Semiramis and Other Plays Part 34

Dup. Will I? Hear him, Marshal! Will I?

Mir. But not a word to the Emperor!

Dup. Softish, eh?

Mir. His spongy heart is filled with water of compa.s.sion. Touch it anywhere it pours!

Baz. I'm not going to throw away the lives of any more Frenchmen just to give him a chance to play at clemency!

An emperor should be a sort of vitalized stone, capable of action but incapable of impression.

Dup. Then I'm the man for emperor! I've always suspected my qualifications for the part. By the lord, I've made women who were hungry enough to eat their own children watch my soldiers throw bread into the sea! And when I was with the French and English in old Chinee--well, they've called me the 'Tigre' since then. You've heard about that! (Struts and sings)

I'm the tigre of the East, Got my claws in old Pekin When the yellow kids we fleeced And held up the mandarin!

O we caught him by the queue, As he from our captains flew, That quaking little, shaking little mandarin.

And we dragged him out to view By that most convenient queue, When we sacked the summer palace at Pekin!

My friends, if you will excuse me, there are several dozens of ladies in the ball room waiting for a dance with the costume par excellence of the evening. I am not always sure of a welcome for my face, but my costume is never in doubt. Ah, sweet woman! you can please me twice. I can dance with you--and I can kill you! When the Emperor asks for me I shall not decline an introduction,--though he was not born an emperor and I was born Dupin! (Exit)

Baz. Is he as villainous as his conversation?

Mir. His talk is but the mildest prologue to his deeds.

Baz. Then he's the man for us. We shall never drive back the Liberals but by methods of unmitigated severity.

Mir. There is no barbarity too great for the intimidation of these towns.

Baz. The only absolutely safe plan is to raze them from the earth.

Mir. Trust Dupin! (They go into ballroom. Enter, right, Count Charles and Aseffa. Her disguise is thrown back revealing her beauty)

Asef. You help me though a Liberal and your foe!

Char. A foe! Dear lady, when you besought my aid Methought it was divinity that spoke, So sacred sweet seemed the request. I'll save Your brother.

Asef. Ah, dearer than a brother, sir.

It is my husband!

Char. Husband!

Asef. Yes, my lord.

And dearer than--You have a wife?

Char. No, lady.

Asef. O, then you can not know! But you have loved?

Char. I love.

Asef. A lover--not a husband. Ah!

Add to thy love a thousand dearer loves And take their sum a thousand times a thousand, 'T will be the smallest part divisible Of my dear love for Rafael! You'll save him?

Char. Yes--I will save him. Do you trust me?

Asef. Trust you?

As I would Heaven! (Kisses his hands and goes out, right)

Char. Gone! Aseffa! Gone?

No, never gone! Her kisses here! O lips That swept like drifting roses o'er my hands-- Both hands,--sweet equity! Still are they warm As they were dipped in summer, though her touch Was maiden light nor robbed him of a jot Who should have all. Her husband--'twas a word She used to slay me with!... Even in sorrow She is more fair than any other fair Met on a holiday. But when she smiled She seemed like Fortune giving away a world.

So gracious was her splendor. Thou art revenged, O little demon G.o.d so long my scorn!

Would I had given my heart by piecemeal out Since I was ten than to have lost it so, For going all at once it takes my life And I must lose my life or follow it.

Ah, love should come like waves unto a sh.o.r.e, Soft creeping up and back and up again.

Till taught to stand receptive we are firm When the last, highest wave envelops us.

... May G.o.d restore me!... O her beauty burns As she were limned by lightning on the night!

Her eyes are torches that Eternity Lends life to read her dreams! Her cheek Is June within a bud! Her veins have caught The falling sun that in them strives to rise To a new dawn!... And I must save him--save him!

This unknown man that holds the flaming sword Above my paradise!... If this decree Is signed she will be widowed ... (Stops in horror) I am mad!...

... She will be free ... Away, sweet h.e.l.l, whose face Is masked like heaven!... Let solid earth be air, The air be lead, light change to dark, and dark Be as the sun, 't will be no miracle When murder finds a welcome in my heart!

(Enter Maximilian, Bazaine, Miramon, Dupin, Berzabal, Ruiz, Estrada, Ignacio)

Max. (To Dupin) We're glad to welcome you. 'T will be your charge to guard the unprotected towns now suffering from the raids of Liberals.

Mir. Of men, your majesty, who steal that t.i.tle to grace a brigand's life!

Max. So we're a.s.sured.

Dup. I'll see to it, sir, that these towns play no love-tricks with the enemy!

Baz. Sh!

Max. No danger that way. Your duty is to protect them!

Dup. No offense, I hope. But treason is a lively beast and hard to keep low. As your majesty's officer I must cudgel it down wherever I find it.

Max. If unhappily you find it, sir--

Dup. I'll cut the throat of every man dog of 'em!

Max. Sir? (Turns to Bazaine) The Colonel's speech is very figurative, good Marshal. (To Dupin) All instances of treason, (and G.o.d forbid there should be one!) will be reported to me for careful investigation.

Dup. A thousand pardons, your Highness! I was swept away by my devotion to your majesty! I shall remember that you wish me to observe the mildest temperance in dealing with your majesty's enemies. (As the emperor looks questioningly at Bazaine, Dupin snarls, then repeats suavely) The mildest temperance in dealing with your majesty's enemies.

Max. That is our wish. The mildest temperance. And this decree, Colonel Dupin? Would you advise its pa.s.sage?

Dup. I should be so hot to sign it, sir, my zeal would boil the ink in the bottle!

Max. Very figurative, Marshal! (To Dupin) As yet we have not reconciled the matter with our conscience.