Standard Selections Part 68

And let me come to such most poor atonement Yet in my power. Pauline!--

PAULINE. No, touch me not!

I know my fate. You are, by law, my tyrant; And I--O Heaven!--a peasant's wife! I'll work-- Toil--drudge--do what thou wilt--but touch me not!

Let my wrongs make me sacred!

MEL. Do not fear me.

Thou dost not know me, madam; at the altar My vengeance ceased--my guilty oath expired!

Henceforth, no image of some marble saint, Niched in cathedral aisles, is hallowed more From the rude hand of sacrilegious wrong.

I am thy husband--nay, thou need'st not shudder!-- Here, at thy feet, I lay a husband's rights.

A marriage thus unholy--unfulfill'd-- A bond of fraud--is, by the laws of France, Made void and null. To-night sleep--sleep in peace.

To-morrow, pure and virgin as this morn I bore thee, bathed in blushes, from the shrine, Thy father's arms shall take thee to thy home.

The law shall do thee justice, and restore Thy right to bless another with thy love.

And when them art happy, and hast half forgot Him who so loved--so wrong'd thee, think at least Heaven left some remnant of the angel still In that poor peasant's nature! Ho! my mother!

_Enter_ WIDOW

Conduct this lady (she is not my wife; She is our guest--our honor'd guest, my mother) To the poor chamber, where the sleep of virtue Never, beneath my father's honest roof, E'en villains dared to mar! Now, lady, now I think thou wilt believe me.

Go, my mother!

WIDOW. She is not thy wife!

MEL. Hush, hus.h.!.+ for mercy's sake!

Speak not, but go.

[_Exit_ WIDOW. PAULINE _follows, weeping--turns to look back_.

All angels bless and guard her!

RIP VAN WINKLE[80]

WAs.h.i.+NGTON IRVING

ACT I, SCENE I

CHARACTERS: Rip Van Winkle; Derrick Von Beekman, the villain of the play, who endeavors to get Rip drunk, in order to have him sign away his property; Nick Vedder, the village innkeeper.

SCENE: The village inn; present, Von Beekman, alone.

_Enter_ RIP, _shaking off the children, who cling about him_

RIP [_to the children_]. Say! hullo, dere, yu Yacob Stein! Let that dog Schneider alone, will you? Dere, I tole you dat all de time, if you don'd let him alone he's goin' to bide you! Why, hullo, Derrick! How you was? Ach, my! Did you hear dem liddle fellers just now? Dey most plague me crazy. Ha, ha, ha! I like to laugh my outsides in every time I tink about it. Just now, as we was comin' along togedder, Schneider and me--I don'd know if you know Schneider myself? Well, he's my dog. Well, dem liddle fellers, dey took Schneider, und--ha, ha, ha!--dey--ha, ha, ha!--dey tied a tin kettle mit his tail! Ha, ha, ha! My gracious! Of you had seen dat dog run! My, how scared he was! Vell, he was a-runnin' an'

de kettle was a-bangin' an'--ha, ha, ha! you believe it, dat dog, he run right betwixt me an' my legs! Ha, ha, ha! He spill me und all dem leddle fellers down in de mud togedder. Ha, ha, ha!

VON B. Ah, yes, that's all right, Rip, very funny, very funny; but what do you say to a gla.s.s of liquor, Rip?

RIP. Well, now, Derrick, what do I generally say to a gla.s.s? I generally say it's a good ting, don'd I? Und I generally say a good deal more to what is in it, dan to de gla.s.s.

VON B. Certainly, certainly! Say, hallo, there! Nick Vedder, bring out a bottle of your best!

RIP. Dat's right--fill 'em up. You wouldn't believe, Derrick, but dat is de first one I have had to-day. I guess maybe de reason is, I couldn't got it before. Ah, Derrick, my score is too big! Well, here is your good health und your family's--may dey all live long and prosper. [_They drink._] Ach! you may well smack your lips, und go ah, ah! over dat liquor. You don'd give me such liquor like dat every day, Nick Vedder.

Well, come on, fill 'em up again. Git out mit dat water, Nick Vedder, I don'd want no water in my liquor. Good liquor und water, Nick Vedder, is just like man and wife, dey don'd agree well togedder--dat's me und my wife, any way. Well, come on again. Here is your good health und your family's, und may dey all live long und prosper!

NICK VEDDER. That's right, Rip; drink away, and "drown your sorrows in the flowing bowl."

RIP. Drown my sorrows? Ya, dat's all very well, but she don'd drown. My wife is my sorrow und you can't drown her; she tried it once, but she couldn't do it. What, didn't you hear about dat, de day what Gretchen she like to got drownded? Ach, my; dat's de funniest ting in de world.

I'll tell you all about it. It was de same day what we got married. I bet I don'd forget dat day so long what I live. You know dat Hudson River what dey git dem boats over--well, dat's de same place. Well, you know dat boat what Gretchen she was a-goin' to come over in, dat got upsetted--ya, just went righd by der boddom. But she wasn't in de boat.

Oh, no; if she had been in de boat, well, den, maybe she might have got drownded. You can't tell anyting at all about a ting like dat!

VON B. Ah, no; but I'm sure, Rip, if Gretchen were to fall into the water now, you would risk your life to save her.

RIP. Would I? Well, I am not so sure about dat myself. When we was first got married? Oh, ya; I know I would have done it den, but I don'd know how it would be now. But it would be a good deal more my duty now as it was den. Don'd you know, Derrick, when a man gits married a long time--mit his wife, he gits a good deal attached mit her, und it would be a good deal more my duty now as it was den. But I don'd know, Derrick. I am afraid if Gretchen should fall in de water now und should say, "Rip, Rip! help me oud"--I should say, "Mrs. Van Winkle, I will just go home and tink about it." Oh, no, Derrick; if Gretchen fall in de water now she's got to swim, I told you dat--ha, ha, ha, ha! Hullo!

dat's her a-comin' now; I guess it's bedder I go oud! [_Exit_ RIP.

ACT II, SCENE I

CHARACTERS: Rip Van Winkle; Gretchen, his wife; Meenie, their little daughter.

SCENE: The dimly lighted kitchen of Rip's cottage. Shortly after his conversation with Von Beekman, Rip's wife catches him carousing and dancing upon the village green. She drives him away in no very gentle fas.h.i.+on, and he runs away from her only to carouse the more.

Returning home after nightfall in a decidedly muddled condition, he puts his head through the open window at the rear, not observing his irate wife, who stands in ambush behind the clothes-bars with her ever-ready broomstick, to give him a warm reception, but seeing only his little daughter Meenie, of whom he is very fond, and who also loves him very tenderly.

RIP. Meenie! Meenie, my darlin'!

MEENIE. Hush-sh-h. [_Shaking finger, to indicate the presence of her mother._]

RIP. Eh! what's de matter? I don'd see not'ing, my darlin'.

MEENIE. 'Sh-sh-s.h.!.+

RIP. Eh! what? Say, Meenie, is de ole wild cat home? [GRETCHEN _catches him quickly by the hair_.] Oh, oh! say, is dat you, Gretchen? Say, dere, my darlin', my angel, don'd do dat. Let go my head, won'd you? Well, den, hold on to it so long what you like. [GRETCHEN _releases him_.]

Dere, now, look at dat, see what you done--you gone pull out a whole handful of hair. What you want to do a ting like dat for? You must want a bald-headed husband, don'd you?

GRETCHEN. Who was that you called a wild cat?

RIP. Who was dat I called a wild cat? Well, now, let me see, who was dat I called a wild cat? Dat must 'a' been de same time I come in de winder dere, wasn't it? Yes, I know, it was de same time. Well, now, let me see. _[Suddenly.]_ It was de dog Schneider dat I call it.

GRETCHEN. The dog Schneider? That's a likely story.

RIP. Why, of course it is a likely story--ain't he my dog? Well, den, I call him a wild cat just so much what I like, so dere now. [_Gretchen begins to weep_.] Oh, well; dere, now, don'd you cry, don'd you cry, Gretchen; you hear what I said? Lisden now. If you don'd cry, I nefer drink anoder drop of liquor in my life.

GRETCHEN [_crying_]. Oh, Rip! you have said so many, many times, and you never kept your word yet.