The Jewel Merchants Part 3

GUIDO And otherwise amuses himself as his inclinations prompt, while Eglamore rules Tuscany--and the Tuscans are none the worse off on account of it.

(_He rises, and his hand goes to the dagger at his belt._) But is not that a horseman?

GRACIOSA (_She too has risen, and is now standing on the bench, looking over the wall._) A solitary rider, far down by the convent, so far away that he seems hardly larger than a scarlet dragon-fly.

GUIDO I confess I wish to run no risk of being found here, by your respected father or by your ingenious cousins and uncles.

GRACIOSA (_She turns, but remains standing upon the bench._) I think your Duke is much more dangerous looking than any of them. Heigho! I can quite foresee that I shall never fall in love with this Duke.

GUIDO A prince has means to overcome all obstacles.

GRACIOSA No. It is unbefitting and a little cowardly for Duke Alessandro to s.h.i.+rk the duties of his station for verse-making and eternal pleasure-seeking.

Now if I were Duke--

GUIDO What would you do?

GRACIOSA (_Posturing a little as she stands upon the bench._) If I were duke?

Oh ... I would grant my father a pension ... and I would have Eglamore hanged ... and I would purchase a new gown of silvery green--

GUIDO In which you would be very ravis.h.i.+ngly beautiful.

_His tone has become rather ardent, and he is now standing nearer to her than the size of the garden necessitates. So GRACIOSA demurely steps down from the bench, and sits at the far end._

GRACIOSA And that is all I can think of. What would you do if you were duke, Messer Guido?

GUIDO (_Who is now sitting beside her at closer quarters than the length of the bench quite strictly demands._) I? What would I do if I were a great lord instead of a tradesman! (_Softly._) I think you know the answer, madonna.

GRACIOSA Oh, you would make me your d.u.c.h.ess, of course. That is quite understood.

But I was speaking seriously, Guido.

GUIDO And is it not a serious matter that a pedler of crystals should have dared to love a n.o.bleman's daughter?

GRACIOSA (_Delighted._) This is the first I have heard of it.

GUIDO But you are perfectly right. It is not a serious matter. That I wors.h.i.+p you is an affair which does not seriously concern any person save me in any way whatsoever. Yet I think that knowledge of the fact would put your father to the trouble of sharpening his dagger.

GRACIOSA Ye-es. But not even Father would deny that you were showing excellent taste.

GUIDO Indeed, I am not certain that I do wors.h.i.+p you; for in order to adore whole-heartedly the idolater must believe his idol to be perfect.

(_Taking her hand._) Now your nails are of an ugly shape, like that of little fans. Your nose is nothing to boast of. And your mouth is too large. I do not admire these faults, for faults they are undoubtedly--

GRACIOSA Do they make me very ugly? I know that I have not a really good mouth, Guido, but do you think it is positively repulsive?

GUIDO No.... Then, too, I know that you are vain and self-seeking, and look forward contentedly to the time when your father will transfer his owners.h.i.+p of your physical attractions to that n.o.bleman who offers the highest price for them.

GRACIOSA But we daughters of the poor Valori are compelled to marry--suitably. We have only the choice between that and the convent yonder.

GUIDO That is true, and n.o.body disputes it. Still, you partic.i.p.ate in a monstrous bargain, and I would prefer to have you exhibit distaste for it.

_Bending forward, GUIDO draws from his jewel pack the string of pearls, and this he moodily contemplates, in order to evince his complete disinterestedness. The pose has its effect. GRACIOSA looks at him for a moment, rises, draws a deep breath, and speaks with a sort of humility._

GRACIOSA And to what end, Guido? What good would weeping do?

GUIDO (_Smiling whimsically._) I am afraid that men do not always love according to the strict laws of logic. (_He drops the pearls, and, rising, follows her._) I desire your happiness above all things, yet to see you so abysmally untroubled by anything which troubles me is--another matter.

GRACIOSA But I am not untroubled, Guido.

GUIDO No?

GRACIOSA No. (_Rather tremulously._) Sometimes I sit here dreading my life at court. I want never to leave my father's bleak house. I fear that I may not like the man who offers the highest price for me. And it seems as if the court were a horrible painted animal, dressed in bright silks, and s.h.i.+ning with jewels, and waiting to devour me.

_Beyond the wall appears a hat of scarlet satin with a divided brim, which, rising, is revealed to surmount the head of an extraordinarily swarthy person, to whose dark skin much powder has only loaned the hue of death: his cheeks, however, are vividly carmined. This is all that the audience can now see of the young DUKE of FLORENCE, whose proximity the two in the garden are just now too much engrossed to notice._

_The DUKE looks from one to the other. His eyes narrow, his teeth are displayed in a wide grin; he now understands the situation. He lowers his head as GRACIOSA moves._

GRACIOSA No, I am not untroubled. For I cannot fathom you, and that troubles me. I am very fond of you--and yet I do not trust you.

GUIDO You know that I love you.

GRACIOSA You tell me so. It pleases me to have you say it--

GUIDO Madonna is candid this morning.

GRACIOSA Yes, I am candid. It does please me. And I know that for the sake of seeing me you endanger your life, for if my father heard of our meetings here he would have you killed.

GUIDO Would I incur such risks without caring?

GRACIOSA No,--and yet, somehow, I do not believe it is altogether for me that you care.

_The DUKE laughs. GUIDO starts, half drawing his dagger. GRACIOSA turns with an instinctive gesture of seeking protection. The DUKE'S head and shoulders appear above the wall._

THE DUKE And you will find, my friend, that the most charming women have just these awkward intuitions.

_The DUKE ascends the wall, while the two stand motionless and silent.

When he is on top of the wall, GUIDO, who now remembers that omnipotence perches there, makes haste to serve it, and obsequiously a.s.sists the DUKE to descend. The DUKE then comes well forward, in smiling meditation, and hands first his gloves, then his scarlet cloak (which you now perceive to be lined with ermine and sable in four stripes) to GUIDO, who takes them as a servant would attend his master._

_The removal of this cloak reveals the DUKE to be clad in a scarlet satin doublet, which has a high military collar and sleeves puffed with black.

His tights also are of scarlet, and he wears s.h.i.+ning soft black riding-boots. Jewels glisten at his neck. About his middle, too, there is a metallic gleaming, for he is equipped with a noticeably long sword and a dagger. Such is the personage who now addresses himself more explicitly to GRACIOSA._

THE DUKE (_Sitting upon the bench, very much at his ease while the others stand uncomfortably before him._) Yes, madonna, I suspect that Eglamore here cares greatly for the fact that you are Balthazar Valori's daughter, and cousin to the late Marquis of Cibo.

GRACIOSA (_Just in bewilderment._) Eglamore!

THE DUKE For Cibo left many kinsmen. These still resent the circ.u.mstance that the matching of his wits against Eglamore's wits earned for Cibo an unpleasantly public death-bed. So they pursue their feud against Eglamore with vexatious industry. And Eglamore goes about in hourly apprehension of another falling beam, another knife-thrust in the back, or another plate of poison.

GRACIOSA (_She comprehends now._) Eglamore!

THE DUKE (_Who is pleased alike by Eglamore's neat plan and by his own cleverness in unriddling it._) But if rich Eglamore should make a stolen match with you, your father--good thrifty man!--could be appeased without much trouble. Your cousins, those very angry but penniless Valori, would not stay over-obdurate to a kinsman who had at his disposal so many pensions and public offices. Honor would permit a truce with their new cousin Eglamore, a truce very profitable to everybody.