 | Love After Death |  |
13
SCENE II.
—A ROOM IN MALEC'S HOUSE.Enter DOÑA CLARA and BEATRICE.
CLARA.
Beatrice, permit me still
To weep my pains and breathe my sighs—
They owe this little to mine eyes,
So let my griefs their fountains fill;
And since I have not power to kill
Him, who has dared, with evil eye,
To blast mine honour once so high—
Or from my heritage of shame
Redeem my late unspotted name,
Let me at least, in pity, die;
Alas! how abject, oh! how base
The fatal gifts that Nature gave us—
Gifts that but the more enslave us—
Wit and loveliness and grace,
Which perchance may tempt disgrace,
But to keep honour safe, are vain.
Ah! what greater source of pain
Than to have power to take at will
Honour from sire or spouse, and still
Have none to give it back again?
If I were born a man, 'twere seen,
Granada and the world would see,
If Mendoza to-day would be
As brave before a young man's mien,
As with an old man he has been.—
Perhaps I may with him disclaim
My sex's weakness—without shame
Ask satisfaction as my right,
For he who would an old man fight,
14
But ah! my foolish hope is vain,
Its sole achievement is to speak—
Oh! that my hands were not too weak,
My own revenge at once to gain!
And now, alas! a greater pain,
A greater trial waiteth me—
Doomed in one wretched day to be
Deprived at once of sire and spouse,
Since I would shame the bridal vows
Of Don Alvaro Tuzaní.
Enter DON ALVARO.
ALVARO.
An evil augury, I fear,
Portending woe to hope and love,
Beautiful Clara—this will prove,
That on thy lips my name I hear,
For, if the voice should be the mere
Echo, the inward thought express'd
Audibly of the soul—confess'd
Truly by tears as now, 'tis plain
That I must cause thy bosom's pain,
Since you thus cast me from thy breast.
CLARA.
Denial now were worse than vain;
My heart is full of pains 'tis true,
Thou art amongst them, think if you
Can be perchance its slightest pain;
Since Heaven has torn our loves in twain,
Think if thou art its greatest rather;—
I cannot be thy wife, nor gather
Disgraceful flowers to strew thy bed.
For thou canst never stoop to wed
The child of a dishonoured father.
15
Clara, I no inclination
Have to remind you now how long
I have loved you with a strong
And a respectful adoration,
I only wish on this occasion,
To explain why I can be
Here to-day, and thou still see
Thy wrong without its due atonement;
It is because this brief postponement
I have allowed through love to thee;
Though for a lady's conversation
The duel is no fitting theme—
And though perchance a little gleam
I might impart, of consolation
To thy sorrow, thy vexation—
By saying it hath no pretence
To wake your tears, or even the sense
Of having suffered wrong—because
What's done unarmed, and, by the laws
Protected, cannot give offence.
But on another point I rest,
Having another reason why,
How it so happens, here, that I
Enter, before I have redressed
(Piercing Mendoza's haughty breast)
Your father's honour—a good deed,
Even though it hath been long decreed:—
No wrong is e'er avenged aright
Save by the wronged one, in the fight
Wherein the wrong-doer's heart must bleed:
Or if not by himself, his son,
Or at the least his brother's hand;
And since his honour doth demand
Vengeance which cannot else be won—
I have to ask, that now be done
The act for which I long have sighed—
It is that you become my bride.
16
Being his son, that tie of bliss
Lets him, through me, be satisfied;
Clara, for this alone, be sure
That I came here: if I till now
Timidly pressed you not to allow
Our union,—'twas that I was poor—
This day's event the effect doth cure,
Since I shall not by wish or tongue
Ask aught that doth to thee belong
By way of portion, but the right
To avenge thy wrong: In the world's sight
A poor man's portion be a wrong.
CLARA.
Don Alvaro, neither shall I
Recall how long has been, and true
My firm devotion unto you—
How I have loved you faithfully;
Nor attempt to say I die
Stricken to-day by a double knife,
Nor, how duty and love at strife,
Seek in this fleeting calm to control
My heart: for thou art the life of my soul,
Thou indeed art the soul of my life:—
This alone I wish to say,
In all this trouble, that she who would crave
But yesterday to be thy slave,
Will not become thy wife to-day,
For if through diffidence yesterday
You asked me not, and to-day you do,
I to-day but owe it to you
To refuse thee, lest the malign
Breath of time could say, to be thine
I needed some attraction new.
Rich and honoured, once I thought
I was unworthy of thy love,
Happily as the event doth prove
17
But a suspicion. Think, now, ought
I to-day to give to thee
Instead of happiness, misery,
Punishment instead of reward?
As if I should be disgraced, my lord,
Ere you would think to wed with me.
ALVARO.
To revenge thee my spirit woos thee.
CLARA.
Respect enforceth my rejection.
ALVARO.
Does not this, Clara, prove my affection?
CLARA.
Esteem, Alvaro, makes me refuse thee.
ALVARO.
You have no power now to excuse thee:—
CLARA.
I at the least have power to die.
ALVARO.
I shall tell Don Juan, that I
Won your love.
CLARA.
And I shall deny it.
ALVARO.
Is this loyalty?
CLARA.
Honour lives by it.
18
Is it truth?
CLARA.
'Tis fidelity:—
Since, by yonder heavens so pure
I solemnly swear, never to be
The wife of a man, until I see
My honour once again secure.
ALVARO.
What imports that, if....
BEATRICE.
No more,
For, my lord, by the corridor,
With some others comes this way.
CLARA.
Retire within this room, I pray:—
ALVARO.
What a mischance!
[Alvaro enters the room, but is still visible to the audience.
CLARA.
It grieves me sore!
Enter DON ALONZO DE ZUÑIGA the CORREGIDOR, DON FERNANDO VALOR, and DON JUAN MALEC.
MALEC,
aside to Clara.
Clara!
CLARA.
My lord?
MALEC,
aside.
Ah! woe is me!
With what pain again to meet thee!—
To that chamber there retreat thee.
19
What is this?
MALEC.
From that thou'lt see.
[Clara and Beatrice retire to the room where Alvaro is concealed.
CORREGIDOR.
Don Juan de Mendoza lies
Imprisoned in the Alhambra now:
Till this affair blows o'er somehow,
Don Juan Malec, it were wise
That you within your house should stay,
On your parole.
MALEC.
I freely give it,
And as freely you may receive it,
Since I shall keep it.
VALOR.
The delay
Will not be much, since his lordship here,
The corregidor, allows my endeavour
(For in the duel of honour, never
Should authority interfere)
This ruffled sense of wrong to soothe,
Hoping to make you friends once more.
CORREGIDOR.
Señor Fernando de Valor
Skilfully thus, with a double truth,
Reneweth honour's fancied stains—
None ('tis the law) can insults fling
Or in the palace of a King
Or in the hall where Justice reigns,
There, from the sacred strict duress,
None of us all can e'er be free.
20
The means I have in view must be
Successful....
ALVARO,
aside to Clara.
Do you hear this?
CLARA,
to Alvaro.
Yes.
VALOR.
In fact no other means I see
This disagreement to set right.
MALEC,
aside.
Ah! honour, thou'rt in evil plight
When thou dost need a remedy!
VALOR.
Don Juan de Mendoza is
As brave a knight as ever carried
Cross or coronet. He is unmarried:
With a rank as proud as his,
Don Juan de Malec, in whose veins
Still flows Granada's royal blood,
Has a daughter, by fame endowed
With all that dazzles and enchains—
Whom envy's self dare not disparage;
If satisfaction for his wrong
He still requires, it doth belong
But to a son-in-law: this marriage
'Twixt Doña Clara and Don Juan
Makes all secure.
ALVARO,
aside.
Ah! woe is me:—
VALOR,
to Malec.
No other way that I can see
Can you repair your honour's ruin.
21
To him, you must become the defender—
As a third party, he is the offender,
But as your son-in-law the offended:—
There being no party then to claim
Satisfaction from, and no ill to cure,
With you the effect becomes secure,
And with Don Juan Mendoza the same;
For he not having then to give
Death to himself—in this immense
Abyss, must hold his own offence
In his own breast, and so forgive:
So that the offence itself being gone,—
No man being self-angry long—
Don Juan wisely guarding his wrong—
No one remains to take vengeance on:—
This the honour of both will render
Pure as before, since human eyes
Never saw one person comprise
Both the offended and the offender.
ALVARO,
to Clara.
I will answer.
CLARA,
to him.
For God's sake, stay;
Let me not be destroyed by you.
CORREGIDOR.
This arrangement doth answer the two.
MALEC.
There is one obstacle in the way,
Since the sacrifice honour demands,
Against our hopes, may Clara refuse.
CLARA,
aside.
Heaven itself approves of my views,
Giving vengeance into my hands.
22
Since indeed I do not know
That my daughter would wish to mate
With a man she has reason to hate
With such good cause.
Enter DOÑA CLARA.
I shall wish it so;
Freely shall I the offering give,
Since, my lord, it imports me less
That I should live without happiness,
Than that you without honour live:
Because, if I had been thy son,
I would have heard but anger calling,
Bravely killing, or bravely falling;
Being thy daughter, I have but one
Way, by which can no more be deferred
Satisfaction dearer than life:—
And so I will become his wife:—
From which act it may be inferred,
That I am in this way trying
To save thy honour, weakly but willing,
And since I cannot revenge by killing—
I may, at least, do so, by dying.
CORREGIDOR.
Wit like thine could only draw out
From the midst of so much confusion,
Such a singular conclusion.
VALOR.
And the effect I do not doubt;
But a letter must now be writ
To him, according to our intent,
Which I shall myself present.
CORREGIDOR.
And we likewise shall go with it.
23
aside.
I shall use the time in preparation
For the revolt that we intend.
VALOR.
All shall come to a happy end
I firmly trust, through my mediation.
[Exeunt the three.
CLARA.
Now that they have gone away
To write the letter (woe the worth!)
You may, Alvaro, now come forth.
Enter DON ALVARO.
ALVARO.
Yes, I will do so, yes, to say
That never shall I see again
A soul so fickle in a breast
So truly noble: I could rest
(Though my heart's life ebbed fast away,
Blood fled my cheek and sight mine eye)
Within there, not through respect, nor dearth
Of courage, but that on the earth
A woman could be found......
CLARA.
Ah! me.
ALVARO.
So bold, so light as to presume
With broken faith, in accents bland,
To offer to one man her hand,
And have another in her room:—
I did not wish it were believed
I could love one, whose vows are vain.
24
Thy voice, Alvaro, oh! detain,
For thou, indeed, art self-deceived:
Which satisfactorily will appear
After a little.
ALVARO.
A transaction
Like this, can have no satisfaction.
CLARA.
You will find it can.
ALVARO.
Did I not hear
You say, that you would give to-day
Your hand to Mendoza?
CLARA.
Yes! 'tis so,—
But you at present do not know
Unto what end I so did say;—
ALVARO.
What end?—to kill me, let me see
From what point an excuse you gather;
Since dishonour he gives thy father,
And my death he gives through thee.
CLARA.
Time, Alvaro, time will be able
Some day or other to undeceive you,
While I am constant and still believe you,
Your faith in me has become unstable.
ALVARO.
Did any mortal ever yet know
Such a subtle deceit? you confess
Your hand, you said, you would give him?
25
Yes.
ALVARO.
Will you not be his wife then?
CLARA.
No.
ALVARO.
How reconcile this seeming strife......
CLARA.
Vainly the mode you now demand.
ALVARO.
Clara, between giving your hand,
And between becoming his wife?
CLARA.
To give him my hand, perchance, may be
To draw him to my arms, that so
I may inflict a deadlier blow:
Are you satisfied now with me?
ALVARO.
No, for he dies amid your charms.
O God!—it is a favour you give,
Since thus to die, is more than to live;
Because, Clara, your beauteous arms
For executioners are so fair:—
But before (although it may be
Your intention) he there shall see
Himself, he dies ere he get there:—
Thus, my pains, I shall remedy,
And your scorn, by this death of his.
26
Is this love?
ALVARO.
Honour it is.
CLARA.
Is this kindness?
ALVARO.
'Tis jealousy.
CLARA.
See! my father has written the letter;
Would that you could stay by my side!
ALVARO.
Ah! for me, near thee to abide,
Were required, what a trifling fetter!
[Exeunt.
| Love After Death | |