Washington Square Plays Part 19

[PARIS exits into the library.]

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [rubbing his hands]. Shall I order the boiling oil?

MENELAUS [surprised]. Oil?

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Now that he is being cleaned for the sacrifice.

MENELAUS. His torture will be greater than being boiled alive.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [eagerly]. You'll have him hurled from the walls of the palace to a forest of waiting spears below?

MENELAUS. None is so blind as he who sees too much.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Your Majesty is subtle in his cruelty.

MENELAUS. Haven't the years taught you the cheapness of revenge?

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [mystified]. You do not intend to alter destiny.

MENELAUS. Never before has destiny been so clear to me.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Then the boy must die.

MENELAUS [with slow determination]. No! He has been sent by the G.o.ds to save me!

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Your majesty! [He is trembling with apprehension.]

MENELAUS [with unbudgeable conviction]. Helena must elope with him!

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [falling into a seat]. Ye G.o.ds!

MENELAUS [quickly]. I couldn't divorce the Queen. That would set a bad example.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Yes, very.

MENELAUS. I couldn't desert her. That would be beneath my honor.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [deeply]. Was there no other way?

MENELAUS [pompously]. The King can do no wrong, and besides I hate the smell of blood. Are you a prophet as well as a scholar? Will she go?

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. To-night I will read the stars.

MENELAUS [meaningfully]. By to-night I'll not need you to tell me.

[a.n.a.lYTIKOS sits deep in thought.] Well?

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Ethics cite no precedent.

MENELAUS. Do you mean to say I'm not justified?

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [cogitating]. Who can establish the punctilious ratio between necessity and desire?

MENELAUS [beginning to fume]. This is no time for language. Just put yourself in my place.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Being you, how can I judge as I?

MENELAUS [losing control]. May you choke on your dialectics! Zeus himself could have stood it no longer.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Have you given her soul a chance to grow?

MENELAUS. Her soul, indeed! It's shut in her rouge pot. [He has been strutting about. Suddenly he sits down crus.h.i.+ng a roll of papyrus.

He takes it up and in utter disgust reads.] "The perfect hip, its development and permanence." Bah! [He flings it to the floor.] I've done what I had to do, and G.o.ds grant the bait may be sweet enough to catch the Queen.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. If you had diverted yourself with a war or two you might have forgotten your troubles at home.

MENELAUS [frightened]. I detest dissension of any kind--my dream was perpetual peace in comfortable domesticity with a womanly woman to warm my sandals.

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Is not the Queen----?

MENELAUS. No! No! The whole world is but her mirror. And I'm expected to face that woman every morning at breakfast for the rest of my life, and by Venus that's more than even a King can bear!

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Even a King cannot alter destiny. I warn you, whom the G.o.ds have joined together----

MENELAUS [in an outburst]. Is for man to break asunder!

a.n.a.lYTIKOS [deeply shocked]. You talk like an atheist.

MENELAUS. I never allow religion to interfere with life. Go call the victim and see that he be left alone with the Queen. [MENELAUS exits and a.n.a.lYTIKOS goes over to the door of the library and summons PARIS, who enters clad in a gorgeous robe.]

PARIS. I found this in there. It looks rather well, doesn't it? Ah! So you're alone. I suppose that stupid friend of yours has gone to tell the King. When do I see the Queen?

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. At once. [He goes to the door of the QUEEN'S apartment and claps his hand. TSUMU enters and at the sight of her PARIS recoils the full length of the room.]

PARIS. I thought the Queen was a blonde!

a.n.a.lYTIKOS. Tell Her Majesty a stranger awaits her here. [TSUMU exits, her eyes wide on PARIS.] You should thank the G.o.ds for this moment.

PARIS [his eyes on the door]. You do it for me. I can never remember all their names.

[HELENA enters clad in her Sicily blue, crowned with a garland of golden flowers. She and PARIS stand riveted, looking at each other. Their att.i.tude might be described as fatalistic. a.n.a.lYTIKOS watches them for a moment and then with hands and head lifted to heaven he goes into the library.]

PARIS [quivering with emotion]. I have the most strange sensation of having seen you before. Something I can't explain----

HELENA [quite practically]. Please don't bother about all sorts of fine distinctions. Under the influence of a.n.a.lytikos and my husband, life has become a mess of indecision. I'm a simple, direct woman and I expect you to say just what you think.

PARIS. Do you? Very well, then---- [He comes a step nearer to her.] Fate is impelling me toward you.

HELENA. Yes. That's much better. So you're a fatalist. It's very Greek.

I don't see what our dramatists would do without it.