The Dramas of Victor Hugo: Mary Tudor, Marion de Lorme, Esmeralda Part 83

It's very hard!

SECOND WORKMAN (_working_).

Deuce take this heavy wall we're pulling down!

THIRD WORKMAN (_working_).

Saw you the scaffold, Peter?

FIRST WORKMAN.

Yes, I did.

[_He goes to the large door and measures it._

The door is narrow; never will the litter Of the Lord Cardinal go through it.

THIRD WORKMAN.

Bah!

Is it a house?

FIRST WORKMAN (_with affirmative gesture_).

With great long curtains. Yes.

It takes some four and twenty men on foot To carry it.

SECOND WORKMAN.

I saw the great machine, One night when it was very dark. It looked Just like Leviathan in shadow-land.

THIRD WORKMAN.

What does he come here with his sergeants for?

FIRST WORKMAN.

To see the execution of those two young men.

He's sick. He needs to be amused.

SECOND WORKMAN.

To work!

[_They resume work; the wall is about torn down._

Saw you the scaffold, all in black? That comes Of being n.o.ble!

FIRST WORKMAN.

They have everything.

SECOND WORKMAN.

I wonder If they would build a black scaffold for us.

FIRST WORKMAN.

What have those young men done that they should die?

Hein? Do you understand, Maurice?

THIRD WORKMAN.

I don't.

It's justice.

[_They continue their work. Laffemas enters; The Workmen are silent.

He comes from the back as though he were coming from an inside court of the prison; stops beside The Workmen, appears to examine the breach, and gives them some directions. When the s.p.a.ce is opened, he orders them to hang black cloth across it, which covers it entirely; then he dismisses them. At almost the same moment Marion appears, dressed in white, and veiled; she enters through the great door, crosses the court rapidly, and runs to the grating of the small door, at which she knocks.

Laffemas follows slowly in the same direction. The grating is opened; The Turnkey appears._

SCENE II

Marion, Laffemas

MARION (_showing a parchment to The Turnkey_).

Order of the King!

THE TURNKEY.

You can't Enter, madame.

MARION.

What!

LAFFEMAS (_presenting a paper to The Turnkey_).

Signed, the Cardinal!

THE TURNKEY.

Enter.

[_When about to enter, Laffemas turns, looks at Marion a moment, then approaches her. The Turnkey shuts the door._

LAFFEMAS (_to Marion_).