SYMPHOROSA—I don’t know what to do.
AGI—Why not follow their highnesses? And let the music continue. The more
the better!
SYMPHOROSA—[_Crosses to left; looks at ALEXANDRA._] What are you going to
do? [_ALEXANDRA rises, undecided._]
HYACINTH—Stay here. Your mother forbade you to leave.
SYMPHOROSA—[_To HYACINTH._] And you?
HYACINTH—See here, my dear; I love Beatrice very much, but she has been
having these delicate attacks for thirty years. And I have seen too many
of them to be alarmed. If they strike her standing, she sits down ... and
if they strike her sitting, she rises.
SYMPHOROSA—Karl!
HYACINTH—[_Earnestly._] The situation here is much more serious. I warned
you this afternoon.
SYMPHOROSA—What a misfortune! [_She exits at left. CÆSAR withdraws.
HYACINTH, AGI and ALEXANDRA are left alone. There is a pause. ALEXANDRA
sits on the tabouret, down right._]
HYACINTH—[_Severely._] Well, my son, you see what mischief you have done.
ALEXANDRA—[_Greatly agitated._] It was my fault, Hyacinth. I am entirely
to blame. That is why I stayed ... to....
HYACINTH—Don’t excite yourself, my child. Let us talk it over calmly.
That is why I stayed. You have nothing to fear while I am here. [_To
AGI._] But you have.
AGI—[_Sits._] No, father, I’m not afraid.
ALEXANDRA—It wasn’t his fault. How deeply hurt he must have been, to do
such a thing! I am so unhappy, Hyacinth! [_She buries her face in the
robe of HYACINTH, who it standing beside her._]
HYACINTH—Calm yourself, dear.
AGI—[_Rises; vehemently._] I couldn’t endure it any longer, father, I
couldn’t.... God is my witness, I tried. But I am only human, father, and
... in love ... I hardly knew what I was saying....
HYACINTH—Tell me, my son, are you angry with me, too?
AGI—How could I be, father?
HYACINTH—Then don’t shout like that. I can hear you. And I understand you
too, my son.
AGI—[_Grandiosely; excitedly._] I am done for, but I shan’t sell my life
cheaply. Not even to this beautiful daughter of a king. Yesterday—no,
this very afternoon, I would have given it for her handkerchief. But now
that blood has been let, I hold it dearly.