The Goddess of Reason 18
SISTER FIDELIS
Monsieur le Comte,
Monsieur the Baron of Morbec did come
To see that all was well with this our charge—
A peasant girl, monsieur, whom he did save
From cold and hunger and ill company.
But now she prospers and we think that he
Will come no more.
YVETTE
Jesu Maria!
COUNT LOUIS (_with satisfaction_)
Ma foi!
He is a soldier is De Vardes! He camps
One day beside the hedgerow in the field!
The next he’s for some royal mount of love,
High as the snow and splendid in the sun!
Since he’s not here I know where else he is!
DE L’ORIENT (_sings_)
_Mignonne, Mignonne!
Kiss me, rose of to-day!_
YVETTE
O heart! O world! O hedgerow in the field!
COUNT LOUIS
Well, well, her mother was as fair as she!
Clarice de Miramand, long-dead Clarice!
Her hair was golden too.—Old times, old times!
And now it is De Vardes and the Marquise!
[COUNT LOUIS, MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI, _and_ DE
L’ORIENT _walk up and down beneath the trees_. DE
L’ORIENT _sings_.
DE L’ORIENT
_Mignonne, Mignonne!
The red rose fades away!
Mignonne, Mignonne!
The white rose will not stay!_
THE ABBÉ
My dear, that is a pretty wrist of thine!
YVETTE
Citoyen!
THE ABBÉ
Hast said thy rosary to-day?
YVETTE
Citoyen!
THE ABBÉ
A melting eye!
YVETTE
Citoyen!
THE ABBÉ
Dame! She is only good to burn châteaux!
[_He joins_ COUNT LOUIS, _etc. They walk and talk
beneath the trees._
YVETTE
The high of heart bide no man’s scorning! I
Will break these bonds! I will be free! I will!
O royal mount of love, snow-high, sun-kissed,
Kissed by the sun which once did shine on me!
If I am of the fields—
[_Her hand touches the mark upon her throat. She
laughs._
O hated flower,
Which grew beneath no hedgerow on this earth!
Teach me, thou poison blossom, pride of heart!
Where is that Duchess Jeanne whom I am like?
They say for love her heart did rive in twain,
But now she smiles beside a shadowy stream
In some far land where none do die of love!
And where is he, Jehan the fisherman,
Who loved Yvonne, who met the sea and died?
They died for love who should have lived for hate!
I’ll live—
_Enter_ DE VARDES. COUNT LOUIS, _etc., come forward_.
Oh, here’s the soldier! Now we’ll know
How blow the winds around the camp of love!
COUNT LOUIS
What is it, René de Vardes? What is it, man?
DE VARDES
The King hath left the Tuileries! The mob
Forced the château and put his life in danger.
The Swiss are murdered, cut down to a man!
The Grenadiers joined with the Marseillaise!
De Maillé writes—the courier’s just arrived—
All is distraction, danger, and despair!
SISTER FIDELIS
Alas!
MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI
O Ciel!
THE ABBÉ
The soldiers in revolt.
DE L’ORIENT
The Swiss all murdered—the stanch Swiss!
SISTER SIMPLICIA
Alas!
COUNT LOUIS
The King hath left the Tuileries!
DE VARDES
To-night
I ride to Paris.
YVETTE
O God!
THE ABBÉ
To Paris!
As well say that you ride to death, De Vardes!
COUNT LOUIS
Ah, were I young again, I’d ride with you!
SISTER FIDELIS
Alas, they say it is a fearful place!
SISTER SIMPLICIA
It is so safe in Nantes!
DE VARDES
Ah, my Sister,
Because it is so safe in Nantes I go!
Once I did love this people; once I thought
Beyond this Revolution lay the morn,
The dewy morn of a most noble day!
It may be so; I know not; but I am
A soldier of the King. Needs must I go,
My bugles call; I’m breaking camp. Farewell!
SISTER FIDELIS
You will return.
DE VARDES
If I’m in life I will!
YVETTE
O Our Lady! O Our Lady!
[_The noise in the street increases. The tocsin rings.
The sky begins to darken before an approaching
storm._
COUNT LOUIS
Ring on!
Ye bells! ring on to the deaf sky! O France,
Of old thou wast a pleasant land and free,
In palace and in field a courteous place!
Now thou art desolate! Come, Austria, come!
Come, D’Artois, come, Brunswick, and come, Provence!
Rend the tricolour from the breast of France
And plant the fleur-de-lis where stood the Jacobins!
VOICES (_from the street_)
_Quoi! ces cohortes étrangères
Feraient la loi dans nos foyers!_
MLLE. DE CHÂTEAU-GUI
Hast said farewell to the Marquise?
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