ACT IV

SCENE: _The Grove of Peace, as in second act. Late afternoon. Two officers meet as curtain rises._

_First Off._ So Cordiaz is fallen.

_Second Off._ Joggled down At last, poor man!

_First Off._ When all the ghosts he made Come back to weep his fall, I'll swell the flood With half a tear, no more.

_Second Off._ Then you're for Vardas?

_First Off._ By glory, no! He'll open Goldusan To every thief that knocks.

_Second Off._ Trust Hudibrand To guard the door. Till he has plucked the goose,-- Then they may shave it for their part.

_First Off._ So, friend?

_Second Off._ Phut! Goldusan's his box of snuff--held so-- And as he pleases, tchew!--'tis empty.

_First Off._ Come, I'll walk your way. [_They move, right_] What of this truce? Goes 't deep?

_Second Off._ As flattery may plough. It is our croon Of compliment to our new-seated king.

_First Off._ Nay, president. We're a republic now.

_Second Off._ Spell 't king or president, it means the same.

_First Off._ But with Bolderez ours, the truce should last.

_Second Off._ Why, 't may, till night. Bolderez, friend, Is not the revolution.

_First Off._ He's the heft of 't, And's made a full surrender.

_Second Off._ Made his terms! His officers are guardians of the State, And he--he's stallion of the court, submits To curb and comb that he may prouder prance And keep the herd at stare. Surrender? Lord! I think it!

[_Enter Third Officer, from left_]

_Third Off._ What's stirring, friends?

_Second Off._ Sleep-walkers.

_Third Off._ Ay, This amnesty makes idlers.

_Second Off._ So to-day, But work brews for to-morrow.

_Third Off._ You've a secret, And I've a guess that picks the lock to 't.

_Second Off._ Come! These leaves are listeners.

[_They go off, lower right. Enter by path upper right, Señora Ziralay and Guildamour_]

_Gui._ To find you here Makes my best hope a sluggard, far outgone By th' dear event.

_Señ._ I came five days ago, The princess with me, here to wait return Of Hudibrand. That you have come with him, Makes sober welcome blithe.

_Gui._ He's slack in health.

_Señ._ That's written plain.

_Gui._ What iron's in the man That he yet lives?

_Señ._ He's been in conclave?

_Gui._ Yes. Five nights he routed sleep from th' drowsy synod, And hung upon us turning every flank, Till Protest paled and Patience bled at heart.

_Señ._ And at the end?

_Gui._ He held our sealèd bonds, And Vardas sat secure.

_Señ._ The bonds? We own Our railways now?

_Gui._ We do. And Hudibrand Owns us,--that is, the bonds. A good, stout noose For a nation's neck.

_Señ._ And all these days he's been In th' capital?

_Gui._ In closest session, though A stage-fed rumor held that he was gone From Goldusan. The harried people fear Assarian power, and on the jealous watch, Keep Hudibrand in burrow.

_Señ._ He's gay-blown With confidence. I hear from Ziralay He made a careless peace with all the friends Of tottering Cordiaz.

_Gui._ That carelessness Was sea-deep cunning. Favors will go high, They'll find. Megario gave full half his lands For place in th' Cabinet.

_Señ._ Megario moved In blaze of censure, and did well to escape Singed of but half his goods. Two prisoners lost----

_Gui._ Ah, Chartrien and....

_Señ._ Rejan!

_Gui._ Be guarded here. Fate rustles at that name.

_Señ._ O, Guildamour, Fear is the silent warder that divides Our secret hearts. Give it the tongue of daring, And like a blest interpreter 'twill bring Our hopes together.

_Gui._ There is stir within. Come from these walls, Señora. And if your hope Is on the road with mine, I've news will make The wayside sing. Winds gather here and yon That may out-swagger even Hudibrand.

[_They go back along cascade path, as Hudibrand, Diraz, Mazaran, and Golifet come out of house_]

_Gol._ [_Holding up letter_] Nay, fearless majesty might take more note Of this despatch.

_Hud._ That beggar's mewl?

_Gol._ There's power In every word. LeVal must harbor strength We do not know of.

_Hud._ Tush! That is the vaunt Of weakness, not of power.

_Maz._ What is 't he says?

_Gol._ Avers him free of this imposèd truce, And gives a fair foe's warning he'll attack Whene'er and how he can.

_Maz._ Well bragged.

_Dir._ His guns, No doubt, are cooler than his pen.

_Maz._ What more?

_Gol._ Repudiates Bolderez, and declares Himself the head of the Insurrectionists, Sole authorized to speak and treat for them. My lord, what shall I answer?

_Hud._ Answer? Humph! Treat with a rag-pole? We'll not sag to that.

[_Re-enter, right, Señora and Guildamour_]

_Hud._ My dear Señora, is our freakish daughter In hiding from us? We've not had her greeting.

_Señ._ She knew you close engaged, my lord, and left The hour to you. I'll tell her of your pleasure.

_Hud._ My steps are yours. [_To his companions_] Each where he would, my friends. [_Goes in with Señora_]

_Dir._ I'm for a swim.

_Gol._ And I.

_Maz._ The river? With you!

_Gol._ [_Leading left_] Bolderez' men are gathering opposite, Behind the river woods.

_Maz._ The pick of camps.

_Gol._ They know it too. There's water, and the trees Are cool and friendly.

_Dir._ Was it not resolved Bolderez' men should join the Federal Guards?

_Gol._ They do, in th' main. This is a straggling wing Left in the hills, that we have given leave To station here.

_Dir._ That's prudence too.

_Maz._ Why so?

_Dir._ I'm windward of a whisper.

_Gol._ About LeVal?

_Dir._ He's circling in. Let Hudibrand laugh low Or the enemy will hear him.

_Gol._ This LeVal Was dead and buried,--three months out of life,-- Shook from remembrance as the stalest clutter,-- Now, save our eyes, he's jumped alive and rides Our foremost thought! Enough to send a man Back to his marrows. I shall pray to-night.

_Maz._ A plunge for resolution! That will cool it.

[_Exeunt lower left. Señora comes out of house and crosses to seat, right_]

_Señ._ 'Tis five o'clock. No sign! But he will come. He comes!

[_Enter Chartrien, lower right. They meet silently and clasp hands_]

_Cha._ My friend! I thought you far from here. Safe in the capital. But nothing's strange To those who've moved mid miracles. You've seen LeVal?

_Señ._ I have.

_Cha._ I long to greet him. O, Such walking of the dead renews the earth And makes it habitable! I have heard It was Famette who saved him,--added that To array of deeds that must unlaurel all The heroines of time.

_Señ._ There'll be an hour To talk of that. Now you must see the princess.

_Cha._ Hernda is with you? _Here!_

_Señ._ And Hudibrand. No danger there. He wants you now, and says You'll find good grass if you will leap the stile.

_Cha._ [_Answering her smile_] So blind as that? Poor mole, he's been in th' ground Too long. Will never get his eyes.

_Señ._ Ay, he'll Deny the sun till 't bakes him in his burrow. But Hernda,--O, what welcome waits you, friend! The ivory-crusted temple, shut and sealed To eternal airs, is now a fane of rose, Whose cloistral stairs, that wound so futilely, Will now through fragrant twilight lead you up To windowed Heaven. Come! Come, take your own!

_Cha._ No! Wait....

_Señ._ A lover speaks that word?

_Cha._ Señora,----

_Señ._ That wound she gave you here is open yet? But you were wrong, and with your wretched doubts Assailed her in the hour she lay on rack To save you.

_Cha._ On rack for me? She gave me up. Gave me to him,--Megario,--knowing that Meant death.

_Señ._ And yet you live.

_Cha._ I--?

_Señ._ Live. Do you not know You were to die that night?

_Cha._ I've heard.

_Señ._ Those hours She gained for you meant life.

_Cha._ She gained for me? I saw his lips on hers.

_Señ._ You did. And I-- I saw her face. The dead are warmer. She Could bear that touch for your sake, and on that Bore too your curse.

_Cha._ For me? I'll hear no more, Señora.

_Señ._ You will see her now?

_Cha._ Not now, Nor ever. I am here by pledge, to meet-- A friend.

[_Masio enters lower right_]

_Señ._ Is this--the man?

_Cha._ No, but I know him. He's seeking me, I think.

_Señ._ I'll leave you then.

_Cha._ [_Seizing her hands_] Nothing to Hernda!

_Señ._ Nothing. You and she For what may come. [_Goes in_]

_Cha._ You, Masio? From Famette?

_Mas._ No, from the camp.

_Cha._ The camp! But she is there?

_Mas._ That's guessing, sir. There's fernseed on her wings. She flits invisible, then bat your eyes You see her.

_Cha._ I've her word she'd meet me here.

_Mas._ Queer place. You come from Quito?

_Cha._ Yes. 'Twas there I had her letter making this strange tryst. I've travelled from that hour. Famette has left Her name upon the air, and all the way I heard it.

_Mas._ She's the bird of courage, dares Go far as our LeVal himself. But here's What brought me, sir. [_Gives Chartrien a letter_] 'Tis from LeVal.

_Cha._ His hand! His living hand! [_Reads, pales, and stands silent_]

_Mas._ Bad, sir?

_Cha._ No, good. 'Tis good.

_Mas._ Then I'll be off. My head's no show variety, But I'd not trust it long in th' grove of Peace. We'll see you soon in camp?

_Cha._ To-night, I hope. Famette holds key to that.

_Mas._ The first star bring you! [_Exit_]

_Cha._ [_Reads letter_] _When you see the princess Hernda, kiss for me the hand that gave me freedom. It was she unlocked my dungeon and nursed my bones to life. What I am is hers, and therefore yours._ _Le Val._

Hast grown so spent, O Fortune, that one stroke Must deal both death and life?--with hand that parts The night, show too my rainbow loss?.... All, all My future sold to the gray usurer Grief, Who gathers up as sapped and withered leaves Time's unimagined buds! No eve, no dawn With Hernda! No brief night that makes The sun unwelcome as he golds desire, The warm mist-flower where we lie its heart! Unbrace thee here, my courage! Valiancy, First god and last in man, unbuckle here! ... How meet Famette? Smile on her smiles? Deceive Her love? She'll lay her head upon my heart And hear it crying "Hernda!".... Hernda lost! I must not dream here open to the risk Of her unanswered eyes. Their lure would make Dishonor, that on wreck feeds rampant, spring Unshamed in me. I would forsake Famette.

[_Goes right, upper path. Hernda comes from house and crosses rapidly to him_]

_Her._ Chartrien! Come! [_He turns slowly and meets her_] You take my hand, here where You wished me dead?

_Cha._ That you have offered it Proves me forgiven.

_Her._ _You_ forgiven? Ah, Has my atonement swollen above my fault Till I may nod a pardon where I thought To kneel for one?

_Cha._ LeVal has written me. [_Kisses her hand_] This kiss is his salute, and that 'tis his, Not mine, makes my lips bold to leave it here.

_Her._ Forgiven! Dawn is on my sky, that hung Unutterably black! Yes, it is true I saved LeVal. From Fate's own arms I snatched My treachery's sequence, though his meantime pain Is ever writ against me. Yet I too Knew misery that might be mate of his. And for that other wrong--here where we stand----

_Cha._ My wrong to you! Nay, don't forgive me that. Leave me a wound to keep me ever paying The debt of pain that solely eases guilt.

_Her._ I had to choose,--Oh, agony of choice!-- Between your death as certain as the night And your surrender to Megario, That seemed but death postponed, yet held a hope Worth any hazard. That you live is proof My choice was God's. My reasonless despair Held Heaven's sanity. Ah, that you live Is substance of reward, joy's permanent Sweet soil, but there's a flower to spring from that, A nodding ecstasy that I may pluck For my own bosom,--is there not?

_Cha._ Don't--don't----

_Her._ You turn away? You've still a doubt of me? Then modesty may save her frigid self. I'll speak for love, the one best thing this side Of Heaven. You've taken my hand, and now my heart, And all myself would follow it. My heart, My body, and my risen soul. Yes, risen! My past of clay is quickened with a breath That waits not death to know itself immortal, And this is all my pride, that by that breath I'm rich enough to give myself to you. [_She waits for him to speak. He makes no answer_] I am rejected, having but my shame To cover naked love. Yet vanity Finds me this scanted shroud. Seeing you here, My hunger guessed at yours. I felt you came To seek me, else my heart, timid with fault, Had kept its silence, though my tongue had given As now a friend's good welcome.

_Cha._ I have come, But not to you.

_Her._ For why then? I've an ear Of caution. Let my veins, at too swift flood, Grow slow as prudence in what work you will. Now that our aims are near as once our hearts, You'll let me help? I swear by both our souls, And yours the dearer one, that our desires Are one bent bow, and if our arrows speed They'll kiss at the same mark.

_Cha._ I'm fathoms deep, But in a sea as sweet as ever closed O'er drowned felicity!

_Her._ Why are you here?

_Cha._ To keep an oath!--that kept is our division, Yet forfeited would so untreasure me That being's god would blush dishallowed way Quite out such husk of man!

_Her._ An oath?

_Cha._ Oh, first In made self-curses I'll unload some part Of this stuffed loathing for the wretch I am!

_Her._ Nay, I'll not listen.

_Cha._ Star that was a maiden, Do not believe I loved you when my days Ran tribute at your feet,----

_Her._ Say anything But that. Those days were mine, and true.

_Cha._ False, false! For love is generous as the heart of bounty, Giving defect perfection. Narrowed hours, Beseamed and flawed, take from its seer-lit eyes The unstinted, dear proportion secret yet In Time's full dream.

_Her._ 'Twas I who failed----

_Cha._ Not you! That midnight moment held the dawn of this, All this that now you are, and love had seen The folded glory of yourself had love Been there to see. But I cast dust upon Your sleeping wings, and did not know your heart Till wounds had laid it bare.

_Her._ How could you know More than its native bosom where it dwelt Strange and unguessed?

_Cha._ If I had loved, Such soul of fragrance had not hid from me This unbound blossoming.

_Her._ We must forget Love's morning miracles forever missed. His fair, warm day is left us,--sunset's gold, And evening with the stars. That is enough For me and you----

_Cha._ My pledge! I'm here to meet Famette!

_Her._ Famette! I know her.

_Cha._ Know her! You?

_Her._ And know she loves. Then it is you she waits?

_Cha._ She saved my life. But that unvalued thing Is debt's mere rubble. 'Tis her love makes up The sum unpaid and out of reckoning. And I--how can I tell you?

_Her._ If you loved, Look up. No shame can be where love has been.

_Cha._ I've no defence,--yet say that you were lost In midmost desert sands, and suddenly A flower at your feet breathed of the woods And darkling velvet shade where rest might be....

_Her._ But that's a miracle.

_Cha._ So was her love To me. Or say that flam and falsity Ensnarled your every way till no true thing Seemed left on earth, and then in lifted flash Truth's priestess eyes looked from a human face And you were loved,--what startled warmth would say Your heart yet lived? Would you keep back your life In barren hug? Deny its sunless gray To gentle eyes that asked but leave to lay Their radiance there?

_Her._ I understand. She gave, And I demanded. So the gods decree Her boughs shall bloom and mine go bare.

_Cha._ Oh, Heaven!

_Her._ You love her, Chartrien?

_Cha._ Silence be on that.

_Her._ I'll know it,--hear you say it. Is your heart Mine, or Famette's?

_Cha._ My life is hers.

_Her._ Your heart!

_Cha._ Is yours.

_Her._ Ah! Then--I give you to Famette.

[_He kneels to kiss her hand. Hudibrand appears in door of house, left. Smiles, and crosses to them_]

_Hud._ Up to her lip, you rogue! A humble suitor Gets humble favors.

_Cha._ [_Rising_] You, my lord?

_Hud._ Your hand, My boy.

_Cha._ It was my head you wanted, sir, When last we met.

_Hud._ Not so. I meant to save you, But Hernda spiked my train. To have you die Quite safely in a rumor was the sum Of my intent against you.

_Cha._ You're not well, My lord?

_Hud._ Most well!

_Her._ He's lost some sleep.

_Hud._ Tut, tut!

_Cha._ You stay full long in Goldusan. I thought You nearer home.

_Hud._ I'm cruising in the gulf, By th' morning papers,--the _reliable_ ones. The gutter rags have guessed me,--but no matter. I've seen the play through, and I go to-morrow. Pouf! It has been a game!

_Cha._ You speak as 'twere At end.

_Hud._ It ends to-day. [_Looks at watch_] 'Tis just the hour. Now Vardas is proclaimed the president Of a liberated people.

_Cha._ What of that?

_Hud._ He's bowing now. "I thank you, gracious friends, Most loyal citizens----"

_Cha._ What's that to do With freedom's war?

_Hud._ It merely ends it.

_Cha._ What? You think we fought for that? A change of caps Upon two brigands' heads?

_Hud._ Tut, you've won more. You with some justice warred on Cordiaz, But Vardas is of heart so liberal His people shall be rich in privileges As many and as fair as in Assaria. Myself will vouch it.

_Cha._ I will vouch it too. As many pits fed with the souls of men, As many images of God deformed In lawless fray to hold the peaks of greed And at the top sit on their goblin gold Content with bestial purr, who might have touched The heavens with song.

_Hud._ Is that for me, my boy?

_Cha._ As many lives tramped out in hunger's scramble, As many factories where driven wives Forget the altar dream of babes and home. As many sweating traps where flames may feed On flesh of maidens, leaving still, charred bones Whose only fortune is to ache no more. As many brazen mills that noise their thrift Above the ceaseless shuttle of small feet, While you, the great arch-master, think none hears That drownèd pattering. As many marts Where, in law's shadow, girl-eyed slaves are sold To blows and lust. As many cripples thrown Upon the dump-heap of a soulless Peace, Each season piled to moaning wreck more high Than ever War made in its darkest year. As many holes where life must lie with death For privilege of sleep. Oh, I could give Black instances till yonder sun be set Nor end your loathsome list!

_Hud._ A rare, hot sermon, But I'm not Providence, that from my hand Must pour unfailing bounty.

_Cha._ Humble, sir? I thought you claimed a power that gave the world The shape you chose.

_Hud._ But I must use the stuff I find here. That I can't remake or change. So must my world show flaws and ugly spots Due to its substance, not to my good pattern.

_Cha._ That stuff, sir, is the same that lifted us From four feet up to two! The elements That played like death upon it but aroused Their conqueror. In the embrace of winds It made us ships and gave us wings. From dust, The very dust that choked it, grew the dream That lifts it deathless, an eternized God. And surely as your grip makes it a slave, You teach it freedom. In your clutch 'twill find Once more the need creative, and upswell With power that shall leave you by the way As heaving seas leave straws upon the sand. You shall be _nothing_. As a dream that dies With waking--lost so utterly The sleeper knows not that it was--so you Shall be a vanished thing that man born free Can not reclothe in guess!

_Hud._ Peonia's sun Has touched your wits. You still think of revolt?

_Cha._ I think of victory.

_Hud._ Your comedy Is past its hour. Come, Chartrien, give it up. Confess the war is done.

_Cha._ Bolderez' guns Will make confession of another sort.

_Hud._ O, ho! I see a light. You have not heard The morning news. Bolderez has come in.

_Cha._ Come in? Your couriers flatter you. He holds The heights of Gila with five thousand men.

_Hud._ That's yesterday. To-day those brave five thousand Are soldiers of united Goldusan. Bolderez is adviser to the State, A tinker in high place, who solders fast The civic split----

_Cha._ You dream! This is not true!

_Her._ Yes, Chartrien, it is true. We've lost Bolderez.

_Cha._ He--has--deserted?

_Hud._ No, he proves him loyal To me, his master.

_Cha._ You?

_Hud._ He served me always. You fool, this was _my_ revolution.

_Cha._ Yours?

_Hud._ Bolderez led my troops. It was for me You fed his bony beggars. Ha! For me You stuffed their hungry pockets with your gold! I loosed your fortune when I know 'twould save My own a gouge. But I've not dodged the score. Those guns and horses for the Gazza scare Cost me some paper----

_Cha._ You? My God! _Your_ war?

_Hud._ I knew the storm would sweep out Cordiaz, So strode its back that I might hold the bit When came my hour. My boy, you fought for _me_. I made you do it--I, whom you have said Shall be as nothing. Where's the mighty sea Shall toss me as a straw----

_Her._ O, father, peace! You see he dies!

_Hud._ Don't waste your tears. He'll live. I've made good oxen out of wilder bulls.

_Her._ He cannot live! The pain of it, the pain! When aspirations have returned as wounds, Then even the soul must die!

_Hud._ They all get up. Stout workers too,--quiet, serviceable, Pestered no more with dreams. Here, give him this. [_Offers a flask_]

_Cha._ [_Rousing, pushing flask aside_] Ay, no more dreams. [_Springs up_] But action! Keep Bolderez. We have LeVal, whose undiscouraged heart Bears on its tide the conquering desire Of twenty thousand men!

_Hud._ Humph! Where are these Invisible veterans?

_Cha._ Some gather now About his banner,--some wait in the hills Till they are sure it is his voice that calls,-- Some in your favor wrapped go to and fro In your own camp, feeding a fire your gold Can never light,--some dream till we have oped Their prison doors,--in every part and corner Of Goldusan, there's courage on the leap To reach his side.

_Hud._ What dribble!

_Cha._ Rein this storm? No human hand, nor Heaven's now, may leash it. It is the throe when travailing Life is shaken In absolute birth that makes undreamèd news Even in the ear of God.

_Hud._ Fanatic! Fool! Have I not tried to teach you----

_Cha._ Teach yourself!

_Hud._ Come, come!

_Cha._ I mean the words. The race has learned Its lesson while you've played with sand. At last The dumb, trod way has spoken 'neath man's feet, And by that word uncovered he has learned What he shall _not_ be,--knows what heights of sun Are his, and seeing takes his road,--no more Battering in wild and bruisèd ignorance A destiny of stone. Ay, consciousness Has wakened in itself the unknown god That gives the race its eyes. You, you a king? Who do not know that every man is heir To kingship that must leave such thrones as yours Outcoursed and little recked as the strewn toys Of childhood!

_Hud._ Mud-sill dynasties. You know That I am master.

_Cha._ Master? You believe That man, at top of conquest, who has made Nature his weariless serf, and set the yoke From his own neck on her divinities, Will seal to you--weak, myriadth part of him-- Those wizard captives bending to the dream Of his new world? Gird you with fortune that He wrenched from stony ages?--let you gorge The magic fruit snatched by his perilled being In starward battle up the abysmal steep?

_Hud._ I am a fact,--not words.

_Cha._ You can believe it? At last on dawn-browed heights, with victor foot On mysteries bound the genii of his wish, He'll trail his hopes to kennel? Let you pluck His universe unflowered, and shrink life To growling brevity 'tween lash and bone? A slave to _you_? Obstructive clod, Who could not stir with one life-budding dream Though holy imagination tipped with fire Should score her script upon you!

[_A physical pain overcomes Hudibrand. Hernda runs to his side. He regains composure, his manner forbidding solicitude_]

_Hud._ I am patient. One word of mine would send you manacled To prison. If you are here to lay down arms----

_Cha._ I'm not.

_Her._ O, father! The amnesty!

_Hud._ That shelter Is not for him!

_Cha._ Then speak your word, and learn You fight not men but man. Wide as the world His spirit blows against you, and little part You'll cage in this one shackled body.

_Hud._ One? We'll drag the earth, or net the pack of you! LeVal, marauding ghost, we'll prick his blood Beneath his spectral mask. And that mad trull, Famette, your holy maid----

_Cha._ She's safe from you! God is about her as she walks among Your hope-lorn slaves and touches their dead hearts To life.

_Hud._ To folly they are sick of! Ah, Once more I've news. Your swarthy Joan has fled, And all her magic warriors of a day Again are beggars.

_Cha._ Fled?

_Hud._ To her cactus lair. But she'll trapse back between two bayonets, Stripped of her phantom wings.

_Cha._ She is not gone. That heart of truth! When she deserts LeVal There'll be a breach in Heaven, and fiends may claim The day for hell and you.

_Hud._ 'Tis mine without Such warm avouch. Your chaparral cock and hen Have parted company. Her followers now, Cursing and naked, straggle to our camps----

_Her._ Your pardon, sir! You are deceived.

_Hud._ Ho, ho!

_Her._ They're with LeVal. Not one stout heart is lost. Famette but lends her captaincy to his In needful absence----

_Hud._ You are much too wise.

_Her._ I know Famette.

_Hud._ You--what? Know _her_?

_Her._ I do.

_Hud._ This is the fruit of that mad jaunt, Through Goldusan! Where have you seen her?

_Her._ Here.

_Hud._ Not here? That woman? Are you mad, my girl?

_Her._ I love Famette. If we were one, I'd be But cinders in her saintly fire.

_Hud._ Here, miss? You've had her with you? Sniffed and cheeped together, And drowned my kingdom in a gossip cup?

_Her._ If men, the bravest, are but flies upon Your monarch ermine, that with careless shake You scatter, can you fear a woman?

_Hud._ What? Mocked by a chit? I fear? You mannerless filly, I've let you plunge and ramp o'er all my fields, But I'll not have you whinnying at the fence Till roadside jades break through! She has been _here_?

_Her._ She has. Dined at my board, slept in my bed, And so shall do again.

_Hud._ I'll welcome her! And send you trucking home! You shall not wait For any whimsy this or that!

_Her._ But, sir,----

_Hud._ No trumpery packing,--no unready whine! This hour! That you should moil your royalty Touching such scum!

_Her._ Nay, I was scum until she gave me substance. I had no soul until she made hers mine, No cleanliness of heart till I knew hers, No knowledge till I looked through her clear eyes, No riches till I wrapped me in her rags----

_Hud._ You're raving!

_Her._ No. Ah, father, father, I'm Famette,--your daughter! I've not been in Cana, But in the pits your greed has dug,--down, down Where misery is so vile its own abyss Shudders to hold it. Chartrien, now you know My tale untold. I see your mind runs back To light a way it travelled in the dark. O, you were blind! I'd know you near though masked In utter change.

_Cha._ I'm folded now in sun That makes me blind again. Are you Famette?

_Her._ [_Showing her bared arm_] See this brown circlet left that you might find A trace of her? I've crossed the universe---- Through hell--and reached you, have I not?

_Cha._ [_Embracing her_] All sweet Forfending stars now heap their fortunes one And drop it on my heart that borrows heaven To hold the imponderable gift!

_Her._ Ah, poor Famette!

_Cha._'Twas you--in that foul hacienda pen? And would not speak?

_Her._ I meant to save you, sir. And had I told you then, would you have set So blithely off to Quito?

_Cha._ And left you there! How can you think it?

_Her._ Do I, sir? Nay, love, Nor ever did. I knew you'd ruin all With your big "won'ts" and "don'ts."

_Cha._ O, sagest heart! But here you kept my joy-gates shut so long. Why such slow mercy, golden one?

_Her._ You'll hear it? There is a teasing devil in me, Chartrien, That must have play.

_Cha._ Ah, no!

_Her._ Ay, and an ounce Or so of cruelty, that would not let Your frailty go unpinched.

_Cha._ Nay, 'tis not so!

_Her._ You'd rather think I put to royal test Your godship? Wooed with lips so near your own, And found you stanch to honor? That may be, But I've a shameless reason dearer still. I wanted all your love for Hernda,--all. And had I said too soon that we were one, Then on your breast my heart had never known Which maid you clasped.

_Cha._ You ever, sweet!

_Her._ Yet she Is dear. My joy could never be content Within your heart beside unfaith to her. She must have room there, not in name of love, But truth. So you shall hold us both.

_Cha._ Like this? Grow to my heart, O garland of myself! Be breath of me, till, like a double tree, Root, sap, and bloom are one, And in our noble fruiting Time forgets To mourn Hesperides!

_Her._ Heaven hold thy wish The prayer thou meanest it!

_Cha._ One bliss is man's The perfect angels know not. In the arms, Warm, rhythmic, round his battling soul, to feel Spur of his noblest blood, and know his dreams Are mated,--find in lightest winds that stir Love's tremulous hair, the brave wing of his hope That needs go farthest,--and when seasons fail, And weary spirit turns from waste to waste, Know lips that he may touch and touching kiss The fallow world to harvest. Thus, and thus!

[_Hudibrand, forgotten by the lovers, has fought through another moment of agony, and advances, taking hold of Hernda_]

_Hud._ Are you my daughter?

_Her._ I am, but I've known hours When shame, a cleansing fire, searched through my blood For any drop that owned you father.

_Hud._ In! Go in! [_To Chartrien_] And you--I'll rid the earth of you, And take its thanks! [_Staggers with a return of pain_]

_Her._ [_Her arms about him_] O, father, let us help! What is it, father?

_Hud._ Nothing. Keep away! Away!

[_Throws her off. Enter, lower right, an officer attended_]

_Off._ Your majesty, there's sure report LeVal makes ready to oppose his guns To our weak garrison.

_Hud._ [_Ironic_] The spectre's near?

_Off._ Across the stream,--the east and wooded bank. A hundred times our force could not dislodge His guns from such a vantage.

_Hud._ Guns? LeVal? He has no guns!

_Off._ You'll hear them soon. I beg Your highness' pardon, but your dignity Would not be touched if you should hasten out.

[_Enter, lower left, Golifet, Diraz, Mazaran_]

_Gol._ My lord!

_Hud._ What is this tale? You, Golifet? You are in charge!

_Gol._ 'Tis treachery, sir! I warned Your majesty----

_Hud._ Come, what's the story?

_Gol._ This. Bolderez' officers whom we gave leave To station near us, thus to put more guard Between the town and rebels that might creep Down from the hostile hills----

_Hud._ This egg's all shell. Come, sir, the meat!

_Gol._ They were in secret yoked Most traitorously with LeVal, and all their men Were coupled to his cause. They gave him cover To lead his army up----

_Hud._ His army, sir?

_Gol._ His followers----

_Hud._ There may be treachery Uncapped among us.

_Gol._ 'Twas by your advice We gave them leave to camp----

_Hud._ I trusted fools! Or traitors! You've a choice of names.

_Off._ I beg Your majesty to come with us. They'll fire At any moment.

_Hud._ Fire? Then we shall know At last where we may find LeVal. You've wired To Vardas, Golifet? He must despatch The Federal Guards----

_Gol._ It is too late.

_Hud._ Too late?

_Maz._ We can not save the town.

_Off._ The citizens Are fleeing. Do not delay, your majesty!

[_Fire of guns is heard_]

_Hud._ Cowards! Before you fly, arrest that man. Look to it, Golifet. You'll answer for him. Let him be trebly guarded.

_Gol._ Is not this The missing lord, Prince Chartrien?

_Hud._ Ay, that traitor!

_Gol._ At this hot juncture, prudence must forbid A needless insult to the enemy That may too soon be master.

_Hud._ Insult!

_Gol._ Come, My lord.

_Hud._ By every god that was or is----

[_Guns again heard_]

_Gol._ Please you, retire, your majesty!

[_Men gather excitedly from different parts of the grove. Guests and servants desert the house_]

_Maz._ Come, come!

[_A shell breaches the wall, rear. Stones fly among the trees. The house is battered and portico torn away_]

_Hud._ Grant me this favor. Let me be the last To leave the Grove of Peace. Ha, ha! The last!

_Her._ Come, father!

_Hud._ Go! I've asked a favor, friends.

[_They turn from him and pass slowly out. Hernda and Chartrien remain_]

_Her._ Now you will come?

_Hud._ When _you_ have gone! Go, go!

[_More shells. Chartrien carries Hernda away, lower left_]

_Hud._ [_Alone, racked with pain_] My foe is nearer than those feeble guns. Bah! I could crush them! Here I am fordone. No, no! I'll not surrender. I will live! I'll keep my world. I fought for it, and won. 'Tis mine! I will not leave it to these mice To scramble over. [_The agony seizes him_] A coward foe, that gives No even chance. Strikes from the dark, with blade Tempered secure in undiscovered fire. ... Shall then the world go on and I not here? I shall be here,--a pile of dust, no more,---- That is the hell of hells,--while other dead, Who made them souls here out of faith and clay, Race on unflagging,--on and leave me still,-- The everlasting mute!... Souls? That's a lie. A ranting, tom-tom lie, to ease us on The wheel. I'll none of that. The sick mind's pap! Imagination's vent, lest misery O'er-rack the world! Protective fume Enclouding man's last grapple till none see If he or Death be victor, and on the doubt He rides to Heaven!... ... Was 't truth that Chartrien spoke? The race has found its eyes? Man is no more A blind and hopeless struggler cornered fast By ills unconquerable?--his lusting wars, Diseases, hungers, Hudibrands? Then what A chance was there, my heart? If I had fought Upon his side!... _That_ battle would have made Red Fate throw down her bludgeon,--won us place To vanward of the gods!... If I had fought With him.... Obstructive clod!... My God! _My_ God?

[_He dies. Sunset has passed, and the darkness grows rapidly until nothing is seen but the gleam of a fallen crown. Curtain_]

* * * * *

A SON OF HERMES

A COMEDY IN FIVE ACTS

_CHARACTERS_

BIADES, _a young Athenian_ PELAGON, _his uncle_ SACHINESSA, _wife of Pelagon_ PHANIA, _their daughter_ SYBARIS, _a neighbor's daughter_ CREON, _friend of Biades_ AMENTOR, _a senator_ MENAS, _friend of Pelagon_ CLEARCHUS, _an Athenian youth disguised as a dancer_ PHILON, _a priest_ STESILAUS, _a lord of Sparta_ PYRRHA, _his daughter_ ARCHIPPE, _his wife_ ALCANOR, _his son_ LYSANDER, _friend of Stesilaus_ HIERON, _a young Spartan_ AGIS, LENON, GIRARDAS, _his friends_ DIANESSA, MYRTA, THEONIS, NACIA, ARTANTE, _Spartan maidens_ THE EPHORS _Senators, citizens, soldiers, dancers, etc._