ACT IV.

Scene: Within Husak's tent. Husak, Khosrove, Armenian lords and

soldiers.

Husak. Bring in the widow!

(Exeunt officers)

Now, my son, thou'lt see

Assyria at thy feet. Ay, she who scorned

To match her crown with thine, shall low as earth

Cry up for favor!

Khos. Sir, I would not see it!

Hus. Still in that humor? Well, I promise thee

She shall have mercy.

Khos. Mercy, father?

Hus. Ay.

Khos. What wilt thou grant?

Hus. Ask of thy heart,

(Khosrove is about to speak) Peace, boy!

For once we'll be a father, not a soldier! Wait!

(Khosrove kneels and kisses his father's hand as Semiramis

enters between guards. She is robed and crowned, her arms

fettered with golden chains, and holds herself proudly,

not looking at Husak. She turns to Khosrove, who watches

her eagerly)

Sem. We meet again. Wert thou upon the field?

I saw thee not. Perchance thy father thought

'T were wise to find his health and lead his troops

Lest _Love_ should blunt thy sword!

Hus. By Bel, his sword

Was sharp enough to find the heart of Sumbat,--

Your general!

Sem. Sumbat slain! (Turns to Khosrove)

and slain by you!

Khos. I had my choice--to slay him or to die.

Sem. (With bitter scorn)

And did the love that makes one prayer to Heaven

Rule in that choice?

Hus. These taunts, Semiramis--

Khos. Nay, father, she has cause to use me so.

Sem. Oh, you confess you played with me! Then, heart,

In with thy scorn for this outbraves thy own!

(Turns away, folding her chained hands on her breast, and

stands as if she would speak no more)

Hus. You make no suit for mercy?

Sem. (Turning to him) What! from thee?

Who kill your captives ere your tent is struck,

Nor spare a guard to drive them from the field?

Hus. I grant what I would ask--death before serfdom!

You'd keep them for your dogs and slaves!

Sem. And when

Am I to die? Why breach thy custom now?

Hus. We like your spirit, but push not so far,

Or we shall break the bounds we've set ourselves.

Have you not found us gracious to your rank?

You look not like a prisoner!

Sem. No thanks

For that! This robe and crown, these chains of gold

Are compliments that Husak pays himself,

Proclaiming him a royal victory,

Though not a royal victor!

Hus. What! Dar'st fling

Into my face that the Armenian kings

Rule unanointed? Dost think that I would sue

To Nineveh or Babylon for leave

To take my kingly emblems from their hands?

But thou--thou shalt owe thine to me! I wear

No proud insignia of the gods, and yet

My hands shall strip and clothe thee as I will!

(Tears off her robe and crown)

Khos. Father!

Hus. By sun and moon--

Khos. O, sir--

Hus. Her pride

Insults my mercy, but I'll keep my word.

Take these. (Gives him the robe and crown)

Now, woman, learn that Husak--ay,

Husak, the Fierce, can pity fallen glory!

Stand forth, my son! Look, captive, on this prince!

A man not made to sue to less than gods!

Make him thy husband-king, and from his hands

Receive thy purple and remount thy throne!

(All are astonished. Khosrove shrinks back in shame, which

Semiramis misunderstands)

Sem. Methinks this lover makes no ardent suit,

King Husak! Why, the sun has not twice set

Since he did swear me dearer than my crown,

And now the crown's too much if my poor self

Must burden it!

(Khosrove kneels before her, holding up the crown)

Hus. Rise, sir! You give, not sue!

(Semiramis looks down on Khosrove, then turns to Husak)

Sem. Thank, thanks,

Old man, for making me once more myself!

For by the blood that storms through all my veins

I know I'm still a queen! Now all the pride

That lives in my lost crown, and all the scorn

Should meet thy fawning suit, be in my words,--

I do refuse your son! Assyria

Shall owe her throne to none!

(Khosrove springs up, trampling the robe)

Hus. Now thou wilt rise!

A prince who might have gone with gods to wive

Nor bated them in choice! This to my face!

I, Husak, fawn on woman! Out with her!

Drag her to death! To instant death! Out! out!

(Guards approach Semiramis)

Khos. To _instant_ death?

Hus. (Looks searchingly at him.) Ha! ha! Not yet! She's thine!

Choose thy revenge! Have now thy will!

Khos. Thou'lt grant it?

Hus. Ay, ay, whate'er thou wouldst!

Khos. She is thy captive.

Hus. I make her thine! My conqueror's right I yield

To thee!

Khos. Dost swear it?

Hus. Doubt me not! I swear!

Khos. By Belus' star?

Hus. By Belus' star, whose beams

Are death to breakers of an oath! We ask

This crown--no more. (Takes crown from Khosrove's hand)

You pause. Stand not, my son.

Thy vengeance waits. Do what thou wilt with her,

We'll question not.

(Khosrove strikes off the chains of Semiramis)

Khos. Go free to Nineveh.

(Husak stands in amazed silence, then understands and burns

with speechless anger. At last he speaks slowly with intense

wrath)

Hus. All madmen in my kingdom die! Bind him!

(Guards bind Khosrove)

Sem. Die? No! O, sir, you would not slay your son?

Hus. This loathsome thing is not my flesh!

Sem. Thy son!

Hus. We have no son. Armenia has no heir.

Bear him away!

Sem. (Holding out her hands) My chains! Dost think I'll owe

My life to him? Thou know'st not yet my pride!

Bind me and set him free!

Hus. (Thunderingly) No! Husak breaks

No oath! We're not a god as Nineveh,

And bold to mock at Heaven!

Khos. (To Semiramis) I knew the price,

And chose to pay it. 'Tis my wish. Farewell!

(Guards bear him out)

Hus. (To Semiramis) Go free to Nineveh!

Sem. No! O, kill me!

Hus. Nay, go! But go alone--on foot--and through

A hostile country!

Sem. Ah!

Hus. That subject who

Shall give thee food or drink dies in the act!

Proclaim it, all!... Come, friends, we've not yet held

The feast of victory. The slighted gods

Will snatch away their favor if we long

Delay our revels. Though we'll miss one face,

(Suppresses a groan)

We'll know this much--there'll be no traitor there!

(All leave the tent but Semiramis)

Sem. Alone ... on foot ... and through a hostile country!

I'll overtake thee, Khosrove, ere thou 'st reached

Thy throne among the stars! Thou goest from love,

And wilt look back and weep from every cloud;

I on thy track shall pause not till our wings

Stir the same air and lock in kisses flying!

... So pay my scorn? How then hadst loved if heart

Had brought to heart its swelling measure? Then

Our rosy hours had been the pick of time,

And hung a flower 'mong withered centuries

When every age had brought its reckoning in!

O, why will we, some cubits high, pluck at

The sun and moon, when we have that within

Makes us the soul and centre of Heaven itself?

Ambition, thou hast played away my crown

And life. That I forgive thee, but not this--

Thou 'st robbed me of the memory of his kiss.

... Go, world! The conqueror's trump that closed my ears

Unto the angel in a lover's voice

Dies to a moan that fills but one lone heart.

And soon 'tis silent. Ah, though woman build

Her house of glory to the kissing skies,

And the proud sun her golden rafters lay,

And on her turrets pause discoursing gods,

Let her not dare forget the stanchion truth--

Immortal writ in every mortal face--

"Thou art the wife and mother of the world!"

(Sees Khosrove's cloak upon the floor, and kneels by it,

taking it in her hands)

My Khosrove!... Methought a god struck off my chains

So strong and fair he seemed, yet strove to hide

The beauty of his act, as might a star

Shrink in its own sweet light!

(Buries her face in the folds of the cloak)

O, noble prince,

I might have kissed thy lips and not thy garment!

(Rises and wraps the cloak about her. Spurns with her foot

her own robe which has been left trampled)

Thou purple rag, lie there! Love's vesture shall

Enfold me as I go!

(Starts out) Alone ... on foot ...

But I've not far to journey. Foes are kind....

The first one met ... well, I will thank him!... Cries?

It is the feast. A man may feast who had--

But has no son!... (Startled) 'Tis not the feast!... I know

That noise confused--hoarse shouts--shrieks--pawing steeds--

And rumbling chariots! Those are the tones

Of battle! O, the bloody work! 'Tis war!

Did it delight me once?... Assyrian cries!

My troops! my troops! They've rallied! How they cheer!

What brave heart leads them on?

(Cries come nearer)

Poor creatures, they

Would save me knowing not I died with Khosrove.

I will not live--

(The rear of the tent is torn away by an onslaught.

Assyrian troops enter, led by Artavan)

Art. Semiramis!

Sem. My brother!

You live!

Art. And you!

Sem. Praise Heaven there is one

Will comfort my sad kingdom!

Art. Nay, all's well!

The death of Ninus freed me from my prison;

I gathered troops and pushed hard after you,

To hear you had been taken; then I planned

This rescue. Thank great Belus, I'm in time!

Sem. In time? Nay, thou'rt too late!

Art. Too late? When thou

Dost live?

Sem. I live? No! Thou'rt deceived!

Art. O Heaven!

... She's dazed! Her troubles have bewildered her.

All's well, my sister! Husak has been taken.

Thy crown itself is in our hands ... The crown!

(A soldier hands it to him)

You see 'tis safe. (She takes it idly)

Sem. A crown. For such a thing

Wouldst give thy Sola?

Art. She is dear to me,

But ay, by Heaven, I would!

Sem. You would? I know

A greater thing than this.

Art. What, sister?

Sem. (Letting the crown fall) Love.

Art. O, she is crazed! This is some evil work!

Bring in the captive Husak! He shall speak!

Sem. O, brother, once I thought thy love was truest

That ever husband gave to wife, but now

It showeth dark against my lover's truth!

Art. Semiramis ... sweet sister ... What dost mean?

... I'll know the cause of this! Call in the prince

With Husak!

Sem. Prince?

Art. Ay ... Khosrove, whom we found

In chains--I know not why--and I unbound him,

Recalling how he saved my life,--but now

I'll know what thou hast suffered at his hands!

Sem. You found him bound? I can not hear--or see!

Art. She swoons--she dies--O, true, we are too late!

Sem. No, brother, thou'rt in time! I live! I live!

I am Semiramis! Give me my crown!

Now this small circlet seems to me the world,

And it is mine--to wear--or give away!

Is 't not, good friends?

Voices. Ay, 'tis!

(Enter soldiers with Husak and Khosrove, Husak in fetters)

Sem. King Husak, hear!

Assyria and Armenia should be friends,

Joining true hands to bring a happy peace

O'er all the East. And in that dearest hope

I free thee. (Unbinds him) But thy son, the prince, must be

Again my prisoner.

Hus. O, queen, I've spent

One childless hour, and rather would I die

Than know another. Take my life for his.

Art. Dost thou forget, Semiramis, that once

He saved thy brother?

Sem. I remember all,

But will not change his doom. He must be bound,

Nor from my fetters may he go alive.

These are his chains--(Putting her arms about his neck)

his prison deathless love,

And here I pray that he will wear this crown,

And hold with me the great Assyrian throne!

... (calls) My chariot!

Khos. My queen! my queen!

Sem. Wilt thou

Consent?

Khos. (Kisses her lips) I answer here.

(The royal chariot appears, rear. They step in)

Sem. (Giving the reins to Khosrove) To Nineveh!

(CURTAIN)

CARLOTTA

ACT I.

SCENE 1. Miramar.

SCENE 2. In the mountains of Mexico.

ACT II.

SCENE 1. Chapultapec.

ACT III.

SCENE 1. Before the Imperial Theatre.

SCENE 2. Within the theatre.

ACT IV.

SCENE 1. Queretaro.

ACT V.

SCENE 1. The Tuileries.

SCENE 2. Miramar.

CHARACTERS

MAXIMILIAN, Emperor of Mexico

CARLOTTA, Empress of Mexico

LOUIS NAPOLEON, Emperor of France

EUGENIE, Empress of France

BENITO JUAREZ, President of Mexico

IGNACIO, nephew to Juarez

RAFAEL MENDORES, friend of Ignacio

ASEFFA, wife of Rafael

TREVINO, ESCOBEDO, GARZA, officers in the Liberal Army

MIRAMON, leader of the Imperial party

MARSHAL BAZAINE, head of the French Army in Mexico

MARQUEZ, MEJIA, MENDEZ, DUPIN, LOPEZ, of the Imperial army

ABBOT of Lacroma

ARCHBISHOP LABASTIDA, head of the Mexican church

PRINCE SALM-SALM, friend and officer of Maximilian

PRINCE ZICHY,

RUIZ, BERZABAL, ESTRADA, Mexican nobles

LADY MARIA, sister to Count Charles

PRINCESS SALM-SALM

PRINCESS ZICHY

PRINCESS METTERNICH

SENOR HURBET, GENERAL CASTLENAU, MARQUIS DE GALLIFET,

in the service of Louis Napoleon

AUSTRIAN, BELGIAN, PRUSSIAN,

and other foreign ministers at the court of Napoleon III.

Imperial soldiers, Liberal soldiers, guards, rabble,

ladies of honor, officers of the court, etc., etc.

CARLOTTA

ACT I.

Scene I: Reception hall, castle of Miramar, near Trieste. Enter

Count Charles, book in hand.

Char. Ah, books must be put by for swords, I wot,

When this wild journey to the West begins.

'Tis change enough! O shifting, shuffling life!

Come, Shakespeare, magic mason, build me worlds

That never shake however winds may blow,

Founded on dream imperishable! (Sits and reads.

Enter Lady Maria)

Mar. Charles!

Not reading! Dost know what day it is?

Char. Ay, sister!

A day to make a scholar tremble, and hug

His books in fever of farewell.

Mar. Didst see

The splendid carriages glittering up the drive?

And O, so many!

Char. They have arrived?

Mar. Arrived!

Why, all the Mexican deputies, arrayed

Like their own sunsets,--the ambassadors

From Austria, Belgium, France,--the princesses,

And countesses, now in the guest-room wait

The stroke of twelve to enter! 'Tis nearly time,

And you sit here! Put by your Englishman!

Come, put him by, I say! He's dead; we live.

He's had his due and passed.

Char. Nay, his account

Is writ forever current. His book of praise

Time closes not, but waits some language new

To enter it, and at his monument

Fame yet stands carving.

Mar. (Taking book and closing it) So! She's time enough!

We've other work. (Gently) Is not the princess sad?

Char. I pray her heavy tears, weighing like stones,

Will hold her back from sea!

Mar. Hush, Charles! She comes!

(Enter Carlotta, richly dressed)

Car. Ah, cousins, trimming now your smiles to greet

The deputies?

Char. Nay, calling up our tears

To grace farewell to Miramar!

Car. No tears!

We'll think but of an empire and a crown,

Not Miramar!

(Enter Maximilian, dressed in the uniform of Vice-Admiral

of the Austrian navy)

Max. An empire and a crown?

At last I am out-rivalled in your heart!

Car. Nay, nay, thou know'st, my lord, thou art my empire!

Grant me so much as now I look upon

And I'm as rich as Jove with Saturn's sceptre

New-swinging o'er the world!

Char. Then you risk much

For an unstable throne.

Car. Not risk!

Char. The men

Who've governed Mexico, for the most part,

Have paid their heads for it.

Mar. O, Charles!

Char. 'Tis true.

Car. Our safety is in the Emperor of France.

He's the strong angel in this noble scheme!

Char. Safety in him? Nay, madam, by my soul,

The lightest smile that breaks upon his lips,

As though a breeze but touched there, hides a plot

May hang our hearts with lead!

Car. How you misjudge him!

In Paris when he pledged his faith to us

His eyes more than his words assured his heart

Unto our cause. I trust him, yea, I trust him!

Char. There is a woman on the throne of France!

She is the Eve to this slow-blooded Adam,

Dutch-born Napoleon, and holdeth up

The globe as 't were an apple for his hand.

She builds mock images of dreams that died

On Helena's lone rock, and teaches him

They are not ghosts of dream but dream indeed!

Mexico, burning with gold and sunset's fire,

Pouring the crimson of internal strife,

To her is but a jewel in crude bed

She'd have you pick and polish for her crown!

Car. Had you but heard her sweet devoted voice

Pleading with us for sake of the true Church

To finish now this great emprise begun,

You would believe her holy.

Char. If she is holy,

And if Napoleon be true in this,

Then is he God's perfection of a man,

And she earth's sole and sainted paragon!

But wait--O wait and see ere you risk life

And honor!

Car. You're wrong--so wrong--but this is strange.

O why are we not happy? (Turning to window and gazing out)

Char. (Following her) Because, my cousin,

This is not Miramar as we have known it.

The scholar's home, the soldier's fair retreat,

The noble heart's sweet fane and altar spot,

But Miramar with great ambition's storm

Rolling its thunders 'gainst her peaceful walls!

Max. But to live idly is never to be born.

Shall we sit here at ease when God has found

The work for us? He with his pontiff finger

Points to the sea--

Car. (Turning) Sweet Miramar!

If God points to the sea, why gave he this?

This heaven-spot, this nesting place of love,

Hung like a garland 'tween the sea and rocks!

Ah, dear my lord, some curse will follow us

Who can desert this peace-embalmed place

To seek a glory fairer but in name!

I dare not do it!

Max. (Taking her hands) 'Tis you shall say, my wife.

If to stay here's your wish, that wish is mine,

Maybe I've dreamed too much of deeds of good,

And visionary feats in that far land;

Then let it be your yea or nay, my love.

Car. O leave it not to me, for in a yea

My vanity will speak, and in a nay

My fear!

Max. A slander on these lips? A kiss

Were better! (Kisses her. Enter Marquis Corio)

Cor. The noble guests approach. Will 't please

Your Highnesses assume your places?

Max. Yea,

Or nay, Carlotta?

Mar. O, they come! they come!

Char. (Hastily and earnestly)

Nay, if you love your lord! That is a land

Of murder, treason, carnage and revolt!

The very air cries out 'go not! go not!'

E'en yon cloud-turbanned peak, that never moves

Whate'er the circling stars propound to vex

His silent wisdom, warns with forbidding nod!

O noblest cousin--

Car. (In agitation) An empire! Miramar!

(Maximilian takes place centre. A table in front of him

covered with maps and papers. Carlotta by him, Count

Charles and Lady Maria in their rear. Enter Archduke of

Austria, and nobles, who take position at some distance

from Maximilian on his right. Enter Belgian Minister,

Abbot of Lacroma, Princess of Metternich, Princess Zichy,

Countess Kollonitz, and others. They stand at distance to

left of Maximilian. Enter the Imperial delegate, Senor

Hurbet, and General Frassart, Napoleon's Adjutant of the

Field. The former takes place immediately at Maximilian's

right, the latter at left of Carlotta. Marquis Corio at

door. Enter the Mexican deputies, Estrada, Berzabal,

Negrete, Ruiz, and a dozen others. Estrada, as president

of the deputation, makes low salute)

Max. Welcome, my lords, to Miramar!

Est. Hail, Prince,

And fairest princess! The grace and hope of morning

Be ever on your lives!

Car. Must noble senors,

We give you thanks and greeting.

Max. Your presence here,

My lords, would move our hearts although you brought

No crown to guerdon welcome.

Est. O, gracious prince,

Our tongues but feebly bear the mighty love

The land of Montezuma bade us lay

Low at your feet. Your starry virtues draw

Her prayers and hopes and holiest desires

Across the sea in humblest supplication.

We make no weary tale of our misfortunes;

They are so great the world is heavy with them,

And Mexico means but calamity

To every ear.

Max. My dear and honored lords,

The heart is granite and the veins are ice

That will not stir at your deep miseries.

Est. Ah, sir, this crown is heavy, but you will bear

The golden weight as 't were the aureole

That seals the saint to God!

Max. But not without

Consent of every subject should I wear it.

Does Mexico send all her hearts with you?

Ruiz. (Spreading paper on table)

Read here the proclamation now in force

In all our provinces.

Max. And this has been

By each assembly ratified?

Berzabal. Ay, prince!

It is a nation, not these dozen men,

That with a million voices prays to you!

Max. From childhood up I've sought to obey my God,

But never dreamed that he would bless my life

With such high sanction as I read herein. (Lifting paper)

Forgive a tear, my lords.... But we must ask

That crowned Europe give a sacred oath

To guarantee our empire's permanence.

Archduke.

Brother, I bring the word of Austria,

Whose prayers, whose arms, whose subjects' blood are yours,

While she has blood or arms to give!

Belgian Minister. For Belgium

I speak--the princess' true and royal father,

Whose little kingdom measures not his heart!

Senor Hurbet.

And I, my lord, have here the signed oath

Of Mightiest France, whose fifty-thousand men

Now guard the cradle of the new born peace

In Mexico! Read here what he will do.

Max. (Reads) Enough.... My lords, should I accept this crown,

'T would be with holiest expectation

To reign in love and peace, but your past struggles

Point to a term of danger and much risk

Ere our star shines above all factious spite.

Stood I alone I should not hesitate,

But here is one more dear than my own life,

Whom I must cherish more than my own life,

Within whose heart I must find out my answer;

And God be thanked her wisdom beams so true

Above the hesitations of my mind

That I can love her yea or nay as 't were

By Heaven spoke!

Est. Then to your mercy, princess,

We now commit our hope.

Car. Most worthy lords,

I am so proud that I would wear a crown,

So pitying I would weep my heart away

For your sad country, and so vain I think

The lord that married me might lead you from

Rebellion's night to civil-kissing hours;

But yet a woman bonded unto love,

Not my own mistress. The life bound up with mine

Is dearer than the peace of any state,

And looking deep into your country's heart

I read some cruel marks of history

That teach me fear for any precious thing

Consigned unto its love.

Est. If ever souls

Lay bare to human eyes, read now in ours

The loyalty which you will find in every subject!

Ruiz. Be merciful! Earth aches through her rock-ribs

With our old woes, and it is you may heal them!

Ber. Pity will teach thee soon to love our land!

Car. My lords, already I love Mexico,

And would forego the peace of Miramar,--

All happy days that from the future lean

To meet my smiles, as trifles whose light thought

Shames this great hour; but when in dream I see

My lord beset by foes in foreign land,

The help he needs beyond a three-months' sea,

My princess pride flags to a peasant fear

For one dear life!

Est. Wrong not yourself, your lord,

And Mexico, O gentlest lady--

Car. Nay--

Est. Say yea, and our expectant land will feel

The thrill of that affirmative across

The glad Atlantic! Yea--and France, whose name

Is in our hearts as God's, will bless thy tongue!

Say yea, and noble England, watchful Spain,

Who with great France began the holy work

Of blessed liberation will applaud

With happy echoes to the guardian skies!

Say yea, and the white spirit of the Church

Will take 'neath her soft wings our blood-drenched land,

That waits but for that word to hail thy lord

Regenerator, king!

Car. My lords, my lords,

We are but human! Mayhap we will not keep

The love that we have won!

Senor Hur. Fear not, O princess!

Behind your throne, with unretreating sword,

Will stand the first great power of all the world!

Thus speak I for the emperor of France!

Princess Metternich. (Advancing)

I for the empress! Eugenie bade me speak

Her heart out here, and hail thee sister empress!

To ask when your young empire blooms above

The lily of old France, and lures the East

To pour her golden heart into your port,

And ocean blossoms with your argosies,

You'll still remember that she loved you when

You were but princess and no farther ruled

Then stretch the gardens of small Miramar!

Car. O generous Eugenie! But the fear--

Abbot of Lacroma.

To speak of fear in this is to doubt God!

He does not bless in vain a noble prince

With such rare qualities as crown the mind

Of Maximilian! 'Tis for some purpose rare

He rounds such excellence with highest birth

And puts a sword of power in his hand!

From over seas unto your very feet

A nation comes to choose from all the world

One made by Heaven to be its sovereign lord,

Cool hearts of passion in his amity,

Make bitter eyes forget their ancient hate,

And proudest knees bow with old enemies

In worship of his star beneficent!

There pale and crushed Peace

Shall take the color of the living rose,

Hearing the voice of his protecting love

That comes to lift her beauty from the dust

And on that ground volcanic nobly build

Her temple indestructible!

There shall his kingly mind find outward means

To write sublimity upon the world,

And like old Egypt speak in pyramids

To nations unbegot in dream of Time!

And can you shock the hour with hesitation?

Ask all the waiting world,--ay, even God,

To pause and count the heart-beats of a woman?

Car. (Devoutly, with uplifted hands and eyes)

Forgive me, Heaven, that I doubted thee!

(Takes Maximilian's hands, turns with great dignity to the

deputies, and speaks solemnly)

Senors, we'll wear the crown of Mexico.

(Silence. The abbot of Lacroma advances; Carlotta and

Maximilian drop to their knees as he extends his arms

above them in blessing)

Scene II: A camp in the mountains of Mexico. Night. Aseffa

preparing food by a fire. She goes aside, listens, and returns.

Asef. O Mexico, thou traitress unto love,

Wilt trample every heart that's true to thee?

(Listens. Enter Miguel and Lerdo, very ragged and gaunt)

Miguel! Lerdo! Rafael not come? Where did you leave him?

Lerdo. Nowhere, Senora.

Asef. Oh!

Mig. Don't flutter, little bird. We mean that he left us. He

set off as fresh as the morning to make the circuit of

another mountain while we could barely creep up to camp.

Asef. You are hungry! I'll give you Rafael's supper!

Ler. Hungry? No! I've had two biscuits since yesterday, and

sixty miles isn't far to go on that.

Mig. And as much good air and water as a soldier need want!

Asef. Here! Take it. 'Tis good. Indeed it is!

Mig. Smoking meat! Ha! Who brought it? Has the Holy Virgin been

in camp?

Asef. No, but I've been down to the valley.

Ler. You?

Asef. Yes,--and I've a little gold left, too!

(Showing purse)

Mig. You paid five pesos for that dish!

Asef. A good guesser would double the price.

Mig. And for Rafael's supper! No, I can go two more days yet.

(Puts food aside)

Asef. But you shall not. Come, eat! I'll feed you then, and you

don't want Juarez' soldiers to be turned into babies, do

you?

Mig. I'll yield! In fact, there's an orator within that speaks

with a most convincing pinch. (They eat)

Asef. (Watching) Poor fellows! They'll not leave him a mouthful!

Ler. Where is the general?

Asef. (Pointing up the hill) Asleep. Have you news?

Ler. None to bring good dreams. Let him sleep.

Mig. Lord, a meal a day like this and I could drive the whole

French army into the sea! (Rising) Now if these rags could

be turned back to their first fortunes, I'd be Don Miguel

de Tejada again! You wouldn't think that these tags and

tatters had waltzed with the president's niece at the

capital, would you now?

Asef. You must let me mend your clothes as I do Rafael's.

Mig. Faith, Senora, you would have to begin too many months

back. No, I'll hang out my banners as a knight of liberty

should, and be Don Miguel de Tejada still. Asleep, my

Lerdo? A good example, too. (Lies down) Good-night, Senora

the Blessed!

Asef. Good-night, Don Miguel de Tejada! (The soldiers sleep. She

waits and listens. Runs aside and looks down the valley)

Asef. Rafael! (Steps approach. Enter Rafael)

Raf. (Embracing her) Here's Heaven for the weary!

Asef. So tired? And I have nothing for you! (Looks toward

soldiers) They were so hungry.

Raf. They're welcome to it. (Kissing her) Here is my

banquet,--my feast of beauty and my wine of love!

(Staggers to a rock and sits feebly)

Asef. Oh! You've been so far!--too far!

Raf. We rode all day, but made no terms for food. The people

are afraid. Whoever gives us bread forfeits his life and

home.

Asef. I bought some meat of a poor woman to-day. She needed the

money.

Raf. And if the Imperials find her out they'll murder her and

set her hut in flames!

Asef. Oh! What shall we do?

Raf. We are an army. We'll do as armies do. Take food where we

can find it.

Asef. O, Rafael!

Raf. Yes, love, we'll play the robber to fill the mouth of

Liberty,--she's fed too long on thistles.

Asef. She's a stern mistress, Rafael.

Raf. But sweeter, love,

Her harshest frown that summer smiles of kings!

O, I reproach her not, even when I see

My dearest friends lie dying in her name!

A bed of stones is soft enough for me

If she but rock to sleep,--a crust to-day,

To-morrow none, and at her board I'm fed.

But when I look on you, my traitor blood

Flies from her service. Oh, to see these hands

That plucked no beauty ruder than the rose,

So meanly laboring in the basest needs!

Your gentle body resting on cold earth,

Glad of a blanket 'tween you and the sod,

While in your bed the foreign robber sleeps!

This shakes my loyalty till I could hate

The fair, unspotted cause my sword is drawn in!

Asef. Stop, Rafael! O thank God these hands have known

That blessed of all fortunes,--to toil for love!

These eyes that sought for but a face more fair,

A flower more sweet, have found the stars that rise

Where Truth and Courage wander in the night!

In southern vales maybe we'll hear again

The morning birds sing at our bowered windows,

But we will not forget the nobler song

Now borne by winds about these mountain peaks,--

The song of man made free!

Raf. We'll not forget.

But will that sweet day come? Tell me, Aseffa,

You who are half a sibyl,--shall we go down

That valley to our home?

Asef. 'Tis not to gain

Our father's halls, and sit 'neath fig and vine,

We hide and starve and stagger in these hills,

But to keep noble the last hour of life,

That Death who gathers it may read thereon

The seal immortal of approving God.

Raf. Yes--dear Aseffa--but--(Faints)

Asef. Rafael! Rafael!

Ah dying! O my prating virtue's gone!

I care for naught but that my love shall live!

O, Liberty, wilt spare me this one life?

... Ho! Miguel! Up!

Mig. Hey! What! Senora!... Ah!

Lerdo. What's here?

Asef. There's wine in the general's tent! Rafael!

My love, my love, look up!... O Mexico,

With all thy veins of gold thou art not worth

One dear drop of his blood!

(Enter General Trevino)

Trev. What's this new grief?

Not Rafael!... He faints. 'Tis hunger ... hunger.

Miguel! Lerdo! Bear him to my tent.

Give him what food you find there. First the wine!

(Soldiers go out with Rafael. Aseffa follows. As she

passes the general she drops to her knees and kisses his

hands)

Trev. (Alone) Starvation now or plunder. We'll quarter where

We can.... A horseman! If 'tis Ignacio

We shall have news.

(Enter Ignacio, from riding)

Ig. Who's here?

Trev. Ignacio?

Ig. (Saluting) Your pardon, sir!

Trev. You're from the capital?

Ig. Three days ago I left the city. I've slept

On horseback since.

Trev. Your news!

Ig. We fight an empire.

The Austrian is crowned.

Trev. Impossible!

Where are our people? Salas? and LeVal?

Ig. They shouted at his welcome. At Vera Cruz

Began the unholy pageantry, that showed

As Christ had come again and all men knew him!

Each province drained its beauty by the way;

The mules that drew him caught the vanity

And picked their steps on flowers.

Trev. Tell me no more.

O Gratitude, thou hast no home on earth!

Twelve months did Juarez rule, and in twelve months

Did what no man can do but God is with him!

He healed contention's wounds, set up new schools,

Released the land from priestcraft's ancient grip,

Rebuilt our credit, destroyed by Miramon,

The robber president, who bonded the land

To France, then set the sword of Europe 'gainst us

Because we could not pay the unjust debt

From treasuries that his own hands had emptied.

O, 'twas a crime too big for Heaven's eye,

And so God let it pass! France could not know--

But our own people knew--how Juarez toiled

To shape the nation to his noble thought!

Ig. Yes--yes--they knew!

Trev. We'll break our swords, my boy.

We have no country.

Ig. Is my uncle yet

In Texas?

Trev. Ay, and we will go to him.

... Ungrateful ground that casts all goodness from it,

And sucks a gilded poison!

(Enter Rafael, Aseffa, Miguel, Lerdo, and others of the

camp)

Raf. (To Trevino) Sir, you will miss

Your breakfast, but I pledge my sword you'll have

To-morrow's supper!... Ignacio!

Ig. You here,

My Rafael! (They embrace) Aseffa too!

Asef. Dear friend!

(They greet affectionately)

Raf. And Maximilian is crowned?

Ig. Yes ... crowned.

Raf. You saw him?

Ig. In the cathedral, with the empress.

Asef. The empress?

Raf. What looks he like? This Austrian duke

That with a stolen crown mocks majesty!

Ig. He looks like majesty, and yet is graced

With Nature's gentlest stamp; his countenance

Takes beauty from his smile; his smile, one thinks,

Takes sweetness from a heart that has its own

Nobility from heaven.

Trev. An enemy

Well praised!

Asef. The empress? She bewitched you too?

(Ignacio is silent)

Come, sir! The truth of her!

Ig. The truth? Go ask

The angels. They've tongues for such sweet purpose.

Trev. What!

Ignacio turned squire o' the empire?

Ig. No.

But I can read a holy woman's face,

Though she by some strange counterfeit of truth

Would put an empress' foot upon our necks.

Asef. What is she like?

Ig. Like nothing but herself.

She is not gentle, for gentleness is but

Rude servant to that quality in her;

Gracious she's not, for grace herself doth serve

A poor handmaiden to her excellence;

Nor beautiful, for Beauty asks her name

To wear but that and know her own no more.

(In the silence that follows a rider rushes up and dismounts)

Messenger.

Where is the general, Trevino?

Trev. Here.

Mess. Juarez approaches. (Saluting)

Trev. Juarez! Call up the camp!

Light all the beacons! Juarez! Build up the fires!

Shouts. Juarez! Juarez! Hurrah! El presidente!

Trev. We'll let him know the hearts he left i' the hills

Still beat with loyal blood!

Shouts. Juarez! Juarez!

(Enter Juarez. Silence)

Jua. Trevino!

Trev. Your Excellency! (They embrace)

You've heard?

Jua. I know.

Now monarchy has spread her gilded sails,

And from the East comes like another sun

To blind our eyes with wonder of a crown

While shackling us by hand and foot to earth.

But from these mountains will arise a queen,

The figure grey of ancient Liberty,

Mourning and wronged, but with the unpaling star

Of God's own favor set upon her brow:

These two shall meet--and that mock sun go down!

Trev. You still have hope when Mexico deserts us?

Jua. Dost read your country in the smile she shows

Her conqueror? She has a heart beneath!

Ay, sir, did she not prove it at Puebla?

Where dead fell on the dead with gun in hand

Still pointed to the French! Where, hope once lost,

And the enemy pouring through the shattered gates,

Our men blew up their city and themselves

To keep their souls free from Napoleon!

These men have brothers left, and sons,

And _they are Mexico_!

Soldiers. El presidente!

Liberty and Juarez!

A soldier. (Waving his sword) We'll be revenged,

Or spill more blood than hell can drink!

Soldiers.

Down with the empire! Death to Maximilian!

Jua. No, not revenge,--but justice. That's enough.

We've but to wait--and strike. Yon mists now spread

Their fair illusion o'er the eternal mountains

'Till 't seems they are the world, and the great hills

Are naught. But by to-morrow's noon-sun see

Their fortunes faded as a dream of night,

While the rock peak looks up as if to say

From the foundation of the world I am!

So will this glamour o'er our godly cause

Pass as a breath, while all the world shall read

Our right and title to unbonded life

In our free bosoms founded and God-set!

A soldier.

We'll die for freedom!

Jua. Die? That's the one thing

We can not do. We may lie down in graves,

But from our living dust will spring new challenge

To make in noble minds continual war

Until our race be righted!

Trev. Many fly

From our misfortunes. Amaldo and LeVal--

Jua. Call 't not misfortune that teaches us our friends.

Now are we sifted and the chaff is known!

... LeVal! ... But Diaz is true?

Trev. On yonder mountain

His fires make answer for him.

Jua. (Looking into distance) Forgive me, comrade!

I know you true, and sooner will yon moon

Make her last change and fall than you change once

From the full circle of a complete man....

(Turns and sees Ignacio)

My nephew here?

Ig. Just from the capital.

Jua. Where you must back again. Rafael, too!

Both my young soldiers! My right arm and my left,--

Though which is which I know not. Ignacio,

You saw the Austrian? No matter. He's but

The drift-piece of a rotten monarchy

That thinks to graft upon the living tree

Of our new-sprung republic! We'll shake him off

As a June oak a spray of winter wreck,

Nor ever know he clung upon our boughs!

Ig. The church is powerful yet, and seeks to join

Her cause with his.

Jua. The church? Say not the church,

But mockers in Christ's name, who steal the land

And drain its fruitage into Satan's purse,

Keeping the poor a race of hopeless slaves

Who worship their own shackles! O, Ignorance,

Thou art the great slave-master! Thy very chains

Are vital and beget themselves; and he

Who strikes them seems the monster of the earth

To the poor serf who thinks it is himself

That bleeds! The church be with our foe, with us

Be God, we'll ask no more. Hear me, my men!

The great republic of the North's our friend.

When her own war is done you'll hear her speak

To France in cannon tones that will make quake

Napoleon on his throne! That great mock-god.

Who seeks to free all men that he may fit

Their necks to his own yoke! (With growing intensity)

That adder who

Would coil about the world! That serpent scruffed

With white deceit and low ambition's slime,

That crept into the garden of my dream

And cankered bud and root, nursed by my toil,

Fed with my dearest blood! Ay, he will quake,

And cry for mercy to a stony Heaven

Whose pity drops long since were drained upon

The woe that he hath made! Ay, he--

Trev. (Touching him) But now,

My friend?

Jua. (Composed) You're right. No more of that. Nephew!

Ig. Here, sir!

Jua. Your place will be the capital.

We must have eyes there, and a heart to serve us.

This hour set out. Here are instructions. (Gives papers)

Trev. Sir,

He's had no rest.

Jua. True ... true....

Ig. And need none when

Juarez commands.

Jua. (Taking his hand) Thou'rt still my son. My house

Will not fall down when I no longer prop it.

Raf. May I not beg this office, sir?

Trev. Send him!

His heart is in the hills, and he'll come back.

Ignacio's yet unanchored. Trust him not

To high tides of a court.

Jua. I trust them both.

But my own blood I know. (To Ig.) Kneel for the oath.

(Ignacio kneels. Murmurs around, then silence. Juarez

takes a crucifix from his bosom and holds it over Ignacio)

Jua. By this true image of the bleeding Christ,

May you be damned to everlasting fire,

Nor prayers of saints lift up your soul from hell,

If you prove false in what you undertake

This night for Mexico!

Ig. By Christ's own blood.

I swear, and may that blood be powerless

To save me from the damned if I prove false!

Jua. The stars that hold

The witness angels of the Lord have heard

Thy oath.

Ig. (Rising and looking up)

Let them record it.

Asef. (Fearfully) Ah!

Trev. (Holding out a brand) The brand!

Jua. Not that!

Ig. (Baring his arm) I choose it!

(Trevino quickly brands his arm with a cross. Juarez, too

late, dashes the brand from his hand)

Ig. (Throwing up his arm) Sealed to the cause!

(Hurries to go)

Jua. My boy! (Ignacio returns for Juarez' embrace)

Ig. (Going) Liberty and Juarez!

Soldiers. Juarez!

Liberty and Juarez!

(All but Juarez follow Ignatius out, cheering)

Hurrah! hurrah!

(Juarez draws his grey mantle about him and stands silent.

The fires die down. The moon clouds. He looks up invoking)

Jua. Spirit of Montezuma, be thou here

And on thy son drop wisdom out of Heaven,

That these thy children he may lead to peace,

And this thy country give again to him

Who set his iron in the earth and said

"Man, make thy weapon; there shall be no slaves!"

(CURTAIN)

ACT II.

Scene I: Palace of Chapultapec. Hall adjoining ball room. Gaily

dressed women, and men in glittering official costumes passing

doors. Marquez and Mejia talking.

Mar. You've caught Trevino!

Mejia. Rafael Mendorez too.

Mar. Still better. You'll have them shot at once?

Mejia. They've too many friends. I must have the emperor's warrant.

Mar. He will sign the decree to-night.

Mejia. The Lord be thanked! I'm tired of risking life and men

taking prisoners that his majesty may have the pleasure of

pardoning them.

Mar. If he signs the decree he will be sure to reserve the

right to pardon. You must try my method.

Mejia. And that?

Mar. Shoot on the spot, and report no captures.

(Enter from the ball room Maximilian, Marshal Bazaine,

General Miramon, and Count Charles)

Mir. Your majesty will sign the law to-night?

Max. These men wear the brave name of soldiers; fight

Beneath a flag, and claim the rights of war.

Baz. They borrow war's fair name to kill and plunder!

Max. It was my dream when I took up this crown

To claim each subject of the land my own.

Mir. And so you may, your majesty. 'Tis true.

These men are subjects to no law or nation;

They are not Mexico's; they are not God's;

But from the heavenly and the human pale

They have outbarred themselves. Our honest land

Has cast them out as venom to her health!

Nurse not this canker in your realm, my lord!

Max. I do not know ... but here's my head and heart,

(Touching Prince Salm-Salm and Count Charles)

And they may answer. Prince, what do you say?

Prince Salm.

As friend and soldier to your majesty,

I must advise the passage of the law.

Max. You, Charles?

Char. My lord, if as you say, these men

Fight 'neath a flag, and for supposed rights,

You violate the law of noble nations

In sentencing to death the prisoners

Of recognized war.

Baz. (Sneering) Sir, recognized?

Char. Does not the United States still call Juarez

The president of Mexico?

Baz. Why, count,

You'd best consult those books of yours again!

Juarez has fled and given up his cause.

These men are robbers! Your majesty will sign?

Max. Forgive me, friends, if I again say no.

Mir. Your majesty, 'tis we should ask your pardon

For having failed to lustre as we should

This seeming-dark decree,--so wise, so just,

And as undoubtedly your duteous act

As though some stern necessity of the stars

Enjoined it.

Max. (Uneasily) Press it not now. The people wait.

(All but Marquez go into ballroom)

Mar. Some fools have sat on crowns but not for long.

He'll sign. The Liberals must be dispatched

Fast as we capture them, for we've short time.

The United States will soon be free again

To turn to us, and what we wish to do

Must be well done ere that. Dispatch! Dispatch!

Use Maximilian and the French to crush

The Liberals, then with the church unite

To pull down Maximilian and set up--

Marquez!... The Empress--and Ignacio!

One I suspect,--a half-breed full of pride!

Who'd have the court forget his Indian mother

And bear in mind his father was a noble!

(Goes aside.

Enter Carlotta and Ignacio, followed by Prince and

Princess Zichy, Prince and Princess Salm-Salm, Princess

Josefa de Varela, Colonel Lopez, making merry with a

fortune teller. The Empress steps apart with Ignacio)

Car. Ignacio! I've met strange looks to-night!

Ig. But not unkind ones, noble madam?

Car. O, such

As can not be distinguished by a word,

Cold, warm, or dark or fair, bitter or kind!

Ah, looks that will not advertise the heart,

And yet betray too much!

Ig. Your majesty--

Car. A little coldness that might melt to love,

A little pity that might soon be hate,

A fair 'God with you' shaping to a curse--

Ig. What eye can harbor evil meeting yours

Where lies a grace that turns all ill to virtue?

Car. Would all were true as you, Ignacio!

(Looks to ballroom and shudders)

Those eyes! Would I looked not so deep in eyes!

... You love my lord?

Ig. I do, your majesty.

Car. Above all other men? (He is silent) Nay, do not answer!

'Twas wrong to ask, for you have kinsmen maybe,

Brother, or uncle, some one dear in blood

Whom Heaven bids you cherish. But you will guard

Your Emperor! You'll watch with me for foes?

For foes? He has none! How the thought

Blasphemes his excellence! But 'tis a world

Where whitest merit draws the darkest souls

To prey upon it, while mere indifferent good

Escapes!... Ignacio, is it true, Juarez

Is not in Mexico?

Ig. O, madam!

Car. Ah!

Is 't true the Liberals are disbanded?

Ig. True?

Car. You do not answer, sir!

Ig. It is not true.

Car. You know it! You? And they still hope?

Ig. They do.

Car. Then we are playing with an enemy!

How do you know?... You traitor, too!... O Heaven!

'Tis time now to be up or treachery

Will take us all asleep! (Goes from him)

Ig. (Following her) O madam! madam!

My heart is all your own!

Car. (Turning to him) Forgive me, friend,

And I will wrong no more these honest eyes.

But there is danger here, and we must strike!

We hold a nation's future in our hands,

And now defence is virtue, patience crime!

Ig. Your majesty--

Car. (Not heeding) Shall we stand here and smile

Till rebel blows have shattered life and throne?

... Dupin shall drive these desperate people back--

This law be signed--

Ig. (With horror) Dear Christ!

Car. What do you mean?

Ig. Will Maximilian pass a law of death,

Condemning patriots to a robber's grave?

O, Empress, sue upon your knees that he

Do not this thing, for every act of his

Not marked with justice to his enemies

Will rob him of the pity they would show

When victory is theirs! He writes his doom

As certainly as he doth set his name

To that black law, and gives Dupin his will

Among our helpless people!

Princess Zichy. (From group about the gipsy, as all laugh)

Your majesty,

You heard?

Car. I heard. (To Ignacio, much disturbed)

Go join them! Go! (Ignacio joins group)

He's true!

My lord in danger!

Princess de Varela. Now mother, my hand next!

(Gipsy scans her hand)

Car. 'Rob him of pity!' 'When victory is theirs!'

I know the pity given to the fallen

In this blood-drunken land! There's but one way...

We must not fall!... 'Tis war, then,--war! Not for

An empire, no,--but Maximilian's life!

And we must use the weapons in our hands!

Gip. (Reading)

Days of brightness, days of smiles,

Read I here or Fate beguiles!

Princess S.

O these fortunes are like lines from a fairy book!

Surely we are not all going to be happy!

Gip. I'll read for you, madam.

Princess S.

But let not your change of song begin with me,

dark mother!

Gip. (Reading)

Days of darkness, days of moan!

A friend shall sigh, a friend shall fall,

And wring thy bosom more than all

The sorrow that thou yet hast known!

Princess S.

O think better of it, mother!

Gip. Your sweet eyes deserve a better portion than tears, and

I read too,

But ere thy last hour be nigh

Sorrow from thy breast shall fly!

Princess S.

A friend, you say? I thank you, 'twas not my husband!

Gip. And yet a husband he,

And many tears thou'lt see!

Car. (Aside) A friend--a husband--and a fall!

Gip. Shall I read for her majesty?

Car. No! no!

Lopez. She has peeped into Fate's urn, madam, I assure you!

Car. Nay, I'm content. What I choose for myself I will abide,

and what I choose not is the gift of God and I'll abide

that too!

Prince Zichy.

I congratulate you! Majesty is not always able to

show such noble indifference to the future, and lesser

mortals--never!

Gip. Please the stars, may I read for you, sir?

Prince Zichy.

I give you a proxy,--Senor Ignacio. If the fortune

be fair, I take it, if not, I leave it with him.

Ladies. O, hear Ignacio's fortune! (They crowd about him and

the gypsy)

Car. (To Lopez) A favor, sir! Will you take a message to his

majesty?

Lopez. I am twice blest--to bear your message--and bear it to the

emperor. (They talk apart)

Gip. Here's a secret matter, sir. Shall I speak it out?

Ig. O spare me! Come aside!

Ladies. Nay, nay, Ignacio! You heard our fortunes!

Ig. But yours were fair and innocent, and mine is dark and

guilty--maybe with crime!

Ladies. Oh! A crime!

Ig. Come, witch! (They go aside, near where Marquez is

stationed unseen) Aseffa!

Asef. Rafael is prisoner at Savarro! Trevino is taken, too!

Ig. O Heaven! (To ladies) Stay back! 'Tis crime indeed!

Ladies. Villain!

Asef. Help me to Maximilian! O, I must see him! You called him

gentle! When I tell him what Rafael is--the fairest soul

man ever called a foe--

Ig. Softly, Aseffa! You can not see the emperor to-night.

Asef. I must! To-morrow 't will be too late! He dies at sunrise!

Ig. Rafael! My friend! my brother!--

Asef. Quiet! quiet! Smile, Ignacio! Ha! ha! I'll pray it be not

true, sir!

Ig. But you can see Count Charles. He's Maximilian's very

heart, and once you win him the Emperor is won. Go in! Go

in! I'll bring you to the count! Be light of heart! Our

Rafael is safe!

Asef. Ignacio, the Empress is all you said.

Prayers on their way to Heaven meeting her

Would think their journey ended. Can you be true?

Ig. (Touching his arm)

I bear the seal.

Asef. God help thee!

Ig. Go!

(To ladies) 'Tis done!

I know my sins!

Princess de V. But what a smiling sinner!

Princess Salm.

A cloud is hovering. Come, sir! I shall know it!

(Takes his arm. Mexican national dance begins. All go into

ballroom, the Empress with Lopez)

Mar. Ignacio a Liberal! And branded!

He's finished! But I'll pick my hour for it!

Mendorez safe! Ay, if he's bullet-proof!

(Re-enter Carlotta with Archbishop Labastida)

Lab. I thank your Highness for this gracious moment!

Most holy Empress--

Car. Not holy, sir, and yet

I hope with touch of God's anointment on me.

Lab. Did it but rest with you His love would soon

Like cloud of rose veil Mexico in beauty.

Car. But rest with me?

Lab. Ay, noble lady, you.

I bear a letter from his Holiness,

In which he says his Empress daughter's zeal

Is jewelled in his heart,--but urges me

To speak to Maximilian of his strange

Reluctance to fulfill his promise.

Car. Promise?

Lab. To give the Church the olden glory that

She shone with here! Restore her rights--

Car. 'Tis true

He promised that, and he has kept his word

As an account with God. He is convinced

The rights claimed by the Church are stolen rights

She wrung from ignorance for her earthly glory,

And he's resolved to maintain Juarez' law

So far as it accords with justice.

Lab. Madness!

Call back Juarez to power! Yield the throne

To the republican! For 't will so end

If Maximilian scorns us and our help!

Car. He does not scorn you, sir, but seeks to find

Where the division comes 'tween you and Christ

And set himself upon the side of Heaven.

Lab. You will divorce the favor of the pope,

Without whose help you may not hope to stand.

Plead with your lord again to probe our claim,

And find therein some wise and prudent reason

To give us aid,--and thereby keep his crown.

Car. Yes, I will speak; but I shall not forget,

Whate'er I say, he is an Emperor! (Exit)

Mar. (Coming forward) A pair of fools are jiggling with a crown.

Lab. You heard, Marquez?

Mar. And knew before I heard.

Lab. And you are patient?

Mar. Maximilian

Means France, and France we must keep ours,--at least

Till we have finished with the Liberals,--

Lab. And then?

Mar. We need not go so far to make

A wiser choice.

Lab. (Looking at him meaningly)

Not far indeed!

Mar. I thank you.

But that's hereafter. Come with me, your grace.

I'd speak of something more immediate.

(Exeunt left)

(Enter from ballroom General Miramon, Marshal Bazaine and

Colonel Dupin, the last a large, vain, blustering man,

gorgeously and expensively arrayed from head to foot. A

sombrero wonderfully trimmed with gold and silver is

carried in his hand and used in sweeping salutations)

Dup. At last I am called to court! I thought his majesty would

soon or late have need of my experience in throat-cutting.

Mir. But, my dear Dupin, it is not in your capacity of

throat-cutter that we introduce you. These towns that have

given aid to the Liberals must be punished without the

Emperor's knowledge. You will make an example of them?

Dup. Will I? Hear him, Marshal! Will I?

Mir. But not a word to the Emperor!

Dup. Softish, eh?

Mir. His spongy heart is filled with water of compassion. Touch

it anywhere it pours!

Baz. I'm not going to throw away the lives of any more

Frenchmen just to give him a chance to play at clemency!

An emperor should be a sort of vitalized stone, capable

of action but incapable of impression.

Dup. Then I'm the man for emperor! I've always suspected my

qualifications for the part. By the lord, I've made women

who were hungry enough to eat their own children watch my

soldiers throw bread into the sea! And when I was with the

French and English in old Chinee--well, they've called me

the 'Tigre' since then. You've heard about that! (Struts

and sings)

I'm the tigre of the East,

Got my claws in old Pekin

When the yellow kids we fleeced

And held up the mandarin!

O we caught him by the queue,

As he from our captains flew,

That quaking little, shaking little mandarin.

And we dragged him out to view

By that most convenient queue,

When we sacked the summer palace at Pekin!

My friends, if you will excuse me, there are several

dozens of ladies in the ball room waiting for a dance with

the costume par excellence of the evening. I am not always

sure of a welcome for my face, but my costume is never in

doubt. Ah, sweet woman! you can please me twice. I can

dance with you--and I can kill you! When the Emperor asks

for me I shall not decline an introduction,--though he was

not born an emperor and I was born Dupin! (Exit)

Baz. Is he as villainous as his conversation?

Mir. His talk is but the mildest prologue to his deeds.

Baz. Then he's the man for us. We shall never drive back the

Liberals but by methods of unmitigated severity.

Mir. There is no barbarity too great for the intimidation of

these towns.

Baz. The only absolutely safe plan is to raze them from the

earth.

Mir. Trust Dupin! (They go into ballroom. Enter, right, Count

Charles and Aseffa. Her disguise is thrown back revealing

her beauty)

Asef. You help me though a Liberal and your foe!

Char. A foe! Dear lady, when you besought my aid

Methought it was divinity that spoke,

So sacred sweet seemed the request. I'll save

Your brother.

Asef. Ah, dearer than a brother, sir.

It is my husband!

Char. Husband!

Asef. Yes, my lord.

And dearer than--You have a wife?

Char. No, lady.

Asef. O, then you can not know! But you have loved?

Char. I love.

Asef. A lover--not a husband. Ah!

Add to thy love a thousand dearer loves

And take their sum a thousand times a thousand,

'T will be the smallest part divisible

Of my dear love for Rafael! You'll save him?

Char. Yes--I will save him. Do you trust me?

Asef. Trust you?

As I would Heaven! (Kisses his hands and goes out, right)

Char. Gone! Aseffa! Gone?

No, never gone! Her kisses here! O lips

That swept like drifting roses o'er my hands--

Both hands,--sweet equity! Still are they warm

As they were dipped in summer, though her touch

Was maiden light nor robbed him of a jot

Who should have all. Her husband--'twas a word

She used to slay me with!... Even in sorrow

She is more fair than any other fair

Met on a holiday. But when she smiled

She seemed like Fortune giving away a world.

So gracious was her splendor. Thou art revenged,

O little demon god so long my scorn!

Would I had given my heart by piecemeal out

Since I was ten than to have lost it so,

For going all at once it takes my life

And I must lose my life or follow it.

Ah, love should come like waves unto a shore,

Soft creeping up and back and up again.

Till taught to stand receptive we are firm

When the last, highest wave envelops us.

... May God restore me!... O her beauty burns

As she were limned by lightning on the night!

Her eyes are torches that Eternity

Lends life to read her dreams! Her cheek

Is June within a bud! Her veins have caught

The falling sun that in them strives to rise

To a new dawn!... And I must save him--save him!

This unknown man that holds the flaming sword

Above my paradise!... If this decree

Is signed she will be widowed ... (Stops in horror)

I am mad!...

... She will be free ... Away, sweet hell, whose face

Is masked like heaven!... Let solid earth be air,

The air be lead, light change to dark, and dark

Be as the sun, 't will be no miracle

When murder finds a welcome in my heart!

(Enter Maximilian, Bazaine, Miramon, Dupin, Berzabal,

Ruiz, Estrada, Ignacio)

Max. (To Dupin) We're glad to welcome you. 'T will be your

charge to guard the unprotected towns now suffering from

the raids of Liberals.

Mir. Of men, your majesty, who steal that title to grace a

brigand's life!

Max. So we're assured.

Dup. I'll see to it, sir, that these towns play no love-tricks

with the enemy!

Baz. Sh!

Max. No danger that way. Your duty is to protect them!

Dup. No offense, I hope. But treason is a lively beast and hard

to keep low. As your majesty's officer I must cudgel it

down wherever I find it.

Max. If unhappily you find it, sir--

Dup. I'll cut the throat of every man dog of 'em!

Max. Sir? (Turns to Bazaine) The Colonel's speech is very

figurative, good Marshal. (To Dupin) All instances of

treason, (and God forbid there should be one!) will be

reported to me for careful investigation.

Dup. A thousand pardons, your Highness! I was swept away by my

devotion to your majesty! I shall remember that you wish

me to observe the mildest temperance in dealing with your

majesty's enemies. (As the emperor looks questioningly at

Bazaine, Dupin snarls, then repeats suavely) The mildest

temperance in dealing with your majesty's enemies.

Max. That is our wish. The mildest temperance. And this decree,

Colonel Dupin? Would you advise its passage?

Dup. I should be so hot to sign it, sir, my zeal would boil the

ink in the bottle!

Max. Very figurative, Marshal! (To Dupin) As yet we have not

reconciled the matter with our conscience.

(Lopez enters and comes up to the Emperor)

Lop. (Handing him a slip of paper) Your majesty, the Empress

sends you this.

(Maximilian reads aside:) 'Sign the decree.'

Max. (Aside) What has she heard?

Dup. (At a distance, in rear of Maximilian, folds his hands

meekly on his breast and whistles softly)

'When we sacked the summer palace at Pekin!' (Mimics)

'As yet we have not reconciled the matter with our

conscience.' Does he think he can govern Mexico with a

prayer-book? Put him in his cradle and sing by-lo-baby!

Max. (To Miramon, who has spoken to him)

There's only one left to oppose it--Charles.

Mir. My lord, you'd set a scholar's word against

A general's in matters of the field?

The count's opinion, born within a closet,

Would die in open air but for your nursing.

Max. Come, Count, defend your cause.

Char. My cause, my lord?

Max. You are but one against the government.

Canst talk above so big a head? If not,

I fear we'll pass this law of blood. Come, come!

Be eloquent! My heart would have you win!

Char. (Very pale and hesitating)

Your majesty--I beg--

Max. Goes it so deep

To your good heart?

Mir. My lord--

Max. Forgive me, Charles,

For pressing you so much. We'll rest to-night.

To-morrow there'll be time.

Char. (Hastily) No! Not to-morrow!

Sign the decree! Sign it to-night!

(Maximilian looks with the greatest astonishment at

his now flushed face and eager manner, then thinks

he understands)

Max. Ah, Charles,

This tender heart of yours will kill you yet.

No more of this. I'll keep you at your books.

Char. (Recovering, proceeds with suavity, completely sold

to his desire)

My mind has cleared with deeper thought, my lord,

Discord, the ancients tell us, was at first

So small a gnat did give her birth, but grew

So great her feet o'erturned proud cities while

Her head upset the gods in council. So this

Small trouble may o'ercast your destiny--

And is 't not better, sir, to pass a law,

However dreaded, 'gainst the rebel few

Than that the nation trusted to your care

Should be broad cursed with civil slaughter?

Max. Better?

If such a danger threatens 'tis a crime

Not to forfend it!

(Enter Marquez and Archbishop Labastida)

Lab. Gracious sovereign!

Max. Most reverend father, you would counsel us?

Lab. We would, your majesty. If yet the wish

Of Heaven has power over you; and Christ

Be your most high example, you will prove

A careful guardian to your trusting people,

And crush this villainous and robber race

Now preying on the true and innocent,

Swelling each day more poisonous and foul!

Max. We are decided. Are we not, good Charles?

Mar. (Hastily) Nay, sire--

Max. We are decided--to pass this law.

Convinced that 'tis the honest course.

(All surprised and relieved but Ignacio, who starts with

horror)

Ig. My God!

Mir. Blest majesty, we thank you!

Lab. You do but set

Your name where Heaven's seal already shines.

Ig. The seal of Hell! O noblest man that breathes

This corrupt air, take back that word of death

Ere it is stamped in black upon your soul!

Mir. (After a silence)

An Aztec, sire, and nephew to Juarez.

Max. You think that is a sin? Among our friends

Are many whose nearest kinsmen nobly served

The lost Republic. Hear us, Ignacio.

This law is subject to a firm condition:

Each officer shall make report to us,

And every captive who deserves not death

Shall have our pardon.

Ig. Then, you'll pardon two

Now at Savarro, Trevino and Mendorez,

Both doomed to die at sunrise!

Mir. Ravagers!

Brigands! Ay, murderers!

Ig. No! Patriots!

Soldiers! And martyrs if they die! My lord,

If they have plundered, 'twas to feed an army;

If they have killed,--that is the aim of war.

They are your foes, but noble ones,--and men,

Not creatures to be caught in traps and shot

Like beasts!

Max. We'll look to this. Marquez, at once

Send a dispatch commanding they be held

As prisoners of war until we've time

To examine them.

Mar. I will, your majesty.

Ig. My lord, at Callovalla when the French

Had routed the Republicans, there came

At night some student priests into the field

To help the wounded and to cheer the dying.

This man, Marquez, set on them with his troop

And made them prisoners. The morning sun

Beheld each saintly minister shot dead.

And you would trust this devil with the life

Of captive foes? A man whose hands are red

With God's own blood?

Mar. He lies! Your majesty,

I'll prove him traitor to your very eyes!

Ig. Traitor?

Mar. Ay, sir, and spy! Lay bare his arm,

And see the branded cross!--the sacred mark

Of those who've sworn to die in Juarez' cause!

(Snatches at Ignacio's arm as if he would expose it)

Ig. Liar and devil! do not touch me!

Mar. Spy!

Lop. The proof is easy, sire. Expose his arm!

Ig. I scorn such proof! And with my sword I'll meet

Who dares lay hand upon me!

Lab. Justice, sire!

Command him to lay bare his arm!

(Silence. Maximilian approaches Ignacio slowly and lays

his hand on his arm)

Max. (Turning to Marquez, his hand still on Ignacio)

You are a soldier, able and honorable.

I trust you with my captives.... Ignacio,

You are no traitor,--and I trust you with

My confidence. Both are deceived. 'Tis I

Must study how to heal this sad division.

... But now, we'll sign this necessary law.

Come in with me, my friends. (Exeunt all but Ignacio)

Ig. Too noble soul!

Too gentle heart! O foul, most foul betrayal!

He dooms himself. O, Maximilian,

We go on different ways, but each to death!

The truest heart about thee is my own,

And I'm a spy--death-vowed to be thy foe!

I'll warn the empress!... No. Sealed to the cause.

Dead I may guard her. Death alone may give

Me to her service. There's no oath can bind

The disembodied spirit. (Takes paper from his pocket)

Here's set down

All I have learned of the Imperial plans.

(Burns paper in candle flame)

'Tis fixed in memory, and if I live

Juarez shall hear it all,--and--if I die--

The grave is asked no questions. (Suddenly) Rafael!

This signed to-night, to-morrow Rafael dies.

Marquez will cut off all reprieve. One way

Is left.... I'll go. With life already lost

Who would not fling the corpse to save a friend?

My honor's bound to freedom and Juarez,

My heart bound to the Empress and her lord.

O, love, while I have life thou must command me,

Then to save honor ... let me die!... Ah, could

I save thee too, Carlotta! O, what woe

Awaits thy heart, madonna, saint ... and love!

Might I but say farewell before I go,

Then I could spur to death with happy heart,

And I must travel fast to reach Savarro.

(Takes a lady's glove from his bosom)

My treasure, come!

(Enter Carlotta)

Car. It must be signed ... it must ...

(Sees Ignacio)

Ig. O, little finger casements, do you mourn

Your pretty tenants lost?--five rose-sweet nuns

That pray at one white shrine! (Kisses glove)

Car. (Advancing) I hope, my friend,

She's worthy of your noble love.

Ig. O, madam,

In her doth Heaven on earth make sweet beginning.

And aspirations tend her from the skies.

Car. And she is beautiful as good?

Ig. O, fair

As olden marble walking down to us.

Or that immortal Helen on whose lip

Poets still feed the dream that's never fed!

Car. She must be fair indeed. I hope she loves

As much as she's beloved.

Ig. Nay, she dreams not

Of my poor worship.

Car. You must tell her, sir.

Ig. With her I have no tongue, and can not woo.

To see her is to think in hurrying dreams

That move about some new desire of God.

Nay, she's the picture finished, vision complete,

That perfect stands where dream no farther goes

And shuts the gates to prophecy!

Car. Would you

But woo her thus you'd win her, never fear!

We women would be beautiful, and love

The tongue that makes us so. Go, talk to her

As you have talked to me.

Ig. 'Tis not the same.

There's something in your smile inviteth speech.

Were she but you then would I kneel and say, (kneels)

O rest me 'neath the heaven of your eye

That gathers blessings as the sun his dews

To give again to earth, and let your heart

Throb once with pity sweeter than the love

That other women give, and yet be dumb,

That this sweet moment's balm may wrap my heart

Till death bids it be still. O, love me not,

But on my head lay thy madonna hand,

And bless me as a mother would her child

Who goes to death in going from her eyes!

Car. (Laying her hand on his head)

And I will bless thee, too, as she would do,

True knight of love, gentle Ignacio!

And yet I hope you will ask more of her,

And she will grant it.

Ig. (Rising) More is too much. Farewell.

I leave the court to-night,--but go content,--

Ay, happy! (Exit)

Car. He leaves the court!... What a strange youth!

But very true and noble, and well deserves

The fairest woman's love. (Picks up glove dropped

by Ignacio) He's lost her glove.

I'll send it after him. (Calls attendant) Andorro!... Ah!

It is my own! Yes ... yes ... the same ... here is--

My own indeed!... And that is why he leaves

The court!... Poor youth! (She drops glove. Enter Andorro)

Ignacio just passed out.

He dropped this glove. His lady's favor maybe.

I'm sure 'tis prized. Haste, take it after him.

And. (Picks up glove)

Your pleasure, royal madam! (Going)

Car. No--that way.

(Exit Andorro)

... Unhappy boy!... I'm glad I sent the glove.

(Enter Maximilian and ministers)

Car. (Going to him and taking his arm)

'Tis signed?

Max. 'Tis signed, my love. Come, friends! This act

Of wisdom passed gives me a lighter heart!

(All but Marquez go into ballroom)

Mar. The great death-warrant's signed. Ere its black list

Be full, there'll be an emperor on the roll!

(National music. Dancers seen through doors, the emperor

and empress among them)

(CURTAIN)

ACT III.

Scene I: Before the Imperial Theatre. Brilliant lights. Crowd

confusedly assembled. All talking.

Shouts. Long live the Empire!

Citizen.

O you mob, you puppet throat, that whistles as you're

squeezed!

A Mob Orator.

My friends, to-day we gloriously celebrate the

birthday of the most glorious empire--

Cit. Long live the Republic! Hail to Juarez!

Voices. To dungeon with him! The traitor! Tear him to pieces!

(Guards dash upon citizen and drag him off)

1st Officer.

Don't tell me the Republic is dead when a man is

willing to die just to give one shout for it.

2d Officer.

Three-fourths of the Mexicans have hearts of that

color. But the Empire stands. Miramon is a miracle. How

does he manage it?

1st Off.

He understands the use of the bayonet. As our friend

over the water says, you can do anything with bayonets

but sit on them.

2d Off. Isn't this a rabble? Motley's the only wear in

Maximilian's court. He might succeed in running this

country if so many people hadn't come along to help

him do it. You ask a French question and you get a

Dutch answer. You give an order in Prussian and it's

obeyed in Irish,--

Voices. He comes! Make way! Make way! Hail to Maximilian!

Chief Guard.

Back, all of you! The Emperor will greet you yonder!

We've orders to clear the plaza! Back! Back! His carriage

stops! Go, get your places! Out! out!

(Guards drive mob out)

1st Guard.

If all the Empire's birthdays are to be like this I

hope it will never come of age. It's work, I tell you! I'm

dripping like a squeezed cloud!

2d Guard.

If it had pleased the Empire to spend a little of the

money it has wasted to-day for the widows and orphans it

has made--

1st Guard.

Sh! We're paid for our muscle, not our opinions.

(Shouts outside)

2d Guard.

And the mob is paid for its lungs!

1st Guard.

Yes. Miramon sees to that.

2d Guard.

Only the Emperor's carriage approaches the door?

1st Guard.

None but his.

2d Guard.

If I were he I wouldn't make such a glittering show of

myself in that Milan carriage--all gold and silver and

tortoise shell, and an angel at every corner--while there

are so many hearts breaking in sound of it.

1st Guard.

Ph! He knows nothing of the breaking hearts! Miramon

sees to that.

2d Guard.

He'll have to know soon, or Juarez will tell him in

the capital.

1st Guard.

Not a word! On your life! (Shouts without) Here they

are! By Jesu! The fools have taken the mules from the

carriage and draw it themselves! Now I wonder how much a

head Miramon pays for that!

(Enter rabble of shouting citizens drawing carriage in

which sit the Emperor and Empress. They are followed by a

brilliant party of ladies and gentlemen. General and Madam

Miramon, Princess de Varela, Prince and Princess Zichy,

Prince and Princess Salm-Salm, Lopez, Count Charles,

Marquez, Archbishop Labastida, Estrada, Berzabal, and

others)

Max. (To citizens)

My friends, though I protest against this honor,

I thank you from my heart for such kind proof

Of your affection. (Alights)

Voices. Long live Maximilian!

One of the rabble, awkward and ignorant.

Long live the President of the Empire!

Max. (Smiling) I've no objection to that title, friend, but I

fear it would be criticised in Europe.

(Crowd passes out shouting and dragging carriage)

Max. (To Carlotta, as he looks at theatre) A

noble building! Fair and magnificent!

Car. How yonder gardens gleam beneath the lights

Like some soft dream of worlds we do not know!

Max. And all is yours, my sweet,--all planned by you!

O love, you shall be mistress of a land

The fairest ever smiled up to the sun!

What say you, Charles? Does not this hour repay

Even the sacrifice of Miramar?

Car. (Smiling) Nay, he longs still for the old nooks and books.

Char. Let me admit it. This mistress Pleasure, sir,

Though she is fair is not so wondrous fair

As goddess Knowledge. Beautiful as bride

To her lord's eye is she to worshippers,

Who seek and woo her till she yieldeth up

Her locked virginity--the Truth!

Max. (Affectionately) Ay, Charles,

Get knowledge if thou canst, and yet despair not,

For none so poor but virtue may be his;

And though your knowledge is earth's silver key

That opens man's and nature's heart,

'Tis golden virtue opens Heaven and shows

The God among his stars.... But, come, dear friends!

Pleasure is a true goddess too. We'll show

Her fair respect.

(All go into theatre but Charles, who drops back unnoticed)

Char. He constantly unmasks me

And knows it not. Knowledge! 'Tis withered leaves

Amid a world of dewy boughs! Knowledge!

To one school will I go--one book I'll read,

The school of love, the page of woman's eye,

And I'll know more than sages and divines

Who study stars and Scripture!...

'For none so poor but virtue may be his'

O noble soul, had I been true to thee

I now could open thy deceived eyes.

Crime seals my lips. I can but pray

This empire built on blood may stand. We are

The creatures of our deeds, more bound to them

Than slave to master, for the terms of service

Are fast indentured in the soul and know

No razure!... But I will find Aseffa! Then,

Though sin should set a darkness on my life

To draw each night out to a winter's length

That constant storms from sallow leaf to green,

Still love's sweet lamp shall light me! In my heart

'T will be as day!

(Enter Aseffa veiled, her dress covered with a black

cloak. An attendant following. She tries to cross over to

side entrance of theatre. A guard stops her)

Asef. I am a singer.

Guard. Show

Your pass.

Asef. Here, sir.

(Guard signs for her to pass on. She sees Charles

and stops. Steps before him, throwing back her veil)

Asef. You swore to save him!

Char. You!

Aseffa! Blest--

Asef. You swore it!

Char. And would have died

To keep my oath could I have kept it dying.

Asef. The Emperor refused you? (He bows his head) Demon! Oh!

(Turns to go, moaning)

Char. (Aside) I lose her!... Stay! Is there no hope for grief?

Asef. Not mine! Can you not read it here?

Char. Too well.

Thy sorrow is a veil through which thy beauty

Burns like a shrouded sun.

Asef. You pity me?

Char. As Heaven knows!

Asef. Then you will help me, sir?

Char. I'll give my life to do it!

Asef. Ah, you will?

Then get me access to the Emperor.

Char. O sweet Aseffa, you ask a miracle,

And I am sadly mortal.

Asef. I knew! I knew!

My misery is your plaything!

Char. His ministers

So hedge him with their care--

Asef. O spare excuse!

But I shall see him, sir! Ay, face to face!

Char. Why would you see him? He can not call the dead.

Asef. The dead! Thou hast but daggers for me! Ah!

Char. Aseffa--

Asef. Yes, I'll see him! What think you?

Should I go shouting 'murderer' through that hall,

Would he arise and answer to his name?

Char. You're mad, Aseffa!

Asef. Thank Heaven I am! 'T would be

The shame of woman to know all that I know

And not be mad!

Char. You must not go in there.

Asef. (Fiercely) Must not!

(Suddenly calm) Nay, sir! Why see, I go to sing

A welcome to the noble Emperor. (Throws back her cloak)

As this dark cloak now hides my gay apparel,

So shall my gay demeanor hide my woe.

Char. You would not harm the Emperor?

Asef. No need!

Yon moon is worshipped for her borrowed gold,

Though charred and cold without a leaf to dower

Her black sterility. So Maximilian.

Napoleon's favor is the sun that gilds

His worthless crown. But now the French are going--

Char. What?

Asef. Ah! The French are going.

Char. No!

Asef. And Maximilian shall fade to air,

Unheeded as the moon no eye could find

Without her sun!

Char. But hearts can live and love

Though Maximilian falls.

Asef. Can live--and love!

You torture me!

Char. Forgive me. But the share

Must rip the glebe before the corn may spring.

Asef. What do you mean, cold Austrian?

Char. Austrian! No!

Your southern sun has poured into my veins

A life that makes me new! I feel as you

Those throbs that shake the stars until they fall

Into the heart and make it heaven! My lips

Can move toward lips as haste rose-gloried clouds

To swoon into the sun!

Asef. Ah, yes--I know--

You told me that you loved. But why say this

To one who has lost all?

Char. I'd have you learn

That you must live, Aseffa, and life for you

Means love. Your eyes, your lips, your hands, your hair,

Like coiled sweetness of the night, and all

Your swaying, melting body, gather love

As roses gather smiles, as waves draw down

The heart-flood of the moon and hold it deep

And trembling.

Asef. Sir, your roses, waves, and smiles,

Are poet-nothings. You play with them as shells,

Stirring chance colors for an idle eye.

It is your way of saying, is it not,

That I shall love again?

Char. You must! you must!

Asef. Such words are like bright raindrops falling in

Another world. They glitter, but I hear

No sound, grief has so closed my ears. Take back

Your comfort. You would be kind, but noble count,

You talk of what a man can never know,--

A woman's sorrow for a husband loved.

So high no height can reach it, so great and deep

The sea can not embrace it, and yet her heart

Can hold it all. O strangest of all love,

That makes her rather stoop in beggar rags

To kiss the happy dust where his foot pressed

Than from a throne lean down to give her lips

Unto a kneeling king!

Char. Aseffa, grief

Is not for you. You must--you must be happy!

The shy and tender Dawn creeps up in fear

That Night has laid some blight upon the world,

But finding all is well, steps forth, and lo!

Out of her courage the great sun is born.

So doth the heart look outward after grief

To find the world all dark, but nay, the light

Is more of heaven than it was before,

Because a face is shining from the clouds.

You dim your loved one's eyes in paradise

With your earth-tears. He mourns your splendor paled,--

Though 't must be beautiful to the last tint,

As sunset clouds that bear the heart of day

Into the night.

Asef. You but offend my grief.

Sir, keep your flattery for her you love!

Char. I flatter thee? It is not possible!

Who dares to add fire to the sun, or bring

The Spring a flower? Be angry if you will.

The morning's eye is not more glorious

Rising above a storm! I flatter thee!

When but to praise thee as thou art would put

A blush on Poesy that ne'er has rhymed

As I would speak! E'en thy defects would make

Another fair, and were they merchantable

Women would buy thy faults to adorn themselves!

O, sweet--

Asef. (Shrinking in horror)

What do you mean?

Char. (Seizing her hands) You know!

O, all my life has been but dreams of you,

And when I saw you first, my love!--my love!--

As lightning makes the midnight landscape speak

The language of the day, your beauty flashed

O'er all my years and made their meaning clear!

'Twas you made sweet the song of every bird,

'Twas you I found in every book I loved,

'Twas you that gave a soul to every star!

I can not speak it! Kiss me once--but once--

And you will understand!

Asef. What thing is this?

It is not man, for man respecteth sorrow,

Nor brute, for it doth speak!

Char. O look not down!

Thou canst not guard thee! Every silken sweep

Of thine eyes' soft defence but whets assault!

You shall not go! You are the element

In which I breathe! Go from me and I fall

A lifeless thing! Aseffa, pity me!

'Tis I who die, not you! (Drops her hands and kneels)

O blame me not

That I must worship here--

Asef. Ah, Rafael,

I'll live an hour to pray this wrong away

Before I meet thine eyes! (Goes. Charles grasps her cloak)

Beast! Claw me not!

(Goes in. Charles gazes after her in a bewildered way.

Tries to steady himself, and goes into theatre by main

entrance)

(CURTAIN)

Scene II: Within the theatre. Gay decorations. Part of stage

shown, on which chorus is assembled. The Emperor and Empress in

royal box. Imperial cabinet and friends in boxes adjoining. Part

of pit shown, filled with brightly dressed people.

Max. (To Carlotta)

O, this is welcome! Are you not happy now?

There's not a wrinkle on these smiling brows

Where discontent may write her annals dark!

My empire now is fixed, and strength and love

Are gathering to my side. I can not put

My hand out but 'tis clasped by some new friend.

Car. And true?

Max. And true. You are too fearful, sweet.

Car. And you too trustful.