MARION.
Whose knees must I embrace-- His Majesty"s or yours?
THE KING (_astonished, examining Marion: aside_).
What does this mean?
Is this a trap?
L"ANGELY (_giving parchment to Marion_).
Here is the pardon. Take it!
[_Marion kisses it, and puts it in her bosom._
THE KING (_aside_).
Have I been duped?
[_To Marion._] One instant! Give it back!
MARION.
Good G.o.d!
[_To The King, with courage, touching her breast._
Come here and take it, and tear out My heart as well!
[_The King stops and steps backward, much embarra.s.sed._
L"ANGELY (_low to Marion_).
Good! Keep it, and be firm!
His Majesty won"t take it, there!
THE KING (_to Marion_).
Give it To me!
MARION.
Take it, my sire!
THE KING (_casting down his eyes_).
Who is this siren?
L"ANGELY (_low to Marion_).
He wouldn"t touch the corset of the Queen!
THE KING (_after a moment"s hesitation, dismisses Marion with a gesture without looking at her_).
Well, go!
MARION (_bowing profoundly to The King_).
I"ll fly to save the prisoners! [_Exits._
L"ANGELY (_to The King_).
She"s sister to Didier, the falconer.
THE KING.
She can be what she will. It"s very strange, The way she made me drop my eyes! Made me, A man-- [_Silence._ Fool, you have played a trick on me!
I"ll have to pardon you a second time.
L"ANGELY.
Yes, do it! Every time they grant a pardon, Kings lift a dreary weight from off their hearts.
THE KING.
You speak the truth. I always suffer when La Greve holds court. Nangis was right: the dead Serve n.o.body. To fill Montfaucon I make a desert of the Louvre!
[_Walking rapidly._ "Tis treason To strike my right of pardon out, before My face. What can I do? Disarmed, dethroned, And fallen: in this man absorbed, as in A sepulcher! His cloak becomes my shroud: My people mourn for me as for the dead.
I am resolved: those two boys shall not die!
The joy of living is a heavenly gift.
[_After reflection._ G.o.d, who knows where we go, can ope the tomb; A king cannot. Back to their families I give them; that old man, that fair young girl, Will bless me. It is said: I"ve signed it--I, The King. The Cardinal will be furious, But it will please Bellegarde.
L"ANGELY.
One can, sometimes, Be kingly by mistake.
_ACT V_
THE CARDINAL
Scene.--_Beaugency. The tower of Beaugency. A courtyard; the tower in the background, all around a high wall. To the left, a tall arched door; to the right, a small rounded door in the wall; near the door a stone table and stone bench_
SCENE I
_Some Workmen. They are pulling down a corner of the back wall on the left. The demolition is almost completed_
FIRST WORKMAN (_working with his pickax_).