Chapter 16

MEGACLES, LYSIMACHUS, Courtiers, _and_ Citizens _of Cherson._

_Meg._ Oh, this has been a happy day. All has gone admirably. Not a hitch in all the arrangements. Precedence kept, rank observed, dresses all they should be. I do not, I really do not think, though I say it who should not, that the Imperial Chamberlain at Constantinople could have conducted the matter better.

_1st Court._ Nay, that he could not, good Megacles. Let us hope that what remains to do will go as smoothly.

_Meg._ What remains? Doubtless you mean the banquet. That is all arranged long ago under three heads. First, the order of entering the hall; second, the order of the seats; third, the order of going forth.

_Lys._ Doubtless the last will arrange itself. Remember, the only order of going to be observed is this, that thou get thyself gone, and all the guests from Cherson gone, fully half an hour before midnight.

_Meg._ But, my lord, that is impossible; you ask too much. How long do you suppose it will take, at a moderate computation, to get one hundred men of ill-defined rank out of a room with a decent regard for Precedence. Why, I have seen it take an hour at the Palace, where everybody knew his place, and here I cannot undertake to do it under two.

_Lys._ My friend, you will get it done; you will waive ceremony. None but the Prince and ourselves must remain within half an hour of midnight, and the hall must be cleared.

_Meg._ Ah, well, my Lord Lysimachus, the responsibility rests with you; I will have none of it. It is as much as my reputation is worth. But if I do this, cannot you let me have a guard of honour of armed men to stand at intervals along the hall. I have been longing for them all day.

_Lys._ (_angrily_). Peace, fool! I have told you before we have no soldiers here.

[People _of Cherson overhearing him._

_1st Cit._ Didst hear that old man? He believes there are soldiers here. Whence do they come? and why did the other check him?

_Meg._ Well, my Lord Lysimachus, if not soldiers, men-at-arms, and these there certainly are, and highly decorative too.

_2nd Cit._ I hate these Bosphorians. What if the rumour should be true? Pass the word to the citizens that they sleep not to-night, but keep their arms ready for what may come. We are a match for them, whatever may be their design. To-morrow we will probe this matter to its depths.

_2nd Court._ Depend upon it, there is no time to lose if we would forestall these fellows. But here comes the procession to the banqueting-hall.

[Citizens _going to banquet two and two._

_Meg._ (_with a gold wand_). This way, gentlemen; this way, masters and mistresses; this way, Respectables!

[_Accompanies them to the end of the stage towards the banqueting-hall in the distance. Returns to escort another party._ Musicians, _etc._

_Enter_ Senators, _two and two._

_Meg._ (_bowing profoundly three times_). Most Illustrious Senators! this way, your Highnesses; this way.

_Enter_ MELISSA _and other_ Ladies.

(_To_ MELISSA) Fairest and loveliest of your adorable sex, your slave prostrates himself before your stainless and beatific feet (_bowing low and kissing his fingers_). Illustrious Ladies, I pray you to advance.

_Lys._ (_with Courtiers standing apart_). A good appetite, my friends. Enjoy yourselves while you may.

_Bard._ We are quite ready, my Lord Lysimachus. Are you not (_with a sneer_) for the banquet?

_Lys._ In good time, in good time. If they only knew.

[_Aside._

_Bard._ (_overhearing_). If _you_ knew all, my friends.

_Meg._ (_returning_). I pray you, most Illustrious Senators, to excuse the absence of a guard of honour.

_Bard._ Nay, nay; we are peaceful people, and have no armed men nearer than Bosphorus, as my Lord Lysimachus knows. There are plenty in that favoured State, no doubt.

_Lys._ (_confused_). What does this insolence mean? I would the hour were come.

_Enter_ ZETHO, _with his retinue._

_Meg._ Your Gravity, Your Sincerity, Your Sublime and Wonderful Magnitude, Your Illustrious and Magnificent Highness, I prostrate myself before Your Altitude. Will You deign to walk this way?

_Zetho._ My lord, I am no Caesar, but a simple citizen of Cherson, called by my fellows to preside over the State. Use not to me these terms, I pray of you, but lead on quickly.

_Meg._ I prostrate myself before Your Eminence.

_Enter_ ASANDER _and_ GYCIA.

_Meg._ (_returning_). Noble Prince, will your Illustrious Consort and yourself deign to follow me?

_Asan._ Nay, good Megacles, will you and these gentlemen go first? I have a word to say to the Lady Gycia. We will be with you before the guests are seated.

_Meg._ I obey, my Lord Asander, and will await you at the door.

[MEGACLES, LYSIMACHUS, _and the rest, pass on._

_Asan._ Gycia, though we have passed from amity And all our former love, yet would I pray you, By our sweet years of wedded happiness, Give ear to me a moment. It may be That some great shock may come to set our lives For evermore apart.

_Gycia._ Ah yes, Asander-- For evermore apart!

_Asan._ And I would fain, If it must be, that thou shouldst know to-night That never any woman on the earth Held me one moment in the toils of love Except my wife.

_Gycia._ What! not Irene's self?

_Asan._ Never, I swear by Heaven. She was a woman In whom a hopeless passion burnt the springs Of maiden modesty. I never gave her The solace of a smile.

_Gycia._ Dost thou say this? Is thy soul free from all offence with her, If thou camest now to judgment?

_Asan._ Ay, indeed, Free as a child's.

_Gycia._ Oh, my own love! my dear! Ah no! too late, too late!

[_Embraces him._

_Asan._ I ask thee not Counter assurance, since I know thy truth.

_Gycia._ Speakst thou of Theodorus? He loved me Before I knew thee, but I loved no man Before I met Asander. When he knelt That day, it was in pity for my grief, Thinking thee false, and all his buried love Burst into passionate words, which on the instant I as thy wife repelled.

_Asan._ Oh, perfect woman!

[_They embrace._

O God, it is too late! Come, let us go; The guests are waiting for us. What can Fate Devise to vanquish Love.

[_Exeunt._

_Enter two drunken_ Labourers _of Cherson, bearing faggots and straw._

_1st Lab._ Well, friend, what kind of day has it been with you?

_2nd Lab._ Oh, a white day, a happy day! Plenty of food, plenty of wine, raree shows without end, such processions as were never seen--the very model of a democracy; nothing to pay, and everybody made happy at the expense of the State. I have lived in Cherson, man and boy, for fifty years, and I never saw anything to compare with it. Here's good luck to Lamachus's memory, say I, and I should like to celebrate his lamented decease as often as his daughter likes.

_1st Lab._ Didst know him, citizen?

_2nd Lab._ No, not I. He has been dead these two years. Time he was forgotten, I should think. They don't commemorate poor folk with all these fal-lals and follies.

_1st Lab._ Well, citizen, there is one comfort--the great people don't enjoy themselves as we do. Did you ever see such a set of melancholy, frowning, anxious faces as the grandees carried with them to-day? And as for the Prince and the Lady Gycia, I don't believe they spoke a word the livelong day, though they walked together. That is the way with these grandees. When you and I quarrel with our wives, it is hammer and tongs for five minutes, and then kiss and make friends.

_2nd Lab._ And fancy being drilled by that old fool from Bosphorus--"Most Illustrious, this is your proper place;" "Respectable sir, get you back there" (_mimics_ MEGACLES), and so forth.

_1st Lab._ Well, well, it is good to be content. But I warrant we are the only two unhappy creatures in Cherson to-night, who have the ill fortune to be sober. And such wine too, and nothing to pay!

_2nd Lab._ Never mind, citizen, we shall be paid in meal or malt, I dare say, and we are bound to keep sober. By the way, it is a curiously contrived bonfire this.

_1st Lab._ It will be the crowning triumph of the whole festival, the senator said.

_2nd Lab._ But who ever heard of a bonfire on a large scale like this, so close to an old building? You know our orders: we are to place lines of faggots and straw close to the building on every side, well soaked with oil, and certain sealed vessels full of a secret compound in the midst of them. And just before midnight we are to run with torches and set light to the whole bonfire, to amuse the noble guests at the banquet.

[IRENE _at a window, overhearing._

_1st Lab._ Ah! do you not see? It is a device of the Senate to startle our friends from Bosphorus. The faggots and straw blaze up fiercely round the wall; then, when all is confusion, the substance in the sealed vessels escapes and at once puts out the fire, and the laugh is with us. Our friends from Bosphorus know what we can do in chemistry before now.

_2nd Lab._ Faith, a right merry device! Ha! ha! What a head thou hast, citizen! Well, we must go on with our work. Lay the faggots evenly.

_Ire. (at the window above)._ Great God! what is this? We are doomed to die! Good friends, Know you my brother, the Lord Theodorus? I have something urgent I would say to him. I will write it down, and you shall give it him When he comes forth from the banquet.

[_Disappears._

_1st Lab._ Good my lady. Her brother, too, she calls him. I go bail it is her lover, and this is an assignation. Well, well, we poor men must not be too particular.

_2nd Lab._ No, indeed; but let us get on with our work, or we shall never finish in time.

_Ire. (reappearing)._ Here it is. Give it him, I pray, when he comes forth. 'Tis a thing of life and death.

_1st Lab._ So they all think, Poor love-sick fools!

_Ire._ See, here is gold for you-- 'Tis all I have; but he will double it, If you fail not.

_1st Lab._ Lady, we shall be here, We must be here. Fear not, we shall not miss him.