Scene 1

[Scene: A garden of the palace at Fiori; four years later.]

[Discovered seated Laura, Francesca and Fidelio, Laura embroidering,
Fidelio strumming his flute, Francesca lost in thought.]

LAURA. You,—Fool! If there be two chords to your lute,
Give us the other for a time!

FRANCESCA. And yet, Laura,
I somewhat fancied that soft sound he made.
'Twas all on the same tone,—but 'twas a sweet tone.

LAURA. 'Tis like you. As for myself, let music change
From time to time, or have done altogether.
Sing us the song, Fidelio, that you made
Last night,—a song of flowers, and fair skies,
And nightingales, and love.

FIDELIO. I know the song.
It is a song of winter.

LAURA. How is that?

FIDELIO. Because it is a song of summer set
To a sad tune.

FRANCESCA. [Sadly] Ah, well,—so that it be not
A song of autumn, I can bear to hear it.

LAURA. In any case, music. I am in a mood for music.
I am in a mood where if something be not done
To startle me, I shall confess my sins.

[Enter Carlotta.]

CARLOTTA. Ha! I will have that woman yet by the hair!

LAURA. What woman, pray, Carlotta?

CAR. Ho! What woman!
Who but that scullery-wench, that onion-monger,
That slatternly, pale bakress, that foul witch,
The coroneted Fish-Wife of Fiori,
Her Majesty, the Queen!

FRA. Hush—hush—Carlotta!
You could be put to death for less than that!

CAR. Not I, my duck. When I am put to death
'Twill be for more! Oh, I will have her yet
By the hair! [For the first time noticing Fidelio.]
Fidelio, if you breathe one word
Of this, I will scratch the Princess into ribbons,
Whom you love better than your wit.

FID. I' faith,
I did but hear you say you are a fish-wife,
And all the world knows that.

LAU. Fear not, Carlotta,
He is as dumb as a prophet. Every second word
He utters, eats the one before it. Speak,
But softly.

CAR. Nay,'tis nothing.—Nay, by my head,
It is a townful! 'Tis the way she has
Of saying "that should be done like this, and this
Like that!" The woman stirs me to that point
I feel like a carrot in a stew,—I boil so
I bump the kettle on all sides!

LAU. My dear,
Were you as plump as I you would not dare
Become so angry. It would make your stays creak.

CAR. Well, I am done. Fidelio, play me a dirge
To put me in good spirits. Merry music
Is sure to make me sad.

[Fidelio plays. Pause.]

CAR. 'Tis curious
A woman like her should have a child like that—
So gentle and so pretty-mannered. Faith,—

FID. Hush! Hush! Here come the prettiest pair of birds
That ever sat together on a bough so close
You could not see the sky between. How now,
Snow-White and Rose-Red! Are you reconciled
One to another?

[Enter Beatrice and Bianca, with their arms about one another.]

BIA. Reconciled, Fidelio?
We had not quarrelled! [Laughter from Fidelio and the ladies.]

BEA. Do not listen to him,
Bianca, 'tis but the jingling of his bells.

FIDELIO. Do you make a better jest than that
At once, or have the clappers cut from them.

FID. Alas, alas,—all the good jests are made.
I made them yesterday.

CAR. If that be true,
You would best become a wise man for a time,
My friend,—there are plenty of wise words not yet said!

FID. I shall say them all tomorrow.

LAU. If you do,
You will be stoned to death.

FID. Not I. No one
Will hear me.—Well, I am off.—I know an old man
Who does not know the road runs past his house;
And yet his bees make honey. [Exit Fidelio.]

CAR. [Looking after him.] 'Tis the one wise fool
We have among us.

[Enter Grazia.]

GRA. Oh, here you are, my ducklings!
Always together, like a beggar and a flea!
I looked for you at lunch-time; I forget now
What for; but then 'twas a matter of more weight
Than laying siege to a city,—la, how time
Does carry one on! An hour is like an ocean,
The way it separates you from yourself!—
[To Bianca and Beatrice.] What do you find to talk about all day?

BEA. We do not talk all day.

CAR. Nay, tis you, Grazia,
That talk all day.

BEA. We ride, and play at tennis,
And row on the lake—

GRA. I know who does the rowing!

BEA. Nay, not by any means! Bianca rows
Nearly as well as I.

CAR. And do you ride
Nearly as well as she, Bianca? [All smile.]

BIA. [Ruefully.] Nay.

GRA. 'Tis an unkind question. There be few in Fiori
Might answer, "Aye." Her Highness rides like a centaur.

BIA. I'd never dare to mount the horse she rides.

BEA. What, Harlequin?—La, he's gentle as a kitten!
Though he's a little young, 'tis true, not settled yet
In his mind.

LAU. As to his mind, 'twere a small matter,
Were he a bit more settled in his legs!

BIA. I'm afraid of horses, anyway, they are so much
Bigger than I am.

BEA. Oh, Bianca, horses
Are just like people! Are you afraid of father?—
He is bigger than you.

BIA. Nay. But I'd never dare
Prod him which way to go!

BEA. Oh, la, I would!
Father, this ditch! This four-foot wall now, father!
And swim the brook beyond!

FRA. And is there naught
In which Bianca carries off the trophies?

BEA. [Ruefully.] Ay, there is tennis.

LAU. She wins from you at tennis?

BEA. She flays me, Laura. She drags me at her racket
Nine times around the court!

CAR. Why, how is that?—
She is not quicker.

BEA. Nay, but she grows cool
Whilst I grow hot, Carlotta, and freezes me
Ere I can melt her!

FRA. Is it true, Bianca?

BIA. 'Tis true I win from her.—Although not always.

GRA. What did I come here for?—I must go back
To where I started, and think of it again! [Exit Grazia.]

CAR. [Calling after her.]
Are you sure that you remember where you started?
—The woman hath a head like a sieve.

LAU. And yet,
You may be sure 'tis nothing more than the thimble
Of the matter she's forgotten. I never knew her
Mislay the thread or the needle of a thing.

BIA. We must study now, Beatrice, we really must.
We have not opened a book since yesterday.

LAU. La, as for me, I have not opened a book
Since yesteryear,—I'd rather open a vein!

CAR. Lessons,—troth, I remember well those lessons.
As for what I learned,—troth, that's a different matter,

FRA. 'Tis curious; the things that one remembers
Are foolish things. One does not know at all
Why one remembers them. There was a blackbird
With a broken foot somebody found and tamed
And named Euripides!—I can see it now.

CAR. Some of the silly rhymes we used to write
In the margins of our books, I still remember!

LAU. And eating sweets behind the covers of them!

FRA. And faces—faces—faces—and a little game
We used to play, all marching in a row
And singing!—I wish I were a child again.

BEA. You are not old, Francesca. You are very young.
And very beautiful!

FRA. I have been beautiful
Too many years to be so very young.

CAR. How now, Francesca! Would you have it said
You are enamoured of some beardless youth,
That so you see the wrinkles suddenly?
Have done! Have done!

BIA. Where shall we study, Bice?

BEA. Indoors. I cannot study out of doors.

[Exeunt Beatrice and Bianca.]

LAU. I vow I never knew a pair of lovers
More constant than those two.

CAR. A pair of lovers?
Marry, I find your figure lacking force!
Since when were lovers true?

FRA. Oh, peace, Carlotta!
You bear too sharp a weapon against the world,—
A split tongue full of poison, in a head
That darts at every heel!—I'm going in. [Exit Francesca.]

LAU. You should not say such things when she is with us, Carlotto.

CAR. Is the woman in love?

LAU. In love!
She is so far gone she does not know which way
To sail,—all shores are equally out of sight.

[Exeunt Laura and Carlotta.]

[Music off stage. Enter Fidelio