GILBERT.
It is for Fabiani?
JOSHUA.
It is for Fabiani.
GILBERT.
How fortunate that man is! Maledictions on me!
JOSHUA.
Poor Gilbert! Your turn will come! To-day, it is he; to-morrow it will be you!
GILBERT.
What do you say? We are not thinking of the same thing. What are you talking about?
JOSHUA.
About the scaffold which they are building.
GILBERT.
And I--I am speaking of Jane!
JOSHUA.
Of Jane?
GILBERT.
Yes, of Jane! Only of Jane. What does the rest matter to me? You have forgotten, have you? You don"t remember that for one whole month, glued to the bars of my cell, from which I can look into the street, I have watched her, pale and sad, wandering around the base of this tower, which holds two men, Fabiani and me. You have forgotten all about my anguish, have you, and my doubts, my misgivings? For which of us does she come? Poor wretch, I ask myself this question day and night. I asked you, Joshua; and last night you promised to try to see her, and speak to her. Oh, tell me! Did you learn anything! Is it for me she comes, or is it for Fabiani?
JOSHUA.
I learned that Fabiani is certainly to be beheaded to-day, and you to-morrow, and from that moment I confess I lost my head, Gilbert.
The scaffold drove Jane entirely out of my thoughts. Your death--
GILBERT.
My death! What do you mean by that word! My death is that Jane loves me no longer. From the day that I was no longer beloved, I was dead.
Oh, yes! truly dead. Joshua, what has remained of me since that time won"t be worth taking to-morrow. Oh, Joshua, you don"t know, you can"t understand what a man is when he loves. If any one had said to me, two months ago, "Jane, your Jane without reproach, your Jane so pure, your love, your pride, your lily, your treasure, Jane will give herself to another; will you take her then?" I should have said, "No, I will not have her! rather death a thousand times for her and for myself." And I should have crushed under my feet any one who had dared to speak to me like that. If I would take her?--To-day, you know, Jane is no longer the Jane without stain, whom I adored, the Jane whose brow I hardly dared touch with my lips. Jane has given herself to another--to a wretch! I know it--and--well, it"s all the same to me. I love her! My heart is broken, but I love her! I would kiss the hem of her dress, and I would ask her pardon, if she would only take me. She might be in the gutter with those who belong there, and I would take her out, and I would hold her close to my heart, Joshua! Joshua, I would give, not a hundred years of life, since I no longer possess one day, but the eternity which will be mine to-morrow, just to see her smile at me once more--just once more before my death--and to have her say to me those dear words she used to say, "I love you." Joshua, Joshua, that is the way a man"s heart is, when he loves. You think you would kill the woman who betrays you? No, you wouldn"t kill her; you would lie at her feet afterward, the same as before, only you would be sad. You think I am weak? What should I have gained in killing Jane? Oh, my heart will burst with all these unbearable thoughts! If she only loved me now, what would it matter to me, what she has done? But she loves Fabiani! But she loves Fabiani! It is for Fabiani that she comes here! There is one thing that is sure, it is that I want to die. Have pity on me, Joshua!
JOSHUA.
Fabiani will die to-day.
GILBERT.
And I to-morrow.
JOSHUA.
G.o.d is above all.
GILBERT.
I will be revenged on him to-day. To-morrow, he will be revenged on me!
JOSHUA.
My brother, here is the second constable of the Tower, Master Eneas Dulverton. You must go in. I will see you again to-night.
GILBERT.
Oh, to die without being beloved! To have no one to weep for us!
Jane! Jane! Jane!
[_Re-enters his cell._
JOSHUA.
Poor Gilbert! Good G.o.d! Who could have foretold that what has happened would happen?
[_Goes out. Enter Simon Renard and Master Eneas._
SCENE II
Simon Renard, Master Eneas Dulverton
SIMON RENARD.
As you say, it is very extraordinary. But what can you expect? The Queen is crazy. She doesn"t know what she wants. You can"t count upon anything. She is a woman. I would like to know what she is here for.
Well! a woman"s heart is a riddle of which King Francis I. wrote the solution on that pane of gla.s.s at Chambord--
"A woman"s heart is most capricious; Who trusts her, finds life not propitious."
Listen to me, Master Eneas. We are old friends; we must get through with this thing to-day. Everything here depends upon you. If you are ordered--[_He whispers to Eneas_] be slow about it; let it fall through skillfully. Let me have two clear hours before me to-night, and what I want will be accomplished; to-morrow there will be no favorite. I shall be all-powerful, and you will be baronet and lieutenant of the Tower the day after. Do you understand?
MASTER ENEAS.
I understand.
SIMON RENARD.
Very well. Some one is coming. We must not be seen together. Go out that way. I am going to meet the Queen. [_They separate._