The Dramas of Victor Hugo: Mary Tudor, Marion de Lorme, Esmeralda Part 88

[_To The Councilor._] Thank you for such good news.

COUNCILOR.

I wish 'twere better!

Good sir, my zeal--

SAVERNY.

Excuse me. What's the hour?

COUNCILOR.

At nine o'clock to-night.

DIDIER.

I hope the sky Will be as dark as is my soul.

SAVERNY.

The place?

COUNCILOR (_indicating the neighboring court_).

Here in the court. The Cardinal will come.

[_Councilor exits with his escort. The two prisoners remain alone. Day begins to fade. The halberds of the two sentinels, who silently promenade before the breach, are all that can be seen._

DIDIER (_solemnly, after a pause_).

At this portentous hour we must reflect Upon the fate awaiting us. Our years Are equal, though I'm older far than you.

It is but just, therefore, that mine should be The voice to cheer and to exhort you, since I am the cause of all your misery.

'Twas I who challenged you. You were content And happy: 'twas enough for me to pa.s.s Across your life to ruin it. My fate Pressed down upon yours 'til it crushed it. Now, Together, we are soon to face the tomb.

We'll take each other's hand-- [_Sound of hammering._

SAVERNY.

What is that noise?

DIDIER.

It is our scaffold which they're building, or Our coffins they are nailing.

[_Saverny sits on the stone bench._

When the hour Has tolled, sometimes the heart of man gives way.

Life holds us in a thousand secret ways.

[_A bell strikes._ I think a voice is calling to us. Hark!

[_Another bell._

SAVERNY.

The hour is striking.

[_A third bell._

DIDIER.

Yes, the hour!

[_A fourth bell._

SAVERNY.

In chapel!

[_Four more bells._

DIDIER.

It is a voice that calls us, just the same.

SAVERNY.

Another hour!

[_He leans his elbows on the stone table and drops his head on his hands. The Guard is changed._

DIDIER.

My friend, do not give way!

Don't falter on this threshold we must cross.

The tomb they're fitting up for us is low, And won't permit the entrance of a head.

Let's go to meet them with a fearless tread.

The scaffold can afford to shake, not we.

They claim our heads; and since no fault is ours, We'll bear them proudly to the fatal block.

[_Approaches Saverny, who is motionless._

Courage!

[_Touches his arm and finds he is asleep._

Asleep! While I've been preaching courage This man has slept! What is my bravery Compared to his? Sleep on, you who can sleep.

My turn will come--provided all things die, That nothing of the heart survives within The tomb, to hate what it has loved too much.

[_It is night. While Didier has become absorbed in his thoughts, Marion and The Jailer enter through the opening in the wall; The Jailer precedes her. He carries a dark-lantern and a bundle, both of which he places on the ground, then advances cautiously toward Marion, who has remained standing on the threshold, pale, motionless, half-wild._

SCENE VI

[The scenes are mis-numbered in the book and skip from the number IV to the number VI in Act V. (note of etext transcriber)]