Three Plays Part 31

BELCREDI. Hum! He was acting, to take you in and also us, who in good faith....

DI NOLLI. Is it possible? To deceive his sister, also, right up to the time of her death?

HENRY IV. (_Remains apart, peering at one and now at the other under the accusation and the mockery of what all believe to be a cruel joke of his, which is now revealed. He has shown by the flas.h.i.+ng of his eyes that he is meditating a revenge, which his violent contempt prevents him from defining clearly, as yet. Stung to the quick and with a clear idea of accepting the fiction they have insidiously worked up as true, he bursts forth at this point_): Go on, I say! Go on!

DI NOLLI (_astonished at the cry_). Go on! What do you mean?

HENRY IV. It isn't _your_ sister only that is dead!

DI NOLLI. My sister? Yours, I say, whom you compelled up to the last moment, to present herself here as your mother Agnes!

HENRY IV. And was she not _your_ mother?

DI NOLLI. My mother? Certainly my mother!

HENRY IV. But your mother is dead for me, _old and far away_! You have just got down now from there (_pointing to the frame from which he jumped down_). And how do you know whether I have not wept her long in secret, dressed even as I am?

DONNA MATILDA (_dismayed, looking at the others_). What does he say? (_Much impressed, observing him_). Quietly! quietly, for Heaven's sake!

HENRY IV. What do I say? I ask all of you if Agnes was not the mother of Henry IV.? (_Turns to Frida as if she were really the Marchioness of Tuscany_): You, Marchioness, it seems to me, ought to know.

FRIDA (_still frightened, draws closer to Di Nolli_). No, no, I don't know. Not I!

DOCTOR. It's the madness returning.... Quiet now, everybody!

BELCREDI (_indignant_). Madness indeed, doctor! He's acting again!...

HENRY IV. (_suddenly_). I? You have emptied those two frames over there, and he stands before my eyes as Henry IV....

BELCREDI. We've had enough of this joke now.

HENRY IV. Who said joke?

DOCTOR (_loudly to Belcredi_). Don't excite him, for the love of G.o.d!

BELCREDI (_without lending an ear to him, but speaking louder_). But they have said so (_pointing again to the four young men_), they, they!

HENRY IV. (_turning round and looking at them_). You? Did you say it was all a joke?

LANDOLPH (_timid and embarra.s.sed_). No ... really we said that you were cured.

BELCREDI. Look here! Enough of this! (_To Donna Matilda_): Doesn't it seem to you that the sight of him (_pointing to Di Nolli_), Marchioness and that of your daughter dressed so, is becoming an intolerable puerility?

DONNA MATILDA. Oh, be quiet! What does the dress matter, if he is cured?

HENRY IV. Cured, yes! I am cured! (_To Belcredi_) ah, but not to let it end this way all at once, as you suppose!

(_Attacks him_). Do you know that for twenty years n.o.body has ever dared to appear before me here like you and that gentleman (_pointing to the doctor_)?

BELCREDI. Of course I know it. As a matter of fact, I too appeared before you this morning dressed....

HENRY IV. As a monk, yes!

BELCREDI. And you took me for Peter Damiani! And I didn't even laugh, believing, in fact, that....

HENRY IV. That I was mad! Does it make you laugh seeing her like that, now that I am cured? And yet you might have remembered that in my eyes her appearance now....

(_interrupts himself with a gesture of contempt_) Ah!

(_Suddenly turns to the doctor_): You are a doctor, aren't you?

DOCTOR. Yes.

HENRY IV. And you also took part in dressing her up as the Marchioness of Tuscany? To prepare a counter-joke for me here, eh?

DONNA MATILDA (_impetuously_). No, no! What do you say? It was done for you! I did it for your sake.

DOCTOR (_quickly_). To attempt, to try, not knowing....

HENRY IV. (_cutting him short_). I understand. I say counter-joke, in his case (_indicates Belcredi_), because he believes that I have been carrying on a jest....

BELCREDI. But excuse me, what do you mean? You say yourself you are cured.

HENRY IV. Let me speak! (_To the doctor_): Do you know, doctor, that for a moment you ran the risk of making me mad again? By G.o.d, to make the portraits speak; to make them jump alive out of their frames....

DOCTOR. But you saw that all of us ran in at once, as soon as they told us....

HENRY IV. Certainly! (_Contemplates Frida and Di Nolli, and then looks at the Marchioness, and finally at his own costume_). The combination is very beautiful.... Two couples.... Very good, very good, doctor! For a madman, not bad!... (_With a slight wave of his hand to Belcredi_): It seems to him now to be a carnival out of season, eh? (_Turns to look at him_). We'll get rid now of this masquerade costume of mine, so that I may come away with you. What do you say?

BELCREDI. With me? With us?

HENRY IV. Where shall we go? To the Club? In dress coats and with white ties? Or shall both of us go to the Marchioness'

house?

BELCREDI. Wherever you like! Do you want to remain here still, to continue--alone--what was nothing but the unfortunate joke of a day of carnival? It is really incredible, incredible how you have been able to do all this, freed from the disaster that befell you!

HENRY IV. Yes, you see how it was! The fact is that falling from my horse and striking my head as I did, I was really mad for I know not how long....

DOCTOR. Ah! Did it last long?

HENRY IV. (_very quickly to the doctor_). Yes, doctor, a long time! I think it must have been about twelve years.

(_Then suddenly turning to speak to Belcredi_): Thus I saw nothing, my dear fellow, of all that, after that day of carnival, happened for you but not for me: how things changed, how my friends deceived me, how my place was taken by another, and all the rest of it! And suppose my place had been taken in the heart of the woman I loved?... And how should I know who was dead or who had disappeared?... All this, you know, wasn't exactly a jest for me, as it seems to you....

BELCREDI. No, no! I don't mean that if you please. I mean after....

HENRY IV. Ah, yes? After? One day (_stops and addresses the doctor_)--A most interesting case, doctor! Study me well!

Study me carefully (_trembles while speaking_)! All by itself, who knows how, one day the trouble here (_touches his forehead_) mended. Little by little, I open my eyes, and at first I don't know whether I am asleep or awake. Then I know I am awake. I touch this thing and that; I see clearly again.... Ah!--then, as _he_ says (_alludes to Belcredi_) away, away with this masquerade, this incubus! Let's open the windows, breathe life once again! Away! Away! Let's run out! (_Suddenly pulling himself up_). But where? And to do what? To show myself to all, secretly, as Henry IV., not like this, but arm in arm with you, among my dear friends?

BELCREDI. What are you saying?

DONNA MATILDA. Who could think it? It's not to be imagined.