Six One-Act Plays - BestLightNovel.com
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GENERAL--(_Aside._) Santissima Maria, my son!
FELICIANA--Now, I will not have thee create havoc. Thou must hide thy loveliness behind a veil, or thou too shalt be discarded, and the city can mock thee also.
(_General arises in silent rage and walks back and forth._)
PEDRO--(_To Feliciana._) The lover of Lagrimas is--
FELICIANA--I know!
PEDRO--This discussion! The General's pride!
FELICIANA--It is time he understood that people do not lie in the road to keep his haughty feet free of dust.
(_Enter Rodriguez. Lagrimas again attempts to steal off with Tarik--but is discovered by the General._)
GENERAL--Who goes there?
PEDRO--(_Stops them._) Santa Maria, a miracle!
GENERAL--Who is this boy?
PEDRO--It is the boy who was killed!
RODRIGUEZ--Killed?
PEDRO--The woman's boy who flung himself over the wall. He must have been killed. It is a miracle.
GENERAL--Hold him! (_To Lagrimas._) Thou, what art thou doing here?
LAGRIMAS--I came to help the boy. I saw him struggling up the face of the wall. He is hurt, let me care for him.
GENERAL--(_Sternly._) He is a prisoner.
LAGRIMAS--Surely thou dost not fight against children, as well as women?
Let me care for him.
GENERAL--Lieutenant Don Rodriguez, wilt thou explain that our King deems it a crime against holy church to aid or shelter the infidels?
RODRIGUEZ--My word will have little weight.
GENERAL--Love should make thy tongue eloquent.
RODRIGUEZ--(_To Lagrimas._) Do not bother with the child, let Pedro take him.
LAGRIMAS--(_Bitterly._) Has success withered thy brave heart, soldier?
RODRIGUEZ--Wilt thou not understand? Interference may spell death.
LAGRIMAS--Better my body, than my soul to die. (_To General._) Is there no pity in thee? Does thy l.u.s.t for conquest extend to babies?
GENERAL--It is for thy safety he pleads.
LAGRIMAS--I do not need his pleading.
GENERAL--Is it thus thou showest love for Don Rodriguez?
LAGRIMAS--I have not said I love Don Rodriguez.
GENERAL--Hast thou not promised to marry him?
LAGRIMAS--No, no, no!
RODRIGUEZ--I have no power to either make her love or marry me.
GENERAL--No power! The man who captured Hafiz the Moor, to have no power with a woman!
RODRIGUEZ--A woman is difficult.
GENERAL--Dost thou not know, the people in the streets say she flouts thee, and mock thee for a sorry lover?
RODRIGUEZ--They will talk anyway.
GENERAL--Where is thy pride? Wilt thou have them jest at thee?
RODRIGUEZ--What have I to do with pride?
GENERAL--If thou wouldst be a son of mine, marry her out of hand. Marry her, I say! Scorn Don Rodriguez, the jade! It is intolerable.
(_Exit._)
FELICIANA--Thy father must be a terrible care, Don Rodriguez.
RODRIGUEZ--He is not always easy to understand.
FELICIANA--Thou dost not manage him right. Bring his Castilian nose nearer the earth. There are wholesome smells he is missing.
PEDRO--(_Shocked._) Feliciana!
FELICIANA--Pedro, I'm going to dance, I feel I'm going to dance. Throw thy veil away. Beauty should never be hidden.
(_Pedro throws the veil over the wall._)
PEDRO--Feliciana!
(_Pedro and Feliciana exeunt laughing._)
LAGRIMAS--(_Shyly._) The little fellow is hurt.
