Scene V
Marion, L’Angely
MARION (rushing to detain him).
Didier!
What do you mean? Good-by? Why this good-by?
Wherefore forget you?
[The Soldiers push her off; she approaches L’Angely with anguish.
Is he lost for this?
What did he do? What will they do to him?
L’ANGELY (takes her hand and leads her in silence before the edict).
Read this!
MARION (reads, and starts back with horror).
My God! Just God! Condemned to death!
They’ve taken him away. To kill him! Oh,
I brought this ruin on him with my cries!
I called for help, but my unhappy voice
Found death in the dark streets and brought her here.
Impossible! A duel is no crime!
[To L’Angely.
They’ll not kill him for that?
L’ANGELY.
I think they will.
Marion.
He can escape!
L’ANGELY.
The prison walls are high!
Marion.
I’ve brought this crime upon him with my sins.
God strikes him for my sake! My Didier! love!
[To L’Angely.] Nothing on earth seemed good enough for him!
A prison cell—my God! Death! Torture too!
L’ANGELY.
Perhaps! It all depends—
Marion.
I’ll find the King!
He has a royal heart; he pardons.
L’ANGELY.
Yes,
The King does, not the Cardinal.
Marion.
Then, what—
What can I do?
L’ANGELY.
A capital offense,
Nothing can save him from the fatal rope.
Marion.
Oh, grief!
[To L’Angely.] You freeze my blood, sir. Who are you?
L’ANGELY.
I’m the King’s jester!
Marion.
Oh, my Didier, love,
I’m lost, unworthy; but what God can do
With a weak woman’s hands, I’ll show to you.
Go on, my love; I follow!
[She goes out on the side from which Didier left.
L’ANGELY (alone).
God knows where!
[Picking up the sword which Didier left on the ground.
Among all these, who’d think I was the fool?
[He goes out.