_SCENE ONE--A street in the village. Low thatched cottages,_
_with deep, wide eaves overhanging the street, stand in a
dark mass. To the left, a little way from the others and
back a few paces from the street, is a small house, the_
_home of Jardin. Through a window in the room on the right
side comes a faint light as from a low-burning lamp. To the
left of the window, one feels that there is a door, though,
either on account of intervening bushes or perhaps because
of a porch that makes it darker there, one does not see
it. Out in the yard where the light from the window falls
upon the bushes near the casement, the glistening of the
leaves shows that it has been raining. The windows of the
other houses, like vacant eyes under deep brows, are dark,
and there are no signs of life anywhere. Over the roofs and
through the great trees that rise up behind them flows a
greyness that emphasizes the quiet of the hour. About the
street lie several limbs that were broken off by the storm
during the night._
_TIME--Sunday morning. Day is just beginning to break._
A CRY-- (_Far to the left, full or terror and anguish._)
Haro! Haro! (_Drawing nearer._)
Wake, people! Help, oh, help!
(_After a pause._)
Will no one hear? Will no one hear? (_Near by._)
O men of God! Dear men of God! (_A pause._) Oh, run,
Run to the mountains, men!
(_Pierre enters half on a run, breathless. There is
a wild light in his eyes and his thin frame
is shaken with sobs._)
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
(_He glances toward the lighted window as though in
doubt whether or not to rouse the inmates of
the house. Then, as though to make up even
for the moment he has lost, he hurries along
the goes out, right._)
People! Christian people!
(_The light in the window grows dimmer and suddenly
disappears, leaving the house in total
darkness._)
Will no one hear?
Will no one hear? Wake! Oh, wake! (_In the distance._)
Haro!
VOICE-- (_To the left._)
Jules!
SECOND VOICE--(_Nearer._) Ho?
FIRST VOICE-- Who is it?
SECOND VOICE-- Some brother.
(_Jules Bacqueur enters._) Pierre.
FIRST VOICE-- The abbey's
Blown down, perhaps.
HUGH CAPET--(_Entering._) Where are all the people?
JULES BACQUEUR--At special mass for Jardin.
(_He glances back toward the house where, at
that moment, the door opens and the light
appears._)
HUGH CAPET--(_Hurrying on after Pierre._) Come on.
JULES BACQUEUR-- Wait.
Let's hear how the Bailiff is.
(_Hugh Capet returns to the corner of the cottages
that are flush with the street and the men
look back to where two figures, one after
the other, appear in the lighted doorway
of Jardin's house, a man who comes out and_
_an old woman with a white cap on who carries
a small lamp. A little later the door is
closed._)
HUGH CAPET-- Who is it, Jacques?
JULES BACQUEUR--He spent the night there.
HUGH CAPET-- What a night it was!
Just see these limbs.
JULES BACQUEUR-- And there's some fellow's hat.