Three Plays Part 28

DI NOLLI. Again, Frida?

FRIDA. It would have been better if I had seen him before.

DI NOLLI. There's nothing to be frightened of, really.

FRIDA. He isn't furious, is he?

DI NOLLI. Of course not! he's quite calm.

BELCREDI (_with ironic sentimental affectation_).

Melancholy! Didn't you hear that he loves you?

FRIDA. Thanks! That's just why I am afraid.

BELCREDI. He won't do you any harm.

DI NOLLI. It'll only last a minute....

FRIDA. Yes, but there in the dark with him....

DI NOLLI. Only for a moment; and I will be near you, and all the others behind the door ready to run in. As soon as you see your mother, your part will be finished....

BELCREDI. I'm afraid of a different thing: that we're wasting our time....

DI NOLLI. Don't begin again! The remedy seems a sound one to me.

FRIDA. I think so too! I feel it! I'm all trembling!

BELCREDI. But, mad people, my dear friends--though they don't know it, alas--have this felicity which we don't take into account....

DI NOLLI (_interrupting, annoyed_). What felicity? Nonsense!

BELCREDI (_forcefully_). They don't reason!

DI NOLLI. What's reasoning got to do with it, anyway?

BELCREDI. Don't you call it reasoning that he will have to do--according to us--when he sees her (_indicates Frida_) and her mother? We've reasoned it all out, surely!

DI NOLLI. Nothing of the kind: no reasoning at all. We put before him a double image of his own fantasy, or fiction, as the doctor says.

BELCREDI (_suddenly_). I say, I've never understood why they take degrees in medicine.

DI NOLLI (_amazed_). Who?

BELCREDI. The alienists!

DI NOLLI. What ought they to take degrees in, then?

FRIDA. If they are alienists, in what else should they take degrees?

BELCREDI. In law, of course! All a matter of talk! The more they talk, the more highly they are considered. "a.n.a.logous elasticity," "the sensation of distance in time!" And the first thing they tell you is that they don't work miracles--when a miracle's just what is wanted! But they know that the more they say they are not miracle-workers, the more folk believe in their seriousness!

BERTHOLD (_who has been looking through the keyhole of the door on right_). There they are! There they are! They're coming in here.

DI NOLLI. Are they?

BERTHOLD. He wants to come with them.... Yes!... He's coming too!

DI NOLLI. Let's get away, then! Let's get away, at once!

(_To Berthold_): You stop here!

BERTHOLD. Must I?

(_Without answering him, Di Nolli, Frida, and Belcredi go out by the main exit, leaving Berthold surprised. The door on the right opens, and Landolph enters first, bowing. Then Donna Matilda comes in, with mantle and ducal crown as in the first act; also the doctor as the abbot of Cluny. Henry IV. is among them in royal dress. Ordulph and Harold enter last of all_).

HENRY IV. (_following up what he has been saying in the other room_). And now I will ask you a question: how can I be astute, if you think me obstinate?

DOCTOR. No, no, not obstinate!

HENRY IV. (_smiling, pleased_). Then you think me really astute?

DOCTOR. No, no, neither obstinate, nor astute.

HENRY IV. (_with benevolent irony_). Monsignor, if obstinacy is not a vice which can go with astuteness, I hoped that in denying me the former, you would at least allow me a little of the latter. I can a.s.sure you I have great need of it. But if you want to keep it all for yourself....

DOCTOR. I? I? Do I seem astute to you?

HENRY IV. No. Monsignor! What do you say? Not in the least!

Perhaps in this case, I may seem a little obstinate to you (_cutting short to speak to Donna Matilda_). With your permission: a word in confidence to the d.u.c.h.ess. (_Leads her aside and asks her very earnestly_): Is your daughter really dear to you?

DONNA MATILDA (_dismayed_). Why, yes, certainly....

HENRY IV. Do you wish me to compensate her with all my love, with all my devotion, for the grave wrongs I have done her--though you must not believe all the stories my enemies tell about my dissoluteness!

DONNA MATILDA. No, no, I don't believe them. I never have believed such stories.

HENRY IV. Well, then are you willing?

DONNA MATILDA (_confused_). What?

HENRY IV. That I return to love your daughter again? (_Looks at her and adds, in a mysterious tone of warning_). You mustn't be a friend of the Marchioness of Tuscany!

DONNA MATILDA. I tell you again that she has begged and tried not less than ourselves to obtain your pardon....

HENRY IV. (_softly, but excitedly_). Don't tell me that!

Don't say that to me! Don't you see the effect it has on me, my Lady?

DONNA MATILDA (_looks at him; then very softly as if in confidence_). You love her still?