University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

An Apartment in the Castle of the Marquis. Enter Salvatore and Pulti, meeting.
Pulti.
[Sings.]

Salvatore.
Why, Pulti, Pulti!

Pul.
Unearthed, at last! The fox has broken ground,
And I am holding to his brush—ho! ho!
[Laughing.]
Saint Dunstan's tongs were mercy to this hand.
O! but I have him!

Sal.
Pulti, are you crazed?

Pul.
Half mad with joy. Here is his precious plot—

Sal.
Whose plot?

Pul.
Why, Marsio's. What other fiend
Could shape one like it? Had you seen me, sir,
Just playing with him, like a well-hooked fish;
I gave him all my line.

Sal.
Now for the plot.

Pul.
Then tremble! Signore Marsio—Ho! ho!
[Laughing.]
The devil catch me! I must laugh it out.
Well, signore Marsio has hired me, me—
Me, me—his Pulti—do you understand?—
To poison you and Count Juranio.

Sal.
Ha!—Where, and how?

Pul.
O! at the feast to-night.

Sal.
In meat or wine?

Pul.
In wine. The merry ape
Would see you two pledging each other's healths;
Just for the joke's sake. Do you take it?

Sal.
Yes:
How the sky brightens after Marsio's thunder!
Bless his invention! I will match his coin.
Some paper, quickly.

Pul.
Here, sir.

[Showing paper, on a table.]
Sal.
Let me think.
Now, school of Padua, help thy dullest scholar
To mix a draught for Marsio. 'Ods blood!
I have not practised physic for so long,
That I scarce recollect the crooked things
Which stand for drachms and scruples.

Pul.
Never care
For scruples, only call the drachms to mind:
I long to dose him.

Sal.
Ah! I have it now:
It all comes back together. (Writes.)
Here we are;
Signed, Doctor Salvatore. Pulti, run—
Ask for the next apothecary—run!
Our time is short.

[Gives a paper.]
Pul.
Here is a full receipt
For all your poundings, master Marsio!

Sal.
You'll throw the drug in Marsio's cup. Fly, fly!
But where 's his poison? You must get me that.

Pul.
As soon as Marsio puts it in my hands.

Sal.
[Exit Pulti, singing.]

Sal.
Bright Cupid and dark Death
Join hands, in an unnatural fellowship,
Like morn and midnight at the northern pole;
But I can see a pathway, green with hope,
Beneath the twilight.

(Enter the Marquis di Tiburzzi.)
Marquis.
Can you spare a moment?

Sal.
Your question wrongs me: I would gladly spend
A lifetime in your service.

Marq.
I believe you:
Although men's tongues too oft outnoise their deeds,
And gain in clamor what they lose in aim.
When you approached me for my niece's hand,
I saw in you such manly qualities
As led me to receive you, not alone
As her best suitor, but as my best friend.
You are a man of action, I am not;
You are a man of hopeful vigor; cares
Soon dried my leaves of early promise up,
And age puts forth no more. Sir, I am old,
Feeble, and hopeless; I would have a friend.

Sal.
Confide in me.

Marq.
I need your confidence—
Not for myself; these gray hairs warn me oft
That I shall drop into my barren grave
Ere many seasons; but my daughter lives,
To blossom o'er my ruins, or to wither.
God only knows.

Sal.
To blossom, bear, and yield,
In holy sunshine!

Marq.
And you know her fate,—
Her vile betrothal to this Marsio?

Sal.
Did you not make it?

Marq.
No! they juggled me.
Her—Well, well, signore, I 'd not think of that.
Now, I would break the bond; but Marsio
Holds my ancestral debts, and threatens me
With whips and galleys. I could bear them all,
If that would free Costanza.

Sal.
Let me add
Another misery, then break the whole.
Your daughter loves Juranio.

Marq.
Gracious heaven!
Woe piles on woe! Had I a choice of men,
I would have picked him for her.

Sal.
Rightly too,
You would have picked the flower. Your simple word,
To follow, without flaw, what I design,
Shall free Costanza, wed her to the Count,
And ransom you.

Marq.
You mock me.

Sal.
Mock you!
No, no; I'll show you what I rest upon.

Marq.
You seem a sober man.

Sal.
To Marsio
I am fate's deputy. Crime gives a hold
Which rivets the transgressor to an end,
So helpless, that an infant's careless hand
May pull a giant to his doom.

Marq.
Crime!

Sal.
Crime.

Marq.
Dear heaven, might this be true! I know him cruel—
Ay, guilty—but not within the scope of law.

Sal.
Have I no credit?

Marq.
Yes; I yield you all—
My faith, my honor. Guide me as you list:
You cannot worst my chance.

Sal.
Then hear my tale—
More fitted to draw blood than tears, my lord:
That scheming crawler, Marsio, has hired
A man, who loves Juranio and myself,
To poison us.

Marq.
O, horror! Has the wretch
Such depths in his dark soul?

Sal.
It so appears.

Marq.
I'll hurl him from my windows! Shall a roof
That hung so long 'twixt heaven and noble men,
Fence off God's justice?

Sal.
Softly, sir, I pray!
He must attempt the poisoning, or we lose
Our grasp upon him.

Marq.
True. What cause can he
Set up to satisfy him with his crime?

Sal.
Against Juranio, 't is jealousy.

Marq.
I see. Your kinsman was the cavalier
Who met Costanza in the Park.

Sal.
No other:
And plead his suit most bravely, but in vain:
She made her love an offering for your life.

Marq.
Poor girl!

Sal.
Now, hear my mandates.

Marq.
But your plan—
What is your plan?

Sal.
It must unfold itself.
I have a shift for Marsio's every turn:
One lost, another wins.

Marq.
I am content.
'T is better with you; I have ever marred
Whate'er I touched. Lay your commands upon me.

Sal.
Provide a priest, and have such papers drawn,
As the law orders, to unite in wedlock
Costanza and Juranio. At the feast,
See you produce them when I call for them.

Marq.
It shall be done. O, signore Salvatore,
See you be well prepared upon your part.
I count my life as nothing; but my daughter,
My only daughter—Look you do not slip:
You might enrage, not foil, his villany;
And draw a double ruin on her head.

Sal.
Fear not; even now I hold such evidence
As makes the life of signore Marsio
Not worth a felon's claim. How Pulti tarries!
[Aside.]
You will pardon me, if I take leave, my lord?

Marq.
Go, signore, go. Ask me to pardon you!
God shield you, sir! You shall have all the prayers
My age may mutter, 'twixt the coming night
And that far darker night, towards which my steps,
By slow degrees, are narrowing to their end.

Sal.
Cheer, cheer, my lord! The shadows fly from us;
Day treads upon the dusky heels of night!
Even now my herald hopes fly far above,
Shaking the morning from their shining wings!
Ho! laugh, laugh, and be merry.

Marq.
Ha! ha! ha!
[Laughing.]
Your hearty courage is infectious, sir!

[Exeunt severally.]