure,
sir, I am very much obliged to you. But I never
saw the colour of your money before. (Aside.) More
ducats!
R. No: because you served me better by trying to
disoblige me. Now I pay you to oblige me in a trifling
matter. ’Tis to find out Sir Gregory and deliver this
letter to him.
T. Certainly, sir. Is there anything else that you
may require, sir?
R. Yes. Just light me a taper, and I’ll seal the
letter. You see I don’t trust you altogether, Tristram:
not yet.
T. You may, sir. I want no more of Mr. Frederick’s
secrets. Not that they were at all times unprofitable,
though he never himself gave me a penny on their
2800 account.
R. (having sealed). Here ’tis. Will you please take
it at once?
T. (taking). I will, sir. (Aside.) More secrets still:
and more ducats. [Exit.
R. Enough should grow to reach Diana’s ears
From Tristram’s curiosity. Meanwhile
I’ll watch my time. My rival’s safely gone ...
But how to face Diana? I think ’tis best
2809 To take her by surprise: a weaker force
Then overwhelms. I will go change my dress. [Exit.
SCENE · 5
The hall up-stairs, or other room in Palace. TRISTRAM
and FLORA meeting.
TRISTRAM.
Ha, Flora! where’s Sir Gregory? What red eyes:
blubbering!
FLORA.
I am discharged, Tristram, discharged. The Countess
has discharged me for keeping company with you. And
she has been crying too, to have to part with me.
What ever will come to us?
T. What matters? I’ll cheer thee, girl. Look here!
More money. There’s five pieces of gold: and all for
carrying this letter to Sir Gregory. Where is he?
Fl. Who gave it you?
T. That Mr. Ricardo. It’s a mystery, Flora: but
there’s something in it, I do believe.
Fl. Mr. Ricardo?
T. Ay. Who should he be that scatters gold, and
seals with a crown, look! and says that he will find us
new places, and all sorts of fine promises? A man
that would flick me away whenever I came near him.
2830 Fl. Did he, Tristram?
T. Ay, that he would. But I heard him say once
that he came here for his cure. I take it he’s cured
now; and he would make friends all on a sudden, and
begs me kindly carry this to Sir Gregory. ’Tis his
farewell, no doubt. He will go home, and take me
with him.
Fl. And me too?
T. Not if you blubber. Where’s Sir Gregory?
Fl. I don’t know. The Countess has bid me go
2840 seek Lady Laura.
T. Come! I’ll with you as far as the library,
where I think I should find the old gentleman.
[Exeunt.
Rejected! by the man I loved rejected:
Despised by him, and by myself betrayed!
And all will know it—I could not hide it.
Our nature hath this need: woman must love.
But oh! to have made my idol of a stone,
To my wórship a déaf unanswering stone!
At last I am cured. Since not my rank suffices
2850 To set me above the rules I gave my maids,
I’ll never love. Am I to stand and wait,
Till some man fancy me, and then to melt
And conjure inclination at a nod?
O man, thou art our god: the almighty’s curse
Crowns thee our master: from the green-sick girl
That mopes in worship of the nearest fool,
To the poor jaded wife of thirty years
Who dotes upon her striker, ’tis the same....
That’s not for me. Nay, give it up altogether:
Go free. If man’s so base; if that high passion,
2861 That spirit-ecstasy, that supersensual,
Conscious devotion of divinity
Of which I dreamed, is only to be found
In books of fanciful philosophy,
Or tales of pretty poets ... why then away
With books and men! my life henceforth shall prove
Woman is self-sufficing: in my court
No man shall step, save such as may be needed
To show my spirit holds them in contempt.
2870 Women shall be my friends and women only;
And I shall find allies. I had in Laura
All that I could desire, a friend, unselfish,
Devoted, grateful, and as yet untainted
By any folly of love: and her I schemed
To marry away. ’Tis not too late: I’ll save her:
She shall not be enslaved: she doth not love.
Her heart is free and generous; it has shrunk
By instinct from the yoke: she will join with me;
And if I tell her all,—or if she have guessed,—
2880 Now when I tell her she will comfort me.
Comfort and counsel, friendship, that I need
And she can give. I never will part fróm her.
Re-enter Flora.
Fl. Oh, my lady: the Lady Laura is gone, she has
run away.
D. Run away!
Fl. Sir Gregory is coming to tell you all about it.
She has run away with Mr. Frederick.
D. Nonsense! How dare you tell me....
Fl. I guess it’s true though. I remember now I used
to say how strange it was that such a sweet lady, and
2891 so clever and proper a gentleman as....
D. Silence, Flora! What has come to you? What
makes you say this?
Fl. Because she’s not to be found. But Sir Gregory
will tell you.
D. Send Sir Gregory at once. (Aside.) This is
impossible, impossible.
Fl. See here he comes.
D. (aside). Ah! if this were Frederick’s secret!
Enter Sir Gregory.
2900 What is it? Sir Gregory, tell me.
I scarce dare tell your ladyship the tidings
I have to bear.
D. (aside). It’s true! it’s true!
G.My daughter
Has run away with Frederick.
(Diana sinks on a chair; Flora runs to fan her.)
Ah! my lady!
What have I done? I was too quick.
D.Nay, nay,
Flora, begone. I can hear all. You knew it?
G. I had not the least suspicion of the truth;
Altho’it needed but the merest trifle
To clear my sight. I chanced to find her glove
In Frederick’s room. All flashed upon me at once.
2910 I ran to seek her. She was gone. A message
She left was given me, that she would be away
All the afternoon: but since she had taken with her
A valise....
D.She, ’twas she.... O most dissembling,
Ungenerous, ungrateful....
D. Begone at once I bid you. [Exit Flora.
G.I ran in haste
To tell your ladyship; but for some reason
Could not be admitted: so I took such steps
To arrest them as I might....
G. I have since repented of my haste: a letter
2920 Put in my hands reveals the whole: ’tis passed
Beyond prevention. It has been maturing
Under our eyes for months. We must give way.
’Tis strange we never guessed it. This very morning
I was in Laura’s room; and when we parted
She made such long farewells, and looked at me
With such reluctance, and such brimming eyes,
I saw she had some trouble untold; and thinking
’Twas her dislike of Nicholas, I repented
I had ever urged the match. I little thought,
Dear girl, ’twas sorrow that she dared not tell me
2931 Her joy.
D. (aside). Her joy! no doubt! Here’s a fine father!
What doth he wish? Ah, doubly have I been fooled.
How plain ’tis now to see. The only one
I have never once suspected; the only one
It could have been. And Frederick must have told her
My love of him. All I would have kept secret
And thought was hid, hath been as open as day:
And what I sought to learn hath been kept from me
By them I trusted to discover it.
2940 Tristram, no doubt, whom I supposed a fool,
Hath merely played with me. Thank heaven they are gone.
I’ll never see him again. Befooled: befooled.
G. They have been befriended by the Duke of Milan.
D. The Duke of Milan too!
G.It was his letter
I spake of. Frederick is, he tells me there,
His old school-friend; he begs my pardon for him,
Will fête the bride and bridegroom in his palace,
And have the Archbishop marry them. ’Tis thither
They are fled.
D.Then all this is a plot of the Duke’s!
2950G. (aside). I dare not tell her more.
D.Who brought the letter?
G. I wish my dear girl joy. She has chosen well.
D. Who brought the letter?
D. (
half-aside). How came he by it?
T. My lady! I have something now.
D. Tristram, I bade you leave the court: how dare you
Appear before me again?
Silence, I say. I know your news: you have served
Your master with such lying skill, I wonder
He did not take you and your Flora with him:
There was not room enough perhaps in the coach
For two such couples.
2960T.How, if you please, my lady,
Are Flora and I two couples?
D.Silence. Tell me
How you get letters from the Duke of Milan.
T. How I get letters from the Duke of Milan?
D. There’s nothing now to hide, so tell the truth.
T. I swear, my lady, that I know no more
Of the Duke of Milan than a babe unborn.
Your ladyship accused me once before
Of having been at Milan, when ’twas plain
That I had not gone, and never wished to go.
2970 Knowing my lady’s strong impartiality,
I should not venture.
(Gregory beckons Tristram aside, and during Diana’s first
speech whispers him, and Gregory and Tristram go out.)
My lady.
The culprit is discovered.
D.Ah, Ricardo!
I had forgot ... was this thy plan? ... if so
I cannot praise thy skill sufficiently.
All hath gone well. And since no doubt thou hast served
Thy master and his friend in all thou hast done,
And under the pretence of aiding me
Hast been the ready man, more than another,
To practise on me, and do me injury;
2980 I’ll school my patience till I have satisfied
My curiosity to know what thought
Urged thee,—whom I confess I wholly trusted,
And whom I thought to have made my friend,—that thus
Against the laws of hospitality,
Without the excuse of passion, thou shouldst wrong
A lady so unkindly.
R.Ah, Diana!
Hast thou not guessed my secret?
D.By heaven, sir,
Did the Duke send thee here to insult me too?
R. Dearest Diana, I am the Duke of Milan.
D. Ha! thou! Thy face behind the bush. ’Tis thou.
Should I have known it? No. I can thank God
I knew it so little. By help tho’of thy acts
I recognize your grace. ’Tis like thee indeed,
That hast not scrupled thus to steal upon me
Masked and disguised; by forgery and falsehood,
Written recommendations of thyself,
3000 Making thee out to be some gentleman
Of trust and honour. Oh ’tis admirable,
The use thou makest of thy rank, to creep
Into my secresy, thereby to assist
Thy friend, my secretary, to elope
With an orphan and my ward. Haste, haste! I bid thee;
Lest thou be late for the feast. Bear them from me
My glad congratulations. (sinks on a chair.)
R. (running to her). Diana! Diana!
D. I need no aid from thee, sir. Nay, begone!
R. In kindness hear what I came here to say.
3010 In justice hear my answer to the charges
Thou hast made. But first I claim my promise.
R.Your secretary’s place
If Frederick left.
D.Make you me still your jest?
R. O dearest Diana, think not that I jest.
I’d be thy secretary all my life,
So I might only take the place which Frederick
Held in thy affections.
D. (rising).In my affections! why,
What means your grace, I beg?
R.Diana, Diana!
Have I not won thee? Did I not obey thee
3020 By silence and long absence, till my life
Grew desperate, and my misery made me bold
To come to thee disguised? I thought that thou
Perchance wert adverse to my suit for thinking
I loved thee only for thy beauty’s sake,—
Since at first sight I loved and only sight,—
And for thy mind’s grace thou wert rightly jealous
Of such a passion. Now, if I guess well,
I have won some favour in these happy days....
R.And if thou hast dreamed thou hast loved another,
3030 ’Tis no impediment: for first this man,
Whom thou hast honoured is my nearest friend;
And not to have loved him were to have disregarded
The only part of me thou ever knewest.
But him, for very lack of loving rightly
Thou hast much mistaken and wronged, and, as I think,
Now for misunderstanding bearest ill-will.
D. I bear him no ill-will, your grace.
D. But what you have done?
R.Love can excuse me all.
What woman judges by proprieties
The man who would die for her, and who without her
3041 Regards not life? Passion atones my fault.
D. Your only excuse is your offence.
R.’Tis thus:
If I am not pardoned, I am not loved; but if
I am loved, I am pardoned. If thou sayst to me
I never knew thee, but I know thee now,
And like thee not: thy three years’love for me
I count for nothing, thy devotion nothing,
Thy misery nothing: thy adventure here
I set against thee; and the hour thou goest
3050 I shall lose nothing: If thou canst say this,
Speak ... and I promise
To turn away for ever. Is that thy mind?
R. My love? Nay, love’s a miracle, a thing
That cannot be where it seems possible,
And where ’tis most incredible is most worth
Our credit.
R.That thou didst doubt
Was worthy of the greatness of my love.
But now I claim thy faith. Thou mayst believe,
3060 Thou must believe. Indeed, indeed, Diana,
Thou mayst believe. Look’st thou to find love strong?
I have heavenly security:—devoted?
I have no self but thee:—patient? I plead
Three years of patience:—humble? I was content
To be thy servant:—wise? I knew thee better
Than thou thyself; I knew that thou must love:
Or is love tender?—See my childish tears
Crowd now to hear my sentence.
D.Ah, this were love,
If it were só.
R.Diana, it is so.
There is nought to-day in all the world but this,
3071 I love thee.
D.Alas! how was I wrong! Sir, sir!
Thou bringst me, or at least thou seemst to bring me,
The gift of God. Whether it be so or no
How can I tell? ’Twould wrong it—nay I cannot
Take it in haste. I cannot. I understand.
Nay, leave me. I know not what to say ... your blind
Attachment, is’t not cured?
R.Cure all but that
By my acceptance. (kneels.) I am thy true lover,
Thy only lover. Bid me rise beloved.
3080D. Hush, some one comes. Rise! rise!
R. Thy hand! ’tis mine, ’tis mine.
Enter St. Nicholas with Gregory. Frederick and
Laura following.
They are caught, your ladyship: they are caught,
Driving away together: and Frederick
Was making love to Laura in the coach.
R. Now now! how’s this? Frederick so soon returned;
And taken by the honeysucker!
N.Sir,
Your honeysucking Frederick would have robbed
My sweetest flower: but like a skimming swallow
That takes a fly in his beak, I snapped him up
At the park gate.
3090R.He’ll prove a bitter morsel,
N.My lady, speak.
What shall be done to them that have infringed
The laws of the court? Whatever punishment,
I pray it fall on Frederick with more weight
Than on my Laura. I would not have such rigour
As might defer our marriage.
(Gregory goes to Laura. Ricardo to Frederick.)
D. I shall award my judgment on you two,
Who have mocked not my rules only, but the common
Conventions of society, and preferring
3100 The unwritten statutes of the court of Milan
Have joined to act a lie, and me, your friend,
Deceived and wronged, whom ye had done well to trust.
One only honourable course is left—
My judgment on you is that you be married
As soon as may be. Therefore, Frederick,
I beg that you will draw the contract up
Between yourself and Laura with all speed.
And that my sister shall not lack a portion,
I will endow her with as goodly a sum
As what St. Nicholas promised. Now this time
3111 Let there be no mistake.
N.What’s this, Sir Gregory?
Your ladyship, I am bound
For ever to your service.
L. (to D.).Am I forgiven, Diana?
F. (to R.). Richard, how’s this?
R. (to F.). I have won. (aloud.) And let me say
That I for friendship’s sake will do as much
Toward Lady Laura’s portion as the Countess.
N. Sir Gregory ... Sir Gregory!
Is this the way I am treated? You do not hear?
Sir Gregory, speak!
G. (to N.). I hear not what is said, St. Nicholas:
3130 But I can see: and since you have caught your bride
Running away, you must not look to me
To help you hold her. Surely what I promised
I promised in good faith: but what hath happened
Sets me at liberty. (Laura goes to Gregory.)
N.And I am left out?
Am I a sacrifice?
D.Sir, be consoled:
You were not more deceived than I.
N.At least
Tristram shall not escape. I do beseech you
He may be punished for stealing my sonnet,
And shutting me in the cupboard.
Re-enter Tristram and Flora.
3140T. and Fl. My lady, we ask for pardon.
R.I take on me
To speak for them.
D.No need for that, your grace;
They are forgiven.
N.Why doth she say 'your grace’.
T. (to R.). Ah, why 'your grace’indeed?
R.This Tristram here
Hath done us many a service. Flora too
Hath played a useful part. May not their marriage
Follow on ours, Diana?
T. (to audience sympathetically). His!
D. They may have so much promise with all my heart.
T. Thank you, my lady.
3150I never did understand anything in the ‘Humours of this Court,’ and I never shall.
