Part 7
HAROLD. Then this is something quite different! No play-acting this time!
LANDOLPH. We'll have a real tragedy: that's what!
BERTHOLD (_curious_). Why? Why?
ORDULPH (_pointing to the portrait_). She is that person there, don't you understand?
LANDOLPH. The daughter is the fiancée of the Marquis. But what have they come for, I should like to know?
ORDULPH. If he sees her, there'll be trouble.
LANDOLPH. Perhaps he won't recognize her any more.
JOHN. You must keep him there, if he should wake up....
ORDULPH. Easier said than done, by Jove!
HAROLD. You know what he's like!
JOHN. --even by force, if necessary! Those are my orders. Go on! Go on!
HAROLD. Yes, because who knows if he hasn't already wakened up?
ORDULPH. Come on then!
LANDOLPH (_going towards John with the others_). You'll tell us later what it all means.
JOHN (_shouting after them_). Close the door there, and hide the key! That other door too. (_Pointing to the other door on right_).
JOHN (_to the two valets_). Be off, you two! There (_pointing to exit right_)! Close the door after you, and hide the key!
(_The two valets go out by the first door on right. John moves over to the left to show in: Donna Matilda Spina, the young Marchioness Frida, Dr. Dionysius Genoni, the Baron Tito Belcredi and the young Marquis Charles Di Nolli, who, as master of the house, enters last._)
DONNA MATILDA SPINA _is about_ 45, _still handsome, although there are too patent signs of her attempts to remedy the ravages of time with make-up. Her head is thus rather like a Walkyrie. This facial make-up contrasts with her beautiful sad mouth. A widow for many years, she now has as her friend the Baron Tito Belcredi, whom neither she nor anyone else takes seriously--at least so it would appear._
_What_ TITO BELCREDI _really is for her at bottom, he alone knows; and he is, therefore, entitled to laugh, if his friend feels the need of pretending not to know. He can always laugh at the jests which the beautiful Marchioness makes with the others at his expense. He is slim, prematurely gray, and younger than she is. His head is bird-like in shape. He would be a very vivacious person, if his ductile agility (which among other things makes him a redoubtable swordsman) were not enclosed in a sheath of Arab-like laziness, which is revealed in his strange, nasal drawn-out voice._
FRIDA, _the daughter of the Marchioness is_ 19. _She is sad; because her imperious and too beautiful mother puts her in the shade, and provokes facile gossip against her daughter as well as against herself. Fortunately for her, she is engaged to the Marquis Charles Di Nolli._
CHARLES DI NOLLI _is a stiff young man, very indulgent towards others, but sure of himself for what he amounts to in the world. He is worried about all the responsibilities which he believes weigh on him. He is dressed in deep mourning for the recent death of his mother._
DR. DIONYSIUS GENONI _has a bold rubicund Satyr-like face, prominent eyes, a pointed beard (which is silvery and shiny) and elegant manners. He is nearly bald. All enter in a state of perturbation, almost as if afraid, and all (except Di Nolli) looking curiously about the room. At first, they speak sotto voce._
DI NOLLI (_to John_). Have you given the orders properly?
JOHN. Yes, my Lord; don't be anxious about that.
BELCREDI. Ah, magnificent! magnificent!
DOCTOR. How extremely interesting! Even in the surroundings his raving madness--is perfectly taken into account!
DONNA MATILDA (_glancing round for her portrait, discovers it, and goes up close to it_). Ah! Here it is! (_Going back to admire it, while mixed emotions stir within her_). Yes ... yes ... (_Calls her daughter Frida_).
FRIDA. Ah, your portrait!
DONNA MATILDA. No, no ... look again; it's you, not I, there!
DI NOLLI. Yes, it's quite true. I told you so, I....
DONNA MATILDA. But I would never have believed it! (_Shaking as if with a chili_). What a strange feeling it gives one! (_Then looking at her daughter_). Frida, what's the matter? (_She pulls her to her side, and slips an arm round her waist_). Come: don't you see yourself in me there?
FRIDA. Well, I really....
DONNA MATILDA. Don't you think so? Don't you, really? (_Turning to Belcredi_). Look at it, Tito! Speak up, man!
BELCREDI (_without looking_). Ah, no! I shan't look at it. For me, _a priori_, certainly not!
DONNA MATILDA. Stupid! You think you are paying me a compliment! (_Turing to Doctor Genoni_). What do you say, Doctor? Do say something, please!
DOCTOR (_makes a movement to go near to the picture_).
BELCREDI (_with his back turned, pretending to attract his attention secretly_).--Hss! No, doctor! For the love of Heaven, have nothing to do with it!
DOCTOR (_getting bewildered and smiling_). And why shouldn't I?
DONNA MATILDA. Don't listen to him! Come here! He's insufferable!
FRIDA. He acts the fool by profession, didn't you know that?
BELCREDI (_to the Doctor, seeing him go over_). Look at your feet, doctor! Mind where you're going!
DOCTOR. Why?
BELCREDI. Be careful you don't put your foot in it!
DOCTOR (_laughing feebly_). No, no. After all, it seems to me there's no reason to be astonished at the fact that a daughter should resemble her mother!
BELCREDI. Hullo! Hullo! He's done it now; he's said it.
DONNA MATILDA (_with exaggerated anger, advancing towards Belcredi_). What's the matter? What has he said? What has he done?
DOCTOR (_candidly_). Well, isn't it so?
BELCREDI (_answering the Marchioness_). I said there was nothing to be astounded at--and you are astounded! And why so, then, if the thing is so simple and natural for you now?
DONNA MATILDA (_still more angry_). Fool! fool! It's just because it is so natural! Just because it isn't my daughter who is there. (_Pointing to the canvass_). That is my portrait; and to find my daughter there instead of me fills me with astonishment, an astonishment which, I beg you to believe, is sincere. I forbid you to cast doubts on it.
FRIDA (_slowly and wearily_). My God! It's always like this ... rows over nothing....
BELCREDI (_also slowly, looking dejected, in accents of apology_). I cast no doubt on anything! I noticed from the beginning that you haven't shared your mother's astonishment; or, if something did astonish you, it was because the likeness between you and the portrait seemed so strong.
DONNA MATILDA. Naturally! She cannot recognize herself in me as I was at her age; while I, there, can very well recognize myself in her as she is now!
DOCTOR. Quite right! Because a portrait is always there fixed in the twinkling of an eye: for the young lady something far away and without memories, while, for the Marchioness, it can bring back everything: movements, gestures, looks, smiles, a whole heap of things....
DONNA MATILDA. Exactly!
DOCTOR (_continuing, turning towards her_). Naturally enough, you can live all these old sensations again in your daughter.
DONNA MATILDA. He always spoils every innocent pleasure for me, every touch I have of spontaneous sentiment! He does it merely to annoy me.
DOCTOR (_frightened at the disturbance he has caused, adopts a professorial tone_). Likeness, dear Baron, is often the result of imponderable things. So one explains that....
BELCREDI (_interrupting the discourse_). Somebody will soon be finding a likeness between you and me, my dear professor!
DI NOLLI. Oh! let's finish with this, please! (_Points to the two doors on the Right, as a warning that there is someone there who may be listening_). We've wasted too much time as it is!
FRIDA. As one might expect when _he's_ present (_alludes to Belcredi_).
DI NOLLI. Enough! The doctor is here; and we have come for a very serious purpose which you all know is important for me.
DOCTOR. Yes, that is so! But now, first of all, let's try to get some points down exactly. Excuse me, Marchioness, will you tell me why your portrait is here? Did you present it to him then?
DONNA MATILDA. No, not at all. How could I have given it to him? I was just like Frida then--and not even engaged. I gave it to him three or four years after the accident. I gave it to him because his mother wished it so much (_points to Di Nolli_)....
DOCTOR. She was his sister (_alludes to Henry IV._)?
DI NOLLI. Yes, doctor; and our coming here is a debt we pay to my mother who has been dead for more than a month. Instead of being here, she and I (_indicating Frida_) ought to be traveling together....
DOCTOR. ... taking a cure of quite a different kind!
DI NOLLI. --Hum! Mother died in the firm conviction that her adored brother was just about to be cured.
DOCTOR. And can't you tell me, if you please, how she inferred this?
DI NOLLI. The conviction would appear to have derived from certain strange remarks which he made, a little before mother died.
DOCTOR. Oh, remarks!... Ah!... It would be extremely useful for me to have those remarks, word for word, if possible.
DI NOLLI. I can't remember them. I know that mother returned awfully upset from her last visit with him. On her death-bed, she made me promise that I would never neglect him, that I would have doctors see him, and examine him.
DOCTOR. Um! Um! Let me see! let me see! Sometimes very small reasons determine ... and this portrait here then?...
DONNA MATILDA. For Heaven's sake, doctor, don't attach excessive importance to this. It made an impression on me because I had not seen it for so many years!
DOCTOR. If you please, quietly, quietly....
DI NOLLI. --Well, yes, it must be about fifteen years ago.
DONNA MATILDA. More, more: eighteen!
DOCTOR. Forgive me, but you don't quite know what I'm trying to get at. I attach a very great importance to these two portraits.... They were painted, naturally, prior to the famous--and most regretable pageant, weren't they?
DONNA MATILDA. Of course!
DOCTOR. That is ... when he was quite in his right mind--that's what I've been trying to say. Was it his suggestion that they should be painted?
DONNA MATILDA. Lots of the people who took part in the pageant had theirs done as a souvenir....
BELCREDI. I had mine done--as "Charles of Anjou!"
DONNA MATILDA. ...as soon as the costumes were ready.
BELCREDI. As a matter of fact, it was proposed that the whole lot of us should be hung together in a gallery of the villa where the pageant took place. But in the end, everybody wanted to keep his own portrait.
DONNA MATILDA. And I gave him this portrait of me without very much regret ... since his mother.... (_indicates Di Nolli_).
DOCTOR. You don't remember if it was he who asked for it?
DONNA MATILDA. Ah, that I don't remember ... Maybe it was his sister, wanting to help out....
DOCTOR. One other thing: was it his idea, this pageant?
BELCREDI (_at once_). No, no, it was mine!
DOCTOR. If you please....
DONNA MATILDA. Don't listen to him! It was poor Belassi's idea.
BELCREDI. Belassi! What had he got to do with it?
DONNA MATILDA. Count Belassi, who died, poor fellow, two or three months after....
BELCREDI. But if Belassi wasn't there when....
DI NOLLI. Excuse me, doctor; but is it really necessary to establish whose the original idea was?
DOCTOR. It would help me, certainly!
BELCREDI. I tell you the idea was mine! There's nothing to be proud of in it, seeing what the result's been. Look here, doctor, it was like this. One evening, in the first days of November, I was looking at an illustrated German review in the club. I was merely glancing at the pictures, because I can't read German. There was a picture of the Kaiser, at some University town where he had been a student ... I don't remember which.
DOCTOR. Bonn, Bonn!
BELCREDI. --You are right: Bonn! He was on horseback, dressed up in one of those ancient German student guild-costumes, followed by a procession of noble students, also in costume. The picture gave me the idea. Already some one at the club had spoken of a pageant for the forthcoming carnival. So I had the notion that each of us should choose for this Tower of Babel pageant to represent some character: a king, an emperor, a prince, with his queen, empress, or lady, alongside of him--and all on horseback. The suggestion was at once accepted.
DONNA MATILDA. I had my invitation from Belassi.
BELCREDI. Well, he wasn't speaking the truth! That's all I can say, if he told you the idea was his. He wasn't even at the club the evening I made the suggestion, just as he (_meaning Henry IV._) wasn't there either.
DOCTOR. So he chose the character of Henry IV.?
DONNA MATILDA. Because I ... thinking of my name, and not giving the choice any importance, said I would be the Marchioness Matilda of Tuscany.
DOCTOR. I ... don't understand the relation between the two.
DONNA MATILDA. --Neither did I, to begin with, when he said that in that case he would be at my feet like Henry IV. at Canossa. I had heard of Canossa of course; but to tell the truth, I'd forgotten most of the story; and I remember I received a curious impression when I had to get up my part, and found that I was the faithful and zealous friend of Pope Gregory VII. in deadly enmity with the Emperor of Germany. Then I understood why, since I had chosen to represent his implacable enemy, he wanted to be near me in the pageant as Henry IV.
DOCTOR. Ah, perhaps because....
BELCREDI. --Good Heavens, doctor, because he was then paying furious court to her (_indicates the Marchioness_)! And she, naturally....
DONNA MATILDA. Naturally? Not naturally at all....
BELCREDI (_pointing to her_). She couldn't stand him....
DONNA MATILDA. --No, that isn't true! I didn't dislike him. Not at all! But for me, when a man begins to want to be taken seriously, well....
BELCREDI (_continuing for her_). He gives you the clearest proof of his stupidity.
DONNA MATILDA. No dear; not in this case; because he was never a fool like you.
BELCREDI. Anyway, I've never asked you to take me seriously.
DONNA MATILDA. Yes, I know. But with him one couldn't joke (_changing her tone and speaking to the Doctor_). One of the many misfortunes which happen to us women, Doctor, is to see before us every now and again a pair of eyes glaring at us with a contained intense promise of eternal devotion. (_Bursts out laughing_). There is nothing quite so funny. If men could only see themselves with that eternal fidelity look in their faces! I've always thought it comic; then more even than now. But I want to make a confession--I can do so after twenty years or more. When I laughed at him then, it was partly out of fear. One might have almost believed a promise from those eyes of his. But it would have been very dangerous.
DOCTOR (_with lively interest_). Ah! ah! This is most interesting! Very dangerous, you say?
DONNA MATILDA. Yes, because he was very different from the others. And then, I am ... well ... what shall I say?... a little impatient of all that is pondered, or tedious. But I was too young then, and a woman. I had the bit between my teeth. It would have required more courage than I felt I possessed. So I laughed at him too--with remorse, to spite myself, indeed; since I saw that my own laugh mingled with those of all the others--the other fools--who made fun of him.
BELCREDI. My own case, more or less!
DONNA MATILDA. You make people laugh at you, my dear, with your trick of always humiliating yourself. It was quite a different affair with him. There's a vast difference. And you--you know--people laugh in your face!
BELCREDI. Well, that's better than behind one's back!
DOCTOR. Let's get to the facts. He was then already somewhat exalted, if I understand rightly.
BELCREDI. Yes, but in a curious fashion, doctor.
DOCTOR. How?
BELCREDI. Well, cold-bloodedly so to speak.
DONNA MATILDA. Not at all! It was like this, doctor! He was a bit strange, certainly; but only because he was fond of life: eccentric, there!
BELCREDI. I don't say he simulated exaltation. On the contrary, he was often genuinely exalted. But I could swear, doctor, that he saw himself at once in his own exaltation. Moreover, I'm certain it made him suffer. Sometimes he had the most comical fits of rage against himself.
DOCTOR. Yes?
DONNA MATILDA. That is true.
BELCREDI (_to Donna Matilda_). And why? (_To the doctor_). Evidently, because that immediate lucidity that comes from
## acting, assuming a part, at once put him out of key with his
own feelings, which seemed to him not exactly false, but like something he was obliged to valorize there and then as--what shall I say--as an act of intelligence, to make, up for that sincere cordial warmth he felt lacking. So he improvised, exaggerated, let himself go, so as to distract and forget himself. He appeared inconstant, fatuous, and--yes--even ridiculous, sometimes.
DOCTOR. And may we say unsociable?
BELCREDI. No, not at all. He was famous for getting up things: _tableaux vivants_, dances, theatrical performances for charity: all for the fun of the thing, of course. He was a jolly good actor, you know!
DI NOLLI. Madness has made a superb actor of him.
BELCREDI.--Why, so he was even in the old days. When the accident happened, after the horse fell....
DOCTOR. Hit the back of his head, didn't he?
DONNA MATILDA. Oh, it was horrible! He was beside me! I saw him between the horse's hoofs! It was rearing!
BELCREDI. None of us thought it was anything serious at first. There was a stop in the pageant, a bit of disorder. People wanted to know what had happened. But they'd already taken him off to the villa.
DONNA MATILDA. There wasn't the least sign of a wound, not a drop of blood.
BELCREDI. We thought he had merely fainted.
DONNA MATILDA. But two hours afterwards....
BELCREDI. He reappeared in the drawing-room of the villa ... that is what I wanted to say....
DONNA MATILDA. My God! What a face he had. I saw the whole thing at once!
BELCREDI. No, no! that isn't true. Nobody saw it, doctor, believe me!
DONNA MATILDA. Doubtless, because you were all like mad folk.
BELCREDI. Everybody was pretending to act his part for a joke. It was a regular Babel.
DONNA MATILDA. And you can imagine, doctor, what terror struck into us when we understood that he, on the contrary, was playing his part in deadly earnest....
DOCTOR. Oh, he was there too, was he?
BELCREDI. Of course! He came straight into the midst of us. We thought he'd quite recovered, and was pretending, fooling, like all the rest of us ... only doing it rather better; because, as I say, he knew how to act.
DONNA MATILDA. Some of them began to hit him with their whips and fans and sticks.
BELCREDI. And then--as a king, he was armed, of course--he drew out his sword and menaced two or three of us.... It was a terrible moment, I can assure you!
DONNA MATILDA. I shall never forget that scene--all our masked faces hideous and terrified gazing at him, at that terrible mask of his face, which was no longer a mask, but madness, madness personified.
BELCREDI. He was Henry IV., Henry IV. in person, in a moment of fury.
DONNA MATILDA. He'd got into it all the detail and minute preparation of a month's careful study. And it all burned and blazed there in the terrible obsession which lit his face.
DOCTOR. Yes, that is quite natural, of course. The momentary obsession of a dilettante became fixed, owing to the fall and the damage to the brain.
BELCREDI (_to Frida and Di Nolli_). You see the kind of jokes life can play on us. (_To Di Nolli_): You were four or five years old. (_To Frida_): Your mother imagines you've taken her place there in that portrait; when, at the time, she had not the remotest idea that she would bring you into the world. My hair is already grey; and he--look at him--(_points to portrait_)--ha! A smack on the head, and he never moves again: Henry IV. for ever!
DOCTOR (_seeking to draw the attention of the others, looking learned and imposing_).--Well, well, then it comes, we may say, to this....
(_Suddenly the first exit to right, the one nearest footlights, opens, and Berthold enters all excited_).
BERTHOLD (_rushing in_). I say! I say! (_Stops for a moment, arrested by the astonishment which his appearance has caused in the others_).
FRIDA (_running away terrified_). Oh dear! oh dear! it's he, it's....
DONNA MATILDA (_covering her face with her hands so as not to see_). Is it, is it he?
DI NOLLI. No, no, what are you talking about? Be calm!
DOCTOR. Who is it then?
BELCREDI. One of our masqueraders.
DI NOLLI. He is one of the four youths we keep here to help him out in his madness....
BERTHOLD. I beg your pardon, Marquis....
DI NOLLI. Pardon be damned! I gave orders that the doors were to be closed, and that nobody should be allowed to enter.
BERTHOLD. Yes, sir, but I can't stand it any longer, and I ask you to let me go away this very minute.
DI NOLLI. Oh, you're the new valet, are you? You were supposed to begin this morning, weren't you?
BERTHOLD. Yes, sir, and I can't stand it, I can't bear it.
DONNA MATILDA (_to Di Nolli excitedly_). What? Then he's not so calm as you said?
BERTHOLD (_quickly_).--No, no, my lady, it isn't he; it's my companions. You say "help him out with his madness," Marquis; but they don't do anything of the kind. They're the real madmen. I come here for the first time, and instead of helping me....
(_Landolph and Harold come in from the same door, but hesitate on the threshold_).
LANDOLPH. Excuse me?
HAROLD. May I come in, my Lord?
DI NOLLI. Come in! What's the matter? What are you all doing?
FRIDA. Oh God! I'm frightened! I'm going to run away. (_Makes towards exit at Left_).
DI NOLLI (_restraining her at once_). No, no, Frida!
LANDOLPH. My Lord, this fool here ... (_indicates Berthold_).
BERTHOLD (_protesting_). Ah, no thanks, my friends, no thanks! I'm not stopping here! I'm off!
LANDOLPH. What do you mean--you're not stopping here?
HAROLD. He's ruined everything, my Lord, running away in here!
LANDOLPH. He's made him quite mad. We can't keep him in there any longer. He's given orders that he's to be arrested; and he wants to "judge" him at once from the throne: What is to be done?
DI NOLLI. Shut the door, man! Shut the door! Go and close that door! (_Landolph goes over to close it_).
HAROLD. Ordulph, alone, won't be able to keep him there.
LANDOLPH. --My Lord, perhaps if we could announce the visitors at once, it would turn his thoughts. Have the gentlemen thought under what pretext they will present themselves to him?
DI NOLLI. --It's all been arranged! (_To the Doctor_): If you, doctor, think it well to see him at once....
FRIDA. I'm not coming! I'm not coming! I'll keep out of this. You too, mother, for Heaven's sake, come away with me!
DOCTOR. --I say ... I suppose he's not armed, is he?
DI NOLLI. --Nonsense! Of course not. (_To Frida_): Frida, you know this is childish of you. You wanted to come!
FRIDA. I didn't at all. It was mother's idea.