BEATRICE—There is no _but_ which can justify his being here still.
SYMPHOROSA— ... But he is packing his trunk.
BEATRICE—[_To the CHAMBERMAID who has entered at right._] Well?
CHAMBERMAID—Your highness, a motor is entering the grounds. You can see
it from the window. There are two ladies in it.
BEATRICE—Now my Calvary begins. Symphorosa—don’t leave me. Where is
Hyacinth?
SYMPHOROSA—Gone out for a walk.
BEATRICE—I don’t want to see him. Last night I sent for him to give him a
scolding.
SYMPHOROSA—Yes?
BEATRICE—And he scolded me instead. Let him keep out of my sight.
SYMPHOROSA—Why are you so angry with him?
BEATRICE—Because he was right.
CÆSAR—[_Enters at left._] Your highness, the motor has driven up.
BEATRICE—We’re coming, we’re coming. [_She exits quickly with SYMPHOROSA.
CÆSAR exits at back. The door remains open. Off stage their voices are
heard in an exchange of greetings. DOMINICA enters with BEATRICE and
SYMPHOROSA. She wears a motoring coat. Behind her comes the COUNTESS,
who helps her off with the coat, hat and veil and gives them to the
CHAMBERMAID, who exits at right, taking the things with her._]
DOMINICA—[_Animatedly continuing the conversation begun outside._]
... simply by starting at four this morning, my dear. I’m not fond of
travelling by day in the summertime. I can’t endure the heat. The car ran
beautifully. Barely three hours. And the distance is over two hundred
kilometers.
BEATRICE—Well, what time did you rise?
DOMINICA—At half-past two. While you were still dancing here. [_BEATRICE
sighs._]
SYMPHOROSA—What an energetic woman you are, Dominica! How youthful!
DOMINICA—[_With spiritual fervor._] There is nothing I can’t be ... for
my son. [_BEATRICE sighs._] That’s the second time you have sighed.
BEATRICE—I was thinking of my poor dear husband. How fond he was of you.
DOMINICA—I was fond of him too ... very.
BEATRICE—Symphorosa, will you go and see that everything is ready? We
hadn’t expected you so early.
DOMINICA—I didn’t telegraph the hour of my arrival because you never can
be sure when you are motoring. But I don’t mind waiting. [_Sits._] What a
joy it is to sit down again without having a landscape rushing past you!
SYMPHOROSA—Excuse me, dear, while I see that everything has been made
comfortable for you. [_She exits at right._]
BEATRICE—Will you have breakfast now?
DOMINICA—Later, thank you. We had some tea before we started. If you
please, Countess, tell Luetzen he is not to awaken my son on my account,
not before his accustomed hour. [_The COUNTESS exits at right._] I hear
you were up late last night, dissipating with Albert. He likes that.
BEATRICE—Oh ... he is so gracious ... so easy to entertain....
DOMINICA—Don’t be modest. I daresay you contrived all sorts of schemes to
amuse and entertain him.
BEATRICE—[_Bitterly._] We did our best, of course.
DOMINICA—And now, my dear, let us come to the point. I am a simple,
practical woman, you know. They haven’t nicknamed me “the cook” in Vienna
for nothing.
BEATRICE—Oh!
DOMINICA—Tut, tut! I know that’s what they call me, and I am proud of
it. But, first of all, give me a nice kiss. [_They stand up and kiss._]
That’s right! [_They sit._] And now to business. You realize why I am
here.
BEATRICE—Oh, Dominica!
DOMINICA—In a word: My son wishes to marry your daughter. [_They rise
again, kiss, and sit down. BEATRICE weeps._]
DOMINICA—Don’t cry, Beatrice. This is nothing to cry about.
BEATRICE—No, certainly not ... but I am so overwhelmed.
DOMINICA—Compose yourself, dear. Albert telegraphed me yesterday that he
didn’t trust himself to speak to you about Alexandra without me. You know
he never makes a step without me.
BEATRICE—A good, dutiful son.
DOMINICA—Yes, so he is. [_Majestically._] Happy the people who get such a
king.... But there! He asked me to come at once so that he might tell her
how enchanted he is with her. [_Both rise, embrace and kiss each other,
then sit down._]
BEATRICE—Oh, my dear Dominica!
DOMINICA—I don’t wonder. She is such a perfect creature,—beautiful, good,
clever and queenly. That is what I admire most about her—her proud,
imperious ways.
BEATRICE—How nice of you to say so!
DOMINICA—Haven’t you noticed that in the past ten years our young women
have become infected with a certain rather vulgar freedom of manner,
imported from foreign countries? Not she. She is grave, majestic, aloof,
perhaps a bit too aloof ... I mean a bit too cold toward her inferiors.
BEATRICE—Cold? Oh, I wouldn’t say that.
DOMINICA—That is precisely what I admire in her.
BEATRICE—She has altered of late. She is quite warm to her inferiors now.
DOMINICA—To think that the desire of my sainted husband is at last to be
fulfilled! This marriage, you know, was his——