Act IV Scene. Same as Act III — Duke Discovered Seated in Attitude of Despair — Gouroc Standing Near Mantel — La Rochejacquelein Enters Sadly
Duke
[Rising anxiously.]
What news?
La Roche
None.
[The DUKE sinks back into chair.
Gouroc
Then she has positively escaped?
La Roche
While we stood dazed with horror at her words—she vanished. Our soldiers have searched, but can find no trace of her.
Duke
[Starting up.]
I will find her!
La Roche
[Barring his way.]
This is madness.
Duke
Let me pass!
La Roche
Hear me!
Duke
While I listen, she is lost!—An army shall not stop me.
[Breaks from him towards door.
Denise
[Entering joyfully.]
She is found!
All
Found?
Denise
Yes. Jean tracked her,—they are bringing her here.
Jean
[Entering.]
General, I have not failed.
La Roche
[Grasping his hand.]
You never do.
La Hogue enters first, followed by two GUARDS, whom he directs to the entrance at top of steps.—DIANE enters, followed by two GUARDS.
Diane
[To LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN.]
By what authority, Monsieur, am I arrested?
Duke
By mine. I am your father.
Diane
My marriage has set me free of parental rule. I claim the right to fly from those who have defamed my noble husband. General, command your soldiers to release me!
Gouroc
No!—You shall not go.
Diane
What will prevent me?
Gouroc
The force of your own honour.
Diane
Honour commands me to return to my husband’s friends.
Gouroc
Honour commands you to keep your word with me.
[DIANE starts and turns away.]
You promised, if I saved your father, and you were free, you’d be my wife.—I have done my part, you must do yours.
Diane
[Passionately, to GOUROC.]
Now I understand your joy when you read of the beheadal of the man who took my father’s place!—You knew he was my husband.
Gouroc
I did.
Diane
You planned his death to free and force me to this marriage.
Gouroc
I did not learn that you were his wife till he was going to the guillotine.—Then he told me all, confiding you to my care. I promised him I’d shield you from all peril.—I but keep my word with him, in asking you to keep your word with me.
Diane
So you would wed the widow of a Sans Culotte?
Gouroc
Your husband was my friend; I knew and honoured him.
Diane
Ah, you believe, then, that Potin lied when he declared he got the warrant for the Duke’s arrest from Paul Kauvar?
Gouroc
I now believe that your husband was the victim of a trick.
Diane
Then swear—before those who have heard the dead defamed—swear that you believe my husband was innocent of infamy.
Gouroc
[With deep sincerity.]
As I hope for mercy from my God, I believe that Paul Kauvar was guiltless of dishonour.
Diane
[Impressed with his sincerity.]
Then his widow swears to keep her word with you.
[She extends her hand to GOUROC.
La Hogue crosses, up steps, to GUARDS, and directs them silently to exit.—They about-face, and go out.
Gouroc
[Aside, triumphantly kissing DIANE’S hand.]
At last!
[Howls of execration outside.]
What is that?
La Roche
The mob howling at some captured rebels.
[Enter ORDERLY, who presents paper.]
[Reading paper, LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN speaks to ORDERLY.]
Conduct the prisoner here.
[Exit ORDERLY.]
[Turning to DIANE.]
Cousin, I must ask you to retire. We have secret business to transact.
Duke
[Giving DIANE his arm.]
We will await you in my daughter’s room.
[To GOUROC.]
Marquis, we can complete the plans for your marriage and escape to England.
[Exeunt DIANE, DUKE, JEAN, DENISE and GOUROC.
Gouroc
[Aside, as he goes out.]
Now I know that I shall triumph!
La Roche
[To LA HOGUE.]
When and where were these prisoners secured?
La Hogue
At dawn this morning, in the centre of the Faubourg. They fought like fiends! Their leader is a veritable lion.—Though overcome by numbers, he don’t seem conquered in the least!—Hang my hide! I cannot help but like him!
[Howls renewed outside.
Orderly
[Entering.]
The prisoner is here, General.
La Roche
Bring him in.
[ORDERLY beckons.—Yells outside. GUARDS enter and form on terrace behind entrance.—Enter PRISONER, who strides haughtily in.]
[To ORDERLY.]
Retire and guard the doors.
[ORDERLY right-faces.—GUARD goes of with ORDERLY.]
[Politely to PRISONER.]
I see, sir, you’re an officer.
Prisoner
Yes.—Captain of Volunteers in the ranks of the Republic.
La Roche
To what corps do you belong?
Prisoner
Kleber’s—who waits upon the banks of the river to cut off your retreat.
La Roche
[Smiling.]
We do not propose to retreat, but to advance.
Prisoner
Before another day you will be driven, routed, into the heart of Vendée.
La Roche
If boasting wins, your side will doubtless better ours.
Prisoner
If blows win—your side is sure to fail. You’ve not a regiment that’s trained better than a pack of boys!
La Hogue
I wish he were a liar, but he isn’t.
La Roche
Our boys struck hard enough, it seems, to capture you.
Prisoner
We were ten, surprised by a battalion, and yet it cost you nearly fifty of your friends to take but ten of us.
La Hogue
There he goes again riddling us with facts.
La Roche
Sir,—you know there is no quarter given to traitors found in arms against the King.
Prisoner
France has no sovereign but the people.—It is you who are the traitors.
La Roche
Answer civilly and I may show you mercy.
Prisoner
I neither ask, nor accept mercy. I have done my best to deal a crushing blow to you.—So call your guards, and shoot me without more waste of words.
La Roche
I see that you are brave.
Prisoner
Brave? Because I’m not afraid to die?
[Laughs bitterly.]
Bah! It takes more courage sometimes to consent to live.
La Roche
You are young, a Frenchman, and—though misled—a credit to your country. If you’ll give me some excuse, I swear I’d rather spare your life.
Prisoner
[Laughing.]
Thank you, General; but frankly, I’d rather give you some excuse to take it.
Tremendous explosion heard in the distance. Then a second explosion. The Faubourg in middle ground is blown up and is seen to burn into a blaze.
La Roche
My God!—See!—The Faubourg!
Prisoner
[Triumphantly.]
Blown up and burning!—In an hour the houses that were to shelter your attack on our defenses will be gone, and you will have to fight our forces in the open field.—That means defeat for you.
La Hogue
Sacristi! Gag this rogue, or we’ll be whipped before we fight.
La Rochejacquelein writes hastily, and strikes a bell. Enter GOUROC, who starts and goes out again with a gesture of menace towards the PRISONER. Enter ORDERLY.
La Roche
[To ORDERLY.]
Despatch these orders instantly, and send a guard with loaded muskets here at once.
[Exit ORDERLY.]
[Turning despondently to LA HOGUE.]
I fear this is a death-blow to our plans to-night.
Prisoner
A death-blow dealt by me!—You’d better kill me quickly before I do more damage.
La Roche
You are right, sir; I should be faithless to my King if I showed you mercy now.
Prisoner
Bravo! Mercy to enemies is as base as cruelty to friends.
La Hogue
Damn me! There’s no fun in killing such a fool—he seems to like it!
[Enter ORDERLY with GUARDS.
La Roche
[To ORDERLY.]
Take the prisoner outside and shoot him there at once.
[GUARD crosses to PRISONER.]
Have you any last request?
Prisoner
But one.—You have shown me the kindness of an honest-hearted man. War has made us enemies, but, in the presence of the peace of death, I would like to feel that as Frenchmen we are friends, and ask one parting grasp from you.
La Roche
[Grasps his hand.]
With all my heart!—May we meet like this above.
La Hogue
[With emotion.]
Curse these youngsters, they make me snivel like a fool.
[_He blows his nose furiously.
The_ PRISONER bows, takes his place in the platoon of GUARDS, who begin to march off. When they are on the terrace, LA HOGUE suddenly cries out.
La Hogue
Halt!—
[ORDERLY about-faces and waits for orders.]
You have not given us your name.
Prisoner
I prefer to let it die with me.
La Hogue
Hang it, sir! Courage is glorious even in a rebel rascal like yourself.
La Roche
Some friend may be glad to know how fearlessly you met your fate.
Prisoner
The only ears I’d care to reach would rather never hear my name again.
La Hogue
But curse your stubbornness! I want to know your name myself. Can’t you be civil as well as brave?
Prisoner
[Laughing.]
Well, then, to please your gentle highness, I must give it. I am Captain on the Staff of General Kleber—Captain Kauvar.
LA ROCHE and LA HOGUE.
[Starting.]
Kauvar?
Paul
Yes—Captain Paul Kauvar.
La Roche
[Turning amazed to LA HOGUE.]
What do you think of this?
La Hogue
That if I had a regiment of Paul Kauvar’s, I’d conquer Europe.
La Roche
My cousin’s husband was guillotined. There’s some mistake.
[To GUARD.]
Leave the prisoner, and wait outside for orders.
Paul
[Stopping the GUARD.]
Stay!—
[ORDERLY waits for further orders.]
[To LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN.]
General, I beg of you to spare me further waiting.—Make an end of this.
La Roche
When I have questioned you again.
Paul
I shall refuse to answer further questions.
La Roche
I may find a way to break your silence.
Paul
I swear you cannot do it.
La Roche
[Motions GUARDS to go.]
[ORDERLY about-faces, goes on to terrace. GUARDS then march off.]
We shall see! You’ve given a name that’s not your own.
[PAUL starts, but remains silent.]
Paul Kauvar was guillotined the night of the ninth of May.
[PAUL turns, amazed but silent.]
He died to save my kinsman, the Duc de Beaumont.
[PAUL, about to speak, checks himself.]
He was the husband of my cousin.
Paul
[Exploding.]
Diane—your cousin?
La Roche
Ha! I thought I’d make you speak.
Paul
[Eagerly.]
You know her?—She has escaped?—Is safe?—alive?—happy?
La Roche
Oh, ho!—So you would turn the tables—question me?
Paul
Is she alive and well?—I ask to know but this.
La Roche
I’ll tell you more, if you will answer first my questions.
Paul
All!—that do not force me to betray my cause.
La Roche
Explain!—You escaped the guillotine?
Paul
The story is too long.
La Roche
Make it brief, but answer.
Paul
In the death-cart I found a priest confessing those about him. He questioned me, soon saw that I was not the Duke. “My child,” he said, “I die to-day, but as a priest shall be the last to mount the scaffold.—Let me take your place, assume the same disguise, while you slip from the cart and live.” At first I refused, as I no longer cared for life! But when he said Diane might not escape unless I lived to aid her, I yielded.—The night was cloudy. When the moon was hidden, the priest put on my coat and wig, and as the death-cart neared the scaffold, I slipped through its slatted floor, and in the darkness mingled with the crowd.
La Roche
Who was the holy man who set you free?
Paul
The Abbé de St. Simon.
La Roche
Strange! We heard the Abbé had escaped.
Paul
He answered when the Duke was called and so was guillotined; but when the Abbé’s turn had come, they could not find him, and so gave out that he’d escaped.
La Roche
Yes, I understand it now.—Proceed!
Paul
I found Diane had gone, believing I was guilty of a most ignoble crime. Too sick at heart to follow her, I enlisted and, seeking death, obtained promotion to my present grade.
La Roche
What if your willingness to die to save her father had convinced Diane that you were innocent, and had taught her a deeper love for you?
Paul
Ah! Then life would be worth living once again!—Can you have heard from her—seen her?
La Roche
You can see her for yourself—save your own life—and bring boundless joy to hers.
Paul
How?
La Roche
Espouse our cause!
Paul
What!—Betray my country?
La Roche
No.—Redeem your country!—Desert the side of those who bring disgrace upon your native land—of fiends, who drown her soil in blood!—blood bred from the noblest heroes of her history.
Paul
Heroes who debauched our women, and enslaved our men!—Libertines who let harlots reign in France! Despots whose arrogant descendants are crushed to-day beneath their fathers’ sins!
La Roche
What, sir! You, a soldier, justify these Jacobins—anarchists like Carrac, who slaughter hundreds of defenceless women every day, and even outrage little children?
Paul
Anarchists are monsters your race bred when it brutalized their mothers.
La Roche
Enough, sir! I see that I must leave you to your fate.
Paul
But Diane, my wife! Give me one word of her.
La Roche
Yes. You shall know that she believes you innocent, is sick with grief and desolation in thinking you are dead.
Paul
You have seen her, then?
La Roche
Yes—here, within an hour.
Paul
She is here now, within call—?
[LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN makes sign of assent. PAUL kneels at his feet.]
My God! In pity’s name, let me see her once again.
La Roche
And so re-open the old wounds?—re-awaken hope, but to deepen her despair?
Paul
[Rising slowly.]
No, no! You’re right. I will not purchase joy at the cost of pain to her!—Call your guards. I die happy, knowing she’ll remember me with love.
La Roche
For her sake renounce rebellion, and I unite you both forever.
Paul
Better I should never see her face again than be unworthy of her love.
La Hogue
Great Cæsar! Here’s an eagle facing death in loyalty to carrion crows!—The noble bird is mad! We must not kill, but cure him.
La Roche
What do you propose?
La Hogue
Put him on parole. Let him give his word that he’ll not fight until he’s exchanged.
La Roche
True! Captain Kauvar, you are a prisoner of war, a man of proven honour.—Give me your word that you will not lift your sword against the King, till you’re exchanged, and you’re paroled and free.
Paul
Free with honour, to see my wife once more?
La Roche
Yes!
Paul
Oh, generous foe! Next to my country, my life belongs to you.
La Roche
I have your word?
Paul
[Raising his hand.]
You have.
La Roche
Captain Kauvar, you are paroled.
Paul
And my wife?
La Roche
[Going.]
Shall come to you at once.
[Exit.
Paul
Great heavens!—I’m going mad with joy!
[Turning to LA HOGUE.]
Colonel, I must explode or die!
[He embraces LA HOGUE.
La Hogue
[Submitting with gusto.]
Damme! Embraced by a Sans Culotte! I like it, too!
Artillery is heard in the distance.
Paul
[Looking off.]
By heavens!—The Republicans are sweeping down from Granville!
[To LA HOGUE.]
Colonel, see! My comrades have attacked you under cover of the town I burned.
[Crash of artillery again.
La Hogue
Damnation!
Enter LA ROCHEJACQUELEIN.
Orderly
[Rushing in.]
General, the enemy are upon us!
La Roche
[Excitedly to LA HOGUE.]
Quick!—To arms!—We must rouse and lead our men!
Paul
But Diane—my wife?
La Roche
Gone!—to England.
[Handing a paper.]
Read, and remember, whatever be my fate, you are on parole.
[He rushes off with LA HOGUE.
The crash of firearms increases.
Paul
[Reading.]
“Dear Henri:—The town is burning, my daughter in peril. I see Diane embarked for England, and join you on the field.—Duc de Beaumont.”—Gone!—No! I will find her, and fly with her myself.
[Noise of battle outside.—PAUL is about to go, but stops.]
No, no! My God!—She’s lost to me again! I cannot go to seek her, for I’m a prisoner on parole!
[He falls prostrate on the stairs.
CURTAIN.