Certainty for a Doubt, A - Act Third
T EODORA. These flowers that I sell
Among ribbons and lace
Are not flowers of false feigning,
Though I feign in my face.
They are falsehoods to see you,
They are truths for your ear
From one whom love has held dear
And who falters to free you.
D OÑA J UANA. But then you are no flower girl?
T EODORA. No, sweet lady.
The Count drags out the day, hid in my house,
And sends this message hoping to persuade you.
Ramiro fears the King and does not dare
To venture in your presence, though he knows
He cannot better satisfy the law
Of Spanish chivalry, than to meet death
In the service of his master.
D OÑA J UANA. His danger, though,
Is not so great as he himself supposes.
T EODORA. He is convinced you never were averse
To grant the King possession of your heart
And holds you knew his danger, whence I am sent
DisguiseDon his behalf, as now you see.
His faith in me suggests this subterfuge.
He swears that you exceed in cruelty
All other women born, and adds beside
You have conspired against him with the King,
Seeking his exile. Lust of power and rule
Have moved you and not love. You chose the best,
And yet he would excuse you. Necessity
Is master o'er our willing in the world;
And since you rule by law and now are Queen,
You must restore him with the King, the Law.
Beg him that he remit his royal displeasure,
Though not the banishment; for this return
Was error wholly, which at last he sees,
Whereby no good was served. And with the answer
Accordant to his will, will he be gone
Into Castile, because he knows your will
Is all disposed to love, though not his love;
Yet for this last absolves you as the first.
Far better, lady, you be crowned his Queen
Than you should be his wife.
D OÑA J UANA. In evil part
I would not take this visit to my house.
Had I received it as it merited,
I had been much offended. In all the world
Lives there another traitor like Enrique?
T EODORA. No traitor he.
D OÑA J UANA. Why would you thus seduce me,
Assailing my ears with these sublime deceptions,
When I already like the serpent sit
Enamored of the sound? Contemning him
The most I may, my vengeance were too small!
I know the Count is suitor to my cousin
And comes to speak with her by stealth at night,
My love affronting with a wound deep sunk
In honor. Disguised the King came to me; I wept
Because my love had fled into Castile,
And he was here in Seville — not far indeed
Had love removed! If he would seek through me
The grace and favor of the King, say then
Why does he thus deceive me and outrage
Even his sense of honor? This say to him:
If I have spoken evil to the King
'Twas he that gave me cause. And make no answer.
Remember what you are!
T EODORA. Am I to blame?
The Count, presuming on my steadfast love,
Constrained me to disguise myself and come
Against my will and my poor heart's desire.
For though my rank is not the same as yours,
I too have loved the Count.
D OÑA J UANA. It well comports
With the accustomed freedom that he takes.
God keep you safe, and thank me on your knees
That I commit you only to his care.
T EODORA. My lady —
D OÑA J UANA. Leave my house! Be gone! Away!
T EODORA. Believe me, lady, I am not to blame.
D OÑA J UANA. Enrique, I would not in my heart betray me
For love of you, nor through love's urging lose me;
If you have learned, O traitor, to accuse me,
Shall I not learn with vengeance to allay me?
Ah, heavy the cost at which I turn and stay me
At your advances, and to your eyes refuse me!
Oh, look not on me, cruel! Nor dare abuse me. —
" Lady, I go. " — " But you return to slay me. " —
" Listen, my love. What can it cost to hear me? " —
" My honor and the King. " — " The King? 'Tis true. " —
" And from your love I would depart and clear me. " —
" A jealous love forgets, 'tis thankless too;
But you forget not! " — " Yes, I can and do;
Strangling the old love in new love endear me. "
Don E NRIQUE. Unhand me! Out, I say!
R AMIRO. Where would you go?
Don E NRIQUE. I challenge fate undaunted.
R AMIRO. In your right mind?
Don E NRIQUE. If I had been in my right mind, you fool,
Then had I loved a traitress evermore?
D OÑA J UANA. But what is this? Who's here?
Don E NRIQUE. Who's here? Oh question
Out of all bounds of reason! So to forget,
That when you see me yet you do not see me!
Listen — I'll tell you who I am.
D OÑA J UANA. Stark mad,
God help me!
Don E NRIQUE. I am a soul that dwells within
A breast where I am not. I am a body
Into whose ear, O lady, many times
The story of your love was poured, when yet
The monarchies of earth were less to you than love.
I am a man who merited of fate
Exemption of deception at your lips
If there be truth in woman. I am that one
Who cast away for you his King, his lord,
His brother — the God-given night, to you a dream,
A weary, waking watch to me! A comet I
That flashed across the sky, if such a name
Befits a beauty fragile-fair so brief
It dies ere it is born. And finally
I am — —
D OÑA J UANA. No more, but stop at finally,
For you have made a shameful, evil end
To all my favors granted. You cannot say
One word that I will believe. No, no, Enrique —
Enrique, did I say? It was not I
That spoke that word, relenting. Rather it was
An error of my tongue, that knew my mind,
Seeing my purpose to affront you wholly.
For when I name your name and bid you go
In my revenge, what else remains to me
In the armory of insult like your name?
Go, go, Enrique! Go with your vile tricks!
This treachery is yours!
Don E NRIQUE. You say I wrote
To Dona Ines?
D OÑA J UANA. Was it not so?
Don E NRIQUE. No, lady,
I wrote to you. Ramiro be my witness.
R AMIRO. But who'd believe me who'd not believe you?
No, no!
I brought that letter to you but your cousin
Took it away.
Don E NRIQUE. And so I loved her then
Freeing my heart and passion with the pen?
I know not if she would deceive the King
By such endeavor; rather I believe your will
Contrived this subterfuge; it is a plot
Which looks to your advancement with the King.
The King might well content you, and with him
You would find royal pleasure. It irks me though
That you should falsely stoop to make excuse
To sell me to him — was this the part of love,
When in the faith your cousin put my letter
Into your very hands, I came disguised
And waited at your door? What there I wrote
Was all for you — yours then, not mine, the blame!
Ah! What avails it that I fly from you
When like the fire the fuse I follow back
And straight return me into Seville here,
Even into the mouth which belched me forth?
Then let my end as my beginning be,
My grave where I was born. Here let me die!
The King shall know that I am here — here slay me.
Why does he not come forth? Lacks he the heart
To wreak his vengeance on me?
D OÑA J UANA . Enrique! Enrique!
R AMIRO . But what is this, Senor?
Don E NRIQUE . Do you not see?
She says I loved Ines? What? In my life
Have I not known the ecstasy of love?
Let the vile traitor run me through the breast
If I haDone such thought, if I served her,
Or ever spoke a word of like import!
In the high heaven wherein your image sits
No other beauty shines, no faith is pledged.
I do not speak to move you. Perish the thought
That I should move you — ever I should love you —
Or dream again you might constrain to love;
But only this — I would not see you judged
In your own heart as guiltless of my wrongs.
D OÑA J UANA. Count!
Don E NRIQUE. No! Do not move your lips. After flagrant wrong
True lovers never can accord again
Nor philosophers agree. Lip service this,
Set forth, delivered in two bands of red!
Who would give poison in vermilion ink
But a woman or a traitor? Reason, I say,
Reject and rend unreason of deception!
D OÑA J UANA. Enrique, do nothing that you may repent;
Though my lips move as they would write again,
They shall not tell of love.
Don E NRIQUE. Leave me! Away!
D OÑA J UANA. Now as I hope in God ...
Don E NRIQUE. Well? Well? What would you?
You are Queen.
D OÑA J UANA. Believe me!
Don E NRIQUE. Never! It cannot be!
D OÑA J UANA. Never, O Count?
Don E NRIQUE. It is too late, alas!
And the respect I justly owe the King
Must give me pause.
D OÑA J UANA. If I promise to be yours
When he is undeceived?
Don E NRIQUE. Then were you loved
As you deserved by me, and yet loved more.
But yet I know your heart is all the King's
In willing fealty.
D OÑA J UANA. Who bids me beg
And then disdains me, shall never of my heart
Have opportunity; I give him room.
I go, I shut my eyes, and I forget
I ever loved the Count.
R AMIRO. Where do you go,
Senora?
D OÑA J UANA. Where I cannot love the Count,
Ramiro.
R AMIRO. You can't do that. Impossible!
Because the Count, he corresponds, you see.
What jealousy is here? See how he looks
Like the devil at you — a nice thing to do!
And can't you see his heart stand in his eyes,
Poor thing, exposed entirely?
D OÑA J UANA. I am distraught,
Torn every way; you have me by the hair.
R AMIRO. No, I have not; I think it is yourself,
It's you that pull away.
D OÑA J UANA. You do not know me.
R AMIRO. But don't be angry; suit yourself, I say.
D OÑA J UANA. What do you know of women?
R AMIRO. You are not one —
An angel rather in beauty and in name!
D OÑA J UANA. Ramiro, what would Enrique? ... Why detain me? ...
R AMIRO. To Enrique . I say, what nonsense have you on your mind?
Draw near! Why, what's the matter? Seize the spoil;
Up, up and grasp the opportunity
Which time and place afford.
Don E NRIQUE. She turns to go.
R AMIRO. Oh go to sleep! For if she turns to go,
God knows there is no one to prevent her.
Women must not expect too much of men!
Don E NRIQUE. When I would choose a wife and grant my name,
Know then that I would love her.
R AMIRO. And you ought to.
True!
D OÑA J UANA. Count, when my suspicions are removed
And you have satisfied me to the full,
Then I will be your wife.
Don E NRIQUE. How can I tell
If satisfaction lies within my power?
My word does not avail.
D OÑA I NÉS. Aside . A man has entered.
It is Enrique on my soul! Ah me! ...
In vain adversity steps in to part
Two hearts whose love is one. Here will I stand
And learn the purport of this fond discourse,
Spoken so boldly.
D OÑA J UANA. Count, attest and sign
With your own hand, the truth of what you say.
Don E NRIQUE. Then listen ...
D OÑA J UANA. And I will after do as much
Above my signature.
R AMIRO. I'll judge between you.
Upon my soul I have no prejudice
In favor of you either.
D OÑA I NÉS. Aside . And I, alack,
Will be the witness of my own undoing!
Don E NRIQUE. If I held in my hands the darts of love,
Then all the world would fall in love with you;
Bright towers of diamond I would confine you to
That none might enter and his fortune prove.
And I would make you love me then above
All other good that is the wide world through;
Your thoughts as in a chain I would updo
And wandering fancy from you quite remove.
And if I might, I would as with a key
Shut off and bar the hasty steps of time,
To languish ever in sweet youth with thee,
That never on thy beauty at the prime
The hand of age might rest in gravity,
Nor I less happy be than in this rhyme.
R AMIRO. Good! Good! Yes, very good. God help me too!
I liked the parts that I could understand;
But all this being and not being — no!
Because this being without being being
A strict impossibility — that's flat —
Being being from two beings that unite —
Which the vulgar never seem to understand;
And what they claim is arrant nonsense, talk,
Fairy stories. If anything's in it
It's bound to come out of it sooner or later, and look out!
If we had sense, I say, the four of us,
Like hot cakes would drop the whole proposition.
D OÑA J UANA. If without pain in love I might essay you
(For without jealousy who lives that woos you?)
I'd choose you, pain, and love I would refuse you
In pain to slay me, which pain, oh love, repay you!
To choose you nor essay me to allay you
Were else to choose myself and so abuse you;
Rather love's pain repay you though I lose you
Than choose you should not pay and so betray you.
Glories and spoils of love are not true love;
O pain, for you I burn! For memory
That heaps rich spoils up only false must prove.
Suffer and love, this is the victory;
No love is love but joys in pain to move.
I choose you, love, and I forego you, glory.
Don E NRIQUE. Judge. What do you say?
R AMIRO. I hand you both a palm.
D OÑA I NÉS. Advancing . And I, who here stood listening, do the same.
Don E NRIQUE. A favor, lady, we had well excused
As better left unsaid, as when you claimed
My letter was for you, which now we know
Ramiro gave you only for Juana.
D OÑA I NÉS. The King, your brother, came on me distraught;
I, Don Enrique, being all confused,
Knowing it was not meet to speak the truth
As had been seemly, feigned it was for me.
D OÑA J UANA. You have explained too much already.
R AMIRO. The King!
D OÑA J UANA. Again? There is no safety but to hide!
Don E NRIQUE. Then here I take my stand.
D OÑA J UANA. Once more? ...
Don E NRIQUE. How long?
D OÑA J UANA. Have you a watch?
Don E NRIQUE. Shall I forget so soon
My past betrayal? Nay, rest assured my soul
Is trembling yet. Besides, Ines is here
And she will serve me for a hand to point
The hour and character of my misfortune.
D OÑA I NÉS. An evil name has fallen upon me now.
Why did I seek to help you? What better fate
Shall wait on her who serves ungrateful hearts?
Yet judge my faith by this: Again I swear
To aid your loves.
D OÑA J UANA. See where he comes! Speak low.
King. Most beautiful Juana, having spread
The project of our marriage through the land,
And all advised how highly parented
Your birth, by patent clear on every hand,
My people are in glad submission led
To approve the loving venture I have planned;
The noble Adelantado bears a heart
That makes him feared and loved in equal part.
All is prepared and ready for to-night;
Our proud betrothal shall we solemnize.
Should these fair precincts pall upon your sight
On icy Guadarrama turn your eyes.
In you my life is; prone within your right
The kingdom of my love defenceless lies,
For where you are henceforth my Court shall be,
Gazing on you in love to pleasure me.
D OÑA J UANA. Senor, you do my father royal grace,
Desirous of his honor. God bless you, Sire.
Rather with him such discourse were in place
Of favors planned; a maiden, I retire.
King. I am well pleased you show a modest face
And mind your duties. Delay not, I desire.
I go to meet your father.
D OÑA J UANA. Long life, Senor!
King. Spent in your service.
D OÑA J UANA. One deception more!
Don E NRIQUE. Now bid me live!
D OÑA J UANA. Shall she who listens live?
Don E NRIQUE. My watch did not betray me. Greater far
My sad misfortune! On the night of John
Its clanging chime rang out my doom of death;
My knell was sounded, dug my sepulchre.
Possession now is his. What hope remains
When that which was but doubt is certain truth?
With an " amen " that letter sealed my fate,
For through its means you have procured my death,
Urging deception on my innocence!
See! It is night! Coincidence how strange!
Bold love and fury terrible contending,
Mad, hot desire and power beyond resistance!
Son to a King I am — shall this avail?
There is no force can stand against his arm.
O mighty King, my brother and my lord!
How many considerations of respect
Are here conjoined, united and against me!
What shall I do? Advise me! ...
D OÑA J UANA. First let me die
Before this marriage which the King has planned
Shall be concluded!
Don E NRIQUE. Wipe away those tears;
Do not procure my death, for when you weep
It is proclaimed. What augury so black
As weeping stars? Restore, restore those beams,
O kerchief of my love, unto those suns that shine,
Whether your office be to shield or dry them!
Alack! Oh, Dona Juana! Ah, Senora!
In requital of my passion and my pain,
My misery, my hope, my jealousy,
My wrongs, my injuries, grant me those tears
This pearly cloth drinks up from those twin orbs
Of light, in consolation for my death,
Better to bare their brightness to my sight
Which never more may hope their like to see!
D O├æA J UANA. Here take it then — and remember, O Enrique,
An all-subduing power o'er me prevails! —
I go, Ines. . . .
D OÑA I NÉS. Alas! Oh, sad affliction!
By how much more what happiness to me,
Resultant from her woe!
R AMIRO. Must we die now?
You do not answer? Speak!
Don E NRIQUE. What do you say?
R AMIRO. Must we make lamentations? 'Tis proper first
To stop, I'm told, and call upon the Muses.
Will you write verses on her handkerchief?
Don E NRIQUE. It cannot be!
R AMIRO. Preposterous, I say;
For love's reward is paid in current coin,
Substantial. No moment this to hand a man
A pocket handkerchief!
Don E NRIQUE. My tears well up,
My tears well up and mount into love's heaven,
And there seek consolation!
R AMIRO. And no wonder!
Don E NRIQUE. This is too much.
R AMIRO. Too much by far. Best fly!
Don E NRIQUE. What wild, ferocious Indian, what Turk
So barbarous but straightway had cried out,
" I am married! " to the King?
R AMIRO. I'm not so sure;
This lust of reigning does not wait on love.
Besides, the higher born Juana is,
The more her lofty thoughts uplift her.
Don E NRIQUE. She weeps.
R AMIRO. Out of sheer industry. A sage once said
Tears never failed a woman in deceit,
Nor should she lack excuses.
Don E NRIQUE. In an angel
Can feigned tears be?
R AMIRO. Why do you magnify
Your own misfortune? Are you clean mad, man? How?
When you excuse her you have done enough.
Don E NRIQUE. Where are our horses?
R AMIRO. Champing at the bit.
Don E NRIQUE. No choice remains to me. Shall I abide,
The witness of my death? Infatuation,
Canst thou support and cover up such woe?
R AMIRO. What love can do a golden crown will show!
Don E NRIQUE. To-day, divine Juana, you pronounce
The sentence of my doom! To-day my sum
Of suffering suck dry! No place is left
Where my poor, outcast body may lie hid.
Mount, mount, Ramiro! To horse and far Castile!
I faint ... I am distraught ...
R AMIRO. Take courage, sir.
Don E NRIQUE. I go. How ill a judge of love is he
Who never was in love! Farewell, proud Seville!
False, perjured maid, farewell! — who for a sight
Of the queen's crown and sceptre, bind your heart
To such an evil state! ... I humbly kiss
Your kerchief's hem.
R AMIRO. Are those tears dry yet?
Don E NRIQUE. Yes ...
R AMIRO. Then just so long a woman's tears will last
When her lover is away.
Adelantado. Too poor my humble state, great Lord supreme,
Fitly to requite these visits honoring me.
King. Cover yourself, pray Marquis.
Adelantado. The honor is extreme.
King. Marquis of Cadiz, henceforth honored be.
Adelantado. Such royal bounty!
King. I dare not bare my scheme.
I would advance you in felicity;
The tie of blood shall bind us from to-day.
Adelantado. You have two brothers, Sire; speak — I obey.
King. Go, Mendo, speed you, and in secret call
The Archbishop; 'tis my will he come in haste.
M ENDO. I run to do your service. Whate'er befall
The lady merits richly to be graced.
King. Idle report speeds him so swift withal,
To stay his step an instant where 'tis placed
I would, great Adelantado, secretly
Conclude this present marriage.
Adelantado. Prudently.
King. Marquis, by my own hand I would bestow
The beautiful Juana upon one
As worthy as myself.
Adelantado. All others show
Inferior worth. Senor, before 'tis done
Vouchsafe the name.
King. Look on him and then know.
Adelantado. Your grandeur stoops to us.
King. Nor fear nor shun
My favor.
Adelantado. As worthy as yourself?
King. 'Tis true.
Adelantado, this counsel heed and do: —
To that man who, at your door, secretly
Presents himself, Juana give as bride;
For this the Archbishop comes right holily.
Let love not fear though silence be the guide.
Hail him and do him honor; all shall see
Beneath the Spanish crown lives not beside
A man his equal — the friend I hold most dear.
Adelantado. God bless you, Sire.
King. The end shall make all clear.
Adelantado. As worthy as the King? Ah hope, in vain
I have not cherished you! Why then, of course,
It is one of his two brothers; this is plain,
Juana's husbanDone must be perforce.
Either, throughout this wide Castilian reign,
Stands high in princely fame, rich in resource
Of arms and letters jointly; then come one
To raise my house and sphere it with the sun!
Oh boon of fortune, mayst thou be so great!
Oh may it be Enrique! May the Count
Descend in honor on my house!
D OÑA J UANA. Ah, fate
How cruel! I call on death, but no — the fount
Of all oblivion is closed.
E LVIRA. The state
Which fortune offers now is sure. Then mount
The throne of all Castile, and there reign queen.
Would you undo the work of heaven and unqueen?
D OÑA J UANA. Elvira, can you wonder? Is it strange
Love should contemn good fortune?
Adelantado. Juana, hear!
Is't known to you by chance of interchange
If Count Enrique is in Seville?
D OÑA J UANA. Fear
And disfavor of the King drive him to range
Through Castile banished.
Adelantado. Then false hope, disappear!
Yet you must dower him with an equal love
If the great Master should your husband prove.
E LVIRA. Your father and my lord is sore distressed.
D OÑA J UANA. The thought of honor fills his mind, my mind
Love fills.
E LVIRA. Only the dream of happiness
Should fill your mind, my lady.
D OÑA J UANA. I loved but now;
How then, Elvira, can I now forget?
E LVIRA. The Count, I grant you, is a gallant man;
But yet by law and might the King is King.
The King is gallant and a gentleman.
If both perchance did share an equal state
You yet might choose the King.
D OÑA J UANA. Shall love assay
And weigh the royal sceptre?
E LVIRA. I marvel much
At your desire, which poorly corresponds
To your high station.
D OÑA J UANA. Ah me, Elvira! Think you is the Count
Fled many miles from Seville?
E LVIRA. A pretty thought!
Is this the way, indeed, to wed the King?
D OÑA J UANA. Put by that hope with me for evermore,
Since it is not to be.
Master. Lady, the King
As to his bride, low lays before your feet ...
D OÑA J UANA. Ah! Woe is me!
Master. This gift.
D OÑA J UANA. This gift? For whom?
Master. For you, O Queen and Mistress of Castile!
D OÑA J UANA. For me, great Master?
Master. You, my lady, you;
Even as this my brother worships you.
D OÑA J UANA. Reveal!
Master. Behold the crown of all Castile,
Right fit to grace your brow!
D OÑA J UANA. The crown!
Master. Laid low
Before your feet, rather than at your brow
Proffered by the King.
D OÑA J UANA. Alas! What shall I do?
I can no more, for this surpasses reason. —
Take, Elvira, take the crown. — Say to the King
Who is my Lord, great Master ... No, say nothing ...
Yet tell him ... that I am distraught ...
Master. How so?
D OÑA J UANA. His bounty overwhelms me. Say to him ...
Master. What shall I say?
D OÑA J UANA. Tell him to come to see me.
Master. Away!
M ENDO. Alack! I am distraught, great Master! ...
Ha! By the eye it plainly may be seen
It is no pleasure to her to be queen!
Master. Belike this is some cunning of the Count's
Who lingers near ...
M ENDO. To-day I saw him.
Master. Silence!
Silence is best!
D OÑA J UANA. Show, Elvira, show the crown.
E LVIRA. Alas! What would you?
D OÑA J UANA. Speak to it.
E LVIRA. Speak? But how?
D OÑA J UANA. To question it
If love can compensate for its disdain. —
Pardon, illustrious crown! I would essay you;
And well I know I should be freed from blame:
But yet love whispers basely I offend
Against your queenly worth, loving elsewhere
Should I assume to reign. For sake of you
How many treasons have made wretched head,
How many cruelties been hatched and planned?
What lives, what honors, reputations, fames,
What thriving cities have you quite consumed
And undone utterly! Enrique flies,
And in his jealous heart blames you and me,
Distrustful equally. In evil state
I rest, ah me! ... Yet how can I despise you?
Who would refuse a certainty for a doubt?
Ah pardon, love, that I am doubtful of you!
And yet I ask no pardon; since I can doubt
The very doubt itself absolves the blame.
Take, Elvira, take away the crown! Farewell!
The Count shall not complain of thee. Henceforth
Let jealous fortune say to all the world
That once there lived a woman who could love,
Could love and lose a kingdom, and forego
A certainty for a doubt.
King . Beautiful Juana,
Having displayed before your eyes the worth
And high renown of this our present match,
By symbol of my love and power conjoined
In this my kingly crown which here you see,
Whereof be mistress henceforth as of me
And all those realms I conquer from the Moor,
The Master brings glad tidings and advice
That you would speak with me; whereat my soul
In his far seat trembles confusedly
And totters; to swell my fears my brother adds
You are distraught and know not what to answer.
D OÑA J UANA . Secure, O god-like Peter, in your worth,
In your high judgment and your generous heart,
I may reveal to you the love I bear
Undaunted. Enrique — but you know the story —
Has served me long; his love my love returned —
But always in responses honest, grave.
Never between us passed unseemly word
Nor misbegotten answer, in his sight
To rob me of one particle of honor.
Yet my reply, delaying and reluctant,
To this the love you bear, had other cause
More potent, Sire, than any you had dreamed.
Yet hear me — I know not plainly how to speak;
The deed itself brought less the blush of shame —
For men, by nature bold, are bold in love,
Repenting oft what rashly they have done
In the mad rush of passion, when their acts,
Impatient of restraint, awaken fear.
King . My mind, Juana — or else is it my love? —
Hovers perplexed betwixt opposed conceptions,
Now doubtful of your faith, now of your honor.
Then speak, I say, and torture me no further!
I know what accidents befall in love.
D OÑA J UANA . Oh for the graces of a flowery speech!
But the poor words I have must plead excuse.
We stood together on the Palace stair,
Enrique and I ... I cannot tell you, Sire ...
But would you that I write it?
King . Write nothing! No!
How shall I stay the hours you must consume,
Wanting the breath of patience?
D OÑA J UANA . Descending the stair ...
Ah never criminal condemned crept up
The scaffold with more care!
King . An end, in God's name!
D OÑA J UANA . Stay!
King . Stay? Ah what a load rests on my mind!
D OÑA J UANA . Now ... now ... here I begin ...
King . But finish when?
I bleed to death, I die by slow degrees!
D OÑA J UANA . Believe me, Sire, indeed the guilt was small;
Enrique seized me ...
King . Yes? And then?
D OÑA J UANA . A kiss
(Was it by chance, I wonder?) upon my lips
He pressed — or did he rather think to whisper,
And the thick darkness bent him to its will
Against all courtesy? Now know, O Sire,
The reason why I cannot be your wife!
King . All this, Juana, is but fond invention.
Yet be it as it may, then what care I?
Enrique is not fled into Castile,
Because I know that he is now in Seville
Desirous of my ruin. To persevere
And still persist against your known desire
But ill becomes my rank and my high station;
For fools and wise men equally will say
This is no proper discipline of honor.
But I, impatient of this deep affront,
Am jealous in such sort I close my eyes
To love, and yet know all, nor neither fear
The tongues of fools nor dread the wise men either;
For these more swiftly move to my revenge.
No vengeance is but springs from burning rage,
Nor love untouched of madness. By my command
This night Enrique shall be slain; he dead,
I shall be free to marry, nor have cause
For further fear; but while he still does live
I cannot marry. This much at least is clear,
Because with him must live
The dishonor he would give,
By his anticipation fixeDon me
In first arriving at those lips so chaste,
Sacred to the coming of their King and master.
So when I look again on this event,
I see the wrong, though through no fault of mine,
Was but a lie, dark-hidden in the night,
Whose vengeance shall be open as the day.
Yet though this lie were but a lie to me
Because my mind had shifted its intent,
Might I suppose a circumstance so strange
As to reject the project of this match,
Yet since you have confessed the wrong to me
It binds me to my vengeance. Enrique dies;
So being dead, I marry with his widow.
Love shall not question with an idle doubt
The faith and concord of our loyalty.
For then, though this which now is hid be shown,
Nor you nor I shall suffer loss of honor;
You shall be widow with one kiss upon her
As others of their husbands they have known.
D OÑA J UANA . Senor! Senor! Alas! It is too late!
Enrique's gone and fled into Castile.
Write, write to him post-haste to hold his way
To France or England further. Ah! But no ...
Rather Granada! There the Moorish King
Will welcome him, availing of his service.
I write upon the spot. — Elvira!
E LVIRA . Lady ...
D OÑA J UANA . Elvira, I am all confused. Oh fly!
Run quick for pen and paper! I would write
And warn Enrique. Not less than life itself
Hangs on the contents of the letter.
E LVIRA . Lady,
Forego the pains. Among the assembled guests,
Drawn hither by the fame of what impends,
I chanced upon a man all muffled-up,
Wrapped in a scarlet cloak, who whispered close
Under his breath: " Elvira, O Elvira. "
Displeased at his discourtesy of speech
When I drew near, I saw it was the Count.
D OÑA J UANA . No, no! You are deceived!
E LVIRA . Not I, forsooth!
Prevailed upon by his entreaties, straight
I hid him in my room.
D OÑA J UANA . What do you say?
Did he not fly then to Castile?
E LVIRA . He did;
Yes, lady, but he has returned again.
These insatiate passions are like idle balls
By love in fury of the combat thrown,
Which jealousy, upon the other side,
Straight tosses back again, more swiftly too.
D OÑA J UANA . Savior in heaven! The Count in Seville's gates?
Not only in Seville but this very house?
E LVIRA . Envy, he swears, and jealousy combined
Constrain him, hoping he may forget his grief,
Seeing you married.
D OÑA J UANA . Mad stubbornness of love!
I go to seek him out!
E LVIRA . What would you? No!
D OÑA J UANA . Rebuke him first and then to bid him go.
E LVIRA . Do not decree his death!
D O├æA J UANA . Rather his life —
His life which is the very soul of mine!
Adelantado . In this confusion I have seen the King,
But have not found the token that I seek
Nor else had satisfaction. — Dona Elvira,
Where is your mistress?
E LVIRA . She hesitates, perplexed,
Nor fain would summon heart for further stay,
Retiring rather to regain composure.
Adelantado . The Archbishop has arrived; the King is vexed,
Receiving all amiss. What crosses him?
The people throng in crowds about the house,
And those within are anxious, ill at ease.
The bride dissolves in tears and questions me
To learn what I may know. All stand and whisper
With bated breaths, while I attenDon all.
D OÑA I NÉS . I will not hesitate, but boldly act,
For vengeance is excused by jealousy.
What, sir? You are distraught. Fie, fie! When hope
Is crowned at last, and fickle fortune captived?
The Count is hidden in Elvira's room.
Adelantado . Who is?
D OÑA I NÉS . Enrique.
Adelantado . But is this true?
D OÑA I NÉS . It is,
For I have seen him.
Adelantado . But to what intent?
D OÑA I NÉS . What need to ask? Can you not guess his purpose?
To question me if it be love, indeed
Were hardly honest.
Adelantado . Dona Ines, in the affairs of state
And where the King commands, let silence reign.
D OÑA I NÉS . What silence shall I keep, unless it be
A woman's and a lover's by exception?
O love! Why must your power constrain my will
To evil deeds? While doubt endures, 'tis meet
Still to pursue and voice our passion's burning —
Not when uncertainty turns to disdain.
But who is wise when hearts mount to the cheek
And serve the lips for tongues and for them speak?
King . Don Nuno is despatched into Castile
To do my bidding; swift he deals him death
Upon the road, if so it be indeed
That he has ta'en the road. Through Seville's streets
Don Arias and Don Gonzalo search
With their attendant train, against the chance
He hide him in the city.
Master . How urge, O Sire,
Such rigor 'gainst our brother? His excuse
Lies in his youth; moreover, the offense
Offers not at your honor.
King . By all above
When you have learned the cause, then know, great Master,
All vengeance were too small!
M ENDO . Here is her cousin
Waiting the coming of the Queen, Senor,
Who is my lady.
King . Dona Ines ...
D OÑA I NÉS . My Lord ...
King . Rich in congratulations of the day,
Shall I content me until yours are joined?
How now?
D OÑA I NÉS . Sire, I am of the family
And so reserve them for a fitter time.
King . Well said indeed, seeing from hour to hour
The nuptials lag along. Summon at once
The Adelantado, for now shall all be known.
D OÑA I NÉS . The King knows all. My fate impends.
King . But how?
All seem distraught. Either my hidden plans
Are clear to all, or else deceive them all.
Master . Doubt is the cause and this most strange procedure,
Whereby you do in secret and by stealth
What openly were better done in the day,
Full to the taste of the realm.
King. Forgive the fault,
For I confess the wrong I do commit,
Acting without just reason. Blinded, I see not,
And yet I must push on.
M ENDO. The Adelantado.
King. O thou brave glory of Castile!
Adelantado. Senor,
Your Majesty commands.
King. Cousin approach;
Come to my arms. Is all prepared and ready
According to my plan?
Adelantado. Sire, judge my love
By my obedience. All is already done.
King. How done?
Adelantado. Performed, Senor, as you commanded
I found the man and I have married him.
King. What man?
Adelantado. Since what was done was darkly done
In purposed secrecy, I dare not answer.
Yet would you know his name, bid him appear.
King. But this is strange. Bid him appear! Great God!
What can this be?
Adelantado. I go, Senor.
King. But how?
What secrecy is this? The man is married?
What man?
D OÑA I NÉS. My hopes sink to the extremity.
King. What shall I do?
Adelantado. Perforce I am absolved,
For I obeyed the King. Fall at his feet!
King. It is Enrique?
Don E NRIQUE. So please you, Sire, it is;
And married at your service by the hand
Of the Archbishop, since you willed it so.
'Twas not my doing, Sire. I humbly came,
Muffled and wrapped up, to see you married.
While I was hiding in an inner room
The Adelantado told me 'twas your will.
King. What answer shall I make to such misfortune,
FoundeDon so contemptible deceit?
Speak, Adelantado. What is this?
Adelantado. O Sire,
Was't not your will that when I found a man
Disguised and muffled in my house by night,
By this I was to know he was as good
As you? And so I found your brother, Sire,
And gave him to my daughter. Did I not wed her
To another like yourself?
King. Adelantado,
Doubly you have advanced yourself, and lead
First by occasion of your rank and office,
And next in that you have upled your house
By marriage with Enrique. What is done
Admits no remedy. I pardon him
And I confirm the match.
D OÑA J UANA. Heaven, Senor,
Prosper your years and grant you happy life.
R AMIRO. Just one request from me ...
King. Make none, Ramiro;
All is forgiven.
R AMIRO. Never want gold, Senor!
King. Dona Juana, quarter henceforth my crown
In your escutcheon, which, since it is spurned,
Bear in reverse.
Don E NRIQUE. Here ends, illustrious Senators,
" A Certainty for a Doubt. "
Should it have pleased by any chance,
Be this the certainty,
And be the means the doubt.
Among ribbons and lace
Are not flowers of false feigning,
Though I feign in my face.
They are falsehoods to see you,
They are truths for your ear
From one whom love has held dear
And who falters to free you.
D OÑA J UANA. But then you are no flower girl?
T EODORA. No, sweet lady.
The Count drags out the day, hid in my house,
And sends this message hoping to persuade you.
Ramiro fears the King and does not dare
To venture in your presence, though he knows
He cannot better satisfy the law
Of Spanish chivalry, than to meet death
In the service of his master.
D OÑA J UANA. His danger, though,
Is not so great as he himself supposes.
T EODORA. He is convinced you never were averse
To grant the King possession of your heart
And holds you knew his danger, whence I am sent
DisguiseDon his behalf, as now you see.
His faith in me suggests this subterfuge.
He swears that you exceed in cruelty
All other women born, and adds beside
You have conspired against him with the King,
Seeking his exile. Lust of power and rule
Have moved you and not love. You chose the best,
And yet he would excuse you. Necessity
Is master o'er our willing in the world;
And since you rule by law and now are Queen,
You must restore him with the King, the Law.
Beg him that he remit his royal displeasure,
Though not the banishment; for this return
Was error wholly, which at last he sees,
Whereby no good was served. And with the answer
Accordant to his will, will he be gone
Into Castile, because he knows your will
Is all disposed to love, though not his love;
Yet for this last absolves you as the first.
Far better, lady, you be crowned his Queen
Than you should be his wife.
D OÑA J UANA. In evil part
I would not take this visit to my house.
Had I received it as it merited,
I had been much offended. In all the world
Lives there another traitor like Enrique?
T EODORA. No traitor he.
D OÑA J UANA. Why would you thus seduce me,
Assailing my ears with these sublime deceptions,
When I already like the serpent sit
Enamored of the sound? Contemning him
The most I may, my vengeance were too small!
I know the Count is suitor to my cousin
And comes to speak with her by stealth at night,
My love affronting with a wound deep sunk
In honor. Disguised the King came to me; I wept
Because my love had fled into Castile,
And he was here in Seville — not far indeed
Had love removed! If he would seek through me
The grace and favor of the King, say then
Why does he thus deceive me and outrage
Even his sense of honor? This say to him:
If I have spoken evil to the King
'Twas he that gave me cause. And make no answer.
Remember what you are!
T EODORA. Am I to blame?
The Count, presuming on my steadfast love,
Constrained me to disguise myself and come
Against my will and my poor heart's desire.
For though my rank is not the same as yours,
I too have loved the Count.
D OÑA J UANA. It well comports
With the accustomed freedom that he takes.
God keep you safe, and thank me on your knees
That I commit you only to his care.
T EODORA. My lady —
D OÑA J UANA. Leave my house! Be gone! Away!
T EODORA. Believe me, lady, I am not to blame.
D OÑA J UANA. Enrique, I would not in my heart betray me
For love of you, nor through love's urging lose me;
If you have learned, O traitor, to accuse me,
Shall I not learn with vengeance to allay me?
Ah, heavy the cost at which I turn and stay me
At your advances, and to your eyes refuse me!
Oh, look not on me, cruel! Nor dare abuse me. —
" Lady, I go. " — " But you return to slay me. " —
" Listen, my love. What can it cost to hear me? " —
" My honor and the King. " — " The King? 'Tis true. " —
" And from your love I would depart and clear me. " —
" A jealous love forgets, 'tis thankless too;
But you forget not! " — " Yes, I can and do;
Strangling the old love in new love endear me. "
Don E NRIQUE. Unhand me! Out, I say!
R AMIRO. Where would you go?
Don E NRIQUE. I challenge fate undaunted.
R AMIRO. In your right mind?
Don E NRIQUE. If I had been in my right mind, you fool,
Then had I loved a traitress evermore?
D OÑA J UANA. But what is this? Who's here?
Don E NRIQUE. Who's here? Oh question
Out of all bounds of reason! So to forget,
That when you see me yet you do not see me!
Listen — I'll tell you who I am.
D OÑA J UANA. Stark mad,
God help me!
Don E NRIQUE. I am a soul that dwells within
A breast where I am not. I am a body
Into whose ear, O lady, many times
The story of your love was poured, when yet
The monarchies of earth were less to you than love.
I am a man who merited of fate
Exemption of deception at your lips
If there be truth in woman. I am that one
Who cast away for you his King, his lord,
His brother — the God-given night, to you a dream,
A weary, waking watch to me! A comet I
That flashed across the sky, if such a name
Befits a beauty fragile-fair so brief
It dies ere it is born. And finally
I am — —
D OÑA J UANA. No more, but stop at finally,
For you have made a shameful, evil end
To all my favors granted. You cannot say
One word that I will believe. No, no, Enrique —
Enrique, did I say? It was not I
That spoke that word, relenting. Rather it was
An error of my tongue, that knew my mind,
Seeing my purpose to affront you wholly.
For when I name your name and bid you go
In my revenge, what else remains to me
In the armory of insult like your name?
Go, go, Enrique! Go with your vile tricks!
This treachery is yours!
Don E NRIQUE. You say I wrote
To Dona Ines?
D OÑA J UANA. Was it not so?
Don E NRIQUE. No, lady,
I wrote to you. Ramiro be my witness.
R AMIRO. But who'd believe me who'd not believe you?
No, no!
I brought that letter to you but your cousin
Took it away.
Don E NRIQUE. And so I loved her then
Freeing my heart and passion with the pen?
I know not if she would deceive the King
By such endeavor; rather I believe your will
Contrived this subterfuge; it is a plot
Which looks to your advancement with the King.
The King might well content you, and with him
You would find royal pleasure. It irks me though
That you should falsely stoop to make excuse
To sell me to him — was this the part of love,
When in the faith your cousin put my letter
Into your very hands, I came disguised
And waited at your door? What there I wrote
Was all for you — yours then, not mine, the blame!
Ah! What avails it that I fly from you
When like the fire the fuse I follow back
And straight return me into Seville here,
Even into the mouth which belched me forth?
Then let my end as my beginning be,
My grave where I was born. Here let me die!
The King shall know that I am here — here slay me.
Why does he not come forth? Lacks he the heart
To wreak his vengeance on me?
D OÑA J UANA . Enrique! Enrique!
R AMIRO . But what is this, Senor?
Don E NRIQUE . Do you not see?
She says I loved Ines? What? In my life
Have I not known the ecstasy of love?
Let the vile traitor run me through the breast
If I haDone such thought, if I served her,
Or ever spoke a word of like import!
In the high heaven wherein your image sits
No other beauty shines, no faith is pledged.
I do not speak to move you. Perish the thought
That I should move you — ever I should love you —
Or dream again you might constrain to love;
But only this — I would not see you judged
In your own heart as guiltless of my wrongs.
D OÑA J UANA. Count!
Don E NRIQUE. No! Do not move your lips. After flagrant wrong
True lovers never can accord again
Nor philosophers agree. Lip service this,
Set forth, delivered in two bands of red!
Who would give poison in vermilion ink
But a woman or a traitor? Reason, I say,
Reject and rend unreason of deception!
D OÑA J UANA. Enrique, do nothing that you may repent;
Though my lips move as they would write again,
They shall not tell of love.
Don E NRIQUE. Leave me! Away!
D OÑA J UANA. Now as I hope in God ...
Don E NRIQUE. Well? Well? What would you?
You are Queen.
D OÑA J UANA. Believe me!
Don E NRIQUE. Never! It cannot be!
D OÑA J UANA. Never, O Count?
Don E NRIQUE. It is too late, alas!
And the respect I justly owe the King
Must give me pause.
D OÑA J UANA. If I promise to be yours
When he is undeceived?
Don E NRIQUE. Then were you loved
As you deserved by me, and yet loved more.
But yet I know your heart is all the King's
In willing fealty.
D OÑA J UANA. Who bids me beg
And then disdains me, shall never of my heart
Have opportunity; I give him room.
I go, I shut my eyes, and I forget
I ever loved the Count.
R AMIRO. Where do you go,
Senora?
D OÑA J UANA. Where I cannot love the Count,
Ramiro.
R AMIRO. You can't do that. Impossible!
Because the Count, he corresponds, you see.
What jealousy is here? See how he looks
Like the devil at you — a nice thing to do!
And can't you see his heart stand in his eyes,
Poor thing, exposed entirely?
D OÑA J UANA. I am distraught,
Torn every way; you have me by the hair.
R AMIRO. No, I have not; I think it is yourself,
It's you that pull away.
D OÑA J UANA. You do not know me.
R AMIRO. But don't be angry; suit yourself, I say.
D OÑA J UANA. What do you know of women?
R AMIRO. You are not one —
An angel rather in beauty and in name!
D OÑA J UANA. Ramiro, what would Enrique? ... Why detain me? ...
R AMIRO. To Enrique . I say, what nonsense have you on your mind?
Draw near! Why, what's the matter? Seize the spoil;
Up, up and grasp the opportunity
Which time and place afford.
Don E NRIQUE. She turns to go.
R AMIRO. Oh go to sleep! For if she turns to go,
God knows there is no one to prevent her.
Women must not expect too much of men!
Don E NRIQUE. When I would choose a wife and grant my name,
Know then that I would love her.
R AMIRO. And you ought to.
True!
D OÑA J UANA. Count, when my suspicions are removed
And you have satisfied me to the full,
Then I will be your wife.
Don E NRIQUE. How can I tell
If satisfaction lies within my power?
My word does not avail.
D OÑA I NÉS. Aside . A man has entered.
It is Enrique on my soul! Ah me! ...
In vain adversity steps in to part
Two hearts whose love is one. Here will I stand
And learn the purport of this fond discourse,
Spoken so boldly.
D OÑA J UANA. Count, attest and sign
With your own hand, the truth of what you say.
Don E NRIQUE. Then listen ...
D OÑA J UANA. And I will after do as much
Above my signature.
R AMIRO. I'll judge between you.
Upon my soul I have no prejudice
In favor of you either.
D OÑA I NÉS. Aside . And I, alack,
Will be the witness of my own undoing!
Don E NRIQUE. If I held in my hands the darts of love,
Then all the world would fall in love with you;
Bright towers of diamond I would confine you to
That none might enter and his fortune prove.
And I would make you love me then above
All other good that is the wide world through;
Your thoughts as in a chain I would updo
And wandering fancy from you quite remove.
And if I might, I would as with a key
Shut off and bar the hasty steps of time,
To languish ever in sweet youth with thee,
That never on thy beauty at the prime
The hand of age might rest in gravity,
Nor I less happy be than in this rhyme.
R AMIRO. Good! Good! Yes, very good. God help me too!
I liked the parts that I could understand;
But all this being and not being — no!
Because this being without being being
A strict impossibility — that's flat —
Being being from two beings that unite —
Which the vulgar never seem to understand;
And what they claim is arrant nonsense, talk,
Fairy stories. If anything's in it
It's bound to come out of it sooner or later, and look out!
If we had sense, I say, the four of us,
Like hot cakes would drop the whole proposition.
D OÑA J UANA. If without pain in love I might essay you
(For without jealousy who lives that woos you?)
I'd choose you, pain, and love I would refuse you
In pain to slay me, which pain, oh love, repay you!
To choose you nor essay me to allay you
Were else to choose myself and so abuse you;
Rather love's pain repay you though I lose you
Than choose you should not pay and so betray you.
Glories and spoils of love are not true love;
O pain, for you I burn! For memory
That heaps rich spoils up only false must prove.
Suffer and love, this is the victory;
No love is love but joys in pain to move.
I choose you, love, and I forego you, glory.
Don E NRIQUE. Judge. What do you say?
R AMIRO. I hand you both a palm.
D OÑA I NÉS. Advancing . And I, who here stood listening, do the same.
Don E NRIQUE. A favor, lady, we had well excused
As better left unsaid, as when you claimed
My letter was for you, which now we know
Ramiro gave you only for Juana.
D OÑA I NÉS. The King, your brother, came on me distraught;
I, Don Enrique, being all confused,
Knowing it was not meet to speak the truth
As had been seemly, feigned it was for me.
D OÑA J UANA. You have explained too much already.
R AMIRO. The King!
D OÑA J UANA. Again? There is no safety but to hide!
Don E NRIQUE. Then here I take my stand.
D OÑA J UANA. Once more? ...
Don E NRIQUE. How long?
D OÑA J UANA. Have you a watch?
Don E NRIQUE. Shall I forget so soon
My past betrayal? Nay, rest assured my soul
Is trembling yet. Besides, Ines is here
And she will serve me for a hand to point
The hour and character of my misfortune.
D OÑA I NÉS. An evil name has fallen upon me now.
Why did I seek to help you? What better fate
Shall wait on her who serves ungrateful hearts?
Yet judge my faith by this: Again I swear
To aid your loves.
D OÑA J UANA. See where he comes! Speak low.
King. Most beautiful Juana, having spread
The project of our marriage through the land,
And all advised how highly parented
Your birth, by patent clear on every hand,
My people are in glad submission led
To approve the loving venture I have planned;
The noble Adelantado bears a heart
That makes him feared and loved in equal part.
All is prepared and ready for to-night;
Our proud betrothal shall we solemnize.
Should these fair precincts pall upon your sight
On icy Guadarrama turn your eyes.
In you my life is; prone within your right
The kingdom of my love defenceless lies,
For where you are henceforth my Court shall be,
Gazing on you in love to pleasure me.
D OÑA J UANA. Senor, you do my father royal grace,
Desirous of his honor. God bless you, Sire.
Rather with him such discourse were in place
Of favors planned; a maiden, I retire.
King. I am well pleased you show a modest face
And mind your duties. Delay not, I desire.
I go to meet your father.
D OÑA J UANA. Long life, Senor!
King. Spent in your service.
D OÑA J UANA. One deception more!
Don E NRIQUE. Now bid me live!
D OÑA J UANA. Shall she who listens live?
Don E NRIQUE. My watch did not betray me. Greater far
My sad misfortune! On the night of John
Its clanging chime rang out my doom of death;
My knell was sounded, dug my sepulchre.
Possession now is his. What hope remains
When that which was but doubt is certain truth?
With an " amen " that letter sealed my fate,
For through its means you have procured my death,
Urging deception on my innocence!
See! It is night! Coincidence how strange!
Bold love and fury terrible contending,
Mad, hot desire and power beyond resistance!
Son to a King I am — shall this avail?
There is no force can stand against his arm.
O mighty King, my brother and my lord!
How many considerations of respect
Are here conjoined, united and against me!
What shall I do? Advise me! ...
D OÑA J UANA. First let me die
Before this marriage which the King has planned
Shall be concluded!
Don E NRIQUE. Wipe away those tears;
Do not procure my death, for when you weep
It is proclaimed. What augury so black
As weeping stars? Restore, restore those beams,
O kerchief of my love, unto those suns that shine,
Whether your office be to shield or dry them!
Alack! Oh, Dona Juana! Ah, Senora!
In requital of my passion and my pain,
My misery, my hope, my jealousy,
My wrongs, my injuries, grant me those tears
This pearly cloth drinks up from those twin orbs
Of light, in consolation for my death,
Better to bare their brightness to my sight
Which never more may hope their like to see!
D O├æA J UANA. Here take it then — and remember, O Enrique,
An all-subduing power o'er me prevails! —
I go, Ines. . . .
D OÑA I NÉS. Alas! Oh, sad affliction!
By how much more what happiness to me,
Resultant from her woe!
R AMIRO. Must we die now?
You do not answer? Speak!
Don E NRIQUE. What do you say?
R AMIRO. Must we make lamentations? 'Tis proper first
To stop, I'm told, and call upon the Muses.
Will you write verses on her handkerchief?
Don E NRIQUE. It cannot be!
R AMIRO. Preposterous, I say;
For love's reward is paid in current coin,
Substantial. No moment this to hand a man
A pocket handkerchief!
Don E NRIQUE. My tears well up,
My tears well up and mount into love's heaven,
And there seek consolation!
R AMIRO. And no wonder!
Don E NRIQUE. This is too much.
R AMIRO. Too much by far. Best fly!
Don E NRIQUE. What wild, ferocious Indian, what Turk
So barbarous but straightway had cried out,
" I am married! " to the King?
R AMIRO. I'm not so sure;
This lust of reigning does not wait on love.
Besides, the higher born Juana is,
The more her lofty thoughts uplift her.
Don E NRIQUE. She weeps.
R AMIRO. Out of sheer industry. A sage once said
Tears never failed a woman in deceit,
Nor should she lack excuses.
Don E NRIQUE. In an angel
Can feigned tears be?
R AMIRO. Why do you magnify
Your own misfortune? Are you clean mad, man? How?
When you excuse her you have done enough.
Don E NRIQUE. Where are our horses?
R AMIRO. Champing at the bit.
Don E NRIQUE. No choice remains to me. Shall I abide,
The witness of my death? Infatuation,
Canst thou support and cover up such woe?
R AMIRO. What love can do a golden crown will show!
Don E NRIQUE. To-day, divine Juana, you pronounce
The sentence of my doom! To-day my sum
Of suffering suck dry! No place is left
Where my poor, outcast body may lie hid.
Mount, mount, Ramiro! To horse and far Castile!
I faint ... I am distraught ...
R AMIRO. Take courage, sir.
Don E NRIQUE. I go. How ill a judge of love is he
Who never was in love! Farewell, proud Seville!
False, perjured maid, farewell! — who for a sight
Of the queen's crown and sceptre, bind your heart
To such an evil state! ... I humbly kiss
Your kerchief's hem.
R AMIRO. Are those tears dry yet?
Don E NRIQUE. Yes ...
R AMIRO. Then just so long a woman's tears will last
When her lover is away.
Adelantado. Too poor my humble state, great Lord supreme,
Fitly to requite these visits honoring me.
King. Cover yourself, pray Marquis.
Adelantado. The honor is extreme.
King. Marquis of Cadiz, henceforth honored be.
Adelantado. Such royal bounty!
King. I dare not bare my scheme.
I would advance you in felicity;
The tie of blood shall bind us from to-day.
Adelantado. You have two brothers, Sire; speak — I obey.
King. Go, Mendo, speed you, and in secret call
The Archbishop; 'tis my will he come in haste.
M ENDO. I run to do your service. Whate'er befall
The lady merits richly to be graced.
King. Idle report speeds him so swift withal,
To stay his step an instant where 'tis placed
I would, great Adelantado, secretly
Conclude this present marriage.
Adelantado. Prudently.
King. Marquis, by my own hand I would bestow
The beautiful Juana upon one
As worthy as myself.
Adelantado. All others show
Inferior worth. Senor, before 'tis done
Vouchsafe the name.
King. Look on him and then know.
Adelantado. Your grandeur stoops to us.
King. Nor fear nor shun
My favor.
Adelantado. As worthy as yourself?
King. 'Tis true.
Adelantado, this counsel heed and do: —
To that man who, at your door, secretly
Presents himself, Juana give as bride;
For this the Archbishop comes right holily.
Let love not fear though silence be the guide.
Hail him and do him honor; all shall see
Beneath the Spanish crown lives not beside
A man his equal — the friend I hold most dear.
Adelantado. God bless you, Sire.
King. The end shall make all clear.
Adelantado. As worthy as the King? Ah hope, in vain
I have not cherished you! Why then, of course,
It is one of his two brothers; this is plain,
Juana's husbanDone must be perforce.
Either, throughout this wide Castilian reign,
Stands high in princely fame, rich in resource
Of arms and letters jointly; then come one
To raise my house and sphere it with the sun!
Oh boon of fortune, mayst thou be so great!
Oh may it be Enrique! May the Count
Descend in honor on my house!
D OÑA J UANA. Ah, fate
How cruel! I call on death, but no — the fount
Of all oblivion is closed.
E LVIRA. The state
Which fortune offers now is sure. Then mount
The throne of all Castile, and there reign queen.
Would you undo the work of heaven and unqueen?
D OÑA J UANA. Elvira, can you wonder? Is it strange
Love should contemn good fortune?
Adelantado. Juana, hear!
Is't known to you by chance of interchange
If Count Enrique is in Seville?
D OÑA J UANA. Fear
And disfavor of the King drive him to range
Through Castile banished.
Adelantado. Then false hope, disappear!
Yet you must dower him with an equal love
If the great Master should your husband prove.
E LVIRA. Your father and my lord is sore distressed.
D OÑA J UANA. The thought of honor fills his mind, my mind
Love fills.
E LVIRA. Only the dream of happiness
Should fill your mind, my lady.
D OÑA J UANA. I loved but now;
How then, Elvira, can I now forget?
E LVIRA. The Count, I grant you, is a gallant man;
But yet by law and might the King is King.
The King is gallant and a gentleman.
If both perchance did share an equal state
You yet might choose the King.
D OÑA J UANA. Shall love assay
And weigh the royal sceptre?
E LVIRA. I marvel much
At your desire, which poorly corresponds
To your high station.
D OÑA J UANA. Ah me, Elvira! Think you is the Count
Fled many miles from Seville?
E LVIRA. A pretty thought!
Is this the way, indeed, to wed the King?
D OÑA J UANA. Put by that hope with me for evermore,
Since it is not to be.
Master. Lady, the King
As to his bride, low lays before your feet ...
D OÑA J UANA. Ah! Woe is me!
Master. This gift.
D OÑA J UANA. This gift? For whom?
Master. For you, O Queen and Mistress of Castile!
D OÑA J UANA. For me, great Master?
Master. You, my lady, you;
Even as this my brother worships you.
D OÑA J UANA. Reveal!
Master. Behold the crown of all Castile,
Right fit to grace your brow!
D OÑA J UANA. The crown!
Master. Laid low
Before your feet, rather than at your brow
Proffered by the King.
D OÑA J UANA. Alas! What shall I do?
I can no more, for this surpasses reason. —
Take, Elvira, take the crown. — Say to the King
Who is my Lord, great Master ... No, say nothing ...
Yet tell him ... that I am distraught ...
Master. How so?
D OÑA J UANA. His bounty overwhelms me. Say to him ...
Master. What shall I say?
D OÑA J UANA. Tell him to come to see me.
Master. Away!
M ENDO. Alack! I am distraught, great Master! ...
Ha! By the eye it plainly may be seen
It is no pleasure to her to be queen!
Master. Belike this is some cunning of the Count's
Who lingers near ...
M ENDO. To-day I saw him.
Master. Silence!
Silence is best!
D OÑA J UANA. Show, Elvira, show the crown.
E LVIRA. Alas! What would you?
D OÑA J UANA. Speak to it.
E LVIRA. Speak? But how?
D OÑA J UANA. To question it
If love can compensate for its disdain. —
Pardon, illustrious crown! I would essay you;
And well I know I should be freed from blame:
But yet love whispers basely I offend
Against your queenly worth, loving elsewhere
Should I assume to reign. For sake of you
How many treasons have made wretched head,
How many cruelties been hatched and planned?
What lives, what honors, reputations, fames,
What thriving cities have you quite consumed
And undone utterly! Enrique flies,
And in his jealous heart blames you and me,
Distrustful equally. In evil state
I rest, ah me! ... Yet how can I despise you?
Who would refuse a certainty for a doubt?
Ah pardon, love, that I am doubtful of you!
And yet I ask no pardon; since I can doubt
The very doubt itself absolves the blame.
Take, Elvira, take away the crown! Farewell!
The Count shall not complain of thee. Henceforth
Let jealous fortune say to all the world
That once there lived a woman who could love,
Could love and lose a kingdom, and forego
A certainty for a doubt.
King . Beautiful Juana,
Having displayed before your eyes the worth
And high renown of this our present match,
By symbol of my love and power conjoined
In this my kingly crown which here you see,
Whereof be mistress henceforth as of me
And all those realms I conquer from the Moor,
The Master brings glad tidings and advice
That you would speak with me; whereat my soul
In his far seat trembles confusedly
And totters; to swell my fears my brother adds
You are distraught and know not what to answer.
D OÑA J UANA . Secure, O god-like Peter, in your worth,
In your high judgment and your generous heart,
I may reveal to you the love I bear
Undaunted. Enrique — but you know the story —
Has served me long; his love my love returned —
But always in responses honest, grave.
Never between us passed unseemly word
Nor misbegotten answer, in his sight
To rob me of one particle of honor.
Yet my reply, delaying and reluctant,
To this the love you bear, had other cause
More potent, Sire, than any you had dreamed.
Yet hear me — I know not plainly how to speak;
The deed itself brought less the blush of shame —
For men, by nature bold, are bold in love,
Repenting oft what rashly they have done
In the mad rush of passion, when their acts,
Impatient of restraint, awaken fear.
King . My mind, Juana — or else is it my love? —
Hovers perplexed betwixt opposed conceptions,
Now doubtful of your faith, now of your honor.
Then speak, I say, and torture me no further!
I know what accidents befall in love.
D OÑA J UANA . Oh for the graces of a flowery speech!
But the poor words I have must plead excuse.
We stood together on the Palace stair,
Enrique and I ... I cannot tell you, Sire ...
But would you that I write it?
King . Write nothing! No!
How shall I stay the hours you must consume,
Wanting the breath of patience?
D OÑA J UANA . Descending the stair ...
Ah never criminal condemned crept up
The scaffold with more care!
King . An end, in God's name!
D OÑA J UANA . Stay!
King . Stay? Ah what a load rests on my mind!
D OÑA J UANA . Now ... now ... here I begin ...
King . But finish when?
I bleed to death, I die by slow degrees!
D OÑA J UANA . Believe me, Sire, indeed the guilt was small;
Enrique seized me ...
King . Yes? And then?
D OÑA J UANA . A kiss
(Was it by chance, I wonder?) upon my lips
He pressed — or did he rather think to whisper,
And the thick darkness bent him to its will
Against all courtesy? Now know, O Sire,
The reason why I cannot be your wife!
King . All this, Juana, is but fond invention.
Yet be it as it may, then what care I?
Enrique is not fled into Castile,
Because I know that he is now in Seville
Desirous of my ruin. To persevere
And still persist against your known desire
But ill becomes my rank and my high station;
For fools and wise men equally will say
This is no proper discipline of honor.
But I, impatient of this deep affront,
Am jealous in such sort I close my eyes
To love, and yet know all, nor neither fear
The tongues of fools nor dread the wise men either;
For these more swiftly move to my revenge.
No vengeance is but springs from burning rage,
Nor love untouched of madness. By my command
This night Enrique shall be slain; he dead,
I shall be free to marry, nor have cause
For further fear; but while he still does live
I cannot marry. This much at least is clear,
Because with him must live
The dishonor he would give,
By his anticipation fixeDon me
In first arriving at those lips so chaste,
Sacred to the coming of their King and master.
So when I look again on this event,
I see the wrong, though through no fault of mine,
Was but a lie, dark-hidden in the night,
Whose vengeance shall be open as the day.
Yet though this lie were but a lie to me
Because my mind had shifted its intent,
Might I suppose a circumstance so strange
As to reject the project of this match,
Yet since you have confessed the wrong to me
It binds me to my vengeance. Enrique dies;
So being dead, I marry with his widow.
Love shall not question with an idle doubt
The faith and concord of our loyalty.
For then, though this which now is hid be shown,
Nor you nor I shall suffer loss of honor;
You shall be widow with one kiss upon her
As others of their husbands they have known.
D OÑA J UANA . Senor! Senor! Alas! It is too late!
Enrique's gone and fled into Castile.
Write, write to him post-haste to hold his way
To France or England further. Ah! But no ...
Rather Granada! There the Moorish King
Will welcome him, availing of his service.
I write upon the spot. — Elvira!
E LVIRA . Lady ...
D OÑA J UANA . Elvira, I am all confused. Oh fly!
Run quick for pen and paper! I would write
And warn Enrique. Not less than life itself
Hangs on the contents of the letter.
E LVIRA . Lady,
Forego the pains. Among the assembled guests,
Drawn hither by the fame of what impends,
I chanced upon a man all muffled-up,
Wrapped in a scarlet cloak, who whispered close
Under his breath: " Elvira, O Elvira. "
Displeased at his discourtesy of speech
When I drew near, I saw it was the Count.
D OÑA J UANA . No, no! You are deceived!
E LVIRA . Not I, forsooth!
Prevailed upon by his entreaties, straight
I hid him in my room.
D OÑA J UANA . What do you say?
Did he not fly then to Castile?
E LVIRA . He did;
Yes, lady, but he has returned again.
These insatiate passions are like idle balls
By love in fury of the combat thrown,
Which jealousy, upon the other side,
Straight tosses back again, more swiftly too.
D OÑA J UANA . Savior in heaven! The Count in Seville's gates?
Not only in Seville but this very house?
E LVIRA . Envy, he swears, and jealousy combined
Constrain him, hoping he may forget his grief,
Seeing you married.
D OÑA J UANA . Mad stubbornness of love!
I go to seek him out!
E LVIRA . What would you? No!
D OÑA J UANA . Rebuke him first and then to bid him go.
E LVIRA . Do not decree his death!
D O├æA J UANA . Rather his life —
His life which is the very soul of mine!
Adelantado . In this confusion I have seen the King,
But have not found the token that I seek
Nor else had satisfaction. — Dona Elvira,
Where is your mistress?
E LVIRA . She hesitates, perplexed,
Nor fain would summon heart for further stay,
Retiring rather to regain composure.
Adelantado . The Archbishop has arrived; the King is vexed,
Receiving all amiss. What crosses him?
The people throng in crowds about the house,
And those within are anxious, ill at ease.
The bride dissolves in tears and questions me
To learn what I may know. All stand and whisper
With bated breaths, while I attenDon all.
D OÑA I NÉS . I will not hesitate, but boldly act,
For vengeance is excused by jealousy.
What, sir? You are distraught. Fie, fie! When hope
Is crowned at last, and fickle fortune captived?
The Count is hidden in Elvira's room.
Adelantado . Who is?
D OÑA I NÉS . Enrique.
Adelantado . But is this true?
D OÑA I NÉS . It is,
For I have seen him.
Adelantado . But to what intent?
D OÑA I NÉS . What need to ask? Can you not guess his purpose?
To question me if it be love, indeed
Were hardly honest.
Adelantado . Dona Ines, in the affairs of state
And where the King commands, let silence reign.
D OÑA I NÉS . What silence shall I keep, unless it be
A woman's and a lover's by exception?
O love! Why must your power constrain my will
To evil deeds? While doubt endures, 'tis meet
Still to pursue and voice our passion's burning —
Not when uncertainty turns to disdain.
But who is wise when hearts mount to the cheek
And serve the lips for tongues and for them speak?
King . Don Nuno is despatched into Castile
To do my bidding; swift he deals him death
Upon the road, if so it be indeed
That he has ta'en the road. Through Seville's streets
Don Arias and Don Gonzalo search
With their attendant train, against the chance
He hide him in the city.
Master . How urge, O Sire,
Such rigor 'gainst our brother? His excuse
Lies in his youth; moreover, the offense
Offers not at your honor.
King . By all above
When you have learned the cause, then know, great Master,
All vengeance were too small!
M ENDO . Here is her cousin
Waiting the coming of the Queen, Senor,
Who is my lady.
King . Dona Ines ...
D OÑA I NÉS . My Lord ...
King . Rich in congratulations of the day,
Shall I content me until yours are joined?
How now?
D OÑA I NÉS . Sire, I am of the family
And so reserve them for a fitter time.
King . Well said indeed, seeing from hour to hour
The nuptials lag along. Summon at once
The Adelantado, for now shall all be known.
D OÑA I NÉS . The King knows all. My fate impends.
King . But how?
All seem distraught. Either my hidden plans
Are clear to all, or else deceive them all.
Master . Doubt is the cause and this most strange procedure,
Whereby you do in secret and by stealth
What openly were better done in the day,
Full to the taste of the realm.
King. Forgive the fault,
For I confess the wrong I do commit,
Acting without just reason. Blinded, I see not,
And yet I must push on.
M ENDO. The Adelantado.
King. O thou brave glory of Castile!
Adelantado. Senor,
Your Majesty commands.
King. Cousin approach;
Come to my arms. Is all prepared and ready
According to my plan?
Adelantado. Sire, judge my love
By my obedience. All is already done.
King. How done?
Adelantado. Performed, Senor, as you commanded
I found the man and I have married him.
King. What man?
Adelantado. Since what was done was darkly done
In purposed secrecy, I dare not answer.
Yet would you know his name, bid him appear.
King. But this is strange. Bid him appear! Great God!
What can this be?
Adelantado. I go, Senor.
King. But how?
What secrecy is this? The man is married?
What man?
D OÑA I NÉS. My hopes sink to the extremity.
King. What shall I do?
Adelantado. Perforce I am absolved,
For I obeyed the King. Fall at his feet!
King. It is Enrique?
Don E NRIQUE. So please you, Sire, it is;
And married at your service by the hand
Of the Archbishop, since you willed it so.
'Twas not my doing, Sire. I humbly came,
Muffled and wrapped up, to see you married.
While I was hiding in an inner room
The Adelantado told me 'twas your will.
King. What answer shall I make to such misfortune,
FoundeDon so contemptible deceit?
Speak, Adelantado. What is this?
Adelantado. O Sire,
Was't not your will that when I found a man
Disguised and muffled in my house by night,
By this I was to know he was as good
As you? And so I found your brother, Sire,
And gave him to my daughter. Did I not wed her
To another like yourself?
King. Adelantado,
Doubly you have advanced yourself, and lead
First by occasion of your rank and office,
And next in that you have upled your house
By marriage with Enrique. What is done
Admits no remedy. I pardon him
And I confirm the match.
D OÑA J UANA. Heaven, Senor,
Prosper your years and grant you happy life.
R AMIRO. Just one request from me ...
King. Make none, Ramiro;
All is forgiven.
R AMIRO. Never want gold, Senor!
King. Dona Juana, quarter henceforth my crown
In your escutcheon, which, since it is spurned,
Bear in reverse.
Don E NRIQUE. Here ends, illustrious Senators,
" A Certainty for a Doubt. "
Should it have pleased by any chance,
Be this the certainty,
And be the means the doubt.
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