The passing shadow of the man on guard.
[The DUCHESS still stands looking at the window.]
'Twas nothing, sweet.
DUCHESS
Ay! what can harm us now, Who are in Love's hand? I do not think I'd care Though the vile world should with its lackey Slander Trample and tread upon my life; why should I?
They say the common field-flowers of the field Have sweeter scent when they are trodden on Than when they bloom alone, and that some herbs Which have no perfume, on being bruised die With all Arabia round them; so it is With the young lives this dull world seeks to crush, It does but bring the sweetness out of them, And makes them lovelier often. And besides, While we have love we have the best of life:
Is it not so?
GUIDO
Dear, shall we play or sing?
I think that I could sing now.
DUCHESS
Do not speak, For there are times when all existences Seem narrowed to one single ecstasy, And Passion sets a seal upon the lips.
GUIDO
Oh, with mine own lips let me break that seal!
You love me, Beatrice?
DUCHESS
Ay! is it not strange I should so love mine enemy?
GUIDO
Who is he?
DUCHESS
Why, you: that with your shaft did pierce my heart!
Poor heart, that lived its little lonely life Until it met your arrow.
GUIDO
Ah, dear love, I am so wounded by that bolt myself That with untended wounds I lie a-dying, Unless you cure me, dear Physician.
DUCHESS
I would not have you cured; for I am sick With the same malady.
GUIDO
Oh, how I love you!
See, I must steal the cuckoo's voice, and tell The one tale over.
DUCHESS
Tell no other tale!
For, if that is the little cuckoo's song, The nightingale is hoarse, and the loud lark Has lost its music.
GUIDO
Kiss me, Beatrice!
[She takes his face in her hands and bends down and kisses him; a loud knocking then comes at the door, and GUIDO leaps up; enter a Servant.]
SERVANT
A package for you, sir.
GUIDO
[carelessly] Ah! give it to me. [Servant hands package wrapped in vermilion silk, and exit; as GUIDO is about to open it the DUCHESS comes up behind, and in sport takes it from him.]
DUCHESS
[laughing]
Now I will wager it is from some girl Who would have you wear her favour; I am so jealous I will not give up the least part in you, But like a miser keep you to myself, And spoil you perhaps in keeping.
GUIDO
It is nothing.
DUCHESS
Nay, it is from some girl.
GUIDO
You know 'tis not.
DUCHESS
[turns her back and opens it]
Now, traitor, tell me what does this sign mean, A dagger with two leopards wrought in steel?
GUIDO
[taking it from her] O God!
DUCHESS
I'll from the window look, and try If I can't see the porter's livery Who left it at the gate! I will not rest Till I have learned your secret.
[Runs laughing into the corridor.]
GUIDO
Oh, horrible!
Had I so soon forgot my father's death, Did I so soon let love into my heart, And must I banish love, and let in murder That beats and clamours at the outer gate?
Ay, that I must! Have I not sworn an oath?
Yet not to-night; nay, it must be to-night.
Farewell then all the joy and light of life, All dear recorded memories, farewell, Farewell all love! Could I with bloody hands Fondle and paddle with her innocent hands?
Could I with lips fresh from this butchery Play with her lips? Could I with murderous eyes Look in those violet eyes, whose purity Would strike men blind, and make each eyeball reel In night perpetual? No, murder has set A barrier between us far too high For us to kiss across it.
DUCHESS
Guido!
GUIDO
Beatrice, You must forget that name, and banish me Out of your life for ever.
DUCHESS
[going towards him]
O dear love!
GUIDO
[stepping back]
There lies a barrier between us two We dare not pass.
DUCHESS
I dare do anything So that you are beside me.
GUIDO
Ah! There it is, I cannot be beside you, cannot breathe The air you breathe; I cannot any more Stand face to face with beauty, which unnerves My shaking heart, and makes my desperate hand Fail of its purpose. Let me go hence, I pray;
Forget you ever looked upon me.
DUCHESS
What!
With your hot kisses fresh upon my lips Forget the vows of love you made to me?
GUIDO
I take them back.
DUCHESS
Alas, you cannot, Guido, For they are part of nature now; the air Is tremulous with their music, and outside The little birds sing sweeter for those vows.
GUIDO
There lies a barrier between us now, Which then I knew not, or I had forgot.
DUCHESS
There is no barrier, Guido; why, I will go In poor attire, and will follow you Over the world.
GUIDO
[wildly]
The world's not wide enough To hold us two! Farewell, farewell for ever.
DUCHESS
[calm, and controlling her passion]
Why did you come into my life at all, then, Or in the desolate garden of my heart Sow that white flower of love -?
GUIDO
O Beatrice!
DUCHESS
Which now you would dig up, uproot, tear out, Though each small fibre doth so hold my heart That if you break one, my heart breaks with it?
Why did you come into my life? Why open The secret wells of love I had sealed up?
Why did you open them -?
GUIDO
O God!
DUCHESS
[clenching her hand]
And let The floodgates of my passion swell and burst Till, like the wave when rivers overflow That sweeps the forest and the farm away, Love in the splendid avalanche of its might Swept my life with it? Must I drop by drop Gather these waters back and seal them up?
Alas! Each drop will be a tear, and so Will with its saltness make life very bitter.
GUIDO
I pray you speak no more, for I must go Forth from your life and love, and make a way On which you cannot follow.
DUCHESS