Mel. I foresee it all. She will tell me that desert is the true rank.
She will give me a badge--a flower--a glove! Oh rapture! I shall join the armies of the republic--I shall rise--I shall win a name that beauty will not blush to hear. I shall return with the right to say to her--"See, how love does not level the proud, but raise the--humble!"
Oh, how my heart swells within me!--Oh, what glorious prophets of the future are youth and hope!
[Knock at the door.]
Widow. Come in.
Enter GASPAR.
Mel. Welcome, Gaspar, welcome. Where is the letter? Why do you turn away, man? where is the letter? [GASPAR gives him one.] This! This is mine, the one I intrusted to thee. Didst thou not leave it?
Gaspar. Yes, I left it.
Mel. My own verses returned to me. Nothing else!
Gaspar. Thou wilt be proud to hear how thy messenger was honored.
For thy sake, Melnotte, I have borne that which no Frenchman can bear without disgrace.
Mel. Disgrace, Gaspar! Disgrace?
Gaspar. I gave thy letter to the porter, who pa.s.sed it from lackey to lackey till it reached the lady it was meant for.
Mel. It reached her, then; you are sure of that! It reached her,--well, well!
Gaspar. It reached her, and was returned to me with blows. Dost hear, Melnotte? with blows! Death! are we slaves still, that we are to be thus dealt with, we peasants?
Mel. With blows? No, Gaspar, no; not blows!
Gaspar. I could show thee the marks if it were not so deep a shame to bear them. The lackey who tossed thy letter into the mire swore that his lady and her mother never were so insulted. What could thy letter contain, Claude?
Mel. [looking over the letter]. Not a line that a serf might not have written to an empress. No, not one.
Gaspar. They promise thee the same greeting they gave me, if thou wilt pa.s.s that way. Shall we endure this, Claude?
Mel. [wringing GASPAR"s hand]. Forgive me, the fault was mine, I have brought this on thee; I will not forget it; thou shalt be avenged! The heartless insolence!
Gaspar. Thou art moved, Melnotte; think not of me; I would go through fire and water to serve thee; but,--a blow! It is not the bruise that galls,--it is the blush, Melnotte.
Mel. Say, what message?--How insulted!--Wherefore?--What the offence?
Gaspar. Did you not write to Pauline Deschappelles, the daughter of the rich merchant?
Mel. Well?
Gaspar. And are you not a peasant--a gardener"s son?--that was the offence. Sleep on it, Melnotte. Blows to a French citizen, blows! [Exit.
Widow. Now you are cured, Claude!
Mel. tearing the letter. So do I scatter her image to the winds--I will stop her in the open streets--I will insult her--I will beat her menial ruffians--I will--[Turns suddenly to Widow.] Mother, am I humpbacked--deformed--hideous? Widow. You!
Mel. A coward--a thief--a liar?
Widow. You!
Mel. Or a dull fool--a vain, drivelling, brainless idiot? Widow. No, no.
Mel. What am I then--worse than all these? Why, I am a peasant! What has a peasant to do with love? Vain revolutions, why lavish your cruelty on the great? Oh that we--we, the hewers of wood and drawers of water--had been swept away, so that the proud might learn what the world would be without us! [Knock at the door.
Enter Servant from the Inn.
Servant. A letter for Citizen Melnotte.
Mel. A letter! from her perhaps--who sent thee?
Servant. Why, Monsieur--I mean Citizen--Beauseant, who stops to dine at the Golden Lion, on his way to his chateau.
Mel. Beauseant!--[Reads].
"Young man, I know thy secret--thou lovest above thy station: if thou hast wit, courage, and discretion, I can secure to thee the realization of thy most sanguine hopes; and the sole condition I ask in return is, that thou shalt be steadfast to thine own ends. I shall demand from thee a solemn oath to marry her whom thou lovest; to bear her to thine home on thy wedding night. I am serious--if thou wouldst learn more, lose not a moment, but follow the bearer of this letter to thy friend and patron,--CHARLES BEAUSEANT."
Mel. Can I believe my eyes? Are our own pa.s.sions the sorcerers that raise up for us spirits of good or evil? I will go instantly.
Widow. What is this, Claude?
Mel. "Marry her whom thou lovest,"--"bear her to thine own home."-- Oh, revenge and love; which of you is the stronger?--[Gazing on the picture.] Sweet face, thou smilest on me from the canvas: weak fool that I am, do I then love her still? No, it is the vision of my own romance that I have worshipped: it is the reality to which I bring scorn for scorn. Adieu, mother: I will return anon. My brain reels--the earth swims before me.--[Looks again at the letter.] No, it is not a mockery; I do not dream! [Exit.
ACT II.--SCENE I.
The Gardens of M. DESCHAPPELLEs" house at Lyons--the house seen at the back of the stage.
Enter BEAUSEANT and GLAVIS.
Beau. Well, what think you of my plot? Has it not succeeded to a miracle? The instant that I introduced his Highness the Prince of Como to the pompous mother and the scornful daughter, it was all over with them: he came--he saw--he conquered: and, though it is not many days since he arrived, they have already promised him the hand of Pauline.
Gla. It is lucky, though, that you told them his highness travelled incognito, for fear the Directory (who are not very fond of princes) should lay him by the heels; for he has a wonderful wish to keep up his rank, and scatters our gold about with as much coolness as if he were watering his own flower-pots.
Beau. True, he is d.a.m.nably extravagant; I think the sly dog does it out of malice. How ever, it must be owned that he reflects credit on his loyal subjects, and makes a very pretty figure in his fine clothes, with my diamond snuff-box.
Gla. And my diamond ring! But do you think he will be firm to the last?
I fancy I see symptoms of relenting: he will never keep up his rank, if he once let out his conscience.
Beau. His oath binds him! he cannot retract without being foresworn, and those low fellows are always superst.i.tious! But, as it is, I tremble lest he be discovered: that bluff Colonel Damas (Madame Deschappelles"
cousin) evidently suspects him: we must make haste and conclude the farce: I have thought of a plan to end it this very day.
Gla. This very day! Poor Pauline: her dream will be soon over.
Beau. Yes, this day they shall be married; this evening, according to his oath, he shall carry his bride to the Golden Lion, and then pomp, equipage, retinue, and t.i.tle, all shall vanish at once; and her Highness the Princess shall find that she has refused the son of a Marquis, to marry the son of a gardener.--Oh, Pauline! once loved, now hated, yet still not relinquished, thou shalt drain the cup to the dregs,--thou shalt know what it is to be humbled!