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146
Scene III.
[The King's Private Chamber. The Prince has asked to see his father alone before giving his answer to the ambassador from Portugal, in regard to the proposed political marriage. The King and Carlos.]The King
Carlos, since first I gave you to the light,
Never a cloud has come between us two.
This is the first, dispel it now with speed!
Carlos
Father!
The King
I have not been o'er-strict with you,
Never asserted a mere father's right.
But we have been as friends; never before
Have you refused me confidence; yet now
You stand in guarded silence which I loathe,
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'Tis this I hate, not any folly done,
Whate'er it be; but that you will not speak
To me, to me, at least.
Carlos
But I will speak;
Forgive me whatsoe'er I shall disclose;
Father, your life serene to all is known,
Your days ascetic, and, my mother dead,
Never a woman has had power on you.
The King
O, it is that way, is it; so I guessed;
[Taking his son's arm, he walks to and fro with him in a friendly fashion.]
Listen! A young man's trouble, natural
To youth, appears to stay you from this marriage.
'Tis difficult to take a solemn view,
[The Prince starts.]
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That you are free with me; I have the right.
I'll save your blushing cheek and stammering tongue;
Hunting perhaps the deer, or walking lone
Through distant villages, you saw some maid,
Simple and sweet amid our summer fields,
Her beauty breathing fragrant as the hay,
And lingering with her in a twilight lane,
Followed the kiss and then the uttered word,
By passion sped, repented in the cold.
Carlos
No, no, you understand me not at all.
The King
Too well I understand. But I would tell you
I cannot take this prank of blood as grave.
[Laughing as he walks with the Prince to and fro.]
Twilight, a hedge of may, and coming stars,
A face amid the dimness! All is said.
Confess now, I have hit you.
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Father, no!
The King
Still, still you will not satisfy me, boy;
Have I not made confession's pathway soft?
And yet you will not tread it. Silent still!
Now I will humble my white hair to you,
And tell you, I myself, young then as you,
Was drawn into sweet folly; but the throne
Demanded me and all this people's care.
Then I dismissed each wanton, wandering thought,
And set my teeth and rose to sterner things.
And this you too must do; the occasion cries
Aloud for sacrifice of crude desires,
It asks for wisdom, wildness put aside.
Carlos
Pity me, father!
The King
Now that I have bent
So far, as to unfold to my own son
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That you should open to me all your soul?
Come, come! Some girl you cannot bring to court.
Carlos
No, for she is already of the court!
The King
Ah, this is better. For at least this fault
Was with some lady nobly born?
Carlos
'Tis so.
She hath been nobly born, and in her face,
Her step, the certain proof of lineage high.
The King
But there hath been no secret marriage, speak!
Carlos
As yet no marriage!
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Then my fears are o'er.
All this is easy, and what seems to you
So tangled, this Gonzaga can unravel,
For he is ripe and still and unsurprised.
You say it is some lady in my court.
I'll not demand her name; unless you give it,
And be assured, for my own sake that name
Shall never be divulged.
Carlos
Sir, you have been
So open and so much a trusted friend
All those past years, and now you show yourself
So easy with me that I'll not keep back
The name of her I love.
The King
You love? Ah well!—
Carlos
Believe me that I do.
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[Similing.]
I once thought so.
Well, well?
Carlos
The name I call her is Christina.
[The King starts back, grasping the rail of the throne; there is a breathless pause.]
Father, I know not of her parentage,
Nor who her mother and her father were;
It is sufficient that she is received
Among the noble ladies of your court.
So much for that; but that her blood is proud,
You, you yourself—if you would scan her close,
Could not deny; even royal I would take her,
But that I know that here she would not stand
Attending, came she true from royalty.
The King
[With difficulty recovering speech.]
But there has been no marriage.
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No, not yet.
The King
O boy, be frank with me; I am very old,
If only then that I am old refuse not
Answer!
Carlos
I will not. All things I will tell.
The King
Then how far has this matter gone, say, say!
You think me too impatient, but impatience
Is due to tremulous age. I understand
Almost without the telling, it has been
The kiss forbidden and the secret speech
And ancient poetry beneath the moon,
The touch of hand—yes, yes, perhaps the clasp,
When the last star is fading to the dawn,
No more?—You understand, I press you not.
But there hath been no more?
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There has been more.
The King
But you two, you are not abandoned yet
To the act of fire?
Carlos
Even to the act of fire.
The King
God, God!
Carlos
O, Sir, you say that you yourself
Were in your youth not guiltless, why of me
Ask such a dread account? Father, I love you,
I love you, ah forgive me.
The King
I love you.
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Then here I kneel, I pray you to forgive me,
I will not loose your knees till you relent.
The King
[Kissing the bent head of the Prince]
I kiss you as of old.
Carlos
I feel your tears
Drop on my hair.
The King
Vain tears of an old man.
But one thing else; so far then things have gone
Between you, but no issue of that act?
Carlos
Alas! I have just learned from her own lips
That I have brought new life into this world.
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O Thou, that sittest in Thy heaven, relent!
They say that when a thing is done 'tis done.
It is a lie; our lightest act takes wings,
And is made free of space for evermore.
Carlos
But, father, though a child is born to me
Out of this passion and none borne to you,
Am I therefore more guilty than yourself?
And for this reason now am I resolved
That she shall be my wife, and publicly
My wife proclaimed; my love had been enough.
But now this marriage is demanded of me.
The King
This marriage cannot be.
Carlos
[Angrily approaching his father]
What, then, shall stay me?
Let go the crown! The high, imperial seat!
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All these are faint beneath a woman's smile.
What then shall stop me, or who shall intervene?
Not you yourself, you even, my very father.
What high compulsion?
The King
This: I am her father.
[The King falls backward unconscious on the throne, the Prince staggering from him in horror.]
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