Semiramis and Other Plays Part 61

Poe. I shall have the water about my ears presently. I thought I was drowning on a mermaid's bosom. Read no more, Virginia. One nibble at a time is enough of Spenser. He ought to be made into a thousand little poems. Then we should have a mult.i.tude of gems instead of a great granite mountain that n.o.body can circuit without weariness.

Vir. You know so much, Edgar. Will you teach me while you are here, if I try very hard to learn?

Poe. (Plucking a flower) My little girl, what lore would you teach this bud? G.o.d makes some people so. Be happy that you are a beautiful certainty and not a struggling possibility.

Vir. But the rose has no soul, Edgar--no heart, as I have. It does not sigh to see you look so pale, and read these lines of suffering here, (touching his brow) but I--it kills me, cousin! (He hides his face) Forgive me! O, I am so unkind!

(Mrs. Clemm comes out of cottage and crosses to them. She gently takes Poe's hand from his face and kisses him)

Mrs. C. My dear boy!

Poe. (Seizing her hand and holding it) Don't--don't be so kind to me, aunt! It tells too much of what has never been mine. Curious interest--pa.s.sing friends.h.i.+p--love born in a flash and dead in an hour--these I have had, while my heart was crying from its depths for the firmly founded love that shakes but with the globe itself.

Mrs. C. (Taking his head on her breast) My dear Edgar! You will be my son--Virginia's brother!

Poe. (Lifting his face smiling) I _will_ be happy! No more of that solitude lighted only by the eyes of ghouls! Here I have come into the light. I have found the sun. I see what my work should be--what Art is. She is beauty and joy. Her light should fall on life like morning on the hills. The clouds of pa.s.sion and agony should never darken her face.

O, I can paint her now ready for the embrace of the soul!

Mrs. C. I can not see things with your rapturous eyes, Edgar, but I know that your work will be n.o.ble, and I love you.

Poe. O, aunt, you and this little wonder-witch have enchanted me back to happiness. I promise you never again shall you see a tear on my face or a frown on my brow. (Virginia, looking toward the road, bows as to some one pa.s.sing)

Poe. Blus.h.i.+ng, cousin? Who is worth such a rosy flag? (Stands up and looks down the road) Brackett! I do believe!

Mrs. C. You know him, Edgar? He is staying with my brother-in-law, Nelson Clemm, for a short time, and has asked to call on us--on Virginia, I mean, for of course I don't count, now that my little girl is suddenly turned woman.

Poe. Don't for Heaven's sake!

Mrs. C. You don't like him, Edgar?

Poe. Like him! We were at West Point together. He refused to accept a challenge after slandering me vilely, and I was obliged to thrash him. That's all. (Turns suddenly to Virginia) And you were blus.h.i.+ng for him!

Vir. It was not because I like him, Edgar.

Poe. (Looking into her eyes) You are a wise little piece.

Mrs. C. This is painful, Edgar. Of course he must not call.

Poe. Call! Let him but look toward the house again, and I'll give him a drubbing that will make him forget the first one! The coward! He wouldn't meet me--after--

Vir. How about the frowns, Edgar?

Poe. (Smiling) Let him go!

Mrs. C. You should not make such bitter enemies at the beginning of life, my boy.

Poe. He can not touch me. He is not of my world.

Mrs. C. We are all of one world, Edgar, and never know when we may lap fortunes with our foes. Mr. Brackett is going into literature too.

Poe. Yes. The trade and barter part of it. I shall be in the holy temple while he keeps a changer's table on the steps.

(Shrugging) Brackett! Pah!... But goodbye for half an hour. I'm going to the orchard to take counsel with the birds on my new philosophy. (Starts away) Come, (turning to Virginia) my mocking bird, there won't be a quorum without you! (Virginia goes to him. Zurie puts her head out of a window and calls.)

Mum Zurie.

Mars Nelson comin' up de lane!

Mrs. C. Come back, Virginia, you must see your uncle. Edgar, won't you wait and meet him?

Poe. Thank you aunt, but I don't think it would give him any pleasure. (Exit)

Vir. (Coming back reluctantly) O mama, we _will_ make him happy!

Mrs. C. We'll try, my dear. But you must get ready for the picnic.

The girls will be here soon. Is Edgar going with you?

Vir. No, mother. He said he would go to a picnic only with nymphs and naiads.

Mrs. C. Here is uncle.

(Enter, from the road, Nelson Clemm)

Mr. C. How d' do, Maria! Howdy, girl! Go get your hat.

Mrs. C. What now, Nelson?

Mr. C. Nothin'. Only I'm tired o' foolin' and talkin' about that girl's education. I've come to take her this time.

Vir. To send me to school?

Mr. C. High time, ain't it? I couldn't make up my mind before whether 'twas to be the seminary at Bowville or Maryburg.

But I had a letter this morning which settled it for Bowville. Suits me exactly--suits me _exactly_. So get your hat and come along. I drove across the ridge and left my trap at Judge Carroll's.

Mrs. C. Her clothes, Nelson! There's nothing ready--

Mr. C. You mean to say! When we've been talkin' this thing a whole year? And you a thrifty woman tell me her clothes ain't ready? Well, she'll come without 'em, that's all.

You can send 'em along afterwards. I've got it all fixed up, I tell you. My brother's child shall have her chance--she shall have her chance, so long as I've got a dollar in my pocket and she walks exactly to please me--walks _exactly_ to please me. It's for you to say, Maria, whether you'll stand in the way o' your own flesh and blood or not.

Mrs. C. Of course, Nelson, I am very grateful, and do not dream of depriving Virginia of this opportunity, only--

Mr. C. That's all there is to it then. No onlys about it. Go get your hat, girl. (Virginia goes slowly into the house. At the door she meets Zurie who turns back and goes in with her)

Mrs. C. Now, Nelson?

Mr. C. It's just this. My brother's child shan't stay another hour in the same house with Edgar Poe. That's the plain tale of it, Maria.

Mrs. C. Nelson Clemm!

Mr. C. O, I've been hearin' things--I've been hearin'! He didn't cover all his tracks at West Point--or New York either!