Cyrano De Bergerac Part 22

DE GUICHE [at the top of the of the bank, to the bank, to the CADETS, CADETS, madly madly] Stand fast!

VOICE [outside] Surrender!

VOICES OF THE CADETS No!

CYRANO [to DE GUICHE] Your courage none will question ... [Pointing at at ROXANE. ] Fly for the sake of saving her! ROXANE. ] Fly for the sake of saving her!

DE GUICHE [Runs to ROXANE and and lifts her in his lifts her in his arms arms] So be it! But we shall win the day if you can hold out a little longer ...

CYRANO We can. [To ROXANE, whom whom DE GUICHE, DE GUICHE, helped by helped by RAGUENEAU, RAGUENEAU, is carrying off insensible.] is carrying off insensible.] Good-bye, Roxane! [ Good-bye, Roxane! [Tumult. Cries. CADETS reappear, wounded, and fall upon the stage. upon the stage. CYRANO das.h.i.+ng forward to join the combatants is stopped on the crest of the bank by CARBON covered with blood.] CYRANO das.h.i.+ng forward to join the combatants is stopped on the crest of the bank by CARBON covered with blood.]

CARBON We are losing ground ... I have got two halberd wounds ...

CYRANO [yelling to the GASCONS] Steadfast! ... Never give them an inch! ... Brave boys! [To CARBON.] Fear nothing! I have various deaths to avenge: Christian's and all my hopes'! [They come down. CYRANO brandishes the spear to the GASCONS] Steadfast! ... Never give them an inch! ... Brave boys! [To CARBON.] Fear nothing! I have various deaths to avenge: Christian's and all my hopes'! [They come down. CYRANO brandishes the spear at at the head of which ROXANE's handkerchief the head of which ROXANE's handkerchief is fastened is fastened.] Float free, little cobweb flag, embroidered with her initials! [He drives the spear-staff into the earth; shouts to the [He drives the spear-staff into the earth; shouts to the CADETS.] Fall on them, boys! ... Crush them! CADETS.] Fall on them, boys! ... Crush them! [To the fifer. [To the fifer.] Fifer, play! [The fifer [The fifer plays. Some plays. Some of the of the wounded get to their feet wounded get to their feet again. again. Some of the CADETS, coming Some of the CADETS, coming down down the bank, group themselves the bank, group themselves around CYRANO around CYRANO and and the little flag. The coach, filled and covered with men, bristles with muskets and becomes a redoubt.] the little flag. The coach, filled and covered with men, bristles with muskets and becomes a redoubt.]

ONE OF THE CADETS [appears upon the top of the bank backing while he fights; he cries] They are coming up the slope! [ upon the top of the bank backing while he fights; he cries] They are coming up the slope! [Falls dead. ] dead. ]

CYRANO We will welcome them! [Above [Above the bank suddenly rises the bank suddenly rises a formidable array a formidable array of enemies. The great banners of enemies. The great banners of the of the Imperial Army Imperial Army appear.] appear.]

CYRANO Fire! [General discharge.] [General discharge.]

CRY [among the hostile ranks.] Fire! the hostile ranks.] Fire! [Shots returned. CADETS drop on every side] [Shots returned. CADETS drop on every side]

A SPANISH OFFICER [taking off his hat off his hat] What are these men, so determined all to be killed?

CYRANO [declaiming, as he stands in the midst of flying bullets.] as he stands in the midst of flying bullets.] They are the Gascony Cadets Of Carbon de Castel-Jaloux; Famed fighters, liars, desperates ... [ They are the Gascony Cadets Of Carbon de Castel-Jaloux; Famed fighters, liars, desperates ... [He leaps fOTward,followed by a handful of survivors.] They are the Gascony Cadets! ... [The [The rest is lost in the confusion rest is lost in the confusion of battle.] of battle.]

[Curtain.]

ACT FIVE FIVE.

Cyrano's Gazette Fifteen years later, 1655. The park belonging to the convent of the Sisters of the Cross, in Paris.Superb shade-trees. At the left, the house; several doors opening on to broad terrace with steps. In the centre of the stage, huge trees standing alone in a clear oval s.p.a.ce. At the right, first wing, a semicircular stone seat, surrounded by large box-trees.All along the back of the stage, an avenue of chestnut-trees, which leads, at the right, fourth wing, to the door of a chapel seen through trees. Through the double row of trees overarching the avenue are seen lawns, other avenues, clumps of trees, the further recesses of the park, the sky.The chapel opens by a small side-door into a colonnade, overrun by a scarlet creeper; the colonnade comes forward and is lost to sight behind the box-trees at the right.It is Autumn. The leaves are turning, above the still fresh gra.s.s. Dark patches of evergreens, box and yew. Under each tree a mat of yellow leaves. Fallen leaves litter the whole stage, crackle underfoot, lie thick on the terrace and the seats.Between the seat at the right and the tree in the centre, a large embroidery frame, in front of which a small chair. Baskets full of wools, in skeins and b.a.l.l.s. On the frame, a piece of tapestry, partly done.At the rise of the curtain, nuns come and go in the park; a few are seated on the stone seat around an older nun; leaves are falling.

SCENE I.

Mother Margaret, Sister Martha, Sister Claire, other Nuns

SISTER MARTHA [to MOTHER MARGARET] Sister Claire,, after putting on her cap went back to the mirror, to see herself again.

MOTHER MARGARET [to SISTER CLAIRE] It was unbecoming, my child.

SISTER CLAIRE But Sister Martha, to-day, after finis.h.i.+ng her portion, went back to the tart for a plum. I saw her!

MOTHER MARGARET [to SISTER MARTHA] My child, it was ill done.

SISTER CLAIRE I merely glanced! ...

SISTER MARTHA The plum was about so big! ...

MOTHER MARGARET This evening, when Monsieur Cyrano comes, I will tell him.

SISTER CLAIRE [alarmed] No! He will laugh at us!

SISTER MARTHA He will say that nuns are very vain!

SISTER CLAIRE And very greedy!

MOTHER MARGARET And really very good.

SISTER CLAIRE Mother Margaret, is it not true that he has come here every Sat.u.r.day in the last ten years?

MOTHER MARGARET Longer! Ever since his cousin brought among our linen coifs her coif of c.r.a.pe, the worldly symbol of her mourning, which settled like a sable bird amidst our flock of white some fourteen years ago.

SISTER MARTHA He alone, since she took her abode in our cloister, has art to dispel her never-lessening sorrow.

ALL THE NUNS He is so droll!-It is merry when he comes!-He teases us!-He is delightful!-We are greatly attached to him!-We are making Angelica paste66 to offer him! to offer him!

SISTER MARTHA He is not, however, a very good Catholic!

SISTER CLAIRE We will convert him.

THE NUNS We will! We will!

MOTHER MARGARET I forbid your renewing that attempt, my children. Do not trouble him: he might not come so often!

SISTER MARTHA But ... G.o.d!

MOTHER MARGARET Set your hearts at rest: G.o.d must know him of old!

SISTER MARTHA But every Sat.u.r.day, when he comes, he says to me as soon as he sees me, "Sister, I ate meat, yesterday!"

MOTHER MARGARET Ah, that is what he says? ... Well, when he last said it, he had eaten nothing for two days.

SISTER MARTHA Mother!

MOTHER MARGARET He is poor.

SISTER MARTHA Who told you?

MOTHER MARGARET Monsieur Le Bret.

SISTER MARTHA Does no one offer him a.s.sistance?

MOTHER MARGARET No, he would take offence. [In one of the avenues at the back, appears ROXANE, in black, wearing a widow's coif and long mourning veil; DE GUICHE, markedly older, magnificently dressed, walks beside her. They go very slowly. MOTHER MARGARET gets up.] [In one of the avenues at the back, appears ROXANE, in black, wearing a widow's coif and long mourning veil; DE GUICHE, markedly older, magnificently dressed, walks beside her. They go very slowly. MOTHER MARGARET gets up.]

MOTHER MARGARET Come, we must go within. Madame Magdeleine is walking in the park with a visitor.

SISTER MARTHA [low to [low to SISTER CLAIRE.] Is not that the Marshal-duke de Grammont? SISTER CLAIRE.] Is not that the Marshal-duke de Grammont?

SISTER CLAIRE [looking] I think it is!

SISTER MARTHA He has not been to see her in many months!

THE NUNS He is much engaged!-The Court!-The Camp!- SISTER CLAIRE Cares of this world! [Exeunt. DE GUICHE and ROXANE come forward silently, and stop near the embroidery frame. A pause.] [Exeunt. DE GUICHE and ROXANE come forward silently, and stop near the embroidery frame. A pause.]

SCENE II.

Roxane, De Guiche (now the Duke of Grammont), then Le Bret and Ragueneau

DE GUICHE And so you live here, uselessly fair, always in mourning?

ROXANE Always.

DE GUICHE As faithful as of old?

ROXANE As faithful.

DE GUICHE [after a time] [after a time] Have you forgiven me? Have you forgiven me?

ROXANE Since I am here. [Other silence.] [Other silence.]

DE GUICHE And he was really such a rare being?

ROXANE To understand, one must have known him!

DE GUICHE Ah, one must have known him! ... Perhaps I did not know him well enough. And his last letter, still and always, against your heart?

ROXANE I wear it on this velvet, as a more holy scapular.67 DE GUICHE Even dead, you love him?

ROXANE It seems to me sometimes he is but half dead, that our hearts have not been severed, that his love still wraps me round, no less than ever living!

DE GUICHE [after another silence] Does Cyrano come here to see you?

ROXANE Yes, often. That faithful friend fulfils by me the office of gazette. His visits are regular. He comes: when the weather is fine, his armchair is brought out under the trees. I wait for him here with my work; the hour strikes; on the last stroke, I hear-I do not even turn to see who comes!-his cane upon the steps; he takes his seat; he rallies me upon my never-ending tapestry68; he tells off the events of the week, and ... [LE BRET appears appears on the steps] Ah, Le Bret! [LE BRET comes down the on the steps] Ah, Le Bret! [LE BRET comes down the steps steps] How does your friend?

LE BRET III.

THE DUKE Oh!

ROXANE He exaggerates! ...

LE BRET All is come to pa.s.s as I foretold: neglect! poverty! his writings ever breeding him new enemies! Fraud he attacks in every embodiment: usurpers, pious pretenders, plagiarists, a.s.ses in lions' skins ... all! He attacks all!

ROXANE No one, however, but stands in profound respect of his sword. They will never succeed in silencing him.

DE GUICHE [shaking his head] [shaking his head] Who knows? Who knows?

LE BRET What I fear is not the aggression of man; what I fear is loneliness and want and winter creeping upon him like stealthy wolves in his miserable attic; they are the insidious foes that will have him by the throat at last! ... Every day he tightens his belt by an eyelet; his poor great nose is pinched, and turned the sallow of old ivory; the worn black serge you see him in is the only coat he has!

DE GUICHE Ah, there is one who did not succeed! ... Nevertheless, do not pity him too much.

LE BRET [with a bitter smile] Marshal! ...

DE GUICHE Do not pity him too much: he signed no bonds with the world; he has lived free in his thought as in his actions.

LE BRET [as above] Duke ...

DE GUICHE [haughtily] I know, yes: I have everything, he has nothing.... But I should like to shake hands with him. [Bowing to ROXANE.] Good-bye.

ROXANE I will go with you to the door. [DE GUICHE bows to LE BRET and goes with ROXANE toward the terrace steps.] [DE GUICHE bows to LE BRET and goes with ROXANE toward the terrace steps.]

DE GUICHE [stopping, while she goes up the steps] [stopping, while she goes up the steps] Yes, sometimes I envy him. You see, when a man has succeeded too well in life, he is not unlikely to feel-dear me! without having committed any very serious wrong!-a mult.i.tudinous disgust of himself, the sum of which does not const.i.tute a real remorse, but an obscure uneasiness; and a ducal mantle, while it sweeps up the stairs of greatness, may trail in its furry lining a rustling of sere illusions and regrets, as, when you slowly climb toward those doors, your black gown trails the withered leaves. Yes, sometimes I envy him. You see, when a man has succeeded too well in life, he is not unlikely to feel-dear me! without having committed any very serious wrong!-a mult.i.tudinous disgust of himself, the sum of which does not const.i.tute a real remorse, but an obscure uneasiness; and a ducal mantle, while it sweeps up the stairs of greatness, may trail in its furry lining a rustling of sere illusions and regrets, as, when you slowly climb toward those doors, your black gown trails the withered leaves.

ROXANE [ironical] Are you not unusually pensive? ...

DE GUICHE Ah, yes! [As he is about to leave, abruptly.] [As he is about to leave, abruptly.] Monsieur Le Bret! [To ROXANE] Will you allow me? A word. Monsieur Le Bret! [To ROXANE] Will you allow me? A word. [He goes to [He goes to LE BRET, LE BRET, and lowering his voice.] and lowering his voice.] It is true that no one will dare overtly to attack your friend, but many have him in particular disrelish; and some one was saying to me yesterday, at the Queen's, "It seems not unlikely that this Cyrano will meet with an accident." It is true that no one will dare overtly to attack your friend, but many have him in particular disrelish; and some one was saying to me yesterday, at the Queen's, "It seems not unlikely that this Cyrano will meet with an accident."

LE BRET Ah? ...

DE GUICHE Yes. Let him keep indoors. Let him be cautious.

LE BRET [lifting his arms toward Heaven] [lifting his arms toward Heaven] Cautious! ... He is coming here. I will warn him. Warn him! ... Yes, but ... Cautious! ... He is coming here. I will warn him. Warn him! ... Yes, but ...

ROXANE [who has been standing at the head of the steps, to a nun who comes toward her] [who has been standing at the head of the steps, to a nun who comes toward her] What is it? What is it?

THE NUN Ragueneau begs to see you, Madame.

ROXANE Let him come in. [To DE GUICHE and and LE BRET.] He comes to plead distress. Having determined one day to be an author, he became in turn precentor ... LE BRET.] He comes to plead distress. Having determined one day to be an author, he became in turn precentor ... 69 69 LE BRET Bath-house keeper ...

ROXANE Actor ...

LE BRET Beadle ...

ROXANE Barber ...

LE BRET Arch-lute teacher ...

ROXANE I wonder what he is now!