University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

The King's bedchamber. Enter Coitier followed by Nemours.
Coit.
Come in, my son, thou art in safety here.

Nem.
Good Coitier.

Coit.
Look on me, Nemours, and let me trace
The features that I love upon thy face.
Methinks thy father smiles upon me now.

Nem.
The likeness ends not there—the same dire fate
Awaits his son.

Coit.
By Heaven, it shall not be. I'll guard thy life;
Ay, with my own. Fear not this toothless wolf.

Nem.
Yet I am caged—these bars—this gloomy cell.
It is a prison still.

Coit.
'Tis the King's bedchamber.

Nem.
This?

Coit.
This. Behold yon relics! See how they are worn by his
Impassioned kisses—A poignard—he dares not touch,
Yet fain would always have beside him. There
His bed, where he would hide in vain his terrors.

Nem.
Why have you brought me here?

Coit.
The King desires to speak to you.

Nem.
Alone?

Coit.
He dares not. No, he'll come surrounded by his
Myrmidons.

Nem.
What would he with me?

Coit.
Thou art beloved by all the chiefs and citizens
Of Burgundy; the idol of the soldiers; thy
Friends command in all the citadels. I told
The King that on thy bidding, Artois would submit
And Flanders yield a bloodless victory.

Nem.
Thou said'st so, Coitier?

Coit.
The remedy's extreme, I own it, but thy peril—

Nem.
How! Betray—despoil my benefactor, Charles?
For whom? the headsman of my race? No! Never! It
Were a murder of my father's memory, a burial
Of his wrongs alive.

Coit.
Nemours, thou art resolved?

Nem.
To die, if't must be so.

Coit.
Behold this dungeon! 'Tis the sole retreat
Where I am master. When I bound myself
The tyrant's slave, not all his wealth could buy
My ministry, had he not yielded me my liberty
And right of free egress. See! See! This key opens
The postern gate. Take it. It was my freedom,
Now 'tis thine.

Nem.
But then—his vengeance!

Coit.
Tut—he suffers.

Nem.
His rage when my escape is known!

Coit.
He suffers.
Fear not, I know him well. Away! Stay!
Take this dagger—descend the spiral stair,
A vaulted passage leads to the moat—
Then a few steps—a door that key provides
For—then the open fields, the wide free heaven
And liberty, Nemours.

Nem.
Give me the dagger.

Coit.
There! Now, go! Begone! I hear a step! It is
The King. Away! I fly to meet him. Speed!
Speed, while I retard his coming. [Exit]


Nem.
My liberty! No, Coitier, no! Thou hast bestowed a
Treasure still more priceless. Revenge! [Conceals himself. Enter Louis, Commine, Marie, Tristan and Coitier]


Coit.
Believe me, sire, the air will do you good.

Louis.
No, no, 'tis cold; see how I quake. [Aside]
Where is Nemours?

Coit.
You are in pain, sire.

Louis.
Ay, in every limb it leaves me no repose; the
Very air is like a serpent's tooth. Oh, endless,
Endless death! Nemours—what said he?

Coit.
There, sire, warm your starved limbs.

Louis.
Ah, ah, a fire!

Marie.
Sit here. May it revive you, sire.

Louis.
Why cannot thy young and glowing heart give
Heat and life to mine? Come, smile.

Com.
[Aside to Marie]
Courage, Marie; obey.

Marie.
Alas, I am unable. [Weeps]


Louis.
Tears! You sadden me. Go, or cease weeping. I can repair
The past—cure everything.

Marie.
And will you, sire?

Louis.
Ay, and I will. [To Coitier]
Nemours—

Coit.
Be bidden, sire, for once to bed.

Louis.
Not yet. [To Tristan]
Where is Nemours? Go bring him here.

Trist.
You know he is no longer in my keeping.

Louis.
He is in thine. [To Coitier]


Trist.
He was my due—judged and condemned. I love to finish
All that I begin.

Marie.
Ah, father!

Com.
Hush!

Louis.
True, true! Thou, Coitier, hast him. Why is he not here?

Coit.
Because he would not come.

Louis.
He would not?

Coit.
No, he would have braved you.

Louis.
Ay!

Coit.
You would have killed him.

Louis.
Well?

Coit.
That crime, at least, I saved you. He is gone.

Louis.
Gone!

Coit.
Ay, escaped!

Louis.
Aided by thee!

Coit.
Your victim is beyond your rage. Pursuit were folly.

Louis.
Wretch, thou darest say so, villain! [To Tristan]
And
Thou, thy boasted vigilance and power he has evaded.
Oh, ye are traitors, all. Whither has he fled? Speak,
Dog! Away, away! Alive or dead, I'll have him.

Marie.
Oh, mercy, sire. Mercy for me, by whom he
Was betrayed. Oh, at your latest breath may Heaven
Deny your prayer for mercy if you now are deaf to mine.

Louis.
[To Commine]
Take her away.

Marie.
Give me to death; spare, spare Nemours.

Louis.
Away with her! For you, traitor, death. Tristan—
Tomorrow—death.

Coit.
Why say tomorrow? Strike at once—today.

Louis.
Away with him!

Coit.
Farewell, we soon shall meet.
I'll give you just ten days to live.

Louis.
Ah, villain, be it so; then I will die, I will; but still
I'll—I'll— [To his suite]
Go! Begone! [To Coitier]

Stay you. [Exeunt all but Coitier]

Think not thou wilt escape thy fate. No—No—for thou
Shalt die in torment. Ay, thou shalt.

Coit.
So you have said already, sire. Now do it.

Louis.
Ay, I will. Ha! you think I prize your skill.
Ha! Ha! I laugh at it, your art! What has it done for me?
Go, cheat the herd with quackery. I'll do without ye, and
I'll live by my own will alone. I feel I can.

Coit.
Excellent! Will try?

Louis.
Ay, thou traitor, ay! François de Paule can with a single
Word repair my life; his breath can give me youth.

Coit.
He'd best make haste, then.

Louis.
Ay, he can.

Coit.
Of course—no doubt of it.

Louis.
Oh, Coitier, ungrateful Coitier, have I deserved this of thee?

Coit.
Why, look ye, sire, ungrateful I had been, had I not saved
My benefactor's child.

Louis.
Your benefactor!

Coit.
Ay! I owed his father all.

Louis.
What then, have I been scant? I give, and count not what I
Give. What gave this benefactor, then, to be so much preferred?

Coit.
His love! What right have you to gratitude? Thank Heaven,
I owe you none. We give and take, and owe each other nought.
Come, sire let's be honest. You give from fear; I take from
Interest. I give my life, consume it, to prolong
Your days. I sell, you purchase. 'Tis a bargain.
You kings imagine all is bought with gold; you
Pay a courtier, and you buy a slave, but not a friend.
Oh, sire, there's but one price for him—that's love.

Louis.
Then Coitier, I will love thee tenderly. Nay, I do love thee.

Coit.
Ay, for thyself.

Louis.
No, as I live. I am in dreadful pain. See now, I do believe
This holy man may, if he will, restore me. Yet behold, I do
Forgive thee this that thou hast done. Ay, freely. [Enter Oliver]


Oliver.
Sire, François de Paule attends you. [Enter François]


Louis.
See, my father, he has braved his king, yet I have pardoned him.
Go, Coitier, go rest thee awhile within. Dear friend,
Adieu. [Exit Coitier]

Ah, traitor, come the day when I've no need of thee. We
Are alone.

Fran.
What seek you with me?

Louis.
Let me unveil my heart.

Fran.
Arise, my son.

Louis.
Let me abase myself, my forehead in the dust, and kiss the
Print thy saintly feet have made.

Fran.
Reserve thy kneeling for Him to whom alone we owe that homage.
Rise!

Louis.
So great the blessing I would ask,
I know not how to stoop too low for it.

Fran.
What can I do?

Louis.
All. I know your wondrous power.
Endowed by Heaven with gifts miraculous.

Fran.
My son?

Louis.
Since at the peasant's prayer you pour the dews
Upon the parching earth, pour young red blood
Into my veins; refresh this arid heart.
Command this broken frame to knit its thews
And rise again invigorate with youth.
Stretch out your arms, and lift me up to health.
Touch these pale, livid features with your hand,
And smooth this wrinkled brow.

Fran.
Blaspheme no more.
What am I?

Louis.
Ten years!
Oh, say ten years, my father; grant me that,
And I will load thee with my gratitude.
Hear me. I have precious saintly relics
Beyond all price. They shall be thine, and more
If I obtain these twenty years I spoke of.
I have power at Rome, and thou shalt find
A place 'mongst the saints. Amongst what, say I,
Above all. I'll lay a tax
Upon my faithful subjects; dedicate
A temple to thee. But for such expense
A score of years is surely not enough.
No, let me live on—life—life—ah, grant me that.
Prolong my life!

Fran.
Can I cry halt to time?
Change at my will the laws of nature? King,
That life thou seekest, thou must have indeed,
But not on earth.

Louis.
I'm weary of that prate.
Won't do thine office? Exercise thy power,
Or I have means to make you. I am King!
Ah, no; pray pardon me; I know not what I say.

Fran.
Thy mortal malady
Is but remorse. Repent.

Louis.
I will. Then shall I heal and live?

Fran.
It may be so.

Louis.
Then I repent, and will confess.

Fran.
Sinner, who call'st me to this holy office,
Speak, speak, what hast thou done?

Louis.
The King, my father, died; his ailment, it was said,
Was terror of the Dauphin.

Fran.
A son abridge the old age of his father?

Louis.
That Dauphin was myself.

Fran.
You!

Louis.
The crown was tottering, and France was lost.
State reasons supersede the ties of nature.
I had no choice.

Fran.
Thou wicked son, confess thy crimes, but
Seek not to excuse. Proceed!

Louis.
I had a brother.

Fran.
Well?

Louis.
He also died.

Fran.
How?

Louis.
By poison!

Fran.
By thy command?

Louis.
It was so suspected. Some did suspect so.
Would they who said it had fallen in my clutch!

Fran.
'Tis not so, then?

Louis.
I said not that.

Fran.
Oh, Heaven! 'Tis true!

Louis.
But he deserved his fate.

Fran.
Unutterable horror! Dost thou find
Excuses fast as crimes? Down to the dust!
Thou art no more a king. Down, on thy knees,
Thou fratricide!

Louis.
Pardon—

Fran.
Pour out thy leprous soul.
Repent, and cleanse thy heart.

Louis.
I do—I do!
See—on my knees—I do. I've yet a crime untold.

Fran.
What! More?

Louis.
Nemours. He did conspire;
His guilt was proved, but still his death was crime.
I forced his sons to witness it, while from the scaffold
His life-blood fell on them.

Fran.
Most barbarous!

Louis.
I confess. Yes, I have judged
With rigor.

Fran.
Judged!

Louis.
No—no!
They are crimes—foul crimes!
The silent wave has been my executioner;
The earth, my jailer. Here beneath these walls
My captives groan, forgotten and unknown.

Fran.
This crime can be atoned, thank Heaven for that.
Come!

Louis.
Where?

Fran.
To release these prisoners.

Louis.
Stay—stay—you ask too much.
The Church has pardons which a king can buy.

Fran.
Not so; they must be merited.

Louis.
Then they are mine by right of misery.
Oh, could you look into my soul, my father,
My body's anguish is but half my pain;
The present is a terror, but the past—
Oh Heaven, I dare not turn and look on that!
My days are wretched, yet they bring relief,
And come to scare away my nights of terror.
The gloom takes forms to mock and gibe at me;
The silence whispers names I loathe and dread;
And when I sleep, a demon sits and broods
Upon my heart. I thrust him off, and then
A naked blade held in a viewless hand
Pierces my throat. I try to rise; my couch
Swims in a sea of blood, whose gory waves
Rise up to drown me. Such my daily life!
And quitting it, I thirst for more. To drain
This poison'd cup is all my fear.
To eke it out, my only hope.

Fran.
One act of mercy will restore thy peace.
Free these, thy captives.

Louis.
Tomorrow—I will think it out.

Fran.
Death may come ere then—tonight—this instant.

Louis.
Death! From whence? No, I am too well defended.

Fran.
Adieu, then. Merciless thyself, how canst thou hope for mercy?

Louis.
Ah, you condemn me.

Fran.
No, 'tis not my office.
But, oh, my son, wouldst thou release thyself?
Undo these prisoners' chains, and free thy soul.
Their curses drown thy prayers! Make them be still,
And thou'lt be heard in Heaven. Farewell! Farewell! [Exit]


Louis.
Father! He leaves me! Stay! I do consent!
I—No! That were but weakness! He is gone!
Oh, who will aid me now? [Enter Nemours]

Sweet saint, I pray thee plead for me. Thou knowest
My heart is pitiless. A king must use the power he holds
From Heaven, or wrong his trust. In punishing
The guilty I would
Prove my right to thy protection. In return
I'll build thee
Churches; load thy shrines with gifts.
But let me gratify
My just revenge for thine especial honor,
And mine too.

Nem.
Silence!

Louis.
Silence!

Nem.
Not a breath!

Louis.
Not one.

Nem.
Thou art well defended.

Louis.
Oh, Nemours!

Nem.
Who dares to risk his life is master, then, of thine.

Louis.
What would ye?

Nem.
Justice!

Louis.
Oh, be merciful.

Nem.
I am not thy judge.

Louis.
Who, then?

Nem.
My father!

Louis.
No! Thou—thou!

Nem.
My father!

Louis.
Thou, Nemours!

Nem.
My father!

Louis.
He would kill me.

Nem.
Thou hast said it.

Louis.
Hear!
Oh, hear me first!

Nem.
As thou didst hear my father's dying prayer.

Louis.
Nemours!

Nem.
'Tis here!
Look on it now; he bore it on his breast,
When by thy fell command he suffered.
'Twas sent
By him to thee to melt thy heart to pity.
Thine answer wouldst thou see? 'Tis there—his blood!
Come, read! Read!

Louis.
Mercy!

Nem.
Read, I say!

Louis.
I cannot.

Nem.
Beneath the fatal weapon he could write.
Read, as he wrote.

Louis.
No, no! I cannot!
That horrid steel distracts me—blinds my sense.
I cannot!

Nem.
Listen, then.

Louis.
Oh, spare me! Pity me, Nemours!

Nem.
[Reads]
“My most merciful and gracious sovereign,
With all my humble heart I plead to your offended majesty
For pity and for pardon—”

Louis.
I will restore thy title—thine estates,
Make expiation, full and humble.
I do repent. See, see, my tears?
Put me but to the proof.

Nem.
Listen. [Reads]
“I will atone my sins and serve you
So well and faithfully that my repentance
Shall o'ertop my crimes. Oh, let my tears
Assuage your anger.”

Louis.
My son, think of my child! Nemours,
Leave him not fatherless.

Nem.
[Reads]
“Yet not for me, but for my children's
Sake! Oh, for Heaven's charity, my liege, con-
Demn them not in me. For my transgression
Will they in dishonor live to beg their bread.
Oh, sire, have pity for my unoffending children.”

Louis.
I will deliver to thee Tristan;
He it was who did the deed. Deal with him
As thou wilt.

Nem.
[Reads]
“May Heaven preserve your majesty, and
Imbue your heart with mercy for your
Childhood's loved companion.”
See! Murdered! See! Read! Read thyself!

Louis.
I cannot.

Nem.
There!

Louis.
[Reads]
“Your childhood's loved companion, Jacques
Of Armagnac.”
You weep, Nemours; let fall those tears on me.
Wash out my sins.

Nem.
Oh, thou shalt pay them dearly.

Louis.
Nemours! Nemours!

Nem.
What tortures can avenge me? where to find
A forfeit equal to his crimes?

Louis.
He'll kill me!

Nem.
Ah, there is but one.

Louis.
My death!

Nem.
No, fiend, thy life!
I know thy anguish; I have heard thy woe.
Die on! Die slowly! Mass up crimes each hour.
Linger till death with lagging steps arrive
To seize thee still more guilty. Live in torment!
Heaven in its justice listens to thy prayer,
And grants thee life to double my revenge.

Louis.
Help, Tristan! Help! the villain murders me!
Tristan! that dagger! Hew him down, I say. [Tristan and guards rush on]

Tristan—the traitor's there—the door—pursue—
O'ertake the assassin—there!—search!—look!—the curtains
Behind the bed—that's where he hides! How, wretches,
Can ye not find him? He'll slay me in the midst!
Surround me!—close! No, traitors!—back away!
I fear ye all!—Ah, there's a shadow—there!
See, Tristan! Help, he's here again! He strikes!
His dagger's red with blood! Help! Tristan! Kill! [Falls in convulsions]