Chapter 6

[Fiori. A garden with a fountain. Evening.] [Enter Octavia and Ladies.]

OCT. It would amuse me if I had a lily To carry in my hand. You there, Carlotta! You have a long arm,--plunge it in the pool And fish me forth a lily!

CLAUDIA. Majesty, They close at night.

OCT. Well--we will open them.

CAR. [Going to pool and scanning it.] Go to--I am not a frog!

OCT. What did you say?

ARIANNA. She says she sees a frog, Your Majesty.

FRAN. [Aside to Carlotta.] You are mad! Can you not keep your tongue in your head?

CAR. Ay, I can keep it in my cheek.--There's one. God grant it have an eel at the end of it,-- I'll give the dame good measure.

[While the ladies are at the pool enter Guido.]

GUIDO. Greeting, madam!

OCT. Who greets me?--Ah, it is the Duke. Good even, Guido. You seek an audience with me?

GUIDO. Nay--nay--but if you send away your women,-- We shall be more alone.

OCT. [After considering him a moment.] You may leave me now, Laura, Francesca--all of you--and you would best go in At an early hour, instead of walking the gardens All night; I would have you with your wits About you in the morning.

LAU. [Aside.] Oh, indeed? You would best go in yourself, lest the dew rust you, You sauce-pan! [Exeunt ladies.]

OCT. Now, my good sir,--you may speak.

GUI. [As if by way of conversation.] It is a long time, is it not, your daughter Is absent from the court?

OCT. Why say you that?

GUI. Why but to pass the time, till she returns?

OCT. Nay, Guido. That is well enough for some, But not for me. I know the slant of your fancy; 'Tis not in that direction.

GUI. Yet me thinks The sooner she is back again at court The happier for us both.

OCT. "Us both?" What "both?"

GUI. You Madam, and myself.

OCT. And why for me?

GUI. [Carefully.] Why, are you not her mother?

OCT. Hah! [Pause.] Guido, What festers in your mind? Do you speak out now, If you await some aid from me.

GUI. Madam, I have but this to say: if I were a woman With a marriageable daughter, and a King rode by, I'd have her at the window.

OCT. So. I thought so.

[With an entire change of manner.]

Guido, what think you,--does she love the King,-- I mean Lorenzo's daughter?

GUI. [Between his teeth.] Ay, she loves him.

OCT. And loves he her?

GUI. Oh, ay. He loves the moon, The wind in the cypress trees, his mother's portrait At seventeen, himself, his future children-- He loves her well enough. But had she blue eyes And yellow hair, and were afraid of snakes, He yet might love her more.

OCT. You think so, Guido? I am content to learn you of that mind. There had occurred to me--some time ago, In fact--a similar fancy. And already My daughter is well on her way home.

[Exeunt Guido and Octavia.]

[Music, Enter Beatrice and Fidelio. Fidelio strums his lute softly throughout the next conversation, up to the words "and cease to mock me."]

BEA. Fidelio, Were you ever in love?

FID. I was never out of it.

BEA. But truly?

FID. Well. I was only out of it What time it takes a man to right himself And once again lose balance. Ah, indeed, 'Tis good to be in love, I have often noticed, The moment I fall out of love, that moment I catch a cold.

BEA. Are you in love, then, now?

FID. Ay, to be sure.

BEA. Oh! Oh! With whom, Fidelio? Tell me with whom!

FID. Why, marry, with yourself,-- That are the nearest to me,--and by the same troth, The farthest away.

BEA. Go to, Fidelio! I am in earnest, and you trifle with me As if I were a child.

FID. Are you not a child, then?

BEA. Not any more.

FID, How so?

BEA. I am in love.

FID. Oh--oh--oh, misery, misery, misery, misery!

BEA. Why do you say that?

FID. Say what?

BEA. "Misery, misery."

FID. It is a song.

BEA. A song?

FID. Ay, 'tis a love-song. Oh, misery, misery, misery, misery, oh!

BEA. Nay, sweet Fidelio, be not so unkind! I tell you, for the first time in my life I am in love! Do you be mannerly now, And cease to mock me,

FID. What would you have me do?

BEA. I would have you shake your head, and pat my shoulder, And smile and say, "Godspeed."

FID. [Doing so very tenderly.] Godspeed.

BEA. [Bursting into tears.] I do not know if I am happy or sad. But I am greatly moved. I would Bianca Were here. I never lacked her near so much As tonight I do, although I lack her always. She is a long time gone.--If I tell you something, Will you promise not to tell.

FID. Nay, I'll not promise, But I'll not tell.

BEA. Fidelio, I do love so The King from Lagoverde! I do so love him!

FID. Godspeed, Godspeed.

BEA. Ay, it is passing strange; Last week I was a child, but now I am not. And I begin my womanhood with weeping; I know not why.--La, what a fool I am! 'Tis over. Sing, Fidelio.

FID. Would you a gay song, My Princess?

BEA. Ay.--And yet--nay, not so gay. A simple song, such as a country-boy Might sing his country-sweetheart.--Is it the moon Hath struck me, do you think? I swear by the moon I am most melancholy soft, and most Outrageous sentimental! Sing, dear fool.

FID. [Singing.] "Butterflies are white and blue In this field we wander through. Suffer me to take your hand. Death comes in a day or two. All the things we ever knew Will be ashes in that hour. Mark the transient butterfly, How he hangs upon the flower. Suffer me to take your hand. Suffer me to cherish you Till the dawn is in the sky. Whether I be false or true, Death comes in a day or two."

CURTAIN