Kitabı oku: «The Princess of Bagdad: A Play In Three Acts», sayfa 3
(Lionnette takes the key that Nourvady has laid upon the table while talking; rises, and goes to throw it out of the open window; passes before Nourvady in going to rejoin Godler and Trévelé.)
Nourvady (while she passes in front of him)
That window looks upon your garden, Countess, not upon the street. In a garden a key can be picked up again.
(He bows, and leaves her, to take his departure.)
Lionnette (in a low voice)
The insolent fellow!
Jane (entering, to Lionnette)
Master Raoul will not go to bed, Madam.
Lionnette
Very well; I am coming.
(She goes out by the door from which Jane has spoken to her.)
Trévelé (to Godler)
Again running away! that is too strong. This time, let us go too.
Nourvady
No, remain; I think you will be wanted here. Good bye. (He goes away.)
Scene III
GODLER, TRÉVELÉ
Trévelé (to Godler, while eating a cake)
I assure you that Nourvady is a personage apart. Listen now; let us eat all the cakes, drink all the lemonade, and during that time you can solve the enigma, for at length you ought to know what is going on in this house, you who have always been a friend of the Marchioness of Quansas. It is said even…
Godler (after looking around him)
In 1853.
Trévelé
You are decided?
Godler
In 1853.
Trévelé
Why did you never tell it?
Godler
In 1853 there was a Madam Duranton, who kept a shop in the rue Traversière.
Trévelé
Where may the rue Traversière be?
Godler
It was a little cross street, of compromised fame, leading from the rue St. Honoré to the rue Richelieu. Madame Duranton, a widow – one could not be more a widow – sold left-off clothes. You can imagine the rest…
Trévelé
Yes, I see, I see; make haste.
Godler
Madame Duranton, at whose house two or three friends and I went sometimes to pass the evening, and who gave us sometimes cider and chesnuts in her little back shop…
Trévelé
In 1853?
Godler
In 1853.
Trévelé
How old were you?
Godler
I was 39 years old.
Trévelé
You are old, then?
Godler
I am 66.
Trévelé
You don't look that age.
Godler
Because I get myself up very well.
Trévelé
What a good fellow! Go on.
Godler
Would you like us to make a bet?
Trévelé
No, you would gain it; Florimond has told it to me.
Godler (who is sitting down)
Very well; go and shut the window, and give me something to drink.
Trévelé
Go on.
Godler
Madame Duranton had a daughter.
Trévelé
To whom you made love?
Godler
To whom we all made love, without any good intention – you can understand. The young girl, then between 18 and 19 years old, was a beautiful creature, with naturally golden hair, like women have artificially now-a-days, with violet-blue eyes, cheeks like a rose of Bengal, and teeth and lips resembling almonds between two halves of a cherry.
(During this time Godler from time to time arranges his whiskers, and a lock of hair which falls over his forehead, with a little comb that he takes out of his pocket.)
Trévelé
One could almost wish to taste thereof. You are a poet!
Godler
That I had from my youth. At that time…
Trévelé
In your youth?
Godler
No, in 1853, there were a king and queen…
Trévelé
Who reigned…
Godler
Exactly.
Trévelé
Happy time! Where did they reign?
Godler
At Bagdad.
Trévelé
Thank you.
Godler
This king and this queen had an only son, who was to succeed them. This son, 23 years old, took much too seriously his part of heir-presumptive. But what was the use of having a crown, if, in his turn, he was not to have an heir to leave it to? However, nothing in the young prince indicated the least inclination towards love, legitimate or otherwise.
Trévelé
He was not like you.
Godler
No, he was not like me.
Trévelé
Go on.
Godler
Always study; always reflection; always indifference.
Trévelé
A strange prince!
Godler
The ambassadors opened negotiation upon negotiation uselessly with foreign courts in view of a political alliance. Several young princesses of surrounding countries, of Hindostan, of Persia, and even of Europe…
Trévelé
How well you relate a thing!
Godler
Were waiting full-dressed, their hair well-dressed and splendidly perfumed, for the king of Bagdad to ask their hand for his son. The telegraph replied always: Wait! Wait!
Trévelé
Go on quickly.
Godler
A chamberlain had a very simple idea.
Trévelé
In general the ideas of chamberlains are very simple.
Godler
This was, to let the prince travel, in order that he might see other women than those of Bagdad, since they were acknowledged to be insufficient, and to send him at once to Paris.
Trévelé
Bad complaints require strong remedies.
Godler
But this was not all; beauty was necessary, and it must be stock of a particular kind: also those that he did not marry must differ only in rank from the one he did marry. In fact, it was not a Lycœnion, but a perfect Chloe, that was sought for the instruction of this Daphnis, and it was not to be child's play.
Trévelé
I see the young Lionnette dawning. But how did everything come about?
Godler
That will make the subject of the following chapter. The ambassador of Bagdad came with us sometimes in the evening, to eat chesnuts and drink cider at Madame Duranton's.
Trévelé
And he discovered a way of leading the prince to eat the cherries and almonds?
Godler
Who acquired such a taste for these delicious fruits, that he wanted to eat nothing else, had no wish to go away, had no inclination whatever for study, no longer wished to reign – he wanted to marry. However, the king, informed and satisfied on the subject, recalled his son. He must go back to Bagdad. Daphnis wept, and Chloe also.
Trévelé
You are king, you cry, and I depart.
Godler
And that is how the beautiful Lionnette came into the world; having for legal father a Marquis de Quansas, a ruined gentleman, rather a bad character, who turned up just at the right moment to lay his hand on a marriage portion, give his name to the mother and daughter, and die a short time after, without falling into the hands of the correctional police, as every one expected to see him do.
Trévelé
Then the countess is daughter of a prince?
Godler
Daughter of a king, even – for the prince succeeded his father.
Trévelé
What a strange country!
Godler
Daughter of a king and of an adventuress; daughter herself of no one knows who. From that comes, no doubt, the strangeness in the nature of Lionnette, whom we, who know the circumstances, named, when she was very young, the Princess of Bagdad. People never knew what it meant, but it is useless for all the world to know what some things mean.
Trévelé
And the mother, the Marchioness of Quansas, has she seen the king again since that adventure?
Godler
Often, and for several years. Thence comes the great luxury and style of the house. But she became so badly-conducted, and abused so much the goodness of the king to her, that he – himself now become father of a large family, as everything led to hope after his return from Paris, and the marchioness no longer being young – lost all patience, and gave no more money, except to his daughter, whom he adored, and whom he saw in secret. But he died quite suddenly.
Trévelé
I know whom you mean.
Godler
Then we both know it, that is sufficient. After the death of the king all the resources disappeared. Fortunately, the love and marriage of our friend John de Hun were found in the nick of time, to maintain for some time the importance of the house; but at this moment I think the downfall is not far off, and all these comings and goings of to-day may very well be the last signs of it. All the legitimate ways are exhausted; there remains nothing now but the others.
Trévelé
Which are happily the most numerous. It costs too much for us, my poor old Godler. For the present it is just the affair of the gloomy millionaire: we shall see later on. There is nothing more to drink; they have quite forgotten us. Put your comb in your pocket again, your lock of hair is very well like that; now let us go away. A peculiar kind of a house. Where is my hat?
(While they both look for their hats, their backs turned to the bottom of the room, John enters, very pale, and visibly affected.)
Scene IV
THE SAME PERSONS, JOHN.
John
I beg your pardon, gentlemen, for having left you so long alone in my house, but I have been suddenly called away. I reckoned upon being back sooner. And…
(He draws his hand across his forehead.)
Godler
You are suffering much?
John
It is nothing… A little fatigue, it is very warm.
Trévelé
We are going away.
John
However, it may be that I shall stand in need of two sure friends. Can I count upon you?
Trévelé (aside)
Nourvady was right.
Godler
Certainly; we shall breakfast, Trévelé and I, to-morrow at 12 o'clock at the club. If you have anything to say to us.
John
Thank you. Till to-morrow then.
Godler (aside, as he goes out)
Poor fellow.
Trévelé (aside, as he goes out)
The weather is getting stormy, as the sailors say.
Scene V
John alone at first, afterwards Lionnette
John, standing alone, lays his hand on the top of a chair; then he pulls off his cravat and loosens the collar of his shirt, as if he were suffocating and wished to breathe more freely. He goes at length to the window, breathes the air strongly two or three times, and walks towards the door by which Lionnette went out: Lionnette enters by the same door when he is half-way towards it
John (standing still)
Where have you come from?
Lionnette
I have just come from putting the child to bed, who was very disobedient this evening, and I came back to find the gentlemen again.
John
They are all three gone.
Lionnette
What is the matter with you? You are quite pale… What has happened again?
John
You want to know?
Lionnette
Yes, certainly. I ask you to tell me.
John (walking up to her and putting his fist towards her face)
When I think how I failed in respect for my mother, who died cursing me, and all for this creature.
Lionnette (coming up to him)
I do not understand.
John
You do not understand!
Lionnette
No; I believe, I hope, that you are still madder than usual. What is it?
John (drawing some papers from his pocket)
What is all this? It is this, that Mr. Nourvady has had all your debts paid. He had no wish to do me the honour of paying mine; but you, you owe nothing any more. That is what it is. Now do you understand?
Lionnette (stupified)
Mr. Nourvady!
John
Yes, Mr. Nourvady, your lover!
Lionnette (indignantly)
My lover!
John
Yes, your lover, to whom you have sold yourself and my name, your honour and mine, for some hundreds of thousands of francs. For your own honour it is too much, but for mine it is too little.
Lionnette
Perhaps you will tell me what all this means?
John
Mr. Richard has just sent some one for me; on his return home this evening he found all the bills of your creditors sent back to him receipted, at the same time writing that they were all fully paid. By whom? You know well.
(He throws the papers on the table.)
Lionnette
I swear to you…
John (mad with rage)
'Tis false? 'Tis false! There was a way, painful for you, to free yourself; it was proposed to you at first; you obstinately rejected it… You had your own reasons, it was useless! The contract was concluded and carried out. Since when, may I ask?
Lionnette
Ah! when will you have finished insulting me! I tell you that of which you accuse me is not true. At present, if you do not believe me, do whatever you like.
John (exasperated)
I turn you out of doors.
Lionnette
Unfortunately, this house is mine, and I remain in it.
John
It is true; I beg your pardon! I forgot that your mother had foreseen all. This house, paid for by me, is yours, but the debts incurred by you are paid by some one else. It is a compensation. It is I who will leave this house, you may rest contented. I am going at once… I am going to look for some money – at my sister's – it signifies not where. I must find some, even if I have to steal in my turn. And after that we shall see. Adieu!
(He goes away with a menacing gesture.)
Lionnette (alone)
Adieu! (Shrugging her shoulders, and going towards her apartment.) The idiot! (She goes into her room.)
