Three Plays Part 18

LANDOLPH. Exactly: at Canossa!

ORDULPH. Pope Gregory VII.!

HAROLD. Our _bete noir_! Come on! come oh! (_All four move toward the right to go out, when, from the left, the old servant John enters in evening dress_).

JOHN (_quickly, anxiously_). Hss! Hss! Frank! Lolo!

HAROLD (_turning round_). What is it?

BERTHOLD (_marvelling at seeing a man in modern clothes enter the throne room_). Oh! I say, this is a bit too much, this chap here!

LANDOLPH. A man of the XXth century, here! Oh, go away!

(_They run over to him, pretending to menace him and throw him out_).

ORDULPH (_heroically_). Messenger of Gregory VII., away!

HAROLD. Away! Away!

JOHN (_annoyed, defending himself_). Oh, stop it! Stop it, I tell you!

ORDULPH. No, you can't set foot here!

HAROLD. Out with him!

LANDOLPH (_to Berthold_). Magic, you know! He's a demon conjured up by the Wizard of Rome! Out with your swords!

(_Makes as if to draw a sword_).

JOHN (_shouting_). Stop it, will you? Don't play the fool with me! The Marquis has arrived with some friends....

LANDOLPH. Good! Good! Are there ladies too?

ORDULPH. Old or young?

JOHN. There are two gentlemen.

HAROLD. But the ladies, the ladies, who are they?

JOHN. The Marchioness and her daughter.

LANDOLPH (_surprised_). What do you say?

ORDULPH. The Marchioness?

JOHN. The Marchioness! The Marchioness!

HAROLD. Who are the gentlemen?

JOHN. I don't know.

HAROLD (_to Berthold_). They're coming to bring us a message from the Pope, do you see?

ORDULPH. All messengers of Gregory VII.! What fun!

JOHN. Will you let me speak, or not?

HAROLD. Go on, then!

JOHN. One of the two gentlemen is a doctor, I fancy.

LANDOLPH. Oh, I see, one of the usual doctors.

HAROLD. Bravo Berthold, you'll bring us luck!

LANDOLPH. You wait and see how we'll manage this doctor!

BERTHOLD. It looks as if I were going to get into a nice mess right away.

JOHN. If the gentlemen would allow me to speak ... they want to come here into the throne room.

LANDOLPH (_surprised_). What? She? The Marchioness here?

HAROLD. Then this is something quite different! No play-acting this time!

LANDOLPH. We'll have a real tragedy: that's what!

BERTHOLD (_curious_). Why? Why?

ORDULPH (_pointing to the portrait_). She is that person there, don't you understand?

LANDOLPH. The daughter is the fiancee of the Marquis. But what have they come for, I should like to know?

ORDULPH. If he sees her, there'll be trouble.

LANDOLPH. Perhaps he won't recognize her any more.

JOHN. You must keep him there, if he should wake up....

ORDULPH. Easier said than done, by Jove!

HAROLD. You know what he's like!

JOHN. --even by force, if necessary! Those are my orders. Go on! Go on!

HAROLD. Yes, because who knows if he hasn't already wakened up?

ORDULPH. Come on then!

LANDOLPH (_going towards John with the others_). You'll tell us later what it all means.