SCENE VIII
The same. Master Eneas, a Boatman
MASTER ENEAS.
My Lord Fabiani! My lord, not an instant to lose! The people know the Queen wanted to save your life. There is a revolt of the London populace against you. In a quarter of an hour you will be torn to pieces. My lord, save yourself. Here is a cloak and a cap. Here are the keys. Here is a boatman. Don't forget that you owe it all to me. My lord, make haste! [Low to Boatman.] Remember, you are not to hurry.
JANE (hastily covers Gilbert with the cloak and cap; low to Joshua).
Heaven! If this man will only not recognize him.
MASTER ENEAS (looking into Gilbert's face).
What! this is not Lord Clanbrassil. You are not fulfilling the Queen's orders, my lady. You are helping another to escape.
JANE.
All is lost! I ought to have foreseen this! Ah, sir, it is true! Have mercy—
MASTER ENEAS (low to Jane).
Silence! Go on! I have said nothing! I have seen nothing!
[He goes up stage with an air of indifference.
JANE.
What does he say? Ah, Providence befriends us. Everybody wants to save Gilbert.
JOSHUA.
No, my lady, everybody wants to destroy Fabiani.
[During the entire scene the cries have increased outside.
JANE.
We must hurry, Gilbert. Come quickly.
JOSHUA.
Let him go alone!
JANE.
Leave him!
JOSHUA.
Only for a moment. No woman in the boat, if you want it to arrive safe. It is too light yet; your dress is white. After the peril is over, you will find each other again. Come this way with me. Let him go that way.
JANE.
Joshua is right. Where will I find you, my Gilbert?
GILBERT.
Under the first arch of London Bridge.
JANE.
Good! Go quickly. The tumult increases. Oh, I wish you were safe away!
JOSHUA.
Here are the keys. There are twelve doors to open and shut between here and the water's edge. It will take you a good quarter of an hour.
JANE.
A quarter of an hour! Twelve doors! That is frightful.
GILBERT (embracing her).
Good-by, Jane! A few more moments of separation and we will rejoin each other for a life-time!
JANE.
For eternity. [To the Boatman.] Sir, I place him in your care!
MASTER ENEAS (low to Boatman).
For fear of accident, don't hurry.
[Gilbert goes out with the Boatman.
JOSHUA.
He is saved! Now for us! We must shut this cell.
[He shuts the door of Gilbert's cell.
All right! Come quickly; this way!
[He goes out, with Jane, through the other concealed door.
MASTER ENEAS (alone).
Fabiani remains in the trap. Now, there is a shrewd little woman whom Simon Renard would have paid a good deal for. How will the Queen take all this? Provided the consequences do not fall on my shoulders!
[The Queen and Simon Renard enter with rapid steps. The tumult outside has steadily increased. It is night. Cries of death, torches, lights, sounds of moving masses; the click of arms, shots, the stamping of horses. Several noblemen with daggers in their hands accompany The Queen. Among them are the herald of England, Clarence, bearing the royal banner, and the herald of the Order of the Garter, Jarretiere, bearing the banner of that order.
SCENE IX
The Queen, Simon Renard, Master Eneas, Lord Clinton, the two heralds, lords, pages, etc.
The Queen (low to Master Eneas).
Has Fabiani escaped?
MASTER ENEAS.
Not yet!
THE QUEEN.
Not yet! [Giving him a terrible look.
MASTER ENEAS (aside).
The devil!
THE PEOPLE (outside).
Death to Fabiani!
SIMON RENARD.
You must make your decision on the spot, madame. The people demand this man's death! The Tower is besieged. The revolt is formidable. Your nobles have been cut to pieces on London Bridge. Your Majesty's pensioners hold their own yet; but, just the same, your Majesty has been chased street by street, from the City Hall to the Tower of London. Madame Elizabeth's followers have joined the people. You can tell that by the venom of the mob. All this is serious. What does your Majesty command?
THE PEOPLE.
Fabiani! Death to Fabiani!
[They grow louder, and come nearer.
THE QUEEN.
Death to Fabiani! Do you hear that howling populace, my lords? You must throw a man out to them. The rabble is hungry!
SIMON RENARD.
What does your Majesty command?
THE QUEEN.
By heaven, my lords! it seems to me you all stand trembling around me! Upon my soul! must a woman show you your duty as noblemen? To horse, my lords, to horse! Are you afraid of the rabble? Are swords afraid of clubs?
SIMON RENARD.
Don't let things go any further. Yield, madame, while there is yet time. You can yet say "the rabble"; in an hour you will have to say "the people"!
[The cries increase, the noise comes nearer.
THE QUEEN.
In an hour!
SIMON RENARD (going to gallery and returning).
In a quarter of an hour, madame. The first wall of the Tower is broken down. One more step, the mob will be here.
THE PEOPLE.
To the Tower! to the Tower! Fabiani! death to Fabiani!
THE QUEEN.
How right they are who call the people terrible! Fabiano!
SIMON RENARD.
Do you want to see him torn to pieces before your eyes?
THE QUEEN.
Do you know this is infamous, that not one of you stirs? In the name of Heaven, defend me, my lords!
LORD CLINTON.
You? yes, madame. Fabiano? no!
THE QUEEN.
Very well, I will tell you all then, so much the worse for you. Fabiano is innocent. Fabiano never committed the crime for which he was condemned. It was I, and this man here, and the engraver Gilbert. We did it all; we invented it all; we imagined it all. It was all a farce! Contradict me if you dare, Sir Bailiff! Now, gentlemen, will you defend him? He is innocent; I swear it. On my head, on my crown, on my God, on my mother's soul, he is innocent of the crime. It is as true as that you stand there, Lord Clinton! Defend him! Annihilate these wretches as you annihilated Tom Wyatt, my brave Clinton, my old friend, my good Robert! I swear to you that it is false that Fabiano tried to assassinate the Queen.
LORD CLINTON.
There is another Queen whom he tried to assassinate—England!
[The cries continue outside.
THE QUEEN.
The balcony! Open the balcony. I myself will prove to the people that he is not guilty.
SIMON RENARD.
Prove to the people that he is not Italian.
THE QUEEN.
When I think it is Simon Renard, one of Cardinal Granvelle's creatures, who dares to speak to me like this! Well, open that door! open that cell! Fabiano is there. I want to see him; I want to speak to him.
SIMON RENARD (low).
What are you doing? For his own sake, you needn't let everybody know where he is.
THE PEOPLE.
Death to Fabiani! Long live Elizabeth!
SIMON RENARD.
They cry long live Elizabeth, now!
THE QUEEN.
My God! My God!
SIMON RENARD.
Choose, madame [with one hand he points to the cell], this head to the people [with the other hand he designates the crown which the Queen wears] or that crown to Madame Elizabeth.
THE PEOPLE.
Death! Death! Fabiani! Elizabeth!
[A stone breaks through a pane of glass near The Queen.
SIMON RENARD.
Your Majesty is destroying herself without saving him! The second court is reached. What does the Queen command?
THE QUEEN.
You are all cowards, and Clinton is the worst of all. Ah, Clinton, I will remember this, my friend!
SIMON RENARD.
What does the Queen command?
THE QUEEN.
Oh, to be abandoned by all of you! to have confessed all without obtaining anything! What sort of creatures are these noblemen here? That populace is infamous! I would like to crush them under my feet. There are times then, when a queen is nothing but a woman? You will pay dear for this, gentlemen!
SIMON RENARD.
What does the Queen command?
THE QUEEN (crushed).
Whatever you will. Do what you like. You are an assassin. [Aside.] Oh, Fabiano!
SIMON RENARD.
Clarence! Jarretiere! Come here! Master Eneas, open the great balcony of the gallery.
[The balcony in the back opens. Simon Renard steps out upon it, Clarence at his right, Jarretiere at his left. Immense tumult outside.
THE PEOPLE.
Fabiani! Fabiani!
SIMON RENARD (on the balcony, turned toward the people).
In the Queen's name!
HERALDS.
In the Queen's name!
[Profound silence outside.
SIMON RENARD.
People, the Queen bids you know this: To-day, this very night, one hour after the curfew, Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil, covered with a black veil from head to foot, bound with an iron gag, a yellow wax candle weighing three pounds in his hand, will be led, by torchlight, from the Tower of London, through Charing Cross, to the old Market-Place of the city, there to be publicly punished and beheaded, for the crimes of high treason and attempt of regicide on the imperial person of the Queen!
[Immense applause outside.
THE PEOPLE.
Long live the Queen! Death to Fabiani!
SIMON RENARD (continuing).
And, in order that no one in this city of London shall ignore it, this is what the Queen orders during the entire journey, which the criminal must make from the Tower of London to the old Market-Place: The great bell of the Tower shall toll; at the moment of the execution, three cannon-shots will be fired—the first, when he mounts the scaffold; the second, when he kneels upon the black cloth; the third, when his head falls. [Applause.]
THE PEOPLE.
Illuminate! Illuminate!
SIMON RENARD.
This night the Tower and the city of London will be illuminated with lights and torches, in sign of joy. I have spoken. [Applause.] God protect the old charter of England!
THE TWO HERALDS.
God protect the old charter of England.
THE PEOPLE.
Death to Fabiani! Long live Mary! Long live the Queen!
[The balcony is closed. Simon Renard approaches The Queen.
SIMON RENARD.
What I have just done will never be forgiven me by the Princess Elizabeth!
THE QUEEN.
Nor by Queen Mary. Leave me, sir.
[She dismisses them all with a gesture.
SIMON RENARD (low to Master Eneas).
Master Eneas, look to the execution!
MASTER ENEAS.
Count upon me!
[Simon Renard goes out. As Master Eneas is about to go, The Queen rushes to him, seizes him by the arm and drags him violently to the front of the stage.