SCENE II

SCENE IV

The same. Marion

MARION.

What is this noise?

[Perceiving Didier under the lamp.

Didier! [To the combatants.] Stop! [They continue.] Ho! The guard!

SAVERNY.

Who is this woman?

DIDIER (turning).

Heaven!

BOUCHAVANNES (running, to Saverny).

All is lost! That woman's cry went through the town. I saw the archers' rapiers flash.

[The Archers with torches enter.

BRICHANTEAU (to Saverny).

Seem dead, Or you will be so!

SAVERNY (falling down).

Ah!

[Low to Brichanteau, who bends over him.

Oh, damn these stones.

[Didier, who thinks he has killed him, pauses.

CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT.

Hold! In the King's name!

BRICHANTEAU (to the noblemen).

We must save the Marquis. He's a dead man if he is caught.

[The noblemen surround Saverny.

CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT.

Zounds, sirs! To fight a duel 'neath the very light Of the edict is bold indeed! [To Didier.] Give up Your sword.

[The Archers seize Didier, who stands apart, and disarm him. The Captain indicates Saverny stretched upon the ground and surrounded by the noblemen.

That other man with dull eyes, who Is he? What is his name?

BRICHANTEAU.

His name's Gaspard, Marquis de Saverny, and he is dead.

CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT.

Dead, is he? Then his trouble's over. Good! This dead man's worth more than the other.

MARION (frightened).

What!

CAPTAIN OF THE DISTRICT (to Didier).

The whole affair rests now with you, sir. Come!

[The Archers lead Didier off on one side, the noblemen carry Saverny off on the other.

DIDIER (to Marion, who is motionless from horror).

Forget me, Marion. Good-by! [They exit.

SCENE V

Marion, L'Angely

MARION (rushing to detain him).

Didier! What do you mean? Good-by? Why this good-by? Wherefore forget you?

[The Soldiers push her off; she approaches L'Angely with anguish.

Is he lost for this? What did he do? What will they do to him?

L'ANGELY (takes her hand and leads her in silence before the edict).

Read this!

MARION (reads, and starts back with horror).

My God! Just God! Condemned to death! They've taken him away. To kill him! Oh, I brought this ruin on him with my cries! I called for help, but my unhappy voice Found death in the dark streets and brought her here. Impossible! A duel is no crime!

[To L'Angely.

They'll not kill him for that?

L'ANGELY.

I think they will.

MARION.

He can escape!

L'ANGELY.

The prison walls are high!

MARION.

I've brought this crime upon him with my sins. God strikes him for my sake! My Didier! love! [To L'Angely.] Nothing on earth seemed good enough for him! A prison cell—my God! Death! Torture too!

L'ANGELY.

Perhaps! It all depends—

MARION.

I'll find the King! He has a royal heart; he pardons.

L'ANGELY.

Yes, The King does, not the Cardinal.

MARION.

Then, what— What can I do?

L'ANGELY.

A capital offense, Nothing can save him from the fatal rope.

MARION.

Oh, grief! [To L'Angely.] You freeze my blood, sir. Who are you?

L'ANGELY.

I'm the King's jester!

MARION.

Oh, my Didier, love, I'm lost, unworthy; but what God can do With a weak woman's hands, I'll show to you. Go on, my love; I follow!

[She goes out on the side from which Didier left.

L'ANGELY (alone).

God knows where!

[Picking up the sword which Didier left on the ground.

Among all these, who'd think I was the fool?

[He goes out.

ACT III

THE COMEDY

Scene.—The Castle of Nangis. A park in the style of Henry IV. In the background on an elevation, the Castle of Nangis, part new, part old, is visible. The old, a castle-keep with arches and turrets: the new, a large brick house with corners of wrought stone, and pointed roof. The large door of the castle-keep is hung with black: from afar one distinguishes a coat-of-arms—that of the families of Nangis and of Saverny

SCENE I

M. DE LAFFEMAS, undress costume of a magistrate of the period. Marquis de Saverny, disguised as an officer of the Regiment of Anjou; with black mustache and imperial, and a plaster on the eye

LAFFEMAS.

Then you were present, sir, at the attack?

SAVERNY (pulling his mustache).

I was his comrade: had that honor, sir! But he is dead!

LAFFEMAS.

The Marquis de Saverny?

SAVERNY.

Yes, from a thrust in tierce, which burst the doublet, Then carved its cruel way between the ribs Through to the chest and to the liver, which, As you well know, makes blood. The wound was fearful. 'Twas horrible to see!

LAFFEMAS.

He died at once?

SAVERNY.

Almost. His agony was short. I watched The spasm follow frenzy; tetanos Then came, and after opisthotonos There followed improstathonos.

LAFFEMAS.

The deuce!

SAVERNY.

So that I calculate 'tis false to say The blood passes the jugular. Pequet And learned men should be condemned when they Dissect live dogs to study 'bout the lungs.

LAFFEMAS.

The poor marquis is dead.

SAVERNY.

A thrust is fatal.

LAFFEMAS.

You are a doctor, sir, of medicine?

SAVERNY.

No.

LAFFEMAS.

You have studied it?

SAVERNY.

Somewhat. In Aristotle.

LAFFEMAS.

You can talk it well!

SAVERNY.

Faith! I've a most malicious sort of heart. I like destruction; find delight in evil; I love to kill! So that I thought I'd be A soldier or a doctor, sir, at twenty. But I hesitated long, and finally I chose the sword. It's not so sure, but twice As quick. There was a time, I will confess, I longed to be a poet or an actor, Or an exhibitor of bears—but then, I like dinner and supper every day. A plague upon the poetry and bears!

LAFFEMAS.

With this hope in your mind you studied verse?

SAVERNY.

A little bit, in Aristotle. Yes—

LAFFEMAS.

The Marquis knew you?

SAVERNY.

He knew me as well As a lieutenant knows an upstart soldier. I belonged to Monsieur de Caussade first, Who gave me to the Marquis' colonel. Poor The present, but we do the best we can! They made me officer—I'm worth as much As any, and I wear a black mustache. That is my history.

LAFFEMAS.

They sent you here To notify the uncle?

SAVERNY.

Yes; I came With Brichanteau, the cousin, and the corpse. He will be buried here—where, if he'd lived, He would have had his wedding!

LAFFEMAS.

Tell me how The old Marquis de Nangis bore the news.

SAVERNY.

With calmness, without tears.

LAFFEMAS.

He loved him though?

SAVERNY.

As much as we love life. Having no children Of his own he had but this one passion— His nephew, whom he dearly loved, although They had not seen each other for five years.

[In the background, the old Marquis de Nangis passes; white hair, pale countenance, arms folded across his breast, dress of the day of Henry IV.: deep mourning; the star and the ribbon of the order of the Holy Ghost. He walks slowly; nine guards in three rows follow; they are dressed in mourning, their halberds on their right shoulder, their muskets on their left; they keep within a short distance, stopping when he stops, and continuing when he continues.

LAFFEMAS (watching him pass).

Poor man!

[He goes to the back and follows The Marquis with his eyes.

SAVERNY (aside).

My good old uncle!

[Brichanteau enters and goes to Saverny.

SCENE II
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