Enter Fernando, Pedro, Roderigo, Clara [in a bridal gown] and Maria, as from church, [passing] over the stage: [as the others exeunt] Fernando stays Roderigo
FERNANDO
Thou hast now the wife of thy desires.
RODERIGO
Sir, I have —
And in her every blessing that makes life
Loath to be parted with.
FERNANDO
Noble she is,
And fair; has (to enrich her blood and beauty)
Plenty of wit, discourse, behaviour, carriage.
RODERIGO
I owe you duty for a double birth,
Being in this happiness begot again —
Without which I had been a man of wretchedness.
FERNANDO
Then henceforth, boy, learn to obey thy fate.
’Tis fall’n upon thee; know it, and embrace it.
Thy wife’s a wanton.
RODERIGO
A wanton?
FERNANDO
Examine through the progress of thy youth
What capital sin, what great one ’tis — for ’tis
A great one — thou’st committed.
RODERIGO
I, a great one!
FERNANDO
Else heaven is not so wrathful to pour on thee
A misery so full of bitterness.
I am thy father; think on’t, and be just.
Come, do not dally.
RODERIGO
Pray, my lord —
FERNANDO
Fool, ‘twere
Impossible that justice should rain down
In such a frightful horror without cause.
Sir, I will know it. Rather blush thou didst
An act thou dar’st not name, than that it has
A name to be known by.
RODERIGO
Turn from me then,
And as my guilt sighs out this monster — rape —
O, do not lend an ear!
FERNANDO
Rape? Fearful!
RODERIGO
Hence,
Hence springs my due reward.
FERNANDO
Thou’rt none of mine —
Or if thou be’st, thou dost belie the stamp
Of thy nativity.
RODERIGO
Forgive me!
FERNANDO
Had she
(Poor wronged soul, whoe’er she was) no friend,
Nor father, to revenge? Had she no tongue
To roar her injuries?
RODERIGO
Alas, I know her not.
FERNANDO
Peace! Thou wilt blaze a sin beyond all precedent.
Young man, thou shouldst have married her; the devil
Of lust that riots in thy eye should there
Have let fall love and pity, not on this stranger
Whom thou hast doted on.
RODERIGO
O, had I married her,
I had been then the happiest man alive!
Enter Clara, Maria, and Pedro, from behind the arras
CLARA
As I the happiest woman, being married.
Look on me, sir.
PEDRO
[to Roderigo]
You shall not find a change
So full of fears as your most noble father,
In his wise trial, urged.
MARIA
[to Roderigo] Indeed you shall not,
The forfeit of her shame shall be her pawn.
RODERIGO
Why, pray, d’ye mock my sorrows? Now, O now,
My horrors flow about me!
FERNANDO
No, thy comforts,
Thy blessings, Roderigo.
CLARA
[showing the crucifix to Roderigo]
By this crucifix
You may remember me.
RODERIGO
Ha! Art thou
That lady wronged?
CLARA
I was, but now am I
Righted in noble satisfaction.
RODERIGO
How can I turn mine eyes, and not behold
On every side my shame?
FERNANDO
No more. Hereafter
We shall have time to talk at large of all.
Love her that’s now thine own; do, Roderigo.
She’s far from what I charactered.
CLARA
[to Roderigo] My care
Shall live about me to deserve your love.
RODERIGO
Excellent Clara!
[They embrace]
Fathers both, and mother,
I will redeem my fault.
FERNANDO, PEDRO, and MARIA
Our blessings dwell on ye!
Enter Luis and Francisco
LUIS
Married to Roderigo?
FRANCISCO
Judge yourself:
See where they are. Exit
LUIS
[to Clara] Is this your husband, lady?
CLARA
He is, sir. Heaven’s great hand, that on record
Fore-points the equal union of all hearts,
Long since decreed what this day hath been perfected.
LUIS
’Tis well then. I am free, it seems.
CLARA
Make smooth,
My lord, those clouds, which on your brow deliver
Emblems of storm. I will (as far as honour
May privilege) deserve a noble friendship,
As you from me deserve a worthy memory.
LUIS
Your husband, faith, has proved himself a friend
Trusty and tried; he’s welcome, I may say,
From th’university.
RODERIGO
To a new school
Of happy knowledge, Luis.
LUIS
Sir, I am
Not so poor-spirited to put this injury up.
The best blood flows within you is the price.
RODERIGO
Luis, for this time calm your anger,
And if I do not give you noble satisfaction,
Call me to what account you please.
LUIS
So, so. —
[To Fernando] I come for justice t’ye, and you shall grant it.
FERNANDO
Shall and will.
LUIS
With speed, too:
My poor friend bleeds the whiles.
FERNANDO
You shall yourself,
Before we part, receive the satisfaction
You come for. — Who attends?
SERVANTS
(within) My lord?
FERNANDO
The prisoner!
SERVANTS
(within)
He attends your lordship’s pleasure.
Enter Preciosa, Eugenia, and the old Father of the
Gypsies
LUIS
What would this girl? —
Foh, no tricks! Get you to your cabin, hussy;
We have no ear for ballads.
FERNANDO
Take her away.
CLARA
A wondrous lovely creature!
PRECIOSA
Noble gentlemen,
If a poor maid’s (a Gypsy-virgin’s) tears
May soften the hard edge of angry justice,
Then grant me gracious hearing. As you’re merciful,
I beg my husband’s life!
FERNANDO
Thy husband’s, little one?
PRECIOSA
Gentle sir, our plighted troths are chronicled
In that white book above, which notes the secrets
Of every thought and heart. He is my husband;
I am his wife.
LUIS
Rather his whore.
PRECIOSA
Now, trust me,
You’re no good man to say so. I am honest;
‘Deed, la, I am — a poor soul, that deserves not
Such a bad word. Were you a better man
Than you are, you do me wrong.
LUIS
The toy grows angry!
CLARA
[to Roderigo]
And it becomes her sweetly. Troth, my lord,
I pity her.
RODERIGO
I thank you, sweet.
LUIS
[to Preciosa] Your husband,
You’ll say, is no thief —
PRECIOSA
Upon my conscience,
He is not.
LUIS
Dares not strike a man —
PRECIOSA
Unworthily,
He dares not; but if trod upon, a worm
Will turn again.
LUIS
That turning turns your worm
Off from the ladder, minion.
You might (without a partial judgement) look into
A woman’s lust and malice.
CARDOCHIA
My good lords,
What I have articled against this fellow,
I justify for truth.
JUAN
On then, no more.
This being true she says, I have deserved
To die.
FERNANDO
We sit not here to bandy words,
But minister the law, and that condemns thee
For theft unto the gallows.
PRECIOSA
O my misery!
Are you all marble-breasted? Are your bosoms
Hooped round with steel? To cast away a man
More worthy life and honours than a thousand
Of such as only pray unto the shadow
Of abused greatness!
JUAN
’Tis in vain to storm.
My fate is here determined.
PRECIOSA
Lost creature,
Art thou grown dull too? Is my love so cheap
That thou court’st thy destruction ‘cause I love thee? —
My lords, my lords! — Speak, Andrew, prithee, now,
Be not so cruel to thyself and me.
One word of thine will do’t.
FERNANDO
Away with him!
Tomorrow is his day of execution.
JUAN
Even when you will.
PRECIOSA
Stay, man, thou shalt not go;
Here are more women yet. — Sweet madam, speak.
You, lady, you methinks should have some feeling
Of tenderness; you may be touched as I am.
Troth, were’t your cause, I’d weep with you, and join
In earnest suit for one you held so dear.
CLARA
[to Roderigo]
My lord, pray speak in his behalf.
RODERIGO
I would,
But dare not; ’tis a fault so clear and manifest.
LUIS
Back with him to his dungeon!
JUAN
Heaven can tell
I sorrow not to die, but to leave her
Who whiles I live is my life’s comforter.
CARDOCHIA
[aside] Now shall I be revenged!
[Exeunt Don Juan, Diego, and Cardochia]
PRECIOSA
Sir, I hope
You’re not his judge; you are too young, too choleric,
Too passionate. The poise of life or death
Requires a much more grave consideration
Than your years warrant. Here sit they, like gods,
Upon whose heads the reverend badge of time
Hath sealed the proof of wisdom; to these oracles
Of riper judgement, lower in my heart
[She kneels]
Than on my knees, I offer up my suit,
My lawful suit, which begs they would be gentle
To their own fames, their own immortal stories.
O, do not think, my lords, compassion thrown
On a base low estate, on humble people,
Less meritorious than if you had favoured
The faults of great men (and indeed great men
Have oftentimes great faults). He whom I plead for
Is free; the soul of innocence itself
Is not more white. Will you pity him?
I see it in your eyes. ’Tis a sweet sunbeam;
Let it shine out — and to adorn your praise,
The prayers of the poor shall crown your days
(And theirs are sometimes heard).
FERNANDO
Beshrew the girl,
She has almost melted me to tears!
Luis Hence, trifler! — Call in my friend!
Enter Don Juan [in irons], Diego, and Cardochia
[To Diego] What hope of ease?
DIEGO
Good hope, but still I smart;
The worst is in my pain.
LUIS
The price is high
Shall buy thy vengeance. To receive a wound
By a base villain’s hand, it mads me.
JUAN
Men subject to th’extremity of law
Should carry peace about ‘em to their graves;
Else, were you nobler than the blood you boast of
Could any way (my lord) derive you, know
I would return sharp answer to your slanders.
But it suffices, I am none of aught
Your rage misterms me.
LUIS
None of ‘em? No rascal?
JUAN
No rascal.
LUIS
Nor no thief?
JUAN
Ask her that’s my accuser. Could your eyes
Pierce through the secrets of her foul desires,
PRECIOSA
O me unhappy!
[She swoons]
FERNANDO
See, the girl falls!
Some one look to her.
CLARA
‘Las, poor maid!
EUGENIA
Preciosa! —
She does recover. Mine honourable lord —
FERNANDO
In vain, what is’t?
EUGENIA
Be pleased to give me private audience;
I will discover something shall advantage
The noblest of this land.
FERNANDO
Well, I will hear thee.
Bring in the girl. Exeunt. [Father stays Luis]
LUIS
Aught with me? What is’t?
I care not for thy company, old ruffian.
Rascal, art impudent?
FATHER
TO beg your service.
LUIS
Hang yourself!
FATHER
By your father’s soul, sir, hear me!
LUIS
Dispatch.
FATHER
First promise me you’ll get reprieve
For the condemned man, and by my art
I’ll make you master of what your heart on earth
Can wish for or desire.
LUIS
Thou li’st; thou canst not.
FATHER
Try me.
LUIS
Do that, and then (as I am noble)
I will not only give thy friend his life
But royally reward thee, love thee ever.
FATHER
I take your word. What would you?
LUIS
If thou mock’st me,
‘Twere better thou wert damned.
FATHER
Sir, I am resolute.
LUIS
Resolve me, then, whether the Count Alvarez,
Who slew my father, be alive or dead?
FATHER
Is this the mighty matter? The count lives.
LUIS
How?
FATHER
The count lives.
LUIS
O fate! Now tell me where,
And be my better genius.
FATHER
I can do’t.
In Spain a lives; more, not far from Madrid —
But in disguise, much altered.
LUIS
Wonderful scholar!
Miracle of artists! Alvarez living?
And near Madrid too? Now, for heaven’s sake, where?
That’s all, and I am thine.
FATHER
Walk off, my lord,
To the next field; you shall know all.
LUIS
Apace, then!
I listen to thee with a greedy ear.
The miserable and the fortunate
Are alike in this, they cannot change their fate.
Exeunt at one door.
Enter [the old Father and Luis] presently at the other [door]
FATHER
Good, good: you would fain kill him, and revenge
Your father’s death?
LUIS
I would.
FATHER
Bravely, or scurvily?
LUIS
Not basely, for the world!
FATHER
We are secure.
[He discovers] two swords
Young Luis, two more trusty blades than these
Spain has not in her armory. With this,
Alvarez slew thy father; and this other
Was that the king of France wore when great Charles
In a set battle took him prisoner.
Both I resign to thee.
LUIS
This is a new mystery.
FATHER
Now see this naked bosom. Turn the points
Of either on this bulwark, if thou covet’st
(Out of a sprightly youth and manly thirst
Of vengeance) blood; if blood be thy ambition,
Then call to mind the fatal blow that struck
De Castro, thy brave father, to his grave.
Remember who it was that gave that blow,
His enemy Alvarez: hear, and be sudden.
Behold Alvarez.
LUIS
Death, I am deluded!
FATHER
Thou art incredulous. As fate is certain,
I am the man.
LUIS
Thou, that butcher?
FATHER
Tremble not, young man. Trust me, I have wept
Religiously to wash off from my conscience
The stain of my offence. Twelve years and more,
Like to a restless pilgrim I have run
From foreign lands to lands to find out death.
I’m weary of my life. Give me a sword.
That thou mayst know with what a perfect zeal
I honour old De Castro’s memory,
I’ll fight with thee; I would not have thy hand
Dipped in a wilful murder. I could wish
For one hour’s space I could pluck back from time
But thirty of my years, that in my fall
Thou might’st deserve report. Now if thou conquer’st,
Thou canst not triumph; I’m half dead already.
Yet I’ll not start a foot.
LUIS
Breathes there a spirit
In such a heap of age?
FATHER
O , that I had
A son of equal growth with thee, to tug
For reputation! By thy father’s ashes,
I would not kill thee for another Spain.
Yet now I’ll do my best. Thou art amazed;
Come on.
LUIS
Twelve tedious winters’ banishment —
’Twas a long time.
FATHER
Could they redeem thy father?
Would every age had been twelve ages, Luis,
And I for penance every age a-dying!
But ’tis too late to wish.
LUIS
I am o’ercome.
Your nobleness hath conquered me. Here ends
All strife between our families, and henceforth
Acknowledge me for yours.
FATHER
O , thou reviv’st
Fresh horrors to my fact — for in thy gentleness
I see my sin anew.
LUIS
Our peace is made.
Your life shall be my care. ‘Twill be glad news
To all our noble friends.
FATHER
Since heaven will have it so,
I thank thee, glorious majesty! My son —
For I will call thee son — ere the next morrow
Salute the world, thou shalt know stranger mysteries.
LUIS
I have enough to feed on. Sir, I’ll follow ye. Exeunt
Enter Eugenia, Fernando, and Preciosa
FERNANDO
Don Juan, son to the count of Carcamo?
EUGENIA
Is this,
My lord, so strange?
FERNANDO
Beauty in youth, and wit
To set it forth, I see, transforms the best
Into what shape love fancies.
PRECIOSA
Will you yet
Give me my husband’s life?
FERNANDO
Why, little one,
He is not married to thee.
PRECIOSA
In his faith
He is — and faith and troth I hope bind faster
Than any other ceremonies can.
Do they not, pray, my lord?
FERNANDO
Yes, where the parties
Pledged are not too unequal in degree,
As he and thou art.
PRECIOSA
This is new divinity.
EUGENIA
My lord, behold this child well. In her face
You may observe, by curious insight, something
More than belongs to every common birth.
FERNANDO
True, ’tis a pretty child.
EUGENIA
The glass of misery
Is (after many a change of desperate fortune)
At length run out. You had a daughter,
Called Constanza.
FERNANDO
Ha!
EUGENIA
A sister, Guiomare,
Wife to the Count Alvarez.
FERNANDO
Peace, O, peace!
EUGENIA
And to that sister’s charge you did commit
Your infant daughter — in whose birth your wife,
Her mother, died.
FERNANDO
Woman, thou art too cruel!
PRECIOSA
What d’ye mean, grannam? ‘Las, the nobleman
Grows angry!
FERNANDO
Not I, indeed I do not. —
But why d’ye use me thus?
EUGENIA
Your child and sister,
As you supposed, were drowned.
FERNANDO
Drowned, talking creature!
‘Supposed’?
EUGENIA
They live. Fernando, from my hand,
Thy sister’s hand, receive thine own Constanza,
The sweetest, best child living.
PRECIOSA
Do you mock me?
FERNANDO
Torment me on — yet more, more yet, and spare not.
Woman, take heed thou trifle not.
My heart is now a-breaking, now!
EUGENIA
O brother,
Am I so far removed off from your memory
As that you will not know me? I expected
An other welcome home. Look on this casket,
[She shows] a casket
The legacy your lady left her daughter
When to her son she gave her crucifix.
FERNANDO
Right, right, I know ye now.
EUGENIA
In all my sorrows,
My comfort has been here; she should be yours,
Because born yours. — Constanza, kneel, sweet child,
To thy old father.
PRECIOSA
[kneeling]
How? my father?
FERNANDO
Let not
Extremity of joys ravish life from me
Too soon, heaven, I beseech thee! — Thou art my sister,
My sister Guiomare. How have mine eyes
Been darkened ail this while. ’Tis she!
EUGENIA
’Tis, brother —
And this Constanza, now no more a stranger,
No ‘Preciosa’ henceforth.
FERNANDO
My soul’s treasure,
Live to an age of goodness, and so thrive
In all thy ways that thou mayst die to live!
PRECIOSA
But must I call you father?
FERNANDO
Thou wilt rob me else
Of that felicity,; for whose sake only
I am ambitious of being young again.
Rise, rise, mine own Constanza!
PRECIOSA
[rising] ’Tis a new name,
But ’tis a pretty one. I may be bold
To make a suit t’ye?
FERNANDO
Anything.
PRECIOSA
O father,
An if you be my father, think upon
Don ]uan, my husband. Without him, alas,
I can be nothing!
FERNANDO
As I without thee;
Let me alone, Constanza. — Tell me, tell me,
Lives yet Alvarez?
EUGENIA
In your house.
FERNANDO
Enough.
Cloy me not; let me by degrees digest
My joys. — Within! My lords! Francisco, Pedro!
Enter Francisco, Pedro, Maria, Roderigo, Clara
Come ail at once! I have a world within me.
I am not mortal sure, I am not mortal. —
My honourable lords, partake my blessings.
Count Alvarez lives, here in my house;
Your son, my lord Francisco, Don Juan, is
The condemned man, falsely accused of theft;
This, my lord Pedro, is my sister Guiomare;
Madam, this is Constanza, mine own child,
And I’m a wondrous merry man. — Without!
The prisoner!
Enter the old Father (Alvarez), Luis, Don Juan,
Diego, Sancho, Soto, and Cardochia
LUIS
Here, free, and acquitted
By her whose folly drew her to this error —
And she for satisfaction is assured
To my wronged friend.
CARDOCHIA
I crave your pardons.
He whose I am speaks for me.
DIEGO
We both beg it.
FERNANDO
Excellent, admirable! — My dear brother!
[Fernando and the old Father Alvarez embrace]
FATHER
Never a happy man till now. Young Luis
And I are reconciled.
LUIS
For ever, faithfully,
Religiously.
OMNES
[to Alvarez]
My noble lord, most welcome!
FATHER
To all my heart pays what it owes, due thanks. —
[To Luis] Most, most, brave youth, to thee!
JUAN
I all this while
Stand but a looker-on, and though my father
May justly tax the violence of my passions,
Yet if this lady (lady of my life)
Must be denied, let me be as I was,
And die betimes.
PRECIOSA
[to Fernando]
You promised me —
FERNANDO
I did. —
My lord of Carcamo, you see their hearts
Are joined already; so let our consents
To this wished marriage.
FRANCISCO
[to Juan] I forgive thine errors.
Give me thy hand.
FERNANDO
[to Preciosa]
Me, thine. — But wilt thou love
My daughter, my Constanza?
JUAN
AS my bliss.
PRECIOSA
[to Juan]
I thee as life, youth, beauty, anything
That makes life comfortable.
FERNANDO
(joining their hands]
Live together
One, ever one!
OMNES
And heaven crown your happiness!
PEDRO
[to Sancho] Now, sir, how like you a prison?
SANCHO
As gallants do a tavern, being stopped for a reckoning: scurvily.
SOTO
Though you caged us up never so close, we sung like cuckoos.
FERNANDO
Well, well, you are yourself now.
SANCHO
Myself? — Am I out of my wits, Soto?
FERNANDO
Here now are none but honourable friends.
Will you, to give a farewell to the life
You’ve led as Gypsies — these being now found none,
But noble in their births, altered in fortunes —
Give it a merry shaking by the hand,
And cry adieu to folly?
SANCHO
We’ll shake our hands and our heels, if you’ll give us leave.
A dance
FERNANDO
On, brides and bridegrooms! To your Spanish feasts
Invite with bent knees all these noble guests. Exeunt