SACCO and CALCAGNO (starting up with emotion). Gianettino Doria!
BERTHA (with a shriek, seeing BOURGOGNINO enter). Cover me, walls, beneath your ruins! My Scipio!
SCENE XII.
BOURGOGNINO--the former.
BOURGOGNINO (with ardor). Rejoice, my love! I bring good tidings.
n.o.ble Verrina, my heaven now depends upon a word from you. I have long loved your daughter, but never dared to ask her hand, because my whole fortune was intrusted to the treacherous sea. My ships have just now reached the harbor laden with valuable cargoes. Now I am rich. Bestow your Bertha on me--I will make her happy. (BERTHA hides her face--a profound pause.)
VERRINA. What, youth! Wouldst thou mix thy heart"s pure tide with a polluted stream?
BOURGOGNINO (clasps his hand to his sword, but suddenly draws it back).
"Twas her father said it.
VERRINA. No--every rascal in Italy will say it. Are you contented with the leavings of other men"s repasts?
BOURGOGNINO. Old man, do not make me desperate.
CALCAGNO. Bourgognino! he speaks the truth.
BOURGOGNINO (enraged, rushing towards BERTHA). The truth? Has the girl then mocked me?
CALCAGNO. No! no! Bourgognino. The girl is spotless as an angel.
BOURGOGNINO (astonished). By my soul"s happiness, I comprehend it not!
Spotless, yet dishonored! They look in silence on each other. Some horrid crime hangs on their trembling tongues. I conjure you, friends, mock not thus my reason. Is she pure? Is she truly so? Who answers for her?
VERRINA. My child is guiltless.
BOURGOGNINO. What! Violence! (s.n.a.t.c.hes the sword from the ground.) Be all the sins of earth upon my bead if I avenge her not! Where is the spoiler?
VERRINA. Seek him in the plunderer of Genoa! (BOURGOGNINO struck with astonishment--VERRINA walks up and down the room in deep thought, then stops.) If rightly I can trace thy counsels, O eternal Providence! it is thy will to make my daughter the instrument of Genoa"s deliverance.
(Approaching her slowly, takes the mourning c.r.a.pe from his arm, and proceeds in a solemn manner.) Before the heart"s blood of Doria shall wash away this foul stain from thy honor no beam of daylight shall shine upon these cheeks. Till then (throwing the c.r.a.pe over her) be blind! (A pause--the rest look upon him with silent astonishment; he continues solemnly, his hand upon BERTHA"S head.) Cursed be the air that shall breathe on thee! Cursed the sleep that shall refresh thee! Cursed every human step that shall come to sooth thy misery! Down, into the lowest vault beneath my house! There whine, and cry aloud! (pausing with inward horror.) Be thy life painful as the tortures of the writhing worm-- agonizing as the stubborn conflict between existence and annihilation.
This curse lie on thee till Gianettino shall have heaved forth his dying breath. If he escape his punishment, then mayest thou drag thy load of misery throughout the endless circle of eternity!
[A deep silence--horror is marked on the countenances of all present. VERRINA casts a scrutinizing look at each of them.
BOURGOGNINO. Inhuman father! What is it thou hast done? Why pour forth this horrible and monstrous curse against thy guiltless daughter?
VERRINA. Youth, thou say"st true!--it is most horrible. Now who among you will stand forth and prate still of patience and delay? My daughter"s fate is linked with that of Genoa. I sacrifice the affections of a father to the duties of a citizen. Who among us is so much a coward as to hesitate in the salvation of his country, when this poor guiltless being must pay for his timidity with endless sufferings? By heavens, "twas not a madman"s speech! I have sworn an oath, and till Doria lie in the agonies of death I will show no mercy to my child. No--not though, like an executioner, I should invent unheard-of torments for her, or with my own hands rend her innocent frame piecemeal on the barbarous rack.
You shudder--you stare at me with ghastly faces. Once more, Scipio--I keep her as a hostage for the tyrant"s death. Upon this precious thread do I suspend thy duty, my own, and yours (to SACCO and CALCAGNO). The tyrant of Genoa falls, or Bertha must despair--I retract not.
BOURGOGNINO (throwing himself at BERTHA"S feet). He shall fall--shall fall a victim to Genoa. I will as surely sheathe this sword in Doria"s heart as upon thy lips I will imprint the bridal kiss. (Rises.)
VERRINA. Ye couple, the first that ever owed their union to the Furies, join hands! Thou wilt sheathe thy sword in Doria"s heart? Take her! she is thine!
CALCAGNO (kneeling). Here kneels another citizen of Genoa and lays his faithful sword before the feet of innocence. As surely may Calcagno find the way to heaven as this steel shall find its way to Gianettino"s heart!
(Rises.)
SACCO (kneeling). Last, but not less determined, Raffaelle Sacco kneels.
If this bright steel unlock not the prison doors of Bertha, mayest thou, my Saviour, shut thine ear against my dying prayers! (Rises.)
VERRINA (with a calm look). Through me Genoa thanks you. Now go, my daughter; rejoice to be the mighty sacrifice for thy country!
BOURGOGNINO (embracing her as she is departing). Go! confide in G.o.d--and Bourgognino. The same day shall give freedom to Bertha and to Genoa.
[BERTHA retires.
SCENE XIII.
The former--without BERTHA.
CALCAGNO. Genoese, before we take another step, one word----
VERRINA. I guess what you would say.
CALCAGNO. Will four patriots alone be sufficient to destroy this mighty hydra? Shall we not stir up the people to rebellion, or draw the n.o.bles in to join our party?
VERRINA. I understand you. Now hear my advice; I have long engaged a painter who has been exerting all his skill to paint the fall of Appius Claudius. Fiesco is an adorer of the arts, and soon warmed by enn.o.bling scenes. We will send this picture to his house, and will be present when he contemplates it. Perhaps the sight may rouse his dormant spirit.
Perhaps----
BOURGOGNINO. No more of him. Increase the danger, not the sharers in it. So valor bids. Long have I felt a something within my breast that nothing would appease. What "twas now bursts upon me (springing up with enthusiasm); "twas a tyrant!
[The scene closes.
ACT II.
SCENE I.--An Ante-chamber in the Palace of FIESCO.
LEONORA and ARABELLA.
ARABELLA. No, no, you were mistaken: your eyes were blinded by jealousy.
LEONORA. It was Julia to the life. Seek not to persuade me otherwise.
My picture was suspended by a sky-blue ribbon: this was flame-colored.
My doom is fixed irrevocably.
SCENE II.