A mountain shepherd or a forester,
With nothing to attract your notice, Sire,
Save a cock's feather in my huntsman's hat,
You would have drawn me to your melting heart.
THE EMPEROR.
But Franz--!
THE DUKE.
Ah, now I know why all your subjects,
All those who are unhappy, call themselves
Your sons as much as we; but is it just,
Sire, is it just, that I, when I'm unhappy,
Have less of kinship than the least of these?
THE EMPEROR.
But why just now--for I must scold you, sir--
When I was busy with these wretched people--
Why come to me just now, and not in private?
THE DUKE.
I wished to find you when your heart was open.
THE EMPEROR.
My heart--my heart!--You're somewhat over-bold!
THE DUKE.
I know that you can do the thing I ask,
That I am wretched almost past endurance,
And that you are my Grandfather--that's all.
THE EMPEROR.
But there is Europe--England--above all,
There's Metternich.
THE DUKE.
You are my Grandfather.
THE EMPEROR.
You don't know half the difficulties.
THE DUKE.
But
I am the grandson of your Majesty.
THE EMPEROR.
But--
THE DUKE.
Sire, in whom alone I place my trust,
Be Grandfather a little while!
THE EMPEROR.
But I--
THE DUKE.
Just for a moment drop the Emperor.
THE EMPEROR.
Ah, what a coaxing way you always had.
THE DUKE.
You know I cannot bear you when you look
Like the great portrait hanging in the throne-room,
With the ermine cloak and Golden Fleece upon you;
But here, like this, I like you very much.
With the dear silver of your floating hair,
Your kindly eyes, your simple coat and waistcoat;
For now you're just a dear old gentleman,
By whom a grandchild might be petted.
THE EMPEROR.
Petted!
THE DUKE.
Are you not bored to see the heavy jowls
Of Louis-Philip on the coins of France?
THE EMPEROR.
Hush! hush!
THE DUKE.
Do you adore these podgy Bourbons?
THE EMPEROR.
You are not like your cousins the Archdukes.
THE DUKE.
Indeed?
THE EMPEROR.
Where did you learn your saucy tricks?
THE DUKE.
I learnt them playing in the Tuileries.
THE EMPEROR.
Ah, you come back to that?
THE DUKE.
I wish I could.
THE EMPEROR.
Can you recall those days?
THE DUKE.
Oh, only vaguely.
THE EMPEROR.
Can you recall your father?
THE DUKE.
I remember
A man who pressed me hard against a star,
And as he pressed I felt with tears of fright
The diamond star was stamped upon my heart:
Sire, it has stayed there!
THE EMPEROR.
Do I blame you for it?
THE DUKE.
Yes, let the goodness of your nature speak!
When I was small you loved me, did you not?
You loved to have me with you at your meals,
And so we used to dine together--
THE EMPEROR.
Charming.
THE DUKE.
My hair was long, and I was Prince of Parma;
And when they punished me you let me off.
THE EMPEROR.
Do you remember how you hated ponies?
THE DUKE.
One day they showed me one as white as snow;
I stamped with fury in the riding-school.
THE EMPEROR.
You thought a pony was a deadly insult.
THE DUKE.
I cried with rage: I want a great, big horse!
THE EMPEROR.
And now you want another great, big horse!
THE DUKE.
And how I used to beat my German nurses.
THE EMPEROR.
And how with Colin you would calmly dig
Enormous holes about my park--
THE DUKE.
For Crusoe.
THE EMPEROR.
He was Man Friday.
THE DUKE.
And I used to hide.
I had a gun, three hatchets and a bow.
THE EMPEROR.
Then you stood sentinel before my door.
THE DUKE.
As a hussar.
THE EMPEROR.
And ladies, coming late,
Found this excuse quite natural:--"Oh, Sire,
We only stopped to kiss the sentinel!"
THE DUKE.
You loved me then.
THE EMPEROR.
I love you now.
THE DUKE.
Then prove it!
THE EMPEROR.
My Franz! my grandson!
THE DUKE.
Is it true the King
Would simply disappear if I appeared?
THE EMPEROR.
Well--
THE DUKE.
Is it true?
THE EMPEROR.
I--
THE DUKE.
Don't tell lies!
THE EMPEROR.
Perhaps!
THE DUKE.
I love you!
THE EMPEROR.
Yes; if you appeared alone,
Without a drum, upon the bridge at Strassburg,
The King would vanish.
THE DUKE.
I adore you, Grandad!
THE EMPEROR.
I'm stifled!
THE DUKE.
No.
THE EMPEROR.
I should have held my tongue.
THE DUKE.
Besides, the climate of Vienna's bad:
I'm ordered Paris--
THE EMPEROR.
Really?
THE DUKE.
For my cough.
If I'm to spend a season there, of course
I can't stop anywhere but at the Louvre.
THE EMPEROR.
Indeed!
THE DUKE.
And if you liked--
THE EMPEROR.
They've often begged us
To wink at your escaping--
THE DUKE.
Wink at once!
THE EMPEROR.
Oh, for all me--
THE DUKE.
There's no one else.
THE EMPEROR.
I'll think.
THE DUKE.
Don't think! Don't think those horrid second thoughts!
Consult your feelings only, and your heart,
'Twould be so pretty if an Emperor once
Upset all history to spoil his grandson.
And then it's something, something rather fine,
If you can just remark quite innocently,
_You_ know: "My Grandson, Emperor of the French."
THE EMPEROR.
Certainly.
THE DUKE.
And you'll say it! Say you'll say it!
THE EMPEROR.
Well--
THE DUKE.
Speak, Sire!
THE EMPEROR.
Yes, then--Sire!
THE DUKE.
Ah, Sire!
[_They salute each other as equals._]
THE EMPEROR.
Sire!
THE DUKE.
Sire!
[_A door opens._]
THE EMPEROR.
Metternich. Have no fear; I'll--
THE DUKE.
All is lost!
[_Enter_ METTERNICH.]
THE EMPEROR.
It is my will this child shall reign.
METTERNICH.
Delightful.
I'll tell your partisans at once.
THE DUKE.
I feared.
THE EMPEROR.
What should you fear? Am I not master here?
THE DUKE.
Whom will you send me as Ambassador?
METTERNICH.
Delightful.
THE DUKE.
And you'll visit me in state?
THE EMPEROR.
Yes, very likely; when the chambers rise.
METTERNICH.
We'll only ask some trifling guarantees.
THE DUKE.
Ask what you like.
THE EMPEROR.
Well? are you happy?
METTERNICH.
First
We'll come to terms on trivial points of detail:
Certain seditious groups should be dissolved:
Our neighbors must not harbor thunderbolts.
THE DUKE.
Dear grandfather!
METTERNICH.
Ah--then we're very weary
Of hearing of the Heroes of July.
THE DUKE.
But--
METTERNICH.
Now the imperialists and radicals
Are linked: we'll cut the link; we cannot favor
The dangerous modern spirit. We'll expel
Lammenais.
THE DUKE.
But--
METTERNICH.
And Chateaubriand. Ah--
We'll also put a muzzle on the press.
THE DUKE.
Oh, there's no hurry.
THE EMPEROR.
Pardon me, there is.
THE DUKE.
Pardon me, that's attacking freedom.
THE EMPEROR.
Freedom!
METTERNICH.
Ah--we must have free hand in Italy.
Ah--not so much excitement about Poland.
THE DUKE.
Ah? And what else?
METTERNICH.
Well, we shall have to solve
The question of the names. You know, the names
Of battles, Sire, which you--well--did not win:
The Marshals must not wear them.
THE DUKE.
What is that?
THE EMPEROR.
Perhaps--
METTERNICH.
Forgive me; but they must not think
They're lords of Austrian places; and you cannot
Approve their way of carrying off to France
Our villages by means of upstart titles.
THE DUKE.
Grandfather! Grandfather!
THE EMPEROR.
Well--it's evident--
THE DUKE.
Yet you and I were in each other's arms!
[_To_ METTERNICH.]
And have you nothing further to demand?
METTERNICH.
Yes; the suppression of the Tricolor.
THE DUKE.
Your Excellency wishes me to wash
The banner based in blood and crowned with heaven--
For it was dipped in horrors that bear fruit,
And it was bathed in universal hopes!--
Your Excellency asks me to efface
That gleam of heaven and that stain of blood,
And, having nothing but a blank sheet left,
To make a shroud for Freedom out of that!
THE EMPEROR.
Freedom again!
THE DUKE.
Upon my father's side
I am related closely, Sire, to Freedom.
METTERNICH.
Yes, the Duke's grandsire was the eighteenth Brumaire!
THE DUKE.
Yes, and the Revolution was my granddam!
THE EMPEROR.
Silence!
METTERNICH.
The Emperor a republican!
Utopia!--Play the Marseillaise in A
On trumpets, while the sentimental flute
Sighs "God preserve the Empire" in E flat.
THE DUKE.
The two go very well together, sir,
And make a tune that frightens Kings away!
THE EMPEROR.
This to my face? How dare you, sir? How dare you?
THE DUKE.
Ah, now I know what is expected of me!
THE EMPEROR.
What does it mean? What is the matter with him?
THE DUKE.
I am to be an Austrian Archduke
On a French throne!
THE EMPEROR.
What has he read or seen?
THE DUKE.
I have seen egg-cups, handkerchiefs, and pipes!
THE EMPEROR.
He's mad! The words he utters are a madman's!
THE DUKE.
Mad to have thought you'd help me to my own.
METTERNICH.
'Tis you alone obstruct your going home.
THE DUKE.
Yes, in a gig instead of on a gun!
THE EMPEROR.
You shall not go at all!
THE DUKE.
A cage?
THE EMPEROR.
We'll see!
THE DUKE.
For all your cages I am still the Eaglet!
THE EMPEROR.
The eagle on my flag has many eaglets:
You're one of them: that's all.
THE DUKE.
Oh, gloomy eagle!
Sad, double-headed fowl, with heavy eye:
Eagle of Austria, cruel bird of night!
A glorious eagle of the dawn has passed
Athwart thine eyrie, and with ruffled feathers,
Raging and terror-stricken, thou beholdest
One of thine eaglets sprouting golden plumage!
THE EMPEROR.
My heart was softening: I regret my tears.
These books and weapons shall be taken from you.
Dietrichstein!
METTERNICH.
He is not in the palace.
THE EMPEROR.
Poor, morbid child, we will suppress whatever
Too much reminds you who your father was.
THE DUKE.
Then you must root up every violet,
Drive every single bee out of your park!
THE EMPEROR.
Change all the servants!
METTERNICH.
I'll dismiss them all:
Otto, Fritz, Hermann, Albrecht--
THE DUKE.
Close the shutters,
Lest yonder star remind me of my father's.
THE EMPEROR.
And as for Dietrichstein, I'll sign at once
New regulations--
[_To_ METTERNICH.]
Write.
METTERNICH.
Where is the ink?
THE DUKE.
My inkstand's on the table; you may use it.
METTERNICH.
Where? I see nothing!
THE DUKE.
The Minerva's head,
In bronze and marble.
METTERNICH.
Still I cannot see it.
THE DUKE.
Then take the other, made of burnished gold,
On yonder console--
METTERNICH.
Where?
THE EMPEROR.
What inkstands?
THE DUKE.
Sire,
Those which my father left me.
THE EMPEROR.
What do you mean?
THE DUKE.
Yes! in his testament! And there, the pistols,
Four pistols of Versailles. Take them away.
THE EMPEROR.
[_Bringing his fist down on the table._]
What's this?
THE DUKE.
You must not hit the table, Sire!
Now you've knocked down the sword he wore as Consul!
THE EMPEROR.
These things you speak of--
THE DUKE.
Are before my eyes!
"They are to be surrendered to my son
When he has reached sixteen." Despite the crime
Which holds them back, they're mine: I have their soul!
The soul of every cross, of every jewel,
And all is here: the three mahogany caskets,
And all the snuff-boxes, and all the spurs,
The golden garter-buckles and the gorgets,
I've all! The iron sword, the enamelled sword,
The sword in which a never-setting sun
Has left its fires imprisoned, so that none
May dare to draw it lest the sun leap forth;
I have the sword-belts also, all the six!
THE EMPEROR.
Silence!
THE DUKE.
"To be surrendered to my son
When he has reached sixteen." Oh, Father, sleep.
For I have all; even your uniforms.
Oh, yes! To you my uniform looks white--
Well, it's not true--it's false--I am pretending!
Father, behold, it's blue and red, behold!
Colonel? Not so! Lieutenant in your Guard!
By the device your soldiers bore I know it,
Father, who gave me victories for sisters!
'Twas not in vain you wished me to possess
The alarm-clock of King Frederick of Prussia,
Which you magnificently stole from Potsdam,
For here it is! 'Tis ticking in my brain!
It is the clock which wakes me every morning,
Drives me exhausted by my midnight toil
Back to my narrow table, to my toil,
To be more fit by night-fall for the throne!
THE EMPEROR.
The throne! the throne! Oh, never hope again
That you may reign in France, you--Upstart's son,
Because our nobler blood has made you look
Rather more kingly than your father was.
THE DUKE.
Forgive me, but at Dresden, you remember,
You all appeared like lackeys of my father.
THE EMPEROR.
A common soldier!
THE DUKE.
He had but to ask
And Emperors gave their daughters to this soldier.
THE EMPEROR.
Perhaps. I cannot say. Mine is a widow.
THE DUKE.
Pity I'm here as living evidence!
THE EMPEROR.
Have you forgotten how we loved each other?
THE DUKE.
No! No! My birth is proof that you were beaten!
No! you can only hate me; for I am
Wagram personified before your eyes!
THE EMPEROR.
Out of my sight! Begone!
[_Exit the_ DUKE.]
The child I loved!
METTERNICH.
Well, Sire, is he to have an empire?
THE EMPEROR.
Never!
METTERNICH.
Do you perceive what I have saved you from?
THE EMPEROR.
Ah! did you hear the monstrous things he said?
METTERNICH.
We must subdue him.
THE EMPEROR.
For his own sake; yes,
METTERNICH.
For the world's peace and yours.
THE EMPEROR.
We must subdue him.
METTERNICH.
I'll come and speak to him to-night.
THE EMPEROR.
What grief
He gives me!
METTERNICH.
[_Trying to lead him away._]
Come.
THE EMPEROR.
You'll speak to-night?
METTERNICH.
This scene
Must never be repeated.
THE EMPEROR.
It has hurt me.
Unhappy child!
METTERNICH.
[_Leading him off._]
Come, Sire.
THE EMPEROR.
[_Without._]
The child--
[_His voice dies away._]
[_The_ DUKE _opens his door very gently, sees they
are gone, listens a moment, then enters quickly
and places one of Napoleon's little hats on the
table._]
THE DUKE.
The signal!
[_He returns to his room._]
[FLAMBEAU _enters._]
FLAMBEAU.
'Tis time. Well, signal? Are you here?--Perhaps.
[_He hunts for it._]
"Flambeau," he said, "you cannot fail to find it."
Now, is it high or low, or black or white?
Or great or small?
[_He sees the hat._]
The Emperor's--! Small _and_ great!
[_He goes toward the window._]
Oh, but the Countess watches in the park,
And if the signal's here I am to signal:
[_He takes out his handkerchief._]
No! This won't do. A white flag makes her ill.
[_A servant enters with a reading-lamp, which he
carries toward the_ DUKE'S _room._]
THE SERVANT.
The Duke of Reichstadt's reading-lamp.
FLAMBEAU.
[_Leaping upon him and seizing the lamp._]
You dolt!
It's leaking! It must have fresh air!
[_He takes it out on the balcony._]
You wave it three times so: arrange the wick;
[_He does as he says and gives the lamp back to
the_ SERVANT.]
That's it. See that?
THE SERVANT.
Oh, aren't you clever?
[_He carries the lamp into the_ DUKE'S _room._]
FLAMBEAU.
Rather!
To-morrow--flight!
[SEDLINZKY _enters._]
SEDLINZKY.
The Duke?
FLAMBEAU.
[_Pointing to the room._]
In there.
SEDLINZKY.
Watch here.
FLAMBEAU.
I'm watching.
SEDLINZKY.
Lock!
[_He goes out._]
FLAMBEAU.
[_Locking the door after him._]
Locked!
SEDLINZKY.
[_Without._]
Take the key out.
FLAMBEAU.
Out.
SEDLINZKY.
None but the Emperor has the key. Be careful--
Watch.
FLAMBEAU.
As I always do.
[_He bends over the key-holes and arranges them
carefully._]
And for the night
I'll close the eyelids of the key-holes softly.
SEDLINZKY'S VOICE.
Good-night, you Piedmontese.
FLAMBEAU.
Good-night, my Lord.
SEDLINZKY'S VOICE.
Remember! you're on duty.
FLAMBEAU.
I'm on duty.
SEDLINZKY'S VOICE.
Well, that's all right. Good-night.
FLAMBEAU.
Good-night!
[_He throws off his livery coat. Puts on the busby,
which is standing on the console, and shoulders
the musket. He is now in the full accoutrement
of a Grenadier of the Guards._]
And thus,
Suddenly upright, thin, unliveried,
Locked in till dawn, and safe against surprise,
Glowering with grizzled brows beneath his busby,
Straight in his ancient uniform, his gun
Firm in his arm, his hand on his right nipple,
The fixed and regulation attitude,
Standing thus every night before your threshold,
Giving himself a password full of pride,
Pleased with a deed that's grave, and yet a jest,
A Grenadier at Schönbrunn stands on guard
About the son as once about the Father.
'Tis the last time! You'll never hear of it.
'Tis for myself. A private luxury.
I must be mad to do a thing like this
For no one's eye, but just to say "By Jove,
That's rather good!" At Schönbrunn! In their teeth!
But I'm delighted!--I'm content!
[_He hears the noise of a key in the door._]
I'm damned!
[_The door opens gently._]
Who can have got the key?
[_He retires into the shadow by the_ DUKE'S _door._]
[METTERNICH _enters, carrying a large candelabrum._]
METTERNICH.
No, no! This scene
Must never be repeated.
FLAMBEAU.
Nepomuk!
METTERNICH.
Yes, I will speak to-night. We are alone.
[_As he puts down the candelabrum he sees the hat._]
What's this? I never knew he had one like--
Ah! the Archduchess must have sent him this;
So there thou art, thou legendary hat!
'Tis many years--Good day!--What sayst thou? What?
No, from thy little sable pyramid
Twelve years of splendor gaze on me in vain,
I do not fear thee now.
The leathern tag
With which he constantly could take thee off,
And so win cheers yet leave thy shape unharmed.
With thee he fanned himself after each victory;
Thou couldst not fall from his unheeding fingers,
But straight a king would stoop to pick thee up.
To-day, my friend, thou art a reach-me-down,
And if I tossed thee through the casement yonder
Where wouldst thou end thy days?
FLAMBEAU.
[_To himself._] In a museum!
METTERNICH.
The famous little hat--how very ugly!
They called it little--is it really little?
No; it is big; enormous; it's the hat
A little man puts on to increase his inches.
For 'twas a hatter set the legend going:
The real Napoleon, after all, was Poupart.
Ah, never think my hatred of thee slumbers!
'Twas for thy shape's sake first I hated thee,
Thou vampire-bat of bloody battle-fields,
Hat that seemed fashioned out of raven's wings.
I hated thee for pitilessly soaring
Above the fields which witnessed our defeats,
Half-circle, seeming on the ruddy sky
The orb half-risen of some sable sun!
And for thy crown wherein the devil lurks,
Thou juggler's hat, laid with a sudden hand
Upon a throne, an army, or a nation--
When thou wert lifted all had disappeared.
I hated thee for the salutes I gave thee,
For thy simplicity--mere affectation--
Thy insolent joy, thou piece of common beaver
Amid the glittering diadems of gold;
For staying firmly on his haughty head
When I sought flattering epithets to please thee.
Conqueror, new, acclaimed, I hated thee!
I hate thee now, old, conquered and betrayed!
I hate thee for thy haughty shadow, cast
Forever on the wall of history;
I hate thee for thy Jacobin cockade,
Staring upon me like a bloodshot eye;
For all the murmurs sounding in thy shell,
That huge black shell the waves have left behind
Wherein the shuddering listener may hear
The rumor of a nation on the march.
I hate thee for the pride of France, whose bounds
Thou hast enlarged until she scorns the world;
For Béranger I hate thee, and Raffet,
For all the songs and all the pasquinades,
And for the halo of Saint Helena.
I hate thee, hate thee. I shall not be happy
Until thy clumsy triangle of cloth,
Despoiled of its traditions, is again
What it should ne'er have ceased to be in France--
The headgear of a village constable.
I hate--but suddenly--how strange!--the present
Sometimes with impish glee will ape the past!--
Seeing thy well-known shape before me thus
Carries my mind back to a distant day,
For it was here he always put thee down
When twenty years ago he sojourned here.
This room was then the ante-chamber; here,
Waiting till graciously he showed himself,
Dukes, Princes, Magyars, huddling in a corner,
Fixed from afar their humbled eyes upon thee,
Like lions, dreading with a helpless fury
The tamer's hat forgotten in the cage.
'Twas thus he placed thee, and here lay, as now,
Weapons and papers. One might say 'twas he
Had tossed thee carelessly upon the map,
That this were still his home, this Bonaparte!
And that by turning, on the threshold--there--
I should behold the Grenadier on--
[_He starts on seeing_ FLAMBEAU _standing rigid
before the_ DUKE'S _door; he rubs his eyes._]
Ha!
No! no! I'm feverish; my _tête-à-tête_
With the old hat plays havoc with my nerves!
[_He looks and draws near._ FLAMBEAU _does not
move._]
Or have the moonbeams conjured up a spectre?
What is it, then? Let's see--let's see--let's see!
[_He strides furiously toward_ FLAMBEAU.]
Who are you, fellow?
FLAMBEAU.
[_Presenting his bayonet._]
Who goes there?
METTERNICH.
[_Recoiling._]
The devil!
FLAMBEAU.
[_Coldly._]
Pass, devil.
METTERNICH.
[_With a forced laugh, coming toward him again._]
Yes,--a very clever jest,
But--
FLAMBEAU.
[_Presenting his bayonet again._]
Who goes there?
METTERNICH.
[_Recoiling._]
But--
FLAMBEAU.
Move and you are dead.
METTERNICH.
But--I--
FLAMBEAU.
Quiet!
METTERNICH.
Let me pass!
FLAMBEAU.
The Emperor sleeps!
METTERNICH.
What!
FLAMBEAU.
Silence!
METTERNICH.
I'm the Austrian Chancellor!
I am all-powerful! I'm--
FLAMBEAU.
Shut your mouth!
METTERNICH.
I want to see the Duke of Reichstadt!
FLAMBEAU.
Out!
METTERNICH.
How--out?
FLAMBEAU.
What's Reichstadt? Never heard of Reichstadt!
Auerstadt, Elchingen, they're dukes I know.
Reichstadt's no duke. There's been no victory there.
METTERNICH.
But, we're at Schönbrunn!
FLAMBEAU.
I should rather think so!
Thanks to our new success we're quartered here;
And here we're getting ready at our leisure
To give the world another drubbing! See?
METTERNICH.
What's that you say? A new success?
FLAMBEAU.
Colossal!
METTERNICH.
This is July the ninth in Eighteen--
FLAMBEAU.
Nine!
METTERNICH.
Can I be mad?
FLAMBEAU.
Who are you? Where d'you spring from?
Why aren't you snug in bed? It's very fishy--
METTERNICH.
I--
FLAMBEAU.
Who let this braggart pass? The Mameluke?
METTERNICH.
The Mameluke?
FLAMBEAU.
All's going to the dogs!
METTERNICH.
But--
FLAMBEAU.
You here in the ante-room at night!
METTERNICH.
But I--
FLAMBEAU.
You calmly cross the Rosa chamber
Unchallenged by the sentinel on guard!
METTERNICH.
What?
FLAMBEAU.
When you ventured through the small rotunda,
Was there no yatagan to shave your cheek?
Were there no sergeants in the white saloon
Brewing their punch upon the golden stove?
No bristling veterans in the china-room?
And in the galleries? The Grenadiers
Saw you come strolling as a matter-of-course?
A man may cross the oval cabinet
And not be turned to mince-meat by Duroc?
METTERNICH.
The Marshal--?
FLAMBEAU.
Is the bulldog turned to lapdog?
METTERNICH.
I come here--
FLAMBEAU.
So the palace is an inn?
And when you'd managed all the sentinels,
Where were the rest? The porter? Gone to bed?
The valet? Absent? And the secretary?
Where was he hidden? In his own portfolio?
METTERNICH.
But I--
FLAMBEAU.
Instead of being after you,
No doubt the Aide-de-Camp was after women!
METTERNICH.
But--
FLAMBEAU.
And the Moor was saying prayers to Allah?
At any rate it's lucky I was here.
What discipline! If he looks into this
I'll bet my head he'll let the beggars know!
METTERNICH.
I'm going--
FLAMBEAU.
Ah! don't stir! You'll wake him!
He's sleeping on his little bed of laurels.
METTERNICH.
[_Falling into an arm-chair._]
Was never such a dream! 'Twill make an epic!
[_His hand touches the flame of one of the candles._]
Well, but this candle--
FLAMBEAU.
Burns.
METTERNICH.
[_Feeling the point of_ FLAMBEAU'S _bayonet._]
This weapon--
FLAMBEAU.
Stings!
METTERNICH.
Then I'm awake! I'm--
FLAMBEAU.
Hold your tongue!
METTERNICH.
And what of Waterloo?
FLAMBEAU.
Of water--what?
[_Listening_.]
The Emperor stirred.
METTERNICH.
The Emperor?
FLAMBEAU.
Oh, my stars!
Now you turn whiter than a bugler's horse!
METTERNICH.
It is the Duke of Reichstadt! I'm not scared!
It is the Duke! I'm sure of it!
FLAMBEAU.
The Emperor!
[_The_ DUKE _enters, with the reading lamp in his
hand_.]
METTERNICH.
Aha! Tis you! 'Tis you! It is your Highness!
Ah, but how glad I am!
THE DUKE.
[_Puzzled_.]
Why are you glad?
METTERNICH.
The joke was played so well, I really thought
Another might come out!
FLAMBEAU.
[_As if waking from a dream._]
Faith, so did I!
THE DUKE.
[_To_ FLAMBEAU.]
What's this?
FLAMBEAU.
My little joke.
METTERNICH.
[_Ringing_.]
Help!
THE DUKE.
Fly!
FLAMBEAU.
The window!
THE DUKE.
The sentinel will shoot you!
FLAMBEAU.
If he can.
THE DUKE.
Your livery!
METTERNICH.
[_Putting his foot on it._]
No!
FLAMBEAU.
Bah!
[_Aside to the_ DUKE, _while_ METTERNICH _rings
again_.]
I will seek my cavern.
THE DUKE.
But I--
FLAMBEAU.
The ball to-morrow!
THE DUKE.
Are you mad?
FLAMBEAU.
You'll find me.
THE DUKE.
Quiet!
[FLAMBEAU _goes out by the window._]
METTERNICH.
If he'd only break
His neck--He's singing!
THE DUKE.
[_On the balcony._]
Hush!
FLAMBEAU'S VOICE.
My little joke!
[_A shot is heard._]
THE DUKE.
Missed!
METTERNICH.
With what ease he finds his way about.
THE DUKE.
He knows it; he has been here once before.