Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 2

NURSE. When our gracious lord came to the stall, the roan put back his ears, foamed with rage and suddenly snapped at the master's hand.

DIANORA. And then?

NURSE. Then the master hit the roan behind the ears with his fist so that the big, strong horse staggered back as though it were a dog--

DIANORA [_is silent, looks dreamily down_].

NURSE. Oh, our gracious lord is strong! He is the strongest gentleman of all the n.o.bility the country 'round, and the cleverest.

DIANORA. Yes, indeed. [_Attentively now._] Who?

NURSE. Our master.

DIANORA. Ah! our master. [_Smiles._]--and his voice is so beautiful, and that is why everybody loves to listen to him in the large, dark church.

NURSE. Listen to whom, gracious one?

DIANORA. To the Spanish monk, to whom else?

NURSE. No, my Lady, it isn't because of his voice that people listen to him.

DIANORA [_is again not listening_].

NURSE. Gracious one--my Lady--is it true--what people say about the envoy?

DIANORA. What envoy?

NURSE. The envoy whom the people of Como sent to our master.

DIANORA. What are people saying?

NURSE. They say a shepherd saw it.

DIANORA. What did he see?

NURSE. Our gracious lord was angry at the envoy--would not accept the letter that the people of Como had written him. Then he took it anyhow--the letter--read part of it, tore it into bits and held the pieces before the envoy's mouth and demanded that he swallow them. But the envoy went backwards, like a crab, and made stary eyes just like a crab, and everybody laughed, especially Signor Silvio, the master's brother. Then the master sent for the envoy's mule and had it brought to the gates. When the envoy was too slow in mounting, the master whistled for the dogs. The envoy left with his two yeomen. Our master went hunting with seven men and all the dogs. Towards evening, however, they say that our gracious lord, and the envoy met at the bridge over the Adda, there where Verese begins--our master and the envoy met. And the shepherd was pa.s.sing and drove his sheep next to the bridge into a wheat-field--so that the horses would not kill them. And the shepherd heard our master cry, "There's the one who wouldn't eat, perhaps he'd like to drink." So four of our men seized the two yeomen, two others took the envoy, each one took hold of a leg, lifted him from the saddle--threw him screaming like a madman and struggling fiercely, over the parapet--he tore out a piece of the sleeve of one, together with the flesh. The Adda has very steep banks at that place--the river was dark and swollen from all the snow on the mountains. The envoy did not appear again, said the shepherd.

[_Nurse stops, looks questioningly at Dianora._]

DIANORA [_anxiously_]. I do not know.

[_She shakes off the worried expression, her face a.s.sumes the dreamy, inwardly happy expression._]

DIANORA. Tell me something about his preaching--the Spaniard's preaching.

NURSE. I don't know how to express it, gracious one.

DIANORA. Just say a little. Does he preach of so many things?

NURSE. No, almost always about one thing.

DIANORA. What?

NURSE. Of resignation to the Lord's will.

DIANORA [_looks at her and nods_].

NURSE. Gracious one, you must understand, that is all.

DIANORA. What do you mean by--all----

NURSE [_while speaking, she is occupied with the flowers_]. He says that all of life is in that--there's nothing else. He says everything is inevitable and that's the greatest joy--to realize that everything is inevitable--that is good, and there is no other good. The sun must glow, and stone must be on the dumb earth and every living creature must give utterance to its voice--whether he will or no--we must----

DIANORA [_is thinking--like a child_].

NURSE [_goes from window--pause_].

DIANORA.

As though 'twere mirrored in a placid pool Self-prisoned lies the world asleep, adream-- The ivy's tendrils clamber through the dusk Closely embracing thousandfold the wall.

An arbor vitae towers. At its feet The quiet waters mirror what they see.

And from this window, on this bal.u.s.trade Of cool and heavy stones, I bend me o'er Stretching my arms so they may touch the ground.

I feel as though I were a dual being Gazing within me at my other self.

[_Pause._]

Methinks such thoughts crowd in upon the soul When grim, inexorable death is near.

[_She shudders and crosses herself._]

NURSE [_has returned several times to the window; in one hand she carries scissors with which she clips the dry branches from the plants_].

DIANORA [_startled_]. What? Good night, nurse, farewell. I'm dizzy, faint.

NURSE [_goes off_].

DIANORA [_with a great effort_]. Nurse! Nurse!

NURSE [_comes back_].

DIANORA. If the Spanish monk preaches to-morrow, I'll go with you.

NURSE. Yes, to-morrow, my Lady, if the Lord spare us.

DIANORA [_laughs_]. Certainly,--if the Lord spare us. Good night.

[_A long pause._]