xt78pk06x789 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt78pk06x789/data/mets.xml Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943. 1903  books b92-252-31802751 English McClure, Phillips, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Charles di Tocca  : a tragedy / by Cale YoungRice. text Charles di Tocca  : a tragedy / by Cale YoungRice. 1903 2002 true xt78pk06x789 section xt78pk06x789 










CARLES DI TOCCA

 This page in the original text is blank.

 


CHARLES DI TOCCA



  A  Trageaty

     By

Cale YIoing Rice



McClure, Phillips c Co.
    New York
      1903

 




























   COPYRIOHT. 1903, BY

CALE YOUNG RICE





Fubliebed, March, 1903, R

 












To My Wife

 This page in the original text is blank.

 












CHA4RLES DI TOCCA

 





       CHARLES DI TOCCA

                A4 Tragedy


CHARLES DI TOCCA.       Duske of Leuradia, Tyrant of
                          Arta, etr..
ANTONIO DI TOCCA. . His son.
HiEMON .A. .  . . .   . A Greek noble.
BARDAS .     ... . . . Ilis friend.
CARDINAL JULIAN     . . The IPope's Ligeate.
AGABUS .     ... . . . .A mad monk.
CECCO. .. . ....        Senrhatl of the Castle.
FULVIA COLONNA          Under the duke's p)rftertion.
HELENA ..... .     .    . ;Sister to Hammon.
GIULIA  ..   .. . .   . Serving Fulvia.
PAULA   .......         Serving Helena.
LYGIA
PHAON
        .I..     ..      vpellers.
ZOE
BASIL

    NARDO, a boy, and DiOc.EN ES, a philosopher.
    A Captain of the Guard, Soldiers, Guests,
                Attendants, etc.



Timee: Fifteenth Century.

 





ACT ONE



Scene.-The Island Leucadia. A ruinbed temple
    of Apollo near the town of Pharo.  Broken
    columns and stones are strewtn, or stand deso-
    lately about. It is niight-the miooni rising.
    ANTONIO, who has been waititig impatiently,
    seats himself on a stone.  Ry a road near
    the rtins FULVIA enters, cloaked.



  ANTONIO (turning): Helen-!
  FrLVIA:       A comely name, riy lord.
  ANTONIO:                           Ah, you
Mv father's unforgetting Fulvia 
  FULVIA: At least not Helena, whoe'er she be.
  ANTONIO: And did I call you so
  FULVIA:                          Unless it i
These stones have tongue and passion.

                     [3]



s





 

C(HA RLES DI TOCCA



  ANTONIO0:                  Then the nig
Recalling dreams of dim antiquity's
Heroic bloom worked on me.-But whence are
Your steps, so late, alone 
  FrLvlIA:                From the Cardin
Who has but come.
  ANTONIO:        What comfort there 
  FrUTIA:                       XNrith do(



The moody bolt of Rome broods over us.
  ANTONIO: My father will not bind his
  FULVIA: 'Wrou with him walked to-day.
      sai I lie
  ANTONIO:       I
With him to-day    Ah, true. What
      done
  FULVIA: He has been strange of late an
      laughs,
Seeing the Cross, but softly and almost
As it were some sweet thing he loved.

                   [ 4 ]



-ht



a1]



heresy 
What



may be



d silent,



oM

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  ANroxio (absently):               As if
'Twere sone sweet thing-he laughs-is strange
      -you say 
  FruIvlA : Stranger than is Antonio his soI,
WIho but for sonie expectancy is vacant.
      (,S'he mnakes to go.)
  Av'romlo: Stay, Fulvia, though I am not in poise.
Last ni-iht I dreamed of you: in vain you hovered
To reach me from the coil of swift Charybdis.
          (A low cry, ANTON\IO starts.)
  FULVIA : A woman's voice!
      (Looking dowen the road.)
                     And hasting here!
  ANTroNo:                           Alone
  L'ul.vIA : No, with another!
  ANroN o0:                Go, then, Fulvia.
'Tis one would speak with me.
  FULVIA:                    Ah  (She goes.)
     Enter HELENA frightt'dly with PAULA.
                    [ 5 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  HELENA:                         Antonio !
  ANTONIO: My Helena, what is it You are wan
And tremble as a blossom quick with fear
Of shattering. What is it  Speak.
  HE:LfENA: Not tlue!
0, 'tis not true!
  ANTONIO:     What have You chanced upon 
  HELENA: Say no to me, say no, and no again!
  ANTON-IO: Say no, and no 
  HELENA:          Yes; I am reeling, wrung,
With one glance o'er the precipice of ill!
Say his incanted prophecies spring from
No power that's more than frenzied fantasy!
  ANTONIO: Who prophesies  Who now upon
      this isle
More than visible and present day
Can gather to his eye  Tell me.
  HELENA:                      The monk-
Ah, chide me not !-mad Agabus, who can
                   [ 6 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



Unsphere dark spirits fioiii their evil airs
And show all things of love or death, seized me
As hither I stole to thee. With wild looks
And wilder lips he vented on my ear
Boding iore wild than both.   " Sappho! " he
       cried,
-Sappho ! Sappho!" and probed my eyes as if
Destiny moved dark-visaged in their deeps.
Thell tore his rags and inoaned, "So young, to
       cease ! .
Gazed then out into awful vacancy
And whispered hotly, following his gaze,
"The Shadow! Shadow !"
  ANTONIO:                 This is but a whim,
A sudden gloomy surge of superstition.
Put it from you, my Helena.
  HELENA:                   But he
flas often cleft the future with his ken,
Seen through it to some lurking misery

                    [ 7 ]

 

       CHARLES DI TOCCA

And mar of love: or the dim knell of death
Heard and revealed.
  ANTONIO:          A witless monk who thinks
God lives but to fulfil his prophecies!
  HELENA: You know hini not. 'Tis told in
       vouth he loved
One treacherous, and in avengre made fierce
Treaty with Hell that lends himt sight of all
Ills that arise from it to mnated hearts !
Yet look not so, my lord!     I'll trust thine
      eyes
That tell me love is master of all times,
And thou of all love ma.ter!
  AN-TONIO:                 And of thee,
Then will the winds return unto the night
And flute us lover songs of happiness !
  HELENA: Nor dare upon a duller note while
      here
We tryst beneath the moon
                    [ 8 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  AN'roNlo:                My perfect Greek!
Athene looks again out of thv lids.
And Venus trembles in thy every limb!
  IIELENA: Not Venus, ah, not Venus!
  ANTONIO :                    Now; again
  HELENA   'Twas on this temnple's ancient gate
      she founid
Wounded Adonis (lea(1, and to forgret,
Like Sappho leape(,'tis said, fromii yonder cliff
D)own to the waves' oblivion below.
  ANTONIO: And will you read such terror in a
      tale 
  HFILENA: Forgive me, then.
  ANTONIO:           Surely you are unstrung,
And yet there is       (Turn-s awagfrom her.)
  HELENA:                Is what  Antonio 
  ANTONIO: Nothing: I who must ebb with you
      and flow
A little was moved.

                   [ 9 ]

 

       CHARLES DI TOCCA

  HE LENA        Not you, not you! I'll change
MIv tears to laughter, if but falntasy
May so unniettle you  Not mioved, indeed
Not iiioved, Aiitoiiio 
  ANTONIO:           W\ell, let us off;
My Helena, with these IilUnb awes that wind
About our joy.
  HELENA       Thy- kiss then, for it can
Drive all gloom out of the worl(l
  ANTONIo-                And thine, my own,
On Fate's hard brow would shame it of all
       frownvn !
  HELENA : Yet is thine mightier, for no frown
      can be
WXrhen no more glooln's in the world
  ANTONIO:                    But 'tis thy lips
That lend it Inight. If I pressed other
  HELENA :                            Other!
You should not know that any other lips
                    [ 1() J

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



Coul( e'er be pressed ; I'll have no kiss l)ut his
Who is all blind to every mouth but mine!
      (Break.s from him.)
  AN'roNIo: ()h -Well.

  HELENA: " Oh-well  "-Then it is well
      go!
  AN'TONIO: Perhaps.
  HELENA:        "Perhaps ! " (Aifake.y to g
  ANToNIo:                  Good-nigiht.
  H l.ENA (returning):        Antonio-
  ANTON 1o: Ah ! still  
  HI:LExNA:  Trhere's gloom in the world aga
  ANTONIO (ki.5Ying her):        'Tis gor
  HELENA: Not all, I think.
  ANTONIO:         Two for so small a glooi
      (Kisses her again.)

  HELENA: So small!
  ANTONIO:          And still you sigh
  HELENA:                 Tlhe vainest -lou

                   [ 11 ]



ro. )



111.

le f



LIl L



,Ills



I

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



To-night seem ominous-as cloud-flakes flung
Upward before the heaving of the west.
      (In fright)  Oh!
  ANTONIO:          Helena!
  HELENA:           See, see! 'tis Agabus!
     Einter AGABUS unkenipt anld distracted.
  A(;ABUS: O-lovers! lovers! Lord have none
      of them !
  AN-TONIO: Good monk-
  AGABUS: O-yes, yes, yes. You'd give me gold
To pray for your two souls. (Crossing himself)
      Not I! Not I!
Know you not love is brewed of lust and fire :
It gnaws and burns, until the Shadow-Sir,
      (Searching about the air.)
Have you not seen a Shadow pass
  ANTON-IO:                     A Shadow
  AGABUS: Silent and cold. A-times they call
      him Death:
                   [L2]

 
CHARLJES DI TOCCA



I'd have him  for my brain-it shakes with
      fever.
                    (Goes searching anxiously.
  HELFNA: Antoniio    -
  ANTONIO:             You'te calm  
  HFLENA:                  Yes, very calm-
Of impotence-as one who in a tomb
Awakes and waits 
  ANTONIO:        He is but mad.
  HELENA:                        But mad.
  ANTONIO: Yet fear you  still 
      (A shout is heard.)
  H LENLA:          Who is it  soldiers come
From Arta
  ANTONIO: Yes.
  HELENA:     And by this road !-They must
Not see us !
  ANTONIO: No. But quick, within this breach  
      (They conceal thenselves in the breach.
                  [ 13 ]

 

CHARLES Dl TOCCA



         The solriers p7ass arross the stage.  The
         last, as all shout " T)i TocCA ! " strikes a
         rolumn neair hiu,.  It falls, aud HELFN\A
         starts foraIrd shuddering.)
  HELENA F: allen ! Ah, fallen ! See, Antonio!
  ArTO\-IO: What now I
  H1EFLENA (TWaying): It is as if the earth were
      wind
Under my feet!
  A\-ro-lo:     Are all things thus become
Omen and dread to you H
  HPELIF-N-A:             0, but it is
The pillar grieving Venus leant upon
Ere to forget she leapt, and wrote,
     When fall. this pillar tall and proud
     Let surest lovers weave their shroud.
  ANTONIO:                       Nere myth!
  HFLENA: The shroud ! It coldly winds about
      us-coldly !
                   [ 14]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  ANTONIO : Should a vain hap so desperately
      move you 
  HELENA: The breath and secret soul of all this
      night
Are burdened with forehoding ! And it seems-
  ANTONIO : You must not, Helena!
  HELENA :               My love, my lord-
T ouch me lest I forget my natural flesh
In this unnatural awe! (He takesr her to him.)
         Ah how thy arms
Warm the cold moan and misery of fear
(ult of my veins.
  ANTONIO :     You rave, but in me stir
Again the attraction of these dim portents.
Nav, quiver not ! 'tis but a passing mist,
And this that runs in us is worthless (drea(l!
  HFLNA But ah, the shroud ! the shroud!
  ANTONIO:            We'll weave no shroud,
shut we(ldling robes and wreaths andl pageantry!
                   L 15 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



And you shall be my Sappho-but through joys
Such as shall legend ecstasy about
Our knitted names when distant lovers dream.
  HELEN-A I'll fear no more, then
  ANTONIO:               Yet
  HELENA:                     My lord, let us
Unloose this strangling secrecy and be
Open in love. 'My brother, Hlrmon, let
Our hearts betrothed exchange and hope be told
Him and thy father!
  ANTONIO:         This cannot be-now
  HELENA: It cannot be, and you a god I'll
       bow
Before your eyes no more !-sav that it can!
  ANTONIO: Not yet-not now. Hoemon's sus-
       picious, quick,
And melancholy: must be won with service.
And you are Greek, a name till yesterday
I never knew pass in the portal to
                   [ 16 1

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



My father's ear, but it came out his mouth
Headlong and dark with curses.
  HELENA:                      Yet of late
He oft has smiled upon me as he passed.
  ANTONIO: Oil you-my father 0, he only
      dreamt,
And saw you not.
  HFLFNA:        Then have you also dreamt!
He looked as you, when, moonlight in my hair,
You call me-
  ANTONIO:      Stay: I'll call you so no more.
  HELENA: You'll call me so no more 
  ANTONIO:                      No more.
  H ELEN A:                        Why do
You say so-is it kind 
  ANTONIO:         Why -why  Because
Words were they miracles of beauty could
As little reveal you as a taper's ray
The lone profundity and space of night!
                  [ 17 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  HELENA: And yet    -
  ANTONIO:              And(1 yet
  HELE-NA:          I'll hold you not too false
If sometimes they trip out upon your lips.
  ANTONIO: Or to my father's eye
  lIhFIENA :                   If he but look
I pon me for thy sake.
  ANTONIO:           He smiled, you sayv
  HELENA   Gently, as one might in forgetting
      pain.
  ANTONIO: Perhaps: for some unwonted soft-
      ness seems
-Near him. But yesterday he called for song,
Dancing and wine.
  HELENA:     Then tell him ! These are years
So dyed in crime that secrecy must seem
Yoke-mate of guilt.
  ANTONIO:    Fear has bewitched you-shaiiie
  HELENA: Antonio, love's wave has cast us high
                   [ 18 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



I would do all lest now it turn to fate
Under our feet and draw us out-
  ANTONIO:                      'Twill not!
               Enter PAULA.
  PAULA: My lady, some one comes.
  HELENA:                  And is the world
Not space enough but he must needs come here!
If it were- 
  ANTONIO: Hmmon -Twere perhaps not ill.
  HELENA: I know not! Broodings smoulder
      from his moods
Feverous bitter.
  ANTONIO: Kindness then shall quench them.
But now, away. Forget this dread and be you
By day my lark, by night my nightingale,
Not a sad bird of boding!
  HELENA:               With the day
All will be well.
  ANTONIO:           Remember then you are
                  [19]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



Only a little stept from your life's shore
Out on the infinite of love, whose air
Is awe and mystery.
  HELENA:          I go, my lord.
Think of me oft!
ANTON;IO (taking her in his arms): My Helena!
      (She goes with PAULA. He steps aside and
        watches the (Ipproavhing forms.n)
                               'Tis Hoemon!
My father!

      Enter CHARLESfrieyndIy, with H. F.iON.
  CHARLES: So, no farther  you'll stop here 
  H.E-oN: Sir, if you grant it. I
  CHARLES (twittingly):    Some rendezvous 
Who is she Ah, young blood and Spring and
      night!
  H-moN: No rendezvous, my lord.
  CHARLES:                Some lay then you
Would muse on
                   [20]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  H.EmoN:        Yes, a lay.
  CHrARL.ES:                And one of love
The word, you see, founts easy to my lips.
11ith coqfiIcntiual archness.) 'Tis recent in my
      thought-as you will learn.
  H.MOFN- : How, sir, and when 
  CHARLES:     0, when   Be not surprised !-
Well, to the lay
                                   (He goe.
  H.F-moN:         Cruel! His soldiers waste
The bread of honesty, the hope of age!
Are drunken, bloody, indolent, and lust
To tear all innocence away and robe
Our loveliest in shame !-Yet me, a Greek,
lie suddenly befriends!
  AN roNIO (corniingforward): Heniono-
  H.Fmo.\N:                        Ah, you
  ANTONIO: There's room between your tone and
      courtesy.
                   [21]

 
       CHARLES DI TOCCA

  H.EMtoN: And shall be while I'm readier to bend
Over a beggar's pain than prince's fingers.
  AN-TONIO: And Vet you know me better
  H.EmoN:                    Than to believe
You're not Antonio, son of Charles di Tocca 
  ANTONIO : I'd be your friend.
  H.EmoN:         So would he: and he smiles.
  ANTONIO: There are deep reasons foi it.
  H.EMON:                     With him too!
Against a miracle, you are his heir!
  ANTONIO: I think it would be well for you to
      listen.
My confidence once curbed
  H.Emo.N :               May bite and paw
Let it! for fools are threats, and cowards. Were
You Tamerlane and mine the skull should cap
A bloody pyramid of enemies,
I'd !
  ANTONIO: Hear me. Will you be so blind
                   [ 22 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  H.IImoN:                          To your
Fair graces No, my lord-not so. Your sword
Anrd doublet are sublimely worn ! sublimely!
Your curls would tempt an ellpress' fingers,
      and-
  ANTONIO: Why is my anger silent 
  H.E.NION:                      Let it speak
And not this subtle pride!    You would be
      friend,
A friend to me-a friend !-Did not your father
Into a sick and sunless keep cast mine
Because he was a Greek and still a Greek,
Amid would not be a slave   His cunning has
Not whispered death about him as a pest
Ile-he, my friend and you -And I on him
Should lean, anmd flatter  
  ANTONIOI:       Cease: though he has stains
The times are tyrannous and rmen like beasts
Find inercy preservation's enemy.
                   [ 23 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



You're heated with suspicion and old wrong,
But take my hand as pledge
  H.EMON (refusing it): That you'll be false 
              Enter BARDAS.
  BARDAS: I've sought you, 11wmon. Antonio 
      We are
WVell met then : to your doors my want was bent
With a request.
  ANTON-IO:        Which gladly I shall hear
And if I can will grant.
  BARDIAS:              My haste is blunt-
As is my tongue.
  HE.Eo- :      Then yield it us at once,
Our mood is so.
  BARDAS:         Hwnion, I love your sister.
Not love: I am idolatrous before
Her foot's least print, and cannot breathe or
      pray
But where she's sometime been and left a heaven
                  [ 24 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



  H.E.-EioN: Therefore you'll ciy it maudlin at the
       streets 
  BARDAS: Necessity's not over delicate.
Antonio, sue for me. You have been apt
In all love's skill they say. My oath on it
Your words once sown upon her listening
Would not lie fruitless did they bid her yield
More than her most.
  HF._Nio-, :   Bardas! Do you-Does such
Unseemliness run in your thought 
  BARDAS:                     Peace, Hiemon.
Antonio, speak.
  ANTONIO:      You're strange in this request.
Helena, whom I've seen, would little thank
The eyes that told her own where they should
      love.
  BARDAS: I saved your life, my lord.
  ANTONIO:                 And I've besought
Occasion oft for loaning of some chance
                   [ 25 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



Worthily to repay you. If 'tis this,
I am distrest. I cannot plead your suit.
  BARDAS: You cannot or you will not 
  ANTONIO:                       I have said.
Ask me for service on your foes, for gold,
Faith or devotion, friendship you're aloof to,
For all that will and honor well may render
With nicety, and I'll be wings and heart,
More-drudge to your desire.
  H.fON  :                  Nobly, my lord!
Bardas, you must atone
  BARDAS:                  Peace. Hwlmon.
  H.EioNl:                            Peace
Is goad and gall! Why do you burn my cheek
With this indignitye
  BARDAS:      Do you ask why  (to ANTONIO.)
A little since one of your father's guard
Gave his command in seal to Helena
Upon the streets, to instantly repair
                   [26]

 

      CHARLES DI TOCCA

Unto his halls-which she must henceforth honor.
You knew it not 
  ANTONIO:       Mv father 
  BARDAS:                    0, well feigned.
Be sure none will suspect he is too old
For knightly feat like this-and that he has
A son!
  ANTONIO: To Helevia! my father! sealed
  H.ENio-: Bardas, you bring the truth -And
      so, my lord,
You stab me through another-you, my friead
  ANTOONIO (to BARDAS): Do you mean that-
  BARDAS:              Until this hour I held
The race of Charles di Tocca bold, or other
But empty of all lies in deed or speech,
It grows-a little low 
  ANTONIO:         Why you are mad!
Are mad! I'm naked of this thing, and hide
No guilt behind the wonder of my face.
                   [ 27 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



For Paradises brimming with all Beauty
I would not lay one fancy's weight of shame
On her you name!
  BAR DAS:        A pretty protest-but
A breath too heavenly.
  ANTONIO:           Leave sneering there!
You have repaid yourself-cast on me words
Intolerable more than loss of life.
You both shall learn this night's entangling.
But know, between her, Helena, and shame
I burn with flaming heart and fearless hand!
                                (Goes angrily.
  H.EioN-: He can be false and wear this mien
      of truth 



  BARDAS: I'll not believe !
  H.EmoN :        But, what: my sister
  BARDAS: Ah, what !-" He burns with
      heart I `-have we
No flesh to understand this passion then 
                   [ 28 ]



seized 
flaming

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



Bound to the wings of wide ambition he
Will choose undowered worth -To the ordeal
Of mere suspicion's flaming I'd not trust
The fairness of his name; but doubts in me
Are sunk with proofs.
  H.Y.\iON:         No, no!
  BARDAS:                    Unyielding.
  H.Ni ON:                           Proof
He could not. No! he dare not!
  BARDAS:                     Yet the rogue
Cecco, the duke's half-seneschal, half-spy,
I passed upon the streets o'ermuch in wine,
Leaning upon a tipsier jade and spouting
With drunken mockery,
  "'Sweet Helena! Fair Helena!' Pluck me,
wench, but the lord Antonio knows sound nuts!
And sly! Why hear you now! he gets the duke
to seize on the maid! The fox ! The rat!
Have I not heard him in his chamber these

                  [29]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



thirty nights puff her name out his window with
as many honeyed drawls of passion as-as-as-
June has buds   'Sweet Helena ! '-la! 'Fair
Helena ! '-0! 'Dear Helena! my rose! my
queen! my sun and moon and stars ! Thy kiss
is still at my lips, thy breast beats still on mine!
mv Helena ! '-lVm! Oh,'tmust be a rare damsel.
I'll make a sluice between her purse and mine,
wench; do you hear, "
  H.f;N.0io: Wrell-well 
  BARDAS: No more. 'When I had struck him
      down,
He swore it was unswerving all and truth.
Hasting to warn I found Helena ta'en
And sought you here.
  H.E.NtoN (gra.sping his brows): Ah!
  BARDAS:                      Helena who is
All purity!
  H.mslos:        Ah sister, child !-Have I
                   [ 30]  

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



With strength been father and with tenderness
A mother been to her unfolding years
But to see now unchastest cruelty
Pluck her white bloom to ease his idle sense
one fragrant hour -If it be so, no flowers
Should blossom ; only weeds whose withering
Call hurt no heart!
  BARDAS:    These tears should seal fierce oaths
Against him !
  H. EION :  And they shall ! until God wrecks
Him in the tempest raised of his outrage !
  BARDAS: Then may I be the rock on which he
       breaks !
But hear; who comes  (Revellers are heard ap-
      piroaching.)
                           We must aside until
This mirth is past.  (They conveal themtselves.)
Enter revellers dressed as bacchanals and bac-
         chantes, dancing a td singing.
                    [31 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo!
The vine ! a fig for the rest!
With locks green-crowned and lips red-warm-
The vine ! the vine's the best !
He loved maids, O-o-ay! hei-yo!
The vine! a maiden's breast!
He pressed the grape, and kissed the maid!-
The cuckoo builds no nest !
      (All go danwitng, except LYDIA aned PHAON,
         who cla.ps and kisses her passionately)
  LYDIA (breaking from him): Do you think
kisses are so cheapy You must know mine fill
my purse! A pretty gallant from Naples, with
laces and silks and jewels gave me this ring last
Xear for but one.   And another lover from
Venice gave me this (a bracelet)-but he looked
so sad when he gave it. Ah, his eves! I'd not
have cared if he had given me naught.
  PHAOIN: Here, here, then! (Offers jewel.)
                    [ 32 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



  LYDIA (puttinzg it a.side): They say the ladies
in Venice ride with their lovers through the streets
all night in boats: an(l the very moon shines more
passionately there.  Is it true 
  PHAON: Yes, yes. But kiss me, Lydia! Take
this jewel-my last. Be mine to-night, no other's!
We'll prate of Venice another time.
  LYDIA: Another time we'll prate of kisses. I'll
not have the jewel.
  PHAON: Not have it! Now you're turning
nun! a soft and virgin, silly nun! With a gray
gown to hide these shoulders that-shall I whisper
it
  LYDIA: Devil! they're not ! A nice lover called
them round and fair last night. And I've been
sick ! And-I--cruel ! cruel! cruel! (Revellers
are heard returning.)  There, they're coming.
  PHAON : Never mind, my girl. But you mustn't
scorn a man's blood when it's afire.

                    [ 33 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



          Re-enter Revellers singing
    Bacchus, hey! was a god, hei-yo! etc.
      (After which. all go, except Zoi: nmd BASIL.
  ZoF: 0! 0! 0! but 'tis brave! Wine, Basil!
Wine, my knight, my Bacchus! I-lo! ho! my
god ! you wheeze like a cross-bow.  Is it years,
my wooer, years -Ah! (She sighs.)
  BASIL: Sighs-sighs! Now look for showers.
  ZoE: Basil-you were my first lover-except
the duke Charles. Ah, did you see how that
Helena looked when they gave her the duke's
command   I was like that once. (H.f;MON starts
      forward.)
  BASIL: Fiends, nymphs, and saints! it's come!
tears in your eyes ! Zoe, stop it. Would you have
mine leak and drive me to a monastery for shelter!
  ZOE (sings sadly and absently):
      She lay by the river, dead,
      A broken reed in her hand-

                   [ 34 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



      A nymph whom an idle god had wed
      And led from her maidenland.

  BASIL: 0, had I been born a heathen!

  ZoF,: He told me, Basil, I should live, a great
lady, at his castle. And they should kiss my
hand and courtesy to me. He meant but jest-
I feared-I feared! But-I loved him!

  BASIL: Now, my damsel-!

  Zol: (sings):
    The god was the great god Jove,
    Two notes would the bent reed blow,
    The one was sorrow, the other love
    Enwove with a woman's woe.

  BASIL: Songs and snakes! Give me instead
a l)ominican's funeral! I'd as lief crawl bare-
kneed to Rome and mouth the Pope's heel. 0
blessed Turks with their remorseless harems!-
Zoe!
                   [35

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  ZoE (sings):
      She lav bv the river (lead:
      And he at feasting forgot.
      The gods, shall theY b)e dlisquieted
      By dread of a mortal's lot 
      (She wipes her yfs., trembles, lofks at himt,
         and laughs h yster-ially.)
  Bacchus! my Bacchus! with wet eyes!     U'p,
tip lad ! there's many a Ctll) for uts yet.!
             (Thehy go, she leading and singing.
       He loved maids, (-o-ay ! hei-yo !
       The vine ! a maiden's breast! etc.
       (H.Epound;moN and BARDAS look at each other, then
         start q1ftcr them terribhy mtoved.)

                  CU[RTArN'.



[ 36 ]

 





ACT' TWO



.SYcene.-An audience hall 'in the castle (f CHARI.FLS
    11 TocCA ; the next afternoon.   The dark
    stained walls have been festooned with viines
    anlftowers.  Ont the left is the ducal throne.
    Ott the right sunlight through high-set wiin-
    dlows.  In the rear heavil&y drap)ed (loors.
    Enter CHARLES, who looks aroundl and smiles
    with subtle content, thent summons a servant.

                 Enter servant.
  CHARILES: The princess Fulvia.
  SERVANf:                  She comes, sir, now.

                                          (Goes.
                 Enter FuLVIA.
  FULVIA: My lord, flowers and vines upon these
       walls

                     [ 37]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



That seem always in dismal memory
And mist of grief   What means it
  CHARLES :                 That sprung up,
A greedy Inultitu(de upon the fields,
Citron and olive were left hungry, so
I quelled them !
  FiULviA :    Magic ever dwells in flowers
To waft me back to childhood. (Taknig some.)
                            Poor pluckt lbuds
If they couljd speak like children torn fronm the
      breast.
  CHARLES: You're full of sighs and pity then 
  FULVIA                         Yes, and-
Of doubt.
  CHARLES: What so divides you
  FULVIA:                        Helena-
This Greek-I do not understand.
  CHARLES:                       Nor guess  
You have not seen nor spoken to her

                   [ 38 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



  FULVIA:                          No.
  CHARLES: We'll have her. (Motions servant.)
              Go.   Say that we wait her here,
The lady Helena.               (Serv'ant goes.
                 She's frighted-thinks
'Tmay be her father found too deep a rest
Within our care: yet has a hope that holds
The tears still from her lids. I've smiled on
      her,
Smiled, Fulvia, and she-Why do you cloud
  FuLTVIA: I would this were undone.
  CHARI.ES:              Undone   Undone 
You would it were   
               Enter HELENA.
                  Ah, Greek! Our Fulvia,
'Who is as heart and health about our doors,
Has speech for you. And polities
Untended groan for i-ne.           (He goes.
  FULVIA (looking sadly at her): Girl-child-
                   [ 39 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  H]:ljNA :                         \Why do
You call me so with struggle on your breast

  FUIiXIA: You're very fair.

  HELF.:N-A:      And was so free I thought
The world brimmed up with my full happiness.

  FuLVIA : But find it is a sieve to all but grief

  HELENA : Is it then grief I have not any tears.
Yet seem girt by an emptiness that aches,
Surrounds and whisper. what I dare not think
Or, shapened, see.

  FUiLV IA :          It stains too as a shroud
The morrovs face

  HELENA             You look at me-I think
You look at me, as if     ;

  FULVIA:                 No child.

  HELENA:                         Why anm
I in this place  You fear for me

  FULVIA:                        Fear
                   [40]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



  HFLENA :                             Yes!
A dumb dread trembles from you sufferingly.
  FULVIA: It is not fear. Or-no !-has van-
      ished quite,
Ashamed of its too naked idleness.
  HELENA (shn(ddering): He cannot, will not !-
      Yet you feared!
  FULVIAv:             Be calm:
Beauty is better so.
  HELENA:         Ah, you are cold!
See a great shadow reach and wrap at me,
Yet lend no light! By gentleness I pray you,
What said he
  FLi.VIA:   Child-
  HELENA:       Child !-Ah, a moment's dread
Brings age on us !-If not by gentleness,
Then by that love that women bear to men,
By happiness too fleeting to tread earth,
I pray you tell the fear your heart so hides.
  FULVIA: You are the guest of Charles di Tocca.
                   [41 ]

 

CHARLES DI TOCCA



  Hyi F\NA:                         Guest 
Ah, guests are bidden, not commanded.-Where,
Where can Antonio be gone. All day
No token, quieting!
  FLuiViA:         Antonio, girl
Antonio ;-Is it true v
             Re-enter CHARI.ES.
  CHARLES:             So eager -Truth
Has brewed more tears than lies. But, Fulvia,
Why doth it mated with Antonio's name
Wring thus your troubled hands 
  FuLVIA :                  My lord
  CHARLFS:                      You falter
No matter-now.   (To HELENA.) But you, my
      fair one, put
More merriment upon your lips and lids,
And this (nziving pearls) upon the lu.stre of your
      throat.
Hither our guests come soon. Be with us then,
                   [ 42 ]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



And at your beauty's best. Now; trembling so
Yet is the lily lovelier in the wind!
          (le looky (after, inusinglq, as s/le goes.
  FUI.VIA: My lord1  -
  CHARLES:          True, Fulvia-as titles go.
  FULVIA : My lord 
  CHARLES:      rwice-but I'n not two lords.
  FiULVIA:                          1O-n llit,
I think you are. But quench your jests.
  CHARLES:                          In tears 
And -roans  Where borrow them 
  FrINIA (turning awaty):        So let it be.
  CHARLEkS: Why do you say so be it and sigh as
Nought could again be well
  Ft,lVIA:                 0   -
  CHARLES:                   Now you frown
  FULVIA: The hope you nurse, theii, if it prove
      a pang
Of serpent bitterness -

                   [ 43]

 
CHARLES DI TOCCA



  CHARLES:              Prove pang   I then
But for an " if" must pluck it from me 
  FULVIA:                             So
I must believe.
  CHARLES:     Pluck it from me ! Will you-
Now will you have me mouth and foani and thresh
The quiet in me to a maelstrom ! This
Is mine, this joy; and still is mine, though I
To keep it must bring on me bitterness
And bleeding and-I rage!
  FULVIA:                  Then shall I