(All but Marquez go into ballroom)
Mar. The great death-warrant ’s signed. Ere its black list
Be full, there ’ll be an emperor on the roll!
(National music. Dancers seen through doors, the emperor and empress among them)
(CURTAIN)
ACT III.
Scene I: Before the Imperial Theatre. Brilliant lights. Crowd confusedly assembled. All talking.
Shouts. Long live the Empire!
Citizen. O you mob, you puppet throat, that whistles as you’re squeezed!
A Mob Orator. My friends, to-day we gloriously celebrate the birthday of the most glorious empire—
Cit. Long live the Republic! Hail to Juarez!
Voices. To dungeon with him! The traitor! Tear him to pieces!
(Guards dash upon citizen and drag him off)
1st Officer. Don’t tell me the Republic is dead when a man is willing to die just to give one shout for it.
2d Officer. Three-fourths of the Mexicans have hearts of that color. But the Empire stands. Miramon is a miracle. How does he manage it?
1st Off. He understands the use of the bayonet. As our friend over the water says, you can do anything with bayonets but sit on them.
2d Off. Is n’t this a rabble? Motley ’s the only wear in Maximilian’s court. He might succeed in running this country if so many people had n’t come along to help him do it. You ask a French question and you get a Dutch answer. You give an order in Prussian and it ’s obeyed in Irish,—
Voices. He comes! Make way! Make way! Hail to Maximilian!
Chief Guard. Back, all of you! The Emperor will greet you yonder! We ’ve orders to clear the plaza! Back! Back! His carriage stops! Go, get your places! Out! out!
(Guards drive mob out)
1st Guard. If all the Empire’s birthdays are to be like this I hope it will never come of age. It ’s work, I tell you! I ’m dripping like a squeezed cloud!
2d Guard. If it had pleased the Empire to spend a little of the money it has wasted to-day for the widows and orphans it has made—
1st Guard. Sh! We’re paid for our muscle, not our opinions. (Shouts outside)
2d Guard. And the mob is paid for its lungs!
1st Guard. Yes. Miramon sees to that.
2d Guard. Only the Emperor’s carriage approaches the door?
1st Guard. None but his.
2d Guard. If I were he I would n’t make such a glittering show of myself in that Milan carriage—all gold and silver and tortoise shell, and an angel at every corner—while there are so many hearts breaking in sound of it.
1st Guard. Ph! He knows nothing of the breaking hearts! Miramon sees to that.
2d Guard. He ’ll have to know soon, or Juarez will tell him in the capital.
1st Guard. Not a word! On your life! (Shouts without) Here they are! By Jesu! The fools have taken the mules from the carriage and draw it themselves! Now I wonder how much a head Miramon pays for that!
(Enter rabble of shouting citizens drawing carriage in which sit the Emperor and Empress. They are followed by a brilliant party of ladies and gentlemen. General and Madam Miramon, Princess de Varela, Prince and Princess Zichy, Prince and Princess Salm-Salm, Lopez, Count Charles, Marquez, Archbishop Labastida, Estrada, Berzabal, and others)
Max. (To citizens) My friends, though I protest against this honor,
I thank you from my heart for such kind proof
Of your affection. (Alights)
Voices. Long live Maximilian!
One of the rabble, awkward and ignorant. Long live the President of the Empire!
Max. (Smiling) I ’ve no objection to that title, friend, but I fear it would be criticised in Europe.
(Crowd passes out shouting and dragging carriage)
Max. (To Carlotta, as he looks at theatre)
A noble building! Fair and magnificent!
Car. How yonder gardens gleam beneath the lights
Like some soft dream of worlds we do not know!
Max. And all is yours, my sweet,—all planned by you!
O love, you shall be mistress of a land
The fairest ever smiled up to the sun!
What say you, Charles? Does not this hour repay
Even the sacrifice of Miramar?
Car. (Smiling) Nay, he longs still for the old nooks and books.
Char. Let me admit it. This mistress Pleasure, sir,
Though she is fair is not so wondrous fair
As goddess Knowledge. Beautiful as bride
To her lord’s eye is she to worshippers,
Who seek and woo her till she yieldeth up
Her locked virginity—the Truth!
Max. (Affectionately) Ay, Charles,
Get knowledge if thou canst, and yet despair not,
For none so poor but virtue may be his;
And though your knowledge is earth’s silver key
That opens man’s and nature’s heart,
’T is golden virtue opens Heaven and shows
The God among his stars.... But, come, dear friends!
Pleasure is a true goddess too. We ’ll show
Her fair respect. (All go into theatre but Charles, who drops back unnoticed)
Char. He constantly unmasks me
And knows it not. Knowledge! ’T is withered leaves
Amid a world of dewy boughs! Knowledge!
To one school will I go—one book I ’ll read,
The school of love, the page of woman’s eye,
And I ’ll know more than sages and divines
Who study stars and Scripture!...
‘For none so poor but virtue may be his’
O noble soul, had I been true to thee
I now could open thy deceivéd eyes.
Crime seals my lips. I can but pray
This empire built on blood may stand. We are
The creatures of our deeds, more bound to them
Than slave to master, for the terms of service
Are fast indentured in the soul and know
No razure!... But I will find Aseffa! Then,
Though sin should set a darkness on my life
To draw each night out to a winter’s length
That constant storms from sallow leaf to green,
Still love’s sweet lamp shall light me! In my heart
’T will be as day!
(Enter Aseffa veiled, her dress covered with a black cloak. An attendant following. She tries to cross over to side entrance of theatre. A guard stops her)
Asef. I am a singer.
Guard. Show
Your pass.
Asef. Here, sir.
(Guard signs for her to pass on. She sees Charles and stops. Steps before him, throwing back her veil)
Asef. You swore to save him!
Char. You!
Aseffa! Blest—
Asef. You swore it!
Char. And would have died
To keep my oath could I have kept it dying.
Asef. The Emperor refused you? (He bows his head) Demon! Oh!
(Turns to go, moaning)
Char. (Aside) I lose her!... Stay! Is there no hope for grief?
Asef. Not mine! Can you not read it here?
Char. Too well.
Thy sorrow is a veil through which thy beauty
Burns like a shrouded sun.
Asef. You pity me?
Char. As Heaven knows!
Asef. Then you will help me, sir?
Char. I ’ll give my life to do it!
Asef. Ah, you will?
Then get me access to the Emperor.
Char. O sweet Aseffa, you ask a miracle,
And I am sadly mortal.
Asef. I knew! I knew!
My misery is your plaything!
Char. His ministers
So hedge him with their care—
Asef. O spare excuse!
But I shall see him, sir! Ay, face to face!
Char. Why would you see him? He can not call the dead.
Asef. The dead! Thou hast but daggers for me! Ah!
Char. Aseffa—
Asef. Yes, I ’ll see him! What think you?
Should I go shouting ‘murderer’ through that hall,
Would he arise and answer to his name?
Char. You’re mad, Aseffa!
Asef. Thank Heaven I am! ’T would be
The shame of woman to know all that I know
And not be mad!
Char. You must not go in there.
Asef. (Fiercely) Must not! (Suddenly calm) Nay, sir! Why see, I go to sing
A welcome to the noble Emperor. (Throws back her cloak)
As this dark cloak now hides my gay apparel,
So shall my gay demeanor hide my woe.
Char. You would not harm the Emperor?
Asef. No need!
Yon moon is worshipped for her borrowed gold,
Though charred and cold without a leaf to dower
Her black sterility. So Maximilian.
Napoleon’s favor is the sun that gilds
His worthless crown. But now the French are going—
Char. What?
Asef. Ah! The French are going.
Char. No!
Asef. And Maximilian shall fade to air,
Unheeded as the moon no eye could find
Without her sun!
Char. But hearts can live and love
Though Maximilian falls.
Asef. Can live—and love!
You torture me!
Char. Forgive me. But the share
Must rip the glebe before the corn may spring.
Asef. What do you mean, cold Austrian?
Char. Austrian! No!
Your southern sun has poured into my veins
A life that makes me new! I feel as you
Those throbs that shake the stars until they fall
Into the heart and make it heaven! My lips
Can move toward lips as haste rose-gloried clouds
To swoon into the sun!
Asef. Ah, yes—I know—
You told me that you loved. But why say this
To one who has lost all?
Char. I ’d have you learn
That you must live, Aseffa, and life for you
Means love. Your eyes, your lips, your hands, your hair,
Like coiléd sweetness of the night, and all
Your swaying, melting body, gather love
As roses gather smiles, as waves draw down
The heart-flood of the moon and hold it deep
And trembling.
Asef. Sir, your roses, waves, and smiles,
Are poet-nothings. You play with them as shells,
Stirring chance colors for an idle eye.
It is your way of saying, is it not,
That I shall love again?
Char. You must! you must!
Asef. Such words are like bright raindrops falling in
Another world. They glitter, but I hear
No sound, grief has so closed my ears. Take back
Your comfort. You would be kind, but noble count,
You talk of what a man can never know,—
A woman’s sorrow for a husband loved.
So high no height can reach it, so great and deep
The sea can not embrace it, and yet her heart
Can hold it all. O strangest of all love,
That makes her rather stoop in beggar rags
To kiss the happy dust where his foot pressed
Than from a throne lean down to give her lips
Unto a kneeling king!
Char. Aseffa, grief
Is not for you. You must—you must be happy!
The shy and tender Dawn creeps up in fear
That Night has laid some blight upon the world,
But finding all is well, steps forth, and lo!
Out of her courage the great sun is born.
So doth the heart look outward after grief
To find the world all dark, but nay, the light
Is more of heaven than it was before,
Because a face is shining from the clouds.
You dim your loved one’s eyes in paradise
With your earth-tears. He mourns your splendor paled,—
Though ’t must be beautiful to the last tint,
As sunset clouds that bear the heart of day
Into the night.
Asef. You but offend my grief.
Sir, keep your flattery for her you love!
Char. I flatter thee? It is not possible!
Who dares to add fire to the sun, or bring
The Spring a flower? Be angry if you will.
The morning’s eye is not more glorious
Rising above a storm! I flatter thee!
When but to praise thee as thou art would put
A blush on Poesy that ne’er has rhymed
As I would speak! E’en thy defects would make
Another fair, and were they merchantable
Women would buy thy faults to adorn themselves!
O, sweet—
Asef. (Shrinking in horror) What do you mean?
Char. (Seizing her hands) You know!
O, all my life has been but dreams of you,
And when I saw you first, my love!—my love!—
As lightning makes the midnight landscape speak
The language of the day, your beauty flashed
O’er all my years and made their meaning clear!
’T was you made sweet the song of every bird,
’T was you I found in every book I loved,
’T was you that gave a soul to every star!
I can not speak it! Kiss me once—but once—
And you will understand!
Asef. What thing is this?
It is not man, for man respecteth sorrow,
Nor brute, for it doth speak!
Char. O look not down!
Thou canst not guard thee! Every silken sweep
Of thine eyes’ soft defence but whets assault!
You shall not go! You are the element
In which I breathe! Go from me and I fall
A lifeless thing! Aseffa, pity me!
’T is I who die, not you! (Drops her hands and kneels) O blame me not
That I must worship here—
Asef. Ah, Rafael,
I ’ll live an hour to pray this wrong away
Before I meet thine eyes! (Goes. Charles grasps her cloak) Beast! Claw me not!
(Goes in. Charles gazes after her in a bewildered way. Tries to steady himself, and goes into theatre by main entrance)
(CURTAIN)
Scene II: Within the theatre. Gay decorations. Part of stage shown, on which chorus is assembled. The Emperor and Empress in royal box. Imperial cabinet and friends in boxes adjoining. Part of pit shown, filled with brightly dressed people.
Max. (To Carlotta) O, this is welcome! Are you not happy now?
There ’s not a wrinkle on these smiling brows
Where discontent may write her annals dark!
My empire now is fixed, and strength and love
Are gathering to my side. I can not put
My hand out but ’t is clasped by some new friend.
Car. And true?
Max. And true. You are too fearful, sweet.
Car. And you too trustful.
Max. Nay, we can not trust
Too much. Brutus spoke noblest when he said
‘My heart doth joy that yet in all my life
I found no man but he was true to me.’
And I would hope as much.
Car. (Aside) None, none are true!
Even I am false who fear to speak my fears
And ease his own when I should quicken them!
(Chorus from stage)
Hail, ye royal pair, O hail!
Like two souls within one star
May your heavenly light ne’er fail.
Empress and great Emperor!Hail to thee who ruleth mild
As the manger-cradled child!
Hail to her who long may be
Guardian of us and thee!Hail, O hail, ye pair divine!
As two souls within one star
May your light forever shine,
Empress and great Emperor!
(Estrada appears on stage in front of chorus)
Est. Great Majesties, forgive our feeble welcome.
We are in all things spotted and imperfect
Save in affection for your Highnesses.
Max. (Rising) No, no! My friend—and friends—had you not hearts
That turn to virtue as the flowers to sun,
We had not made such progress to an hour
When all the Empire wears the smile of peace,
And we may rest like Love with folded arms
Round his desire.
Est. ’T is you have led us, sire.
Pardon this mockery of what we ’d do
To celebrate this day had we but means.
We shout thy name, but not above the clouds;
We send up fires, but lightnings higher reach:
We have adorned the city and ourselves,
But India and the sea keep back the pearls
We would pour here!
Max. Enough—and more, my friends.
O, far too much! None mourn now but the gods
Who are made indigent by this display
Of wealth and joy!
Est. (Making low obeisance) We thank your majesty.
This land shall e’er be called the happy land,
And he who rules it—
Asef. (Stepping wildly from chorus) Prince of Murderers!
The happy land! O land where widows’ cries
Choke Heaven, and mothers’ tears make each new day
A flood!
Mir. Guards there! Take her away! The guards!
Max. No! Let her stay! We ’ll answer her!
Mir. My lord—
Max. Madam, we seek your country’s love.
Asef. How do you seek it? By killing her dear sons!
Setting your tigers loose among her children!
Mejia from your very breast makes fire
On patriot virtue! Dupin wets his teeth
By day and night in infant and mother’s blood!
Maximilian,
In brave Trevino’s name, Salazar’s name,
In name of all as noble and as dear
To Mexico as they, who daily die
Beneath their country’s flag the death of dogs,
Shot down by your black law—signed by your hand—
In name of him as dear to me as thou
To that proud woman who shall know what ’t is
To clasp a ghost where throbbed her living love,—
I tell thee—die!
(Leaps from stage to Emperor’s box attempting to stab him. As she leaps Carlotta springs before the Emperor)
Car. This heart—not that!
(Aseffa drops her dagger and stands bewildered. An officer seizes her. Utter confusion in theatre. Maximilian goes onto the stage. Silence)
Max. My friends,—
All you who love me see me here unhurt,
And you who love me not, if any ’s here,
(Cries of “none, none!”)
Take aim now as you will.
(Cries of “No! no! no! no!”)
A Voice. Long live the Emperor! Maximilian!
Max. Then if you love me, friends, I beg you ’ll leave
This place of song and go to the Cathedral.
There pray for me to Him who spared my life,
And, if you will, pray that He yet may spare it
To work His will and yours.
(Crowd goes out silently)
Mar. (To Labastida) That was well done.
Lab. Sincerity is once a diplomat.
Car. (To Princess Salm-Salm) Princess, take this poor creature to your care.
(Officer releases Aseffa, who goes out as in a dream with Prince and Princess Salm-Salm and several ladies)
Mar. (Approaching Maximilian) Your Majesty, let me congratulate—
Ill, sire?
Max. Sick, sick, O sick of compliments!
If I ’ve a friend here let me hear the truth!
What did that creature mean? The truth, I say!
(Silence) You, Miramon? Lopez? (Silence) Trevino ’s dead?
Lop. He is.
Max. And Rafael Mendorez?
Lop. Dead.
The woman is his widow.
Max. Oh!... And this! (Taking out message)
This from Dupin! ‘All quiet in Savarro.’
It means—
Lop. The town is ashes.
Max. O God! O God!
You ministers! Ay, ministers of hell!
Didst think ye served the devil?
Est. O, my lord—
Max. No friend! Not one! Charles! Charles! you must have known!
These foreign hearts have their excuse, but you—
The tower of confidence between us two,
Built part by part by faithful mason hours,
Is shaken to atoms!
Char. I will build it o’er!
Max. First will the wind-strewn rose upgather all
Her petals from the dust, and cheek by cheek,
Hang them new-smiling on the nodding bough!
Mir. Your Majesty, what we have done was done
To save our country and your beloved life.
Your noble heart was blind to your great danger,
And ’t was our duty and our work of love
To save you from your fatal tenderness.
Lop. (Kneeling) O gracious sovereign, had I but known
You did not know, I would have dared the wrath
Of all the court, and spoken to you but truth!
Max. (Lifting him up) And ’t was your tongue at last that broke the silence,
I must forgive you.
Mar. By your necessity,
Your Majesty, we may all hope for pardon.
Juarez, encouraged by the United States,
Is roused again to war. We have appealed
For compromise and terms of friendly union,
But his one answer for us all is—death!
Yet are we faithful to you, sire.
Max. O Heaven!
What poisonous opiate have you fed me with
And called it peace? But war is not the worst!
Oh, Miramon, did you not swear to me
All prisoners taken by that cruel law
Should be reported day or night to me
That I might pardon or remit their sentence?
Mir. O, sir, you knew not your extremity,
Nor could you know it though we told it you,
The hearts of Mexicans once turned to hate
Are far too deep for sincere eyes to pierce.
But I thank God we knew the danger, sire,
And struck the serpent raised even at your life.
When you, all gentleness, could not have given
The necessary blow. Ay, God be thanked, although
You cast me from your heart. ’T will be my comfort
To know I served you better than you dreamed.
And ’t is the penalty of over-love
To suffer by the hand that (kneels and kisses Maximilian’s hand) it would kiss!
Max. Must I forgive him, Heaven?
Lab. Ay, sir, you must,
For his deceit was but the greater truth
That served your blind necessity.
Est. O, sir,
Do not desert us! If now the Empire falls
’T is death to all that have been true to you.
Juarez will give no quarter to your friends.
Max. The Liberals advance?
Mar. Each day they’re nearer;
And towns and provinces fall by the way.
Berz. Without you, sir, our cause will die in blood,
And Mexico be but a grave for those
Who ’ve loved and served you!
Mar. The United States has ranked
Full sixty thousand men on our frontiers,—
But we have France—
Max. I am awake! At last!
From now no man shall risk his life for me
But I take equal chance with him! Ah, this
Is war, not murder!
Mar. You will lead our troops?
Max. I will.
Mar. Then Mexico is saved! The way
To win the southern hearts is but to trust them.
Leave at your capital the foreign troops
And lead your native soldiers ’gainst the foe!
Car. (Aside) No! Never! Never! Alone with those dark hearts!
(Enter Marshal Bazaine with envoy from France, Comte de St. Sueveur, Marquis de Gallifet, and General Castlenau)
Baz. My lord, we bring new messages from France.
Gen. Cast. Your majesty, we beg your gracious pardon
For this unseemly pressure.
Max. You have it, sir.
What says Napoleon?
Cast. He greets you, sire, with my unworthy tongue,
And sends this letter. (Maximilian reads)
Max. My eyes, I think, turn wizards
And conjure ’gainst the truth that must be here.
For I read false. (Puzzled) What does he mean? Not this—
Baz. My lord, my letters make the import clear.
I have instructions here to counsel you
To make immediate abdication.
Max. No!
Car. What? Abdication?
Baz. Ay! That is the word.
Car. A word for fear and weakness, not for strength,
And Maximilian is as strong as France
While great Napoleon respects his oath!
His troops are ours—
Baz. Nay, princess—
Mir. (Fiercely) Her Majesty!
Baz. (Sneers) You prize the feather when the cap is lost?
(To the Empress) Pardon a slipping tongue, your Majesty.
Those troops you speak of go with me to France.
Such is my order—such the firm demand
Of the United States.
Car. Is France a province
Of the United States? Napoleon
Page, lackey, footboy to America?
Is she an Empire, he an Emperor?
Or have we dreamed he is Napoleon?
Max. (Recovered from his bewilderment)
Withdraw his troops! He can not—dare not do it!
’T would blister history’s page to set it down,
And ’t is his burning wish to be the star
Of human chronicles. I ’ll not believe it,
Though all my senses brand confirming yea
Upon my mind. O shout it in my ears,
And let me see the troops go marching out,
Still I ’ll believe it is my eyes and ears
That mutiny, not France turned traitor!
Baz. Your Majesty, you must believe the truth,
And make you ready for a swift departure.
’T will not be safe here let a moon go by.
Max. If danger ’s here, then here I stay to share it.
Dost think I ’ll leave my friends to die alone
While I by flight dishonor Majesty?
Baz. ’T is death to stay. You would not be so mad.
Mir. Hail to our new-born king! New-born thou art
Unto our love. Nay, we did love before,
But now we ’ll worship thee.
Car. Napoleon!
You shall not do this monstrous thing! You shall not!
Baz. The crown of France doth ask consent of none.
Car. I ’ll go to him and say such words that from
His shame-marked brow his outraged crown will fall
In horror. I will go! Take out the troops,
Bazaine. Ay, take them out! He will be glad
To send them back and purchase with his blood
Redemption from such shame. He ’ll empty France
To do it! I will go. But I ’ll not kneel.
A thousand years my blood has run through kings,
And he ’s the third Napoleon! (Sinks, exhausted with emotion. Ladies attend her)
Mir. The traitor!
We have no need of him! To France, Bazaine,
And tell your Emperor our Emperor
Needs not his fickle strength to stand upon!
Sire, we have men, and money in our banks—
Lab. A mighty church whose power is untold
If you restore her rights, as now we hope,
And thus united we shall defy the world!
Max. And Heaven, too? For that is what we do
When we set up the church in her old wrongs.
Nay, keep your aid, and I will keep my soul.
Lop. Your virtuous angel strives to make you god.
Max. No, but to keep me honest.
Mar. (Aside to Lab.) Yield to him.
’T is not the hour to cast him off.
Lab. My lord,
Your virtue conquers, and unto your hands
I yield the power o’ the church.
Max. I thank your grace,
Nor for myself, but Mexico.
Baz. I go to France.
What message have you for Napoleon?
Max. Tell him that he has placed me here between
Death and dishonor—and my choice is made.
(Bazaine and French ambassadors turn slowly and go out)
Max. (Quietly to Miramon) We ’ll join you at the door.
(Exeunt all but Carlotta and Maximilian. He holds out his arms, and she goes silently to his embrace)
(CURTAIN)
ACT IV.
Scene I: Queretaro. Plaza La Cruz before church and convent. Grey light before dawn. Occasional distant firing of guns. Maximilian comes out of church and walks about plaza.
Max. Carlotta! Where dost thou pray to-night? In all
Our fearful scanning of prophetic heavens
No swart star showed us this—our separation.
Thou wert the all of me, the breath, the soul!
Nature conceived thee when her blood was young,
And May was in her spirit, but stayed thy birth
Till Time had taught her skill in all perfections!
... I will not weep.... Yon stars have memories too,
And tell old tales of grandsire suns that shook
Their locks and fell ere they were young who now
Are eld of all!... (Walks) To lie so low.... O man,
Who in the heavens carvest out redemption,
Laying thy golden streets in very skies,
Making the stars but eyets of thy port,
Must thou compact thee to a little earth,
Displace some few small tenants of the sod,
And find thou ’st room enough?... (Looks up) City of dream!
Time’s far ghost inn! Eternity’s mirage!
Desire’s dim temple fashioned out of prayer,
Builded and jointured by no carpenter
But captious Fancy!... O Carlotta, wife!
Thou wert my Christian heart! Faith, faith, my God!
Death to the unbeliever is to land
Upon a coast dumb in the moonless dark,
Where no hands wave a welcome, no eyes shine
With promise of sweet hours, no voices call
The greeting that makes every shore a home.
(Listens) My officers! I can not see them yet.
(Goes in. Enter Colonel Lopez in close talk with Lieutenant Garza who is disguised as an Imperial officer)
Garza. I ’m satisfied.
Lopez. This hill is the key to the city.
Gar. Yes.
Lop. And yours on terms we have considered.
Gar. Here ’s Escobedo’s guarantee. (Gives paper)
Lop. This to my pocket, and Queretaro to the Liberals!
Gar. ’T is heavy business. You do it lightly, colonel.
Lop. The world ’s a feather.
Gar. If we but think so.
Lop. At dawn my troops are yours.
Gar. And you command the Empress’ regiment.
Lop. Yes. The pick of Maximilian’s soldiers.
Gar. One other question. The southern gate—Hist!
Lop. The nuns. (They draw aside and converse. Two nuns come out of convent and cross plaza)
1st Nun. The good Emperor is not out yet. He is often here long before day walking and thinking, ’T is then, they say, his mind is on the blessed Empress who has gone across the sea to get help for him. By day he never speaks her name, but thinks only of our poor country.
2d Nun. Hark! The enemy’s guns! They can not reach us.
1st Nun. Can not? A shell broke here yesterday. The Emperor stood just there.
2d Nun. Holy mother! What did his Majesty do?
1st Nun. He smiled, and said he might have chosen his place better; then moved to the very spot where the ball had burst, as though he hoped another would follow it.
2d Nun. Blessed virgin! Would he die?
1st Nun. I ’m sure he would not live. Come, sister. Ah, we have but one loaf this morning.
2d Nun. Let us be glad we can give that,—for many are hungry.
1st Nun. Many are starved—dead.
2d Nun. But the good Emperor! It is so sad to think of him without food.
1st Nun. He will give this to his officers. Yesterday I saw Prince Salm-Salm and the general Miramon each with a bit of white bread that can not be found in all Queretaro outside of our convent.
2d Nun. The good man! Holy Mother bless and keep him! (They go into the Cruz)
Lop. What will you do with Maximilian?
Gar. Make a Liberal of him.
Lop. Ha! How?
Gar. Shoot him!
Lop. Shoot him?
Gar. Yes. The grave ’s the great republican senate house,—where each man has the floor.
Lop. (Laughing) And you will introduce him!
Gar. Hark!
Lop. The Emperor! Go! (Exit Garza. Enter Maximilian and Prince Salm-Salm)
Max. (Greeting Lopez affectionately) You’re early out, my boy.
Lop. Your majesty, I am the officer of the day.
Max. Yes,—I remember. Who was your friend?
Lop. Ramirez, of Dupin’s regiment.
Salm. Ramirez! He ’s much changed if that was he.
Lop. Shall I call him back, your majesty, that the prince may convince himself that his memory of faces is not infallible?
Max. Nay, my trusted two! (Puts an arm about each) Would you might love each other as I love you both. My prince, whose courage is the very heart of my army, and my young hussar, dear for your own sake—dearer still because—she trusted you!
(Blasio, the Emperor’s secretary, comes out of the Cruz)
Blasio. Your majesty, I have finished the letters.
Max. Good. There will be no more to write. (Stumbles over something) What ’s this?
Blasio. A fallen Christ.
Max. You mean a fallen figure of the risen Christ.
Lop. Here is the crown of thorns.
Max. Give it to me. (Holds it meditatively) How well it suits my fortunes!
Salm. Nay—
Max. Ay, better than my golden one. (Gives it to Blasio) Hang it above my bed. My Queretaro crown!
Salm. Do not, your majesty!
Max. (To Blasio) Take it. (Exit Blasio) Why, prince, ’t is something to have won a crown. My first was given me. (Firing and falling of shells)
Salm. I beg you, sire, to move your quarters to a safer station. This is death at any moment!
Max. Death at any moment—(Regretfully) And I have been here sixty days.
Lop. Courage, sire! Marquez will come!
Max. (Eagerly) Has there been news?
Lop. Not yet, your majesty.
Max. Not yet! What does it mean? You heard him take the oath to bring me help or die. ’T was here he swore—before us all. Vowed to return with troops in fifteen days! Ah, he is dead.
Salm. No, your majesty.
Max. But if he lives?
Salm. He is a traitor.
Max. You heard his oath—
Salm. A traitor’s oath!
Lop. He ’s true, your majesty. His messengers are murdered.
Salm. He ’s false!
Max. But that means—death.
Salm. Or flight.
Max. Not flight!
(Enter Miramon and Mendez) You’re welcome, gentlemen. Your eyes bring news.
Mir. Your majesty, Metz has returned.
Max. At last!
News of Marquez! He comes! I know he comes!
Men. O, sire,—
Max. The faithful Metz! Where is he?
Metz. (Entering) Sire! (Kneels)
Max. Rise, sir.
Metz. O pardon me, your majesty!
I bring but wintry news.
Max. Marquez—
Metz. Is false.
Max. Oh, no, no, no! He comes! I know he comes!
Metz. He ’s leagued with Labastida,—for the church
Deserts you too.
Max. The church gone with him! No! no! I can’t believe it!
Metz. You do not doubt me!
Max. Not you! But in my ear
The tale turns miracle! And I must doubt,
Though on your tongue ’t is truth!
Metz. ’T is truth indeed!
The troops he was to bring you from the city,
He led for his own glory against Diaz,
Thinking to make himself the conqueror
And president of Mexico.
Max. My troops!
What then?
Metz. Porfirio Diaz routed them
To the last man. Marquez himself escaped
Alone,—fled unattended from the field.
Max. My troops! my troops!... And this is friendship! O God,
Give me but enemies!
Salm. Your Majesty—
Max. Who calls me majesty? There ’s none in me.
I am a riven oak whose leaf-light friends
Fly with misfortune’s Autumn. (Steps away, bowed in grief)
Salm. (Following him) I love you, sire.
Lop. (Eagerly) So do we all! Your majesty, believe us!
Mir. Canst not spare one who have so many true?
Max. Forgive me, friends. This treachery ’s the night
Wherein your hearts of gold beat out like stars!
Lop. My life is yours, my lord!
Max. Thanks, dear Lopez. (Takes his hand)
In friendship lies the joy superlative,
And nearest Heaven. We touch God’s hand whene’er
We clasp a friend’s.
... But now we must take counsel.
Salm. No, sire, we must take action. Pardon me,
But our sole hope of safety lies in flight.
Max. What! Leave the town to sack and ruin? No!
Desert the poor inhabitants, so long our friends?
And all our wounded, sick and dying? Never!
Salm. But if you stay, my lord, you sacrifice
The living with the dying.
Max. Oh, Heaven, Heaven!
Lop. Your Majesty, this counsel is not wise.
It is not honor!
Salm. Honor will lead the flight!
To stay were crime! Sire, give the order now.
At once! The firing to the north has ceased.
All night I ’ve reconnoitered. The way is clear
For the last time. We ’ll arm the citizens
To cover flight, and in an hour—
Lop. We ’ll be
Attacked on every side! A madman’s counsel!
Salm. O, sire, lose not a moment!
Mir. Lopez is right.
To fly from death is not dishonor, but who
That values honor throws away one chance
Of victory?
Salm. There is no chance. Not one!
My word is fly, and I ’m no coward, sire.
Max. You ’ve led our troops where every track was blood,
And in the throat of battle, hand to hand,
Have fought with Death! We know you ’ll dare a fight
As far as any man while there ’s a hope
Of victory.
Salm. But I ’ll not make my folly
The captain to defeat.
Lop. ’T is not defeat!
The Liberals are at their fortune’s ebb.
They’re sick with fear, and tremble in their rags.
Mendez. Let ’s fight it out, my lord!
Max. With starving men?
Lop. We’re starving, but our foes are starved.
Our ammunition fails, but theirs has failed—
(A shell breaks near them)
Salm. That, sir, unspeaks your words.
Lop. Not so. One shell
But tells how few they are, for yesterday
They fell in numbers. And to the north, you say,
The guns are silent.
Salm. Sire, a moment lost
May mean the loss of all.
(Enter Dupin with two prisoners. Lopez goes to meet him)
Dupin. What did you mean by your infernal order to bring these men here? Don’t you know old Saint-face won’t let them be shot?
Lop. Keep quiet. They are my captives, not yours.
Dup. I ’ve plugged just ninety-eight this week, and it ’s too bad not to make an even hundred.
Max. (Approaching) Prisoners?
Dup. Deserters, your majesty. They have confessed it. I ’ve brought them here for sentence. Will you have them shot at once, or wait till sunrise?
Max. None shall be shot. Not one. How often must we say it? If things go well here, good; if not, still is my conscience clear of blood. (To deserter) You ’ve been with the enemy?
1st Des. Yes, curse the day! Your pardon, blessed majesty!
Max. How fare our foes?
1st Des. The best of them as bad as the worst with us.
Lop. You note that, prince?
2d Des. We have a little food, but they have none. The country is eaten bare. Diaz is trying to reach them with supplies, but at present there is n’t enough meal in ten miles of the army to make an ash-cake.
Lop. More proof for the prince, your majesty.
Max. Their powder fails?
2d Des. Yes, sire. ’T would be all the same if it did n’t, for they ’ve hardly strength left to stand on their toes and fire the guns.
Max. Poor fellows!
Lop. You can not doubt, my lord, that we shall win with the next assault.
Mir. Cast fear to the winds, your majesty!
Salm. Who spoke of fear?
Mir. Not I! Fear is the devil’s magic-glass
He holds before us to swell out our vision,
Turn hares to lions, stones a lamb might skip
To beetling cliffs that ne’er knew human foot,
And slightest obstacles, that do but make
The mind’s fair exercise and moral zest,
To barriers, high as heaven, to success!
Lop. (Sneering) And Juarez’ men of rags to glittering armies!
Max. We ’ll hazard battle.
Salm. I beg your majesty—
Max. We know your courage, prince, for it is writ
In many a scar; but you are wrong in this.
Lop. You ’ll hear no more of flight, my lord?
Max. No more.
Lop. Then I ’ll to duty, knowing all is well.
(Exit Lopez)
Dupin. (Aside) And I ’ll go find a breakfast for my little man-eater. (Clapping his weapon) There ’s never anything to be done around his saintship. (Exit)
Mir. In half an hour?
Max. Yes. The plans will then be ready. (Turns to go in) You, prince, with me. Though I ’ve dismissed your head from service, I still must have your heart. (Goes into church with Salm-Salm)
Mir. (To Mendez) What do you think of it?
Men. Why, sir, I ’d rather die fighting than running. And there ’s a chance for us. The Liberals are beggared. There ’s hardly a uniform in camp. If Marquez had kept true, we should have saved the empire.
Mir. Don’t speak of him! Hell’s throne is empty while he ’s on earth!
(Exeunt Mendez and Mir.)
1st Des. Well, comrade, here ’s promotion fast enough. We that were prisoners are captains of the field. Lead on!
2d Des. Be sure the Tigre is not around. He ’s got a long claw. Ugh! I feel shaky yet.
(Exeunt. It grows lighter. Guard comes out of the Cruz and takes station by door. Enter Princess Salm-Salm, Aseffa, and women of Queretaro)
Princess S. (Excitedly)
Admit me to the emperor!
Guard. Your pardon.
He must not be disturbed.
Princess S. Oh, but he must!
The pity of it that he must!
Guard. Nay, madam—
Princess S. Admit us, sir, or I will beat the door!
(Maximilian comes to door)
Max. Some trouble here? The princess! Always welcome!
Princess S. But such unwelcome news, your majesty!
You know I ’ve rooms at Senor Barrio’s house.
I ’ve long suspected him. Last night he lodged
Two men whose conference I overheard.
All was not clear, but part was clear enough.
One of your trusted officers is false,
And you to-day—this hour—will be betrayed
Unto your foes.
Max. Impossible!
Princess S. O, sire,
Be blind no longer. This lady heard the men
As I did. There ’s no doubt!
Lady. ’T is certain, sire,
That they were officers in the Liberal army,
And spoke of things that set me all aghast.
Max. Good women, I thank you, but you are deceived.
There ’s not a man about me whose true face
Is not the table where fidelity
Writes him my own.
Princess S. O, sir, ’t is one whose hand
Is in your bosom.
Max. Nay—
Princess S. That much I know,
Though I know not his name.
Max. Bold Miramon
Is staunch as death. Mendez would in his breast
Receive the bullet meant for me. Dupin
Has been too cruel to the enemy
To hope for life even at treason’s price.
And Lopez is my own created love,
The Empress’ guard,—the only Mexic heart
I ’ve taken a very brother’s to my own.
Princess S. What shall I do? This moment you must fly!
Stand not, your majesty! ’T will be too late!
(Prince Salm-Salm comes to door)
Thank God, my husband! His majesty ’s betrayed!
You ’ve never doubted me!
Prince Salm. Betrayed?
Max. No, prince,—
Prince Salm. I ’ll visit every post!
Princess S. You but lose time.
(The prince hurries out)
Oh God! Oh God!
Max. Sweet princess, be not troubled.
There is no cause.
Princess S. Ah, we are lost!
(The bells of the city begin to ring)
Max. You hear?
The bells! The enemy has raised the siege!
O joyous news!
Princess S. No, no, your majesty.
That is the traitor’s signal of success.
Oh Heaven!