The Jewel Merchants. A Comedy in One Act Page 3

  GUIDO (Suavely.) It happens that not a moment ago we were admiring your highness' portrait.

  GRACIOSA And so you are Count Eglamore. That is very strange. So it was the hand of Eglamore (rubbing her hands as if to clean them) that I touched just now. I thought it was the hand of my friend Guido. But I forget. There is no Guido. You are Eglamore. It is strange you should have been capable of so much wickedness, for to me you seem only a smirking and harmless lackey.

  The DUKE is watching as if at a play. He is aesthetically pleased by the girl's anguish. GUIDO winces. As GRACIOSA begins again to speak, they turn facing her, so that to the audience the faces of both men are invisible.

  GRACIOSA And it was you who detected—so you said—the Marquis of Cibo's conspiracy. Tebaldeo was my cousin, Count Eglamore. I loved him. We were reared together. We used to play here in this garden. I remember how Tebaldeo once fetched me a wren's nest from that maple yonder. I stood just here. I was weeping, because I was afraid he would fall. If he had fallen, if he had been killed then, it would have been the luckier for him. They say that he conspired. I do not know. I only know that by your orders, Count Eglamore, my playmate Tebaldeo was fastened to a cross, like that (pointing to the shrine). I know that his arms and legs were each broken in two places with an iron bar. I know that this cross was then set upon a pivot, so that it turned slowly. I know that my dear Tebaldeo died very slowly in the sunlit marketplace, while the cross turned, and turned, and turned. I know this was a public holiday; the shopkeepers took holiday to watch him die, the boy who fetched me a wren's nest from yonder maple. And I know that you are Eglamore, who ordered these things done.

  GUIDO I gave orders for the Marquis of Cibo's execution, as was the duty of my office. I did not devise the manner of his punishment. The punishment for Cibo's crime was long ago fixed by our laws. All who attack the Duke's person must die thus.

  GRACIOSA (Waves his excuses aside.) And then you plan this masquerade. You plan to make me care for you so greatly that even when I know you to be Count Eglamore I must still care for you. You plan to marry me, so as to placate Tebaldeo's kinsmen, so as to leave them—in your huckster's phrase—no longer unbought. It was a fine bold stroke of policy, I know, to use me as a stepping-stone to safety. But was it fair to me?

  GUIDO GRACIOSA … you shame me—

  GRACIOSA Look you, Count Eglamore, I was only a child, playing here, alone, and not unhappy. Oh, was it fair, was it worth while to match your skill against my ignorance?

  THE DUKE Fie, Donna Graciosa, you must not be too harsh with Eglamore—

  GRACIOSA Think how unhappy I would be if even now I loved you, and how I would loathe myself!

  THE DUKE It is his nature to scheme, and he weaves his plots as inevitably as the spider does her web—

  GRACIOSA But I am getting angry over nothing. Nothing has happened except that I have dreamed—of a Guido. And there is no Guido. There is only an Eglamore, a lackey in attendance upon his master.

  THE DUKE Believe me, it is wiser to forget this clever lackey—as I do—except when there is need of his services. I think that you have no more need to consider him—

  He takes the girl's hand. GRACIOSA now looks at him as though seeing him for the first time. She is vaguely frightened by this predatory beast, but in the main her emotion is as yet bewilderment.

  THE DUKE For you are very beautiful, Graciosa. You are as slim as a lily, and more white. Your eyes are two purple mirrors in each of which I see a tiny image of Duke Alessandro. (GUIDO takes a step forward, and the DUKE now addresses him affably.) Those nuns they are fetching me are big high-colored wenches with cheeks like apples. It is not desirable that women should be so large. Such women do not inspire a poet. Women should be little creatures that fear you. They should have thin plaintive voices, and in shrinking from you should be as slight to the touch as a cobweb. It is not possible to draw inspiration from a woman's beauty unless you comprehend how easy it would be to murder her.

  GUIDO (Softly, without expression.) God, God!

  The DUKE looks with delight at GRACIOSA, who stands bewildered and childlike.

  THE DUKE You fear me, do you not, Graciosa? Your hand is soft and cold as the skin of a viper. When I touch it you shudder. I am very tired of women who love me, of women who are infatuated by my beauty. You, I can see, are not infatuated. To you my touch will always be a martyrdom, you will always loathe me. And therefore I shall not weary of you for a long while, because the misery and the helplessness of my lovely victim will incite me to make very lovely verses.

  He draws her to the bench, sitting beside her.

  THE DUKE Yes, Graciosa, you will inspire me. Your father shall have all the wealth and state that even his greedy imaginings can devise, so long as you can contrive to loathe me. We will find you a suitable husband—say, in Eglamore here. You shall have flattery and titles, gold and fine glass, soft stuffs and superb palaces and many lovely jewels—

  The DUKE glances down at the pedler's pack.

  THE DUKE But Eglamore also has been wooing you with jewels. You must see mine, dear Graciosa.

  GRACIOSA (Without expression.) Count Eglamore said that I must.

  THE DUKE (Raises the necklace, and lets it drop contemptuously.) Oh, not such trumpery as this. I have in Florence gems which have not their fellows anywhere, gems which have not even a name, and the value of which is incalculable. I have jewels engendered by the thunder, jewels taken from the heart of the Arabian deer. I have jewels cut from the brain of a toad, and from the eyes of serpents. I have jewels which are authentically known to have fallen from the moon. Well, we will select the rarest, and have a pair of slippers encrusted with them, and in these slippers you shall dance for me, in a room that I know of—

  GUIDO (Without moving.) Highness—!

  THE DUKE It will all be very amusing, for I think that she is now quite innocent, as pure as the high angels. Yes, it will be diverting to make her as I am. It will be an atrocious action that will inspire me to write lovelier verses than even I have ever written.

  GUIDO She is a child—

  THE DUKE Yes, yes, a frightened child who cannot speak, who stays as still as a lark that has been taken in a snare. Why, neither of her sisters can compare with this, and, besides, the elder one had a quite ugly mole upon her thigh—But that old rogue Balthazar Valori has a real jewel to offer, this time. Well, I will buy it.

  GUIDO Highness, I love this child—

  THE DUKE Ah, then you cannot ever be her husband. You would have suited otherwise. But we will find some other person of discretion—

  For a moment the two men regard each other in silence. The DUKE becomes aware that he is being opposed. His brows contract a little, but he rises from the bench rather as if in meditation than in anger. Then GUIDO drops the cloak and gloves he has been holding until this. His lackeyship is over.

  GUIDO No!

  THE DUKE My friend, some long-faced people say you made a beast of me—

  GUIDO No, I will not have it.

  THE DUKE So do you beware lest the beast turn and rend you.

  GUIDO I have never been too nice to profit by your vices. I have taken my thrifty toll of abomination. I have stood by contentedly, not urging you on, yet never trying to stay you as you waded deeper and ever deeper into the filth of your debaucheries, because meanwhile you left me so much power.

  THE DUKE Would you reshape your handiwork more piously? Come, come, man, be content with it as I am. And be content with the kingdom I leave you to play with.

  GUIDO It was not altogether I who made of you a brainsick beast. But what you are is in part my handiwork. Nevertheless, you shall not harm this child.

  THE DUKE "Shall not" is a delightfully quaint expression. I only regret that you are not likely ever to use it to me again.

  GUIDO I know this means my ruin.

  THE DUKE Indeed, I must venture to remind you, Count Eglamore, that I am still a ruling prince—

  GUIDO That is nothing
to me.

  THE DUKE And that, where you are master of very admirable sentiments, I happen to be master of all Tuscany.

  GUIDO At court you are the master. At your court in Florence I have seen many mothers raise the veil from their daughters' faces because you were passing. But here upon this hill-top I can see only the woman I love and the man who has insulted her.

  THE DUKE So all the world is changed, and Pandarus is transformed into Hector! Your words are very sonorous words, dear Eglamore, but by what deeds do you propose to back them?

  GUIDO By killing you, your highness.

  THE DUKE But in what manner? By stifling me with virtuous rhetoric? Hah, it is rather awkward for you—is it not—that our sumptuary laws forbid you merchants to carry swords?

  GUIDO (Draws his dagger.) I think this knife will serve me, highness, to make earth a cleaner place.

  THE DUKE (Drawing his long sword.) It would save trouble now to split you like a chicken for roasting…. (He shrugs, and sheathes his sword. He unbuckles his sword-belt, and lays it aside.) No, no, this farce ascends in interest. So let us play it fairly to the end. I risk nothing, since from this moment you are useless to me, my rebellious lackey—

  GUIDO You risk your life, for very certainly I mean to kill you.

  THE DUKE Two go to every bargain, my friend. Now, if I kill you, it is always diverting to kill; and if by any chance you should kill me, I shall at least be rid of the intolerable knowledge that to-morrow will be just like to-day.

  He draws his dagger. The two men engage warily but with determination, the DUKE presently advancing. GUIDO steps backward, and in the act trips over the pedler's pack, and falls prostrate. His dagger flies from his hand. GRACIOSA, with a little cry, has covered her face. Nobody strikes an attitude, because nobody is conscious of any need to be heroic, but there is a perceptible silence, which is broken by the DUKE'S quiet voice.

  THE DUKE Well! am I to be kept waiting forever? You were quicker in obeying my caprices yesterday. Get up, you muddy lout, and let us kill each other with some pretension of adroitness.

  GUIDO (Rising, with a sob.) Ah!

  He catches up the fallen dagger, and attacks the DUKE, this time with utter disregard of the rules of fence and his own safety. GUIDO drives the DUKE back. GUIDO is careless of defence, and desirous only to kill. The DUKE is wounded, and falls with a cry at the foot of the shrine. GUIDO utters a sort of strangled growl. He raises his dagger, intending to hack at and mutilate his antagonist, who is now unconscious. As GUIDO stoops, GRACIOSA, from behind him, catches his arm.

  GRACIOSA He gave you your life.

  GUIDO turns. He drops the weapon. He speaks with great gentleness, almost with weariness.

  GUIDO Madonna, the Duke is not yet dead. That wound is nothing serious.

  GRACIOSA He spared your life.

  GUIDO It is impossible to let him live.

  GRACIOSA But I think he only voiced a caprice—

  GUIDO I think so, too, but I know that all this madman's whims are ruthless.

  GRACIOSA But you have power—

  GUIDO Power! I, who have attacked the Duke's person! I, who have done what your dead cousin merely planned to do!

  GRACIOSA GUIDO—!

  GUIDO Living, this brain-sick beast will make of you his plaything—and, a little later, his broken, soiled and cast-by plaything. It is therefore necessary that I kill Duke Alessandro.

  GRACIOSA moves away from him, and GUIDO rises.

  GRACIOSA And afterward—and afterward you must die just as Tebaldeo died!

  GUIDO That is the law, madonna. But what he said is true. I am useless to him, a rebellious lackey to be punished. Whether I have his life or no, I am a lost man.

  GRACIOSA A moment since you were Count Eglamore, whom all our nobles feared—

  GUIDO Now there is not a beggar in the kingdom who would change lots with me. But at least I shall first kill this kingdom's lord.

  He picks up his dagger.

  GRACIOSA You are a friendless and hunted man, in peril of a dreadful death. But even so, you are not penniless. These jewels here are of great value—

  GUIDO laughs, and hangs the pearls about her neck.

  GUIDO Do you keep them, then.

  GRACIOSA There is a world outside this kingdom. You have only to make your way through the forest to be out of Tuscany.

  GUIDO (Coolly reflective.) Perhaps I might escape, going north to Bologna, and then to Venice, which is at war with the Duke—

  GRACIOSA I can tell you the path to Bologna.

  GUIDO But first the Duke must die, because his death saves you.

  GRACIOSA No, Guido! I would have Eglamore go hence with hands as clean as possible.

  GUIDO Not even Eglamore would leave you at the mercy of this poet.

  GRACIOSA How does that matter! It is no secret that my father intends to market me as best suits his interests. And the great Duke of Florence, no less, would have been my purchaser! You heard him, "I will buy this jewel," he said. He would have paid thrice what any of my sisters' purchasers have paid. You know very well that my father would have been delighted.

  GUIDO (Since the truth of what she has just said is known to him by more startling proofs than she dreams of, he speaks rather bitterly, as he sheathes the dagger.) And I must need upset the bargain between these jewel merchants!

  GRACIOSA (Lightly.) "No, I will not have it!" Count Eglamore must cry. (Her hand upon his arm.) My dear unthrifty pedler! it cost you a great deal to speak those words.

  GUIDO I had no choice. I love you. (A pause. As GRACIOSA does not speak, GUIDO continues, very quiet at first.) It is a theme on which I shall not embroider. So long as I thought to use you as an instrument I could woo fluently enough. Today I saw that you were frightened and helpless—oh, quite helpless. And something in me changed. I knew for the first time that I loved you. And I knew I was not clean as you are clean. I knew that I had more in common with this beast here than I had with you.

  GRACIOSA (Who with feminine practicality, while the man talks, has reached her decision.) We daughters of the Valori are so much merchandise…. Heigho, since I cannot help it, since bought and sold I must be, one day or another, at least I will go at a noble price. Yet I do not think I am quite worth the wealth and power which you have given up because of me. So it will be necessary to make up the difference, dear, by loving you very much.

  GUIDO takes her hands, only half-believing that he understands her meaning. He puts an arm about her shoulder, holding her at a distance, the better to see her face.

  GUIDO You, who had only scorn to give me when I was a kingdom's master! Would you go with me now that I am homeless and friendless?

  GRACIOSA (Archly.) But to me you do not seem quite friendless.

  GUIDO GRACIOSA—!

  GRACIOSA And I doubt if you could ever find your way through the forest alone. (But as she stands there with one hand raised to each of his shoulders her vindication is self-revealed, and she indicates her bracelet rather indignantly.) Besides, what else is a poor maid to do, when she is burdened with a talisman that compels her to marry the man whom she—so very much—prefers?

  GUIDO (Drawing her to him.) Ah, you shall not regret that foolish preference.

  GRACIOSA But come! There is a path—(They are gathering up the pack and its contents, as GUIDO pauses by the DUKE.) Is he—?

  GUIDO He will not enter Hell to-day. (The DUKE stirs.) Already he revives, you see. So let us begone before his attendants come.

  GUIDO lifts her to the top of the wall. He lifts up the pack.

  GRACIOSA My lute!

  GUIDO (Giving it to her.) So we may pass for minstrels on the road to Venice.

  GRACIOSA Yes, singing the Duke's songs to pay our way. (GUIDO climbs over the wall, and stands on the far side, examining the landscape beneath.)

  Horsemen!

  GUIDO The Duke's attendants fetching him new women—two more of those numerous damsels that his song demands. They will revive this ruin
ous songmaker to rule over Tuscany more foolishly than Eglamore governed when Eglamore was a great lord. (He speaks pensively, still looking down.) It is a very rich and lovely country, this kingdom which a half-hour since lay in the hollow of my hand. Now I am empty-handed.

  GRACIOSA (With mocking reproach.) Empty-handed!