c/lH '^ 8* '40 i£ DUE MAR MR Cornell University Library PQ 4692.G6A19 1913 3 1924 027 682 826 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027682826 THE MODERN DRAMA SERIES EDITED BY EDWIN BJORKMAN THE stronger: like falling leaves: SACRED GROUND BY GIUSEPPE GIACOSA THE STRONGER: LIKE FALLING LEAVES; SACRED GROUND THREE PLAYS BY GIUSEPPE GIACOSA TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY EDITH AND ALLAN UPDEGRAFF NEW YORK MITCHELL KENNERLEY MCMXIII COPYRIGHT, I9I3, BY MITCHELL KENNERLEY ALL DRAMATIC RIGHTS RESERVED BY EDWIX BJORKMAN f\.zp'i{^z^ TBE.PLIMPTOK-PRBSS HORWOOD-HASS-U-S-A CONTENTS Page Introdtiction vii Chbonological List of Plats XV The Stronger 1 Like FAUiiNG Leaves 149 Sacred Ground 287 INTRODUCTION TWO figures stand out with recognized preeminence in modern Italian dramatic literature. They are Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giuseppe Giacosa. With this preeminence, however, the similarity between them ends. They are at such opposite extremes, indeed, that they serve as excellent foils one for the other. Both are popular, but for widely different reasons. D'Annun- zio's name is a familiar one throughout Europe and America because his work is spectacular, sensational, and elaborately ornamented with poetic imagery, much of it most delicate and beautiful. Giacosa is beloved in Italy, and little known beyond it, because his plays are based upon humble, popular, easily understood themes, with real, everyday people as characters, and because, unlike most Italian plays, they show to best advantage when placed upon the stage. D'Annunzio's plays have few characters, uninvolved plots, and long speeches heavily loaded with ornamentation. Giacosa's prose plays — and it is by his prose plays that he should be judged — have many characters of many different types, several side issues apart from the main plot, and a simple, unornamented dialogue, whose sim- plicity, however, is that of careful art. It is swift, forceful, dramatic, spiced with keen observations upon life expressed with epigrammatic terseness and, when occasion demands, powerful and eloquent. It is com- viii INTRODUCTION monly said of d'Annunzio that he understands only one type of character, the so-called " artistic tempera- ment." It might be said with equal truth of Giacosa that he understood almost every type but this one. Giacosa could not compare with d'Annunzio as a poet. D'Annunzio cannot compare with Giacosa as a student of real life or as a dramatic technician. It is upon these two qualities that Giacosa's reputa- tion as a dramatist rests : his ability to understand and portray character, and his mastery of technique. In the first of these he was not much above many of his contemporaries, but in the second he outdistanced them so far that he came to stand absolutely alone. The art of writing a play that seems to act of itself is a rare one in Italy, so rare that Giacosa may safely be cited as the only modern Italian playwright who ever mastered it. On account of his popular themes, his deceptively simple dialogue, his avoidance of tragic endings, his tendency to moralize, his more or less bourgeois atti- tude toward life and its problems, Giacosa has often been accused of being a cheap dramatist who made it his business to pander to the mean taste of the theatre- going public. No accusation could be more unjust to him, either as a man or as a playwright. Giacosa un- doubtedly wrote plays that pleased. From " Una Par- tita a Scacchi " down to " II piu forte," all the first nights of his plays caused ovations that were rare even in demonstrative Italy. But Giacosa was beloved of the theatre-going public, not because he studied and pandered to their taste, but because their taste was his. He was one of them. He had their attitude toward life, their ideals, their prejudices, their inhibitions and INTRODUCTION ix limitations. What he gave was the best he had to give, and he gave it in the most polished and effective form that the Italian drama has yet been able to achieve. It will be seen by the dates of his plays that they were produced at long intervals. These intervals meant slow, careful, painstaking, discriminating craftsman- ship. Giacosa was above all an earnest and enthusi- astic student of technique. He was gifted with a true and pure artistic sense. He worked slowly and with meticulous care, and his whole literary career was one of dignity. In addition to his plays Giacosa wrote " Novelle Valdostane," 1886, a collection of stories. He also wrote many records and impressions of travel in the Alps and other parts of Europe, and " Impressions d' America," 1898, which was the result of a visit paid to this country. Furthermore, he produced, in collabo- ration with Luigi lUica, the libretti of three very well- known operas : " La Boheme," " Tosca," and " Madame Butterfly," the music in each case being by Puccini. He was also connected editorially with the newspaper " H Corriere deUa Sera " and the magazine " La Lettura," both published at MUan. Giacosa was bom in CoUeretto-Parella, Piedmont, on the 21st of October, 1847. Following in the footsteps of his father, who was a country lawyer and something of a literary man as well, he studied law and practised it for a few years, writing plays in his leisure hours until the success of his first serious attempt made him give up the law entirely. This first success was " Una Partita a Scacchi " (A Game of Chess), 1871, a sen- timental idyl of youth and first love. It was followed by "II Trionfo d'Amore " (The Triumph of Love), INTRODUCTION 1875, «I1 Marito Amante della Moglie " (The Hus- band in Love with his Wife), 1877, and "II Fratello d' Armi" (The Brother in Arms), also 1877. All of these plays were written in verse. All of them were sentimental melodramas with an irresistible appeal for youth, which sees life simply and through rose-colored mists. From the sentimental and idyllic, Giacosa branched into the historical in " II Conte Rosso," 1880. Close upon this followed " Luisa," in 1881, and " II Filo " (The Thread), 1883, a puppet play. In 1888 ap- peared four short plays : " Resa a Discrezione " ( Sur- render at Discretion), "La Zampa del Gatto " (The Cat's Paw), " La Tardi Raweduta " (The Belated Re- pentance), and " La Sirena " (The Siren). In 1888 appeared also " Tristi Amori " (Sad Loves), one of Giacosa's most important plays and one which shows a distinct advance upon his earlier work. In this treatment of the perennial " triangle," Giacosa defi- nitely becomes what he remains to the end of the chap- ter, a prose dramatist and a realist. " Tristi Amori " stands out from the great mass of similar plays by virtue of two things. One of them is the manner in which Giacosa makes the homely, middle-class setting form an effective foil for the tragic situation, and the other is his conception of the husband. To this simple, kindly, big-hearted, eminently lovable country lawyer everything even remotely appertaining to his wife is of necessity perfection. His whole-souled admiration and implicit confidence, shown even in the minutest de- tails of his relations with her, give to his discovery of the crushing truth a heart-rending poignancy. But in this play, where Giacosa showed his charac- INTRODUCTION xi teristic strength, he also showed his characteristic weak- ness. The moralist in him would out. He insisted upon providing for the future of his characters in a manner that was, in a measure at least, satisfactory to himself and his audience. At the last moment the wife is unable to force herself to leave her child ; and she and the dis- illusioned husband agree to remain together and make the welfare of that child their common aim in life. Here, as in many of his other plays, Giacosa ended by refusing to look the facts squarely in the face. He evolved a fine tragic situation, but he could not bear to foUow it out to its logical, but too tragic, end. So he compromised and moralized and did much to spoil the effect of an otherwise powerful and well-wrought play. Giacosa's next play was one of his few tragedies, " La Signora di Challant," produced in Italy in 1891. The following year Mme. Sarah Bernhardt included it in the repertoire which she brought to America and played in New York. This was the occasion of Gia- cosa's one visit to America. After " La Signora di Challant " followed the three plays contained in this volume — the last ones that Giacosa wrote : " Diritti dell' Anima " ( Sacred Ground) , 1894, " Come le Foglie " (Like Falling Leaves), 1900, and " II piu forte " (The Stronger), 1905. In all his later works Giacosa showed clearly the influence of Ibsen; and in the psychological analysis of " Diritti dell' Anima " it is more apparent than in any other play. He has managed to give a new turn to the time-honored " triangle " plot by making the lover dead before the play opens and the wife faithful to her husband. Nor did he in this case give way to INTRODUCTION his besetting sin of avoiding the logical ending. He faced it, with the result that he produced a final scene of real power. The most interesting and carefully drawn figure in the play is the weak, vacillating, smug, self-centred Paolo. It is characteristic of him that, after having driven his wife to her confession by his clumsy importunities, he first threatens to drive her out of the house, and then, in the next breath, pleads with her to remain because he can't get along without her. " Come le Foglie " is generally considered to be Gia- cosa's masterpiece. The acclamation with which it was received on the 31st of January, 1900, passed beyond anything that the Italian stage had witnessed for many years. The play has frequently been declared too es- sentially Italian to make any appeal in a foreign coun- try. Yet when a French translation was produced at Paris, in 1909, the sane and critical French audience quite lost its head and the French reviews vied with each other in heaping it with praise. " Come le Foglie " came as a great, fresh, stimulat- ing sweep of pure air to a public which was sick to nausea of the old stock characters, of the old long- winded stock speeches, and, above all, of the old thread- bare theme of adultery. Here was a play fuU of vigor, freshness, actuality; a play based upon something more than personal intrigue; a play whose characters were real people of many different sorts, interacting upon each other in many different ways; a play emi- nently human, yet with a big, general significance back of its humanness. It was long since the Italian public had been enter- tained by characters of such charm as the gay, witty, INTRODUCTION xiii handsome, utterly irresponsible and utterly lovable Tommy; of such appealing sweetness as the little serious-minded, capable Nermele — so gentle, yet when the occasion calls for it, so fiercely proud and spirited, so unafraid to speak her mind. We watch her all through the play with respect and admiration tempered by a little tolerant amusement at that extreme youth and that extreme lack of humor which make her take life and its responsibilities so seriously. Much of the interest and charm of the play is due to the juxta- posed characters of the sister and the brother. All the characters in the play are so real and human that it seems impossible that they could be types as well. Yet types they are; and the whole situation is a typical one. A wealthy man, through what would be considered in the business world over-honesty, becomes bankrupt, and he and his family are forced to submit to the acid test of poverty. All the things that wealth formerly had smoothed over and covered up come to the surface. Traits hitherto unsuspected, such as self- ishness and greed in Givlia and utter irresolution in Tommy, stand revealed in their sordid, petty, pitiable nakedness. The weak, like leaves driven by the wind, drift into the path of least resistance and follow the easiest way to their ultimate destruction. In " Come le Foglie " Giacosa showed the business man who fails from over-honesty. In " II piu forte " he showed the business man who plays the game to win and who wins. This man, Cesare, is one of Giacosa's most successful creations. He seems such a real per- son that he gives the effect of being someone whom the reader became acquainted with yesterday or last week. " II piii forte " is not rated so high by the critics as xiv INTRODUCTION " Come le Foglie," yet much of it is undoubtedly more finished, much of it stronger, than anything in " Come le Foglie." The crisp, witty dialogue of the first act represents Giacosa at his best ; and the simple, power- ful eloquence of the last scene between Silvio and his father cannot be matched in " Come le Foglie." The play, too, will be found to be especially significant to American readers. The situation is one which is much more common and attracts much more attention in America than in Italy. Indeed, Cesare seems to an American reader not so much an Italian as an American financier. Throughout all Giacosa's plays we sense one domi- nant note: an intense admiration for personal integ- rity, uprightness, and loyalty, tempered by a large charity for all human faults and foibles. This dominant note proceeds from Giacosa's own character. He pos- sessed, from the accounts of all who knew him, the un- bending uprightness, the charming amiability, the warm human kindliness which we find in so many of his creations. The success, financial and otherwise, which Giacosa enjoyed during his lifetime, was of the sort which turns heads. But Giacosa's head could not be turned. His was a nature which neither success nor failure could spoil. In the midst of his greatest fame he remained the same simple, kindly, modest, unassimi- ing Italian gentleman that he had been when he began life as a plain country lawyer. Giacosa died at the height of his dramatic success and fame on the 2d of September, 1906. All Italy mourned him, for he was not only admired but beloved. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PLAYS BY GIUSEPPE GIACOSA A Game of Chess (Una Partita a Scacchi), 1871 ; The Teitjmph of Love (II Trionfo d' Amore), 1875 ; The Husband in Love with His Wife (II Marito Amente della Moglie), 1877; The BaoTHEK in Arms (II Fratello d' Armi), 1877; Count Rosso (II Conte Rosso), 1880; Louise (Luisa), 1881; The Thkead (II Filo), 1883; SuKKENDEE AT DiscKETioN (Rcsa a Discrezione) , 1888 ; The Cat's Paw (La Zampa del Gatto), 1888; The Belated Repentance (La Tardi Raweduta), 1888; The Siren (La Sirena), 1888; Sad Loves (Tristi Amori), 1888; The Lady of Challant (La Signora di Challant), 1891; Saceed Ground (Dlritti dell' Anima), 1894; Like Falling Leaves (Come le Foglie), 1900; The Stronger (II piu forte), 1905. THE STRONGER (II Pitr Foete) A PLAY IN THKEE ACTS 1905 PERSONS Cesaee Nalm, sixty years old EusA, his wife, forty-eight years old Silvio, their son, twenty-eight years old Flora, Silvio's wife, twenty-five years old Edoakdo Falcieki, Cesare's nephew, twenty-nine years old SiGNOE NoEi, Cesare's secretary Don Paolo SiGNOE Talloei, a civil engineer Geneeal Ribokdone Countess TomX FiEST Young Lady Second Young Lady Third Young Lady Fourth Young Lady Five Young Gentlemen, all very carefvlly shaved and dressed Ambrogio, a servant Another Servant The scene represents a drawmg-room, not preten- tious, but rich and elegant, which is used as a family sitting-room. No. 1. A door leading to a Utile drawing-room furnished in yellow, and through thai to the apartments of Silvio and Flora. No. S. A door leading to another drawing-room and then through other rooms to the entrance hall. It is the door connecting with the outside. No. 3. A door leading into the dining-room. No. ^. A door leading into the apartmenis of Cesare and Elisa. A. A fireplace. B. A pier table. C. A large writing-desk. D. A little portable card-table. THE STRONGER THE FIRST ACT Cesare, Flora, Silvio, Elisa, and Edoardo have just finished dirmer. Elisa wears a dark dress; Flora a light-colored one with a flowered pattern made in the latest fashion amd cut V-shaped in front. Both are very elegant and aristocratic. The men are in dinner coats. Edoardo is very foppishly dressed and wears a gold chain that divides into two smaller chains, one for his watch, the other for a pencil or other trifle. CESAKE {m good humor) Why, yes, I 've been thinking about it for a long time. I '11 shut up shop. SILVIO Hoorah ! CESAKE And I '11 go and live in Rome too. (Putting his arm about Flora's waist) My lovely daughter-in-law will initiate me into the joys of the intellect. Is that the way to say it? PLOEA That 's the way to say it. CESABE And you know it won't be such a terrible job either. In spite of the fact that I am a successful money getter, I have quite a poetic soul. 6 THE STRONGER [act i FLOKA And besides, in intellectual things desire is as good as possession. SILVIO (to his mother) Note the pearls of wisdom dropping from her lips ! EDOAEDO And how about corporeal things, Flora? FLORA I don't trouble my head about them. CESAEE Silvio will take me around to the artists' studios to see pictures and statues. SILVIO Oh no, father ; I 'm in the business, so I should have to praise all of them. (He has opened a box of cigars) I 'm afraid there are none left of the kind you like. I don't see any but big, rich fellows : Im- periales, Flor de Cuba, EDOAKDO (stretching out his hand) The kind I smoke. SILVIO (handing him am enormous cigar) There you are. (To his father) Oh yes, here 's one left. (Hands it to him) A modest Medianito. CESAEE Thanks. [Silmo lights a match and hands it to his father. A servant has brought the cofee service and placed it on the pier table. Flora gets up to go and serve it. Edoardo follows her. He points out to her a little picture on the wall behind the pier table. EDOAEDO That 's the Greuze I was telling you about. ACT i] THE STRONGER 7 FLORA Oh yes, I know it. EDOARDO Do you like it? FLORA Very much. It reminds me of one of Gluck's arias. EDOARDO Yes, it has such a frivolous little soul. SILVIO {handing a magazine to his mother) And here 's mother's opiate, — " The Modem Artist." ELISA Opiate ! I read it conscientiously every evening. SILVIO It 's been coming for the last fortnight, and the leaves are not even cut. ELISA Because I looked over the table of contents and there was nothing about you, ungrateful boy. CESAHE {ze)ith great complacency) He knows my favorite cigars and the habits of his mother. SILVIO I have been so little with you that I need to be ob- servant when I have a chance. ELISA That 's SO. First college in England, then the trip around the world, then painting in Rome — and get- ting married ! If I had n't had the foresight to fall ill and bring you here to the Lake for these two autumn months, I should have seen nothing at all of you since you were twelve years old. CESABE Good wine matures best by travelling. 8 THE STRONGER [act i \_A servant brings to Cesare two telegrams on a tray upon which there is also a silver letter opener. CESARE {^whispers to the servant before opening the telegrams) Well? SERVANT The custom-house was closed. It will be delivered tomorrow morning. CESARE Have you the bill of lading .'' SERVANT (handing it to him) Here it is. CESARE How about the little boxes? SERVANT They are on the mantle-shelf. [/w the meantime Silvio has been looking fixedly at Flora and Edoardo. Cesare opens the telegrams, reads them and puts them back on the tray. The servant goes out. Cesare walks toward the mantle- shelf ami manages unobserved to m^ke sure of the presence of two jewel-cases there. ELiSA {to Silvio) What are you looking at? SILVIO I am watching my dear cousin Edoardo making him- self agreeable to Flora. ELiSA (lightly) He has good taste. SILVIO And he 's playing a fast game. ElilSA You think — ? ACT i] THE STRONGER 9 SILVIO Look — he has noticed that we 're talking about him. EDGARDO {approaching, to Silvio) Your wife is a great admirer of Greuze. SILVIO So am I. EDOARDO And yet your style is the very opposite of his. You 're strong and bold. I saw your famous por- trait of Miss Cline at Paris last year. Those deep amber hues in the background are very striking. SILVIO You'll have to excuse me — I just paint. I'm no critic FLORA (passing hy them on her way to serve coffee to Cesare and Elisa) Won't you have any, mother.'' ELISA I never drink any in the evening. CESARE (to Flora, who hands him his cup) Thanks ; put it down here. (He indicates the rrumtle- shelf; Flora obeys and is about to return to the pier table) Just a moment. What 's your hurry? FLORA I want to give the rest their coffee. CESARE They can wait. EDOARDO We can wait on ourselves. (Serves himself coffee) CESARE (takes the two jewel-cases from the mantle-shelf and offers one of them to Flora) This is for you. FLORA (surprised and pleased) But why — ? 10 THE STRONGER [act i CESAEE (handing the other to Elisa) And this is for my esteemed consort. FLORA (who has opened her box) Oh wonderful! That 's from Tiifany! EMSA (to Cesare) Why? CESAKE Because I 'm sixty years old today. ELISA That 's turning things upside down. We ought to give you presents. CESAEE You give me a present when you accept one. (To Flora) Did I say it well? ELOEA Wonderfully well! And what shall I say? CESARE Give me a kiss here. (He offers his cheek a/nd Flora kisses it) And another here. (He offers the other cheek; Flora kisses it also) And then you 'U tell me that you ""re not sorry that you left Rome to pass the winter with us two poor old folks. . . . FLORA On the contrary, I 'm very glad. EDOARDO And to reveal yourself at last to your relatives. FLORA (to Edoardo) I hope the relatives are pleased. (To Elisa) Let us see yours, mother. (Elisa shows her the present which she has received) A ring. A sapphire. What a big one ! Why, it 's the firmament itself ! But just look at my buckle! See, Silvio, what pure beauty! ACT i] THE STRONGER 11 It looks as if it had come from the cloak of a Pharaoh. It 's by Tiffany ; I knew at once. SILVIO So did I; the name is printed on the box. EDGAEDO Let me see. FLOEA It 's a live jewel ! There 's a drunken spirit of beauty in it. Is n't there .'' Is n't there ? Can't you see it laugh.'' SILVIO A good-natured drunk! CESABE (^takes from his pocket a sealed envelope and waves it m the air) Here, Edoardo, catch! {He throws it to Edoardo) EDGAEDO (catching it) Something for me too? CESAEE Something for me too? You 're surprised? At din- ner you did nothing but plague me for money like a beggar. EDGAEDO Oh, that was to flatter you. (He is about to open tJ^e envelope) CESAEE Don't open it. EDGAEDG Why? CESAEE So it won't be seen. You can bum it at your convenience. EDGAEDG Oh! (He steps aside, opens the envelope and takes 12 THE STRONGER [act i from it a nvmber of receipted bills, of which he takes careful accotmt) CESARE Is it all right? EDOAEDO (disappointed) Oh, very much so ! You give me back my own ! {He tears the bills in half, puts them back into the envelope and thrusts the envelope into his pocket) ElISA What is it? EDOAB.DO Water that 's gone over the mill-wheel, aunt. ELISA It seems still to be grinding you. CESAEE (handing a paper to Silvio) And this you '11 get tomorrow. It 's in the custom- house. SILVIO {reads it, beammg) A Mercedes car ! FioEA (joyously) Oh! SILVIO (putting his arm about Cesare's neck) Father ! I '11 be the ruin of you yet ! CESARE That 's what I want you to be. Do you like your present? SILVIO Do I like it ! CESARE You might take me with you sometimes when you make a run into the country — if you will? SILVIO If I will! The idea! ACT i] THE STRONGER 13 ELISA Oh, Silvio! A Mercedes! CESABE Forty horse-power. ELISA But they 're so dangerous. SILVIO Don't be afraid, mother dear. FLOEA It 's a heroic machine. And heroes are always generous. ELISA Even that other one went too fast. FLOKA Oh, it 's old and has rheumatism in the joints! EDOAB.DO (to Silvio) This will surely decide you to get rid of that snail of a chauffeur. CESAEE Not if I know of it. I '11 take back my present first. SILVIO Don't worry. He 's a good, steady fellow. ELOEA Very steady indeed — he never moves. EDOAEDO Think of having wings and not flying! CESAEE You anarchist, you ought to detest the automobile. EDOAEDO Why.'' The automobile is the anarchistic machine par excellence. It brooks neither restraint nor law. 14 THE STRONGER [act i SILVIO Like yourself. EDOARDO Like any man who thinks for himself. FLOKA Are you really an anarchist? EDOAKDO You 've known me for two months, and yet you ask such a question! l^The servant returns tenth amother telegram and hands it to Cesare, who reads it. PLOEA Silvio told me you were. I 've heard it said about the house too — and in society — EDOAUDO But you don't believe it. CESAEE (*o the servant) Go and find out if Nori is in the house. SERVANT He came in half an hour ago. There were some telegrams for him, too. CESAEE Ask him to come here a moment. [The Servant goes out, FLOEA {to Edoardo) An anarchist, an incendiary, a dynamiter? EDOARDO If it should become necessary. ELOEA It used to be the dream of my life when I was a young girl to marry an anarchist. It 's lucky that I did n't meet you before Silvio. ACT i] THE STRONGER 15 EDOAKDO Why lucky? FLORA Oh, for a thousand reasons. EDOAJEIDO Let 's hear one of the thousand. FLORA Well — you are not rich. SILVIO Thanks! FLORA I married you because you 're an artist and because I loved you. EDOARDO With regard to riches, I 'm entirely of your opinion. Flora. SILVIO It certainly was n't your fault that you did n't come by a big inheritance. EDOARDO Nor would it be yours if I did. SILVIO Of course not. But it 's no credit to me to have my father's money. Whereas, if you should strike it rich, it would be your own doing. EDOARDO I don't quite understand. SILVIO And you went a long way to look for it. EDOARDO (imderstandi/ng) Oh! 16 THE STRONGER [act i CESAEE Are you carrying on speculations without my knowl- edge ? EDOAEDO (io SUvio) Go ahead and tell. SILVIO But — EDOAK.DO Go on, >go on. I don't mind. Go ahead. SILVIO Are you reading, mother.? EDOAEDO Oh, go on — now that you 've begun. No doubt Flora has heard about it already. FLOEA I don't know anything at all. EDOAEDO Stop and think a moment whether Silvio did n't teU you — SILVIO The secret did n't belong to me — and besides, it was n't exactly savory. EDOAEDO Very well, I '11 tell the story myself, and then we 'II see if your information was correct. SILVIO I had it from a relative of the person — EDOAEDO Ah, to be sure — who lives in Rome. Correct me, please, if I make any mistakes. (To Cesare) You know that last summer Labieni invited me to go hunting with him in the Carpathian Mountains. Near his estate there is a gold mine for which the ACT.i] THE STRONGER 17 Gold Company of Alaska offered — in vain — two hundred million /Kre. CESAKE The Raplitz mine. EDOAEDO No one knows better than you where gold may be found. CESAKE Nor than you where it may be spent. Go on. EDOAEDO The mine belongs to a certain Marchioness di Rap- litz, a spinster, who inherited it from her father. SILVIO When she was twenty-five years old. EDOAKDO And who has managed it amazingly well. SILVIO For the last twenty years. EDOABDO Exactly. For the last twenty years. FLOEA Total : forty-five. ElilSA Almost my age. CESAEE And you say she 's a spinster? SILVIO I must add in her excuse that she is afflicted with a slight dorsal deformity. EDOAEDO Oh, it 's quite visible, it 's quite visible. SILVIO I 've never seen her myself — but you ought to know. 18 THE STRONGER [act i EDOARDO Labieni introduced me to her and both of us stayed a month as guests in the Raplitz mansion. The Marchioness is a lady of great culture and extraor- dinary intelligence. SILVIO But unfortunately anarchists do not haunt her virgin dreams as they did those of my wife. EDOARDO You 're wrong there ! She asked nothing better. Don't put my modesty to blush. If it had n't been for a cousin who calls her " aunt " out of patri- monial tenderness — SILVIO The cousin is an extremely rich artist who does n't give a hang for money and who will cheerfully die of consumption inside of a few months. ELORA Lecozcky? Is she Lecozcky's aunt.? I saw her por- trait. Oh, Edoardo, you 're a wonder ! EDOARDO Certainly I am. If the lady had also been young and beautiful — that is, if she had possessed rather more than she does possess — then you would all have applauded me. SlliVIO Because it might be believed — EDOARDO It might be believed! And that's enough for you. But nobody would have believed. The fact is that if she had been young and beautiful and I had mar- ried her for love, the world would have had one more thing to laugh about. Nothing more. And it has ACT i] THE STRONGER 19 too many already. Of course in this case there was no possible room for doubt. Her age and physical deformity removed even the suspicion of love's being put to the base use of a pretext. As it was, it could be nothing but the alliance of two brains and two energies for the purpose of directing a great instru- ment of power which is both better and more worth while than a nice little sentimental romance. What has idyllic love to do with such wealth.? To possess it and do nothing but admire the moon at Giulietta's side would be to defraud the world. SILVIO (disgusted) Ugh! When a thing is despicable you can always throw a glamour over it by theorizing about it! FLORA Precisely ! SILVIO What would you have given to the world.'' EDOABDO I would have shown it a master. CESAKE That ='s a good thing to say after you 've succeeded, my boy. You ought to marry her. In business everything that succeeds is right. ^^'L 'Hft-tk' SILVIO {patting his father's shoulder) Only honorable men can dare to hold that opinion. EDOAUDO So, Flora, I suppose you despise me. I ask because you seemed to be a modern spirit. Do you despise me? FLOEA I don't know. 20 THE STRONGER [act i EDOAEDO You only said what you did to please your husband. SILVIO Not to please him — to agree with him. EMSA (remonstratmglt/) Silvio ! FLOEA You defend yourself well, I admit. In your talk there is a bold spirit of sophistry that is very allur- ing. Sophistry is much more attractive than truth. SILVIO (^disdaimfvlly) Oh, those intellectual women ! FLORA Don't you like intellectual women? SILVIO No, no ! I like natural women. EDOARDO Vegetables ! SILVIO You would like them to belong to the mineral king- dom. But you did n't quite manage it. EDOAEDO Very neatly expressed. I '11 find occasion to repeat that somewhere. CESAEE {to Flora) Flora, you owe me a lesson in ping-pong. EDOAEDO And you owe me a revenge. ELOEA If there 's time before the company gets here. SILVIO Is there going to be a reception? ACT i] THE STRONGER 21 EI.ISA A few friends are coming to congratulate father. SILVIO They 're too kind I I 'm glad I have to go out. £USA Oh! SILVIO I 'm waiting for my friend, Don Paolo, to go to the club, rLOEA What will happen next? SILVIO I admit I 'm not in the habit of going. But this evening they 're to vote on a new member — and Don Paolo asked me to be sure not to stay away. EDOABIIO Yes, so you could vote him down. SILVIO And he 's to come and call for me. EDOAEDO {to Flora) Well then, just one game. FLOEA First, I want to put this buckle on my belt. EDOAEDO That 's soon done. FLOEA {rvho has taken off her belt) I '11 have to rip off this other one. EDOAEDO (takes a pair of scissors from his watch-chavn and hands them to her) If these will be of any use to you — ELOEA And then I '11 have to put on the new one. 22 THE STRONGER [act i EDOAKDO You '11 need a pin. FLORA Let 's see. (^Sits down and rips) l^Signor Nori enters. CESAEE {seeing Mm) Oh, there you are! Come this way. (Hs leads Mm to the rigM of the stage toward the writrng-desh and hands hvm one of the telegrams) Read this tele- gram. Did you get any.'' NOKI Yes, sir; two long, urgent telegrams in cipher, one after the other. — From Isidore Lamias. CESAKE Of course. Let me see them. Did you decipher them? NORI The first — the longest one. But I did n't want to keep you waiting. CESAEE Have you brought the key? NOEI Here it is. \_Both begm to decipher. Flora has in the meantime taken off the old buckle and put the new one in its place. EDOAEDO So. Now we need a pin with a catch to fasten it. FLORA And I have n't got one. EDOARDO How about the one with the little pearl that you ACT i] THE STRONGER 23 have at your neck. You women have always got one more pin than you need. riiOKA What a lot of things you know! EDGAHDG Shall I take it off for you.'' SILVIO {quickly) No. Excuse me ; I 'U do that. EDOABDO Behold the master! [Silmo makes haste to take tJie pm from the back of Flora's collar. FIOBA Be careful! Gently, please! SILVIO {hamdirtg her the pin) Did I scratch you."* PLOUA (looking at him wischievously) Would you like to.'' SILVIO {bending toward her, in a low and ardent voice) I would like to do worse. Go and play your game. Go on. {He walks over to the fire and stands with his back to it) rLORA {has put on the belt again) There, it's all done. {To Silvio) Won't you look and see if it 's becoming? EDOAEDO Wonderfully so! FLOItA I didn't ask you. Come along, father. CESAKE Give Edoardo his revenge first. 24 THE STRONGER [act i £DOA£BO Uncle, remind me later that I 've something to say to you. l^Flora goes into the little drawvng-room, which con- tains the pmg-pong table. Edoardo follows her. The two may he seen playing. CESAEE {having finished deciphering the telegrams, he rises and goes toward the front of the stage with Nori) Nothing but talk, you know. He won't kill himself. He has threatened that before. Every so often he drags suicide into his business affairs. You go on and sell. NOKI But you must remember that old Lamias really did kiU himself. CESARE Oh well, if suicide runs in the family, what have I to do with it? Sell, sell. NOKI Today, when you were out, Fausto Lamias came into the office — the son, the one who lives here in Milan. He was frantic. I had to lock all the doors. He shrieked that it would ruin his father, that it 's the act of a traitor, that it will cause a scandal, that you had agreed to buy. CESAEE That 's mere talk. In business we have nothing to do with pity or threats. How many are there left in the portfolio? NORI Six hundred. CESARE Sell. I 'm not the guardian of the House of Lamias. ACT i] THE STRONGER 25 You can tell that Bianchi fool that, as a final blow, I '11 throw them all on the market tomorrow. NOEI But — allow me — CESARE (^with OMthority) Have you any other business? NOB.I No. CESARE {passing into the middle of the stage) Won't you have a cup of coffee — a cigar? NORI No, thanks. CESARE Have you heard how your sister is? NORI Yes, sir. My brother-in-law wrote me that she is recovering now. But she 's still very weak. CESARE Tell Battista to send her two dozen bottles of '92 Bordeaux. It 's a strengthening wine, NORI Oh, thank you! CESARE Remember, '92. Tell him at once so that he can get it off in the morning. Good night. NORI Good night. I^He goes out) SILVIO (looking tenderly at his father) You 're a regu- lar dispenser of bounties ! CESARE Why, it's a great pleasure when one is able to do it. (Goes toward the ping-pong table in the little 26 THE STRONGER [act i drawing-room) It "s my turn now. Have you people finished ? FLOKA (latiffhing Tnerrily) Game ! It 's over. £DOA£I)0 And I 'm beaten. Come on, come on. \Cesare goes mto the little drawvng-room. ELisA {to Silvio) Don't you think you were a little too bitter to Edoardo? SILVIO I can't bear him. He 's a stupid, brutal bull. And I can't understand how a man like father, so upright and simple-hearted, can keep him around, right under his feet all the time. ELISA He 's the son of your father's sister who died young. He has no other relatives. SILVIO I suppose I 'm wrong. CESARE (from the little drawing-room) Oh, what a stroke! \_A ping-pong ball rolls from the little drawvng- room onto the middle of the stage. Flora and Edo- ardo rim after it laughing. FLOKA It 's mine ! It 's mine,! It 's mine ! EDOARDO (picking it up) Here it is. (Calls laughingly toward the little draw- vng-room) Advantage, uncle! (Carries the ball back into the little drawing-room) ELORA (to Silmo) Don't you want to play? ACT i] THE STRONGER 27 SILVIO No, thanks, I '11 stay here with mother. I'LOEA A serious discussion? ElilSA Oh, we 're just gossiping. FLORA My respects, (^Mdkes a curtsey and goes mto the little drawing-roorn) ELisA (fo Silvio) At dinner Edoardo was talking about a lecture that is to be given tomorrow at the Art Club. SILVIO Yes. A lecture by that fellow Tito Osco, a fakir, on the j5]sthetics of Race. ELISA And he asked Flora to go with him. SILVIO Of course. And Flora accepted. ELISA Do you mind? SILVIO I don't like the idea of Flora's being seen alone in Edoardo's company. ELISA Alone! At a lecture? SILVIO I don't like it. But I shall not say anything about it. ELISA You might go, too. SILVIO Oh no. It would look as if I were spying on them. 28 THE STRONGER [act i ELISA Would you like me to go? SILVIO You? Would you go? [A servant enters the little drawi/ng-room and speaks in a low voice to Flora. ELISA Not that I care for it, you know. I don't under- stand anything about such things. SILVIO You 're not an intellectual. ELISA No, I 'm afraid not. FLOBA (^from the little drawing-room, to the servant) I 'U go. (^She parses the racquet to Edoardo) Edo- ardo, you finish the game with daddy. And hurry, because we have to take away the table. {Comes forward on the stage) Mother, the General and his daughters are here. ELISA Why don't they come in? ELOKA They 're waiting for the Countess in order to make a ceremonious entrance. But you stay here. I don't want to break in on any confidences. I '11 go. {She goes out through the main door) ELISA {to Silvio) It 's understood, then. I '11 go with them. I '11 tell Edoardo now. SILVIO Oh, if you tell him, you won't have to suflfer the boredom of going. Flora will doubtless be pleased ACT i] THE STRONGER 29 at your offer, but Edoardo will find some way to drop the whole thing. ELISA You think so? SILVIO He 's been scheming for a chance to be alone with Flora. If he misses his chance, he won't get any more pleasure than you out of the -^Esthetics of Race. [_A servant enters from the dmimg-room and begins silently to prepare a service of champagne and calces on the pier table. Another servant goes into the ping-pong room to take away the table. CESAKE (^from the drawing-room) Hello, they *re going to drive us out. EDOABDO Well, then you and I can have a little talk. {He takes Cesare's arm and leads him, toward the writing- desk; in a low voice) There '11 be something for me, too, will there.'' CESAEE Something of what? EDOAEDO Of the profits. You made a big killing today. I saw my friend. Lamias. \I)on Paolo enters throiigh the main door. CESAB.E Good evening, Don Paolo. DON PAOLO Good evening, and congratulations ! CESABE Thanks. 30 THE STRONGER [act i EDOABDO ( to Cesare, after having homed to Don Paolo) Come over here so that you can't get away from me. {He leads him toward the writing-desk and talks to Mm in a low voice, laughing from time to time) DON PAOLO (fo Elisa) I know it already! I know it already! Dear lady, you must show me a hand and a ring. EMSA {handing him the box) Only the ring, because I have n't put it on yet. DON PAOLO I beg you to put it on. Jewels in their caskets are dead. ELISA {puts on the ring and holds out her hand) Anything to please you. DON PAOLO {kissing her hand) And now I can't see the ring at all! {To SUmo) Pretty poor I Pretty poor ! And I prepared it too. I did nothing but rehearse it all the way here. SILVIO But it 's such a short way here. ELISA Who is out there? DON PAOLO Out there — {to Silvio) Why, there is your wife doing the honors of the house to General Ribordone, to his bevy of young ladies, and to their never- failing train of fledglings. Be careful with them, for they 're all smooth and sticky like newly bathed babies. Then there 's a monstrous mass of flowers between the martial knees of the Greneral. And they 're all waiting for the angelic Countess Toma to advance in a body and present that monstrous ACT i] THE STRONGER 31 mass to the head of the house, who has completed his sixtieth year. I can't understand what flowers have got to do with that age, but they must be some kind of symbol. I do understand, however, that the party is a surprise, for I see a battery of champagne over there. ELISA Well, if you 've finished, I 'U go and receive them. (^She goes out through the little drawing-room) SILVIO We can slip out through the dining-room and no- body will see us. DON PAOLO It 's so comfortable here. SILVIO But are we not going to the club? DON PAOLO (a« if he had forgottefn if) Ah! (^Intimating that he doesn't intend to go) Oh! SILVIO Are they not going to vote this evening.'' DON PAOLO Yes— but — SILVIO You were ready to turn the universe upside down to keep that scoundrel from being received among decent people. DON PAOLO Oh, come now, don't exaggerate! SILVIO You were afraid that I might forget to go. You were so anxious about it that nothing would satisfy you short of coming for me in person. 32 THE STRONGER [act i DOif PAOLO The voting must be closed by this time. SII/VIO No, no, it does not close until midnight. Stay here if you want to ; I 'm going. DON PAOLO {quicMy) No. SILVIO What do you mean, anyway? You act as if you were hiding something. DON PAOLO Not at all! But on second thought, it has seemed to me that before offering a man such an affront one should have positive proof that he deserves it. SILVIO Why, this very day you were telling me about Falba's various atrocities ! DON PAOLO I was repeating rumors — caught on the wing. SILVIO {^calling Ms father) Father. DON PAOLO No, don't do that. We need to — CESAEE Did you call me? SILVIO Just a moment. Falba is trying to get into the club. CESAKE So I imderstand. SILVIO What do you think of it? ACT i] THE STRONGER 33 CESARE Oh, I don't know anything about such things. But I would n't receive him into my own house, SILVIO (fo Don Paolo) There, you see! EDOARDO Why, what 's up? I thought Don Paolo was among those bent upon keeping liim out. DON PAOLO (to Edoardo) But you 're for him. EDOAEDO I am. SILVIO Of course you are. (To Cesare) What sort of a man is Falba? CESAEE He 's an old beast who has daughters old enough to be married and who carries on with ballet dancers. EDOAEDO And you want to blackball him for that! At that rate you 'd soon exterminate the whole club ! SILVIO It is n't for that. CESAEE Well, what is it for, then? SILVIO It 's because of his dishonest business dealings. CESAEE Um! SILVIO He has made millions in the building disasters of Rome and Naples. 34 THE STRONGER [act i CESAEE Quite true. Whenever money is lost there 's always someone who wins it. And then everybody is down on him. SILVIO And why shouldn't they be down on a rascal? CESAUE What do outsiders know about business ? SILVIO They know all that 's necessary. If you, for in- stance, were to be nominated at the club, I don't think there would be a single black ball. DON PAOLO {tmeasUy) But what 's the use of all this talk? CESARE I would n't hear of such a thing. I go to bed at ten. But if, by any possibility, I should be nomi- nated — um — ! SILVIO (laughing) Ha, ha, ha! CESAEE What are you laughing about? They'd blackball me. SILVIO You? You? DON PAOLO (imeasily) Don't let 's get away from the subject. ELisA (entering from the small drawvng-room, which is full of people) Cesare, come here a moment and see what 's going on. DON PAOLO (quickly) I think your wife is calling you. ACT i] THE STRONGER 35 CESARE (going toward the small drawimg-room) Here I am. (^He goes into the dramng-room,; voices of "many persons are heard) Oh! How kind you are, Countess! My dear General! EDOAEDO (looking at Don Paolo and Silvio; aside) What the deuce is in the air anyway? DON PAOLO (to Silvio) As a special favor to me — • don't go. SILVIO We '11 see. (He goes to receive the guests) [Elisa and Cesare enter, followed by Flora, the Countess Toma, and General Ribordone with his four daughter s and their five yovng men, all of whom are smooth^shaven, scented, faultlessly dressed, extremely elegant and circumspect. The young ladies flock around Elisa, all of them talking at once. THE TOUNS LADIES Yes, yes, Signora, be kind to us. Just one dance, two dances. That 's all we ask for. n ELISA But the big drawing-room is n't ready for dancing, girls. It has n't been open all winter — not since my illness. FIRST YOUNG LADY In the yellow drawing-room. There 's a piano there. ELISA But it 's so small. SECOND YOUNG LADY But there are only a few of us. THIRD YOUNG LADY And we can go in line. 36 THE STRONGER [act i GENEKAIi Signora, allow me to interpose the authority of ray white hairs. But I commit myself for only one dance. These giddy girls have been dancing three nights in succession. I could fall asleep standing up. ELiSA (complying) Flora ! PLOEA Yes, mother, I think so, too. [^The young ladies are jvhilant; the yommg men re- TTMvn serious; Flora goes into the yellow drawing- room. THE YOUNG LADIES {consvltiMg together Toith a great deal of chattering) Don Paolo ! Don Paolo 's here ! {They surrownd Don Paolo) Don Paolo will play for us. DON PAOLO No, no, no! THE YOUNG LADIES Oh, be a good fellow, Don Paolo! DON PAOLO But I don't know anything but slow music. rmST YOUNG LADY That 's all right — gavottes and minuets will do. Come now. DON PAOLO {pointing to one of the yowng men) All right, but let Riccardo begin. And I '11 play later on. THE YOUNG LADIES Riccardo! A waltz! [The whole mass of them pass out like a whirlmnd. ELISA General, won't you have a glass of champagne? ACT i] THE STRONGER 37 GENEKAIi ' With pleasure. And then a game of ecarte with your husband. CESAEE I 'm ready. ElilSA Silvio, will you bring over that little table? SILVIO It 's done. (^He brings the little card-table to the middle of the stage, wnder the light, and arranges it for the game) CESARE (pleading the Countess to a seat near the fire) This is one of the privileges of age. Beauty offers me flowers. COUNTESS Flowers for the strong. GENERAL {seeing Edoardo) HeUo there! EDOARDO Glad to see you, my dear General. {They shake hands; waltz music is heard) GENERAL Do you know that Captain Paletta yesterday touched the fencing master of his regiment six times in succession with that famous thrust of yours? EDOARDO Yes, it 's impossible to parry it if you don't know it. GENERAL And who taught it to you? CESARE He says he invented it himself. GENERAL I 'm not surprised. When I was a colonel I had him 38 THE STRONGER [act i as a volunteer in my regiment. Bad morals, but a good sword. CESARE A good sort. GENERAL Did I say sort? CESAEE No, no. I said it. I said a good sort. GENEEAL Oh, to be sure. I was asleep. Where 's that cham- pagne I was promised? ElilSA Here it is. EDOAEDO (^carrymg a glass of cha/mpagTie to the Cou/ntess) Will you have some champagne, Countess? COUNTESS No, thanks. But I wish you would call Don Paolo here a moment. (^Edoardo turns about to call Mm) No, not that way. I could have called him myself by raising my voice. EDOAEDO Exactly. {Goes to the pier table and puts down the glass; then he goes up to Don Paolo) GENEEAL (fo EUstt) Will you do me the honor of being my partner? {^Cesare, the General and Elisa sit down to the game. EXISA I '11 shuffle for you. EDOAEDO (leading Don Paolo to the Countess) Here is the happy mortal — COUNTESS (to Don Paolo) Who didn't even notice that I was here? ACT i] THE STRONGER 39 DON PAOLO I was looking at you. COUNTESS From a safe distance! I want to talk to you. EDOAEDO In confidence? COUNTESS He does n't deserve it — but — in confidence. DON PAOLO {to Edoardo) Did you hear that.-" EDOAEDO I envy and submit. But you needn't put on any airs, though. The Countess is a stock-broker in disguise. She knows the market-reports by heart. COUNTESS Quite SO. I read them every morning and have them explained to me by my husband, who is ruining him- self with bulls and bears. DON PAOLO It 's an exciting page. COUNTESS It is indeed. It 's like a very clear lake — when you peer into it you can make out wreckage and corpses at the bottom. EDOAEDO How romantic you are! DON PAOLO The only field of battle left in Europe now is the stock exchange. EDOAEDO Or business in general. 40 THE STRONGER [act i COUNTESS Yes, that too. But the silent battles of the stock exchange have a more striking and tragic beauty. EDOAEDO Is it right, I ask, when there are two blue eyes like that — ! What account can you give of your use- less beauty? COUNTESS Beauty is good for nothing but to make trouble. DON PAOLO Or rumors of trouble. EDOARDO And about yours — I understand that there are some rumors. COUNTESS Oh yes. They 've already given me a dozen lovers. EDOAKDO Myself among the number. COUNTESS You? EDOARDO So they say. — But I have not believed it. COUNTESS Neither have I. — And now run away and play. {Edoardo hows and withdraws) And learn from your uncle if you want to recoup your fortimes. EDOARDO {^turning arov/nd) In what way? COUNTESS Why, they say that last night Macao got the better of you. EDOARDO Talk! ACT i] THE STRONGER 41 COUNTESS They say so. — And I believed it. EDOARDO So did I. (He goes toward the card-table) COUNTESS {^softly to Don Paolo) He lost sixty thousand lire. DON PAOLO He has n't got it, so what 's the difference? EDOAEDO (af the card-table) How is it going, uncle? CESARE Ah, the king! You bring me good luck. EDOARDO I 'd like to know where I get it from. COUNTESS (io Don Paolo) Come here. (^She gets up and walks nearer to the pre place; Don Paolo follows her; they remain stamd- ing) Do you know what 's going on? DON PAOLO I? No. COUNTESS Yes, dear boy, you know. You dined at the club, where they are talking of nothing else. The Lamias family is ruined. DON PAOLO Poor Fausto ! COUNTESS Yes, it 's a great pity. But I don't trouble much about the vanquished. I cultivate the victors. To look at the master of the house over there, who would think that he had sowed every step of his path with ruin? He 's an Achilles. 42 THE STRONGER [act i DON PAOLO Look out for his heel. COUNTESS , Yes, even he must have a vulnerable point. — Silvio seems to me rather a poor sort of a man. DON PAOLO He is a great artist — absolutely upright and ready to believe that everybody else is the same. COUNTESS Then he is what I said he seemed to be. 'You ought to take him to the club this evening. '[Dancmg couples issue occasionally from both drawing-rooms. DON PAOLO Hush! FIRST YOUNG MAN (to Ms partTwr in passing) Just listen how beautiful it is : " At these words Dio Votan raises his lance — " ( They go out again) COUNTESS Remember that Fausto Lamias is expecting him. SECOND YOUNG LADY (to her partner in passing) The Count of Torino wears them six inches high. {They disappear) COUNTESS Fausto Lamias intends to insult him. My cousin Momi was told so by a friend. '[The music ceases. DON PAOLO I hope to keep Silvio from going. TLOEA {coming from the drawimg-room) Don Paolo, they 're calling you to play for them. DON PAOLO Here I am. {To the Coum,tess) I 've already spoken ACT i] THE STRONGER 43 to him about it; and in any case he won't go with- out me. Excuse me, Countess, and thank you. {He goes out) EDOAKDO {to the General while Cesare is playing a card) Spades again. GENERAL And the trick 's mine, CESARE {playi/ng his card) And spades again ■' GENERAL. {tO EUsa) He has his hands full. What can one do against such luck.? {He gets up and goes toward Flora, who has been talking with the CovMtess) Have they finished.'' FLORA The first dance. General. They want another. [Music is heard from the drawing-room. GENERAL Three nights ! I 've been on duty as an escort three nights in succession. This evening we have a little rest. But the day after tomorrow it begins again. And tomorrow afternoon I have to take them to a lecture — the Esthetics of Race. EDOARDO Oh, by the way. Flora, will you go with me? I'll come for you. ELisA (quickly) Aren't you going to ask me? [Flora looks at her vn surprise, then looks at Silvio. EDOARDO You? CESARE {astonished) My wife at a lecture! 44 THE STRONGER [act i EDOARDO (y smiles bitterly) Did you think at the very beginning that you would n't keep it up — from the time that you told Massimo you would take the position? TOMMY Why do you insist? NENNELE I don't know. It seems as if everything hangs on that. TOMMY I don't understand. 264 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act m NENNELE It seems to me that the whole future depends on that — that it ''s the most important question I can ask. I can't explain it. It just comes to me that way. TOMMY Strange that you ask me the very thing that has been pursuing me all along. You mean, was I able to come to a definite decision for even a moment.'' NENNELE Perhaps. Yes. For even a moment. TOMMY It 's hard to say. When I accepted, I was persuaded that I wanted to hold out. But — perhaps you no- ticed — I sat down at once to write a note to the place where I was expected for lunch. And while I was writing I heard an ironical voice within me: " Keep a loophole of escape open." I was astonishecl that the decision had n't cost me more of an effort. I kept saying to myself : " When the right moment comes I shall be able to decide." I was counting on things getting a grip on me. I went to the place. The owner showed me all over the works. Wonder- ful! An immense organism of exquisite delicacy and precision. Then he took me into his office and gave me two or three letters to write. That was aU. There was nothing about it that struck me par- ticularly — no exhaustion, no disgust. NENNELE No enthusiasm. TOMMY And the next day I did n't go back. ACT m] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 265 NENNEIiE Did you put up a fight? TOMMY No. I did n't even decide not to go back. I simply did n't go. NENNELE Things didn't grip you then.'' TOMMY No. NENNELE Well, you have to grip them. — What do you expect to do? TOMMY I don't want to think about it. NENNELE Can you help thinking about it? TOMMY The thought is always in the back of my mind, but I let other thoughts cover it up. I don't dwell on it. I see myself as in a mirror, as I might be looking at any stranger. I know what will happen. I will do nothing to hasten it or avoid it. I give myself up to the current. NENNELE (fl* if followmg out a tJwiight of her owny To the current of the Arve in flood — which does n't even give one time to drown — dashed against the rocks and stumps — TOMMY What 's that? NENNELE Oh, nothing. Something Massimo said passed through my mind. You mentioned the current — 266 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act m and — but don't bother about it. It was just a queer fancy. TOMMY And father — has he been told.'' NENNELE Not yet. TOMMY Is it hard for you to have to live with mamma.? NENNELE Oh — after all that has happened — TOMMY She 's an irresponsible. Like me, she '11 sink from depth to depth. NENNELE You ought not to speak ill of her — now that you have gone over to her side. TOMMY Oh, how I despise myself ! (Nennele does not answer) And you don't know yet. If you only knew. — I ought to tell you everything. Do you want me to.-" As I used to do in the old days.? NENNELE Yes, tell me — tell me everything. It 's hatd to tell everything. But the harder it is, the more needful it is that you speak. Who knows.? TeU me quickly — Tommy. TOMMY There 's a little aria by Metastasio that keeps coming into my mind : " voice from my bosom flown." NENNELE Oh, misery ! ACT m] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 267 TOMMY (ira a deep, hurried voice) I owe money to a woman. Do you understand? A great deal. I did n't ask her for it. NENNELE Don't offer excuses. TOMMY But it 's true, I must tell the whole truth, the bad and the good. She offered it to me — she insisted. I was losing and I wanted to get a new start. I would have given ten years of my life to get it — and I got it that way, easily, easily. Everything in my whole life has been easy — from the very be- ginning, invariably. Living has been easy, educa- tion has been easy, pleasures have been easy. Defer- ence to my betters and kindness to my inferiors have been easy. Religion has been easy, vice has been easy. Only one thing was difficult — ■ to decide. But I did n't have to make any decisions. Up to three months ago my decisions were all made either by habit or caprice. When the day came that I needed to exert my wiU — NENNELE It was rusty. TOMMY Oh, worse than rusty. There was no wheel — there was no machinery. NENNELE You couldn't even decide for evil. TOMMY Oh, evil — that takes care of itself. It is evil that decides for me. NENNELE How much do you owe? 268 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act ra TOMMY What 's the use of telling? NENNELE Suppose I should write to Aunt Irene who has so much money. TOMMY She would send me a scarf-pin. NENNELE I could ask Massimo for it. TOMMY I 've no doubt that he 'd give it to you. But after that ! It would begin all over again. Better to take the plunge once for all. NENNELE {stating at him with wide-open eyes) The plunge! TOMMY (smiling) Not into the water, you know. Did you think I was talking about committing suicide? We don't belong to the class of people who do that sort of thing. NENNELE No? TOMMY I mean the plunge into millions. I '11 pay her back — by marrying her. NENNELE (horrijied)- You 're going to marry that woman? TOMMY I 've given my word. Inside of a week. NENNELE And I tell you that you won't marry her inside of a week. TOMMY What can keep me from it? ACT in] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 269 NENNELE You 'U find out. TOMMY Mind you, if Massimo says a single word to me — NENNELE He won't. TOMMY And I advise you not to say anything about it to father. It would do no good. There 's no sense in worrying him ahead of time. The moment he found it out I should leave the house. I 'm of age. When the thing is over — we '11 leave Geneva — and he '11 know. NENNELE Where are you going now? TOMMY To her, NENNELE Good-bye, Tommy. TOMMY You won't ever speak to me again, will you.^ NENNELE I don't know what you 're saying. Good-bye, Tommy. Good-bye, poor Tommy. [Tommy goes out hastily. NENNELE (remams standing rigid and motionless be- side the table; with an tmconscious movement she beats with her finger on the table, looking straight ahead, into space) Everything — everything gone ! It 's all over! (She repeatedly passes one hand over her head as if stroking her hai/r) Tonight. MASSIMO (entering) I saw him go out. You did n't call me. 270 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act m NENNEI/E That 's true. Excuse me. Do you know.? He 's going to marry that woman, MASSIMO Could n't you make him listen to reason.? NENNELE I did n't even try. That 's the way this house is going to pieces. It 's getting ready to fall. MASSIMO Your brother is n't the whole house. NENNELE The rest are just the same. Mamma is going to ruin by a different way. I 've seen such things to- day ! A day of revelations ! MASSIMO But your father.? NENNELE Yes, he too! MASSIMO So upright, so good! NENNELE It 's true. And I would like to kneel down before him with clasped hands to show him the love I have for him. But there are times when truths reveal themselves naked and inexorable. And one must recognize them. Even he is weak. MASSIMO No. NENNELE He has none of the energy that overcomes obstacles and dominates people. You are a thousand times stronger than he. ACT m] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 271 MASSIMO I don't believe it. I have the energy that under- takes. He has the energy that resists. Which is the most difficult.'' The one that gives the least satisfaction. NENNELE Oh, Massimo, if you only knew how I hate to tell you these things. They are such little things ! But you must know, because you are the only one who will be left to him. MASSIMO I — the only one.'' NENNELE Listen. This morning he took the management of the house from me and gave it to mamma. It makes me smile to think that I am telling you — I am so far from all that now. He took it from me — and I don't blame him in the least. But right on top of it he came to me and half asked my pardon and whispered to me that I should look after things anyway! Do you see. >* MASSIMO How proud you are ! NENNELE Oh no. But I had set him up so high. Every little failing in him hurts me more than the worst faults of the others. I know what he is earning. At the beginning we went along very carefully ; but for the last month we have been spending a great deal more — and I told him so — and he laughed about it. I 'm a wretch, I know, to think it and say it, but for him the plaster is crumbling, while the bricks are 272 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act ni falling for the others. In both cases the house is going to fall, MASSIMO Will you marry me, Irene? NENNELE I can't accept charity. MASSIMO You won't? NENNELE No. MASSIMO You don't like me? NENNELE It is n't that ! I don't think you like me — in that way. I don't think that you 've ever really under- stood what sort of person I am. MASSIMO I understand — perfectly. NENNELE Yes? MASSIMO What is it that laughs that way, deep down in your eyes? NENNELE You see something that laughs? And yet I thank you for it, Massimo. {Long pause) Are you .going back this evening to Chamonix? MASSIMO I have to. I have work to do. Why do you ask? NENNELE Oh nothing. It 's all right. (Massimo goes toward the door) Are you going? ACT m] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 273 MASSIMO Yes, I feel like taking a walk. NENNELE - Would you like me to go with you? MASSIMO No. I want to be alone. NENNELE Are you going away angry.? MASSIMO No. I 'm just going to walk up and down outside. {He goes out) NENNELE {sadly) He did n't understand. CUETAIN THE FOURTH ACT The same scene as in Act III. It is a moonlight night. But the Venetian blinds are closed so that the moonlight cannot enter the room. There is a lamp with a green shade on the table im the middle of the room, where Giovanni sits writing. Nennele enters cautiously from her own room. GIOVANNI Eh? (Turns toward Nennele's door and listens; standing close to the wall, Nennele remains Tnotion- less) Oh! {He shrugs his shoulders and resumes his work) [Nermele, keeping as far away from her father as possible, moves toward the door. Arrived at the door, she turns and throws a kiss to Giovanni. She starts to open the door. The latch rattles. GIOVANNI (getting up) Who the deuce can it be? Who's there? (^He lifts the shade from, the lamp; Nennele has opened the door and slipped out) Nennele ! (He follows her, overtakes her and brings her back) What does this mean? What does this mean? Where were you going? NENNEi,E (she Has a dark shawl over her head and' appears imich agitated) I could n't sleep. I wanted, to get out into the air. GIOVANNI Don't you feel well? ACT iv] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 275 NENNELE Yes, perfectly — but it 's so hot. I don't know. I wanted to get out into the air. GIOVANNI What 's the matter with you? What is it.? NENNELE I don't know. I had to have air. Let me go. GIOVANNI There 's plenty of air here. (He leads her to the large window and opens the Venetian blinds so that the room hecomes filed with moonlight) Sit down here. Here you can get aU the air you want — and cool off. Don't you feel chilly.'' NENNELE No. GIOVANNI Will you have a little cognac ? (He feels her pidse) How fast your pulse is! Don't you feel well.'' Do you want a cup of camomile tea.'' Shall I call mamma — or Marta.'' NENNELE No, don't call anybody. I don't need anything. I 'm all right. GIOVANNI You 're trembling all over. NENNELE I tell you I 'm all right. But I was smothering in my room. (She suddenly hursts into convulsive sobs and throws her arms about his nech) Oh, father! GIOVANNI What is it.? What is it? You frighten me — Nen- nele ! Come, Nennele ! 276 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act iv NENNELE (weepmg) Oh, let me — GIOVANNI Cry, cry, yes, cry, my darling. Cry if it will do you any good. You can tell me afterward. (Nenmele stops cry'vng amd looks about as if dazed) Do you feel a little better.? It 's nervousness. Stay here and be quiet. Had you already gone to bed.'' NENNELE No. I stood at the window in there a long time. GIOVANNI You seemed so happy this evening. At dinner you ate and talked such a lot. When Massimo got up to go, you kept talking about our trip to Chamonix on Sunday. You seemed to be on such good terms with mamma. I was so glad to see that. You felt nothing then? NENNEIiE No. GIOVANNI Were you disappointed because Tommy was n't at dinner.? But I'm glad to see him enjoying himself a bit. Do you know who the friends were that had invited him? NENNELE No. GIOVANNI Some friends from Milan, mamma said. NENNELE Probably. GIOVANNI Has n't he come in yet? ACT iv] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 277 NENNELE No. GIOVANNI It 's a wonderful night. NENNELE {stUl a little dazed) I was standing at the window. I was waiting for him. GIOVANNI You were waiting for him? Did you want to speak to him? NENNELE No. I was waiting for him to come home — I was afraid I might meet him. GIOVANNI Afraid you might meet him? NENNELE Um — {Shakes her head as if she had hecoTne aware that she had said something not vntended) That was n't what I meant to say. GIOVANNI Your head is still a little confused. NENNELE Perhaps./ GIOVANNI Do you know what caused this? The storm we had last night. It left a peculiar sultriness that lasted all day. I felt it in my bones. — Even when you said good night to me, I thought that your eyes looked strange. They were so brilliant. NENNELE I 'm all right now. I '11 go back to my room. GIOVANNI I '11 go with you. 278 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act iv NENNELE {^quichly) No, GIOVANNI {sndlmg} Oh! Do you say "no" like that? And to your father? Listen to this tone, young lady. No! But I say " yes." Come along. NENNELE Let 's stay here instead. GIOVANNI What is there in your room that I 'm not allowed to see ? What great mysteries ! Nerves are capricious things. Do you want to rest a little? {He draws up am armchair^ Put your feet here — this way. And keep quiet. You don't want to talk, do you? We '11 keep each other company. (Goes back to the table and begms to write) NENNELE (after a pause) What are you doing? GIOVANNI I have a piece of work to finish. NENNELE Tonight? GIOVANNI I have to. (^ pause) Nennele. NENNELE ^ Yes, father. GIOVANNI When you passed through here just now to go out, and I asked: "Who's there?" why didn't you answer ? NENNELE I didn't hear you. (A pause) You ought not to ACT iv] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 279 stay up so late at night. Massimo gives you too much work to do. GIOVANNI No, he does n't. NENNELB I 'm going to tell him so. GIOVANNI I 'm not working for Massimo at all. NENNELE What? GIOVANNI You 've caught me in the act, so I may as well con- fess. It 's a little extra work that I 've undertaken to do. I saw that my salary was not going to be enough. — I happened upon some good people — NENNELE Oh! GIOVANNI But — it 's a small matter. NENNELE How long have you been doing this.'' GIOVANNI A month and a half. Not every night, you know. And now I 'm through. This is the last night. I 've only to recopy the accounts. I sat down here to do it. The other nights I worked in the office. [N^nele gets up cmd goes toward her father with her hands clasped. GIOVANNI What 's the matter.? NENNELE Father, I want you to forgive me. 280 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act iv GIOVANNI For what? For what must I forgive you? {Smil- img) For this little extra work? NENNELE It is n't that. Forgive me. GIOVANNI How strangely you look at me! Just as you did when you said good night. Come here. What is it that I must forgive you for? What have you done to me? Where were you going? Why didn't you answer when I called you? You must have heard me. I called twice. Where were you going? Tell me. You said you were afraid you might meet Tommy. What is it that I 'm not allowed to see in your room? Ah! {Rises) NENNELE No, no! GIOVANNI stay here. And don't move. Do you understand? {He takes up the lamip, goes and locks the outer door and then hurries into Nenmele's room; she remains motionless near the table; Giovanni returns with a letter in his hand) A letter for me? {Puts down the lamp) NENNELE Don't read it, father. GIOVANNI I don't need to. (He throws the letter on the table) You 're not the rambling sort. You were not run- ning away to see the world. You were running away to — (A long pause) You were going to do that! You, Nennele! You were able to conceive such a frightful idea ! You were able to carry it out ! You ACT iv] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 281 crossed this room, you saw me, you would have gone out of this house where I was sitting and you would have — And tomorrow I should have been going about the streets crying like a madman for my daughter. Or this very night they might have brought you here. They would have called me — I would have seen you — there — dead — my Nennele — my Nennele! {A long pause) Why? Why? Why? What has happened? I must know. I must know what has happened. To kill yourself — oh ! What have I done to you? What have the others done to you? What is this thing in my house that I know nothing about? NENNELE I was crazy, I was crazy. Don't ask me — I was crazy. GIOVANNI Tell me what it is. Tell me. I command you. Is it Tommy? NENNELE Partly. Tommy is ruined. He 's going to marry a bad woman. And he has to do it! Massimo will explain. I don't know the details. I just found it out today. GIOVANNI Where is he? NENNELE With her, I think. I don't know, I don't know. I only know that he is past helping. {Giovanni seems stvmned) And I was going to leave you when you had most need of help and comfort, when you were most alone. And I didn't consider you, and you were considering us all the time and living for us. 282 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act iv GIOVANNI (pursuing an idea) They scatter. They blow away — they blow away ! NENNELE And I thought unjust things about you and judged you unjustly. Now you must listen to me. I have to confess. I must tell you what I thought of you. The faults of the others seemed gross and horrible. But what I thought of you gnawed at a deeper and more sensitive part of me. I thought that you were n't doing enough for us. Don't you under- stand.'' Don't you hear anything of what I 'm saying? GIOVANNI Yes, dear. I hear. You were right. I haven't done enough for you. NENNELE Oh! GIOVANNI I don't mean here and now. Here I cannot act dif- ferently or do more. I 've seen how things were going — oh, how many times ! But I could n't do any more. At Milan, however, when you were chil- dren, I could have done more. But then it seemed to me that it was enough to make you rich. NENNELE If you only knew how I look up to you! What a sense of peace and security it gives me to feel your watchful protection! Why don't people ever talk about such things? Why don't we ever tell each other everything? Nobody ever tells everything about himself. It does one so much good to speak out one's very soul. No sorrow, no joy will ever be able to make me forget the happiness that I feel ACT iv] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 283 at this moment, with you, close to you, understand- ing and worshipping. Do you forgive me? GIOVANNI Dear child, I forgive you and bless you. (^He holds her head in his arms on his breast; then he kisses her brow: then he releases her and walks up and down; pnaUy he goes to the window and looks out) What a wonderful night ! Come here. You 're not cold, are you? NENNELE No. GIOVANNI You said that no as you used to say it when you were a little girl — long drawn out, with such a lot of vowels. No-o-o-o-o-o-o. You 've not changed much. I can see you again with your little face — (He interrupts himself to look intently out of the window) — with your little face as it was then. You 've grown thinner. You were such a lovely little girl. NENNELE Don't say such things. GIOVANNI People on the street would turn to — (He looks out again) NENNELE What 's the matter? This is the second time that you 've interrupted yourself. What do you see out there? GIOVANNI I thought I saw a man there under the trees. I must have been mistaken. It was the moonlight casting shadows. 284 LIKE FALLING LEAVES [act iv NENNELE There is — there is someone ! GIOVANNI Do you see him? NENNELE Now he 's standing still. He 's in the shadow. No, (^She peers out ogam sadly) No, no. GIOVANNI You say it sadly. Are you disappointed because there 's nobody there.? Who did you think it was? NENNELE Why the idea! Who should it be? GIOVANNI Did you think it was Tommy? NENNELE No. Nobody, GIOVANNI You have n't any more of those bad thoughts? NENNELE Oh no. Never. GIOVANNI You '11 never think of leaving me again? But I suppose some day you '11 have to leave me. I must hope so. Indeed, I had hoped — NENNELE {grasping him hy the arm.) It is someone! There he is. He has come up in the shade of the hedge — to listen to us. Do you see him? GIOVANNI Where? NENNELE There, behind that shrub. Look at his shadow there in the moonlight. Do you see? {With joyous ex- ACT IV] LIKE FALLING LEAVES 285 vltation) He stayed. He was watching. He stayed for me. He understood. GIOVANNI What are you saying? Who is it? NENNELE Do you want me to call him? Massimo! Won't you come in? CUBTAIN SACRED GROUND (DiEITTI dell' AniMa) A PLAY IN ONE ACT 1894 PERSONS Paolo Mario, his brother Anna, his wife Maddaxena, a servant The action is laid at a sttmU town in the district of Brianza, near Lago di Como. The time is the present. SACRED GROUND A dignified hut simple room, with solid, old-fashioned furniture in good condition. It has a fireplace m which papers may be burned, a/nd contains a sofa and a writ- i/rtg-desTc among its furniture. At the back is the en- trance door. At the left there is a door leading into Anna's apartments. At the right is a window. Paolo is sitting at the writimg-desk, upon which lies a mass of papers in disorder. MaddalenM enters. PAOLO Well, has he got back yet? MADDALENA Not yet. PAOIiO You 've taken your time about looking for him. MADDALENA I went to the Post Cafe. PAOLO I told you to look in his room and in the garden. You did n't have to scour the countryside. MADDALENA I felt sure he was n't there. And he was n't at the Cafe either. But they told me where he was. It can't be long before he gets back. He went to the Poggio station to meet the engineer who is coming to see about the water supply. The tax collector saw him start off on foot. He always walks. But 290 SACRED GROUND he '11 come back in the stage on account of the en- gineer. The stage ought to be here at any minute. But it 's certain that — Are you listening.? PAOLO No. You may go. MADDALENA Yes, sir. But it *s certain that if the engineer really comes, your brother won't go away tomorrow. You and your wife expect to go tomorrow, don't you.'' PAOLO Of course he 's going. — I don't know. — Yes, we 're going tomorrow. — Leave me alone and don't bother me. MADDALENA Well, you'll see if I 'm mistaken. I tell you that your brother won't go away tomorrow — or the day after tomorrow. Here he is. MAKio (enters) Have you been looking for me? PAOLO Yes, for the last hour. MADDALENA Your brother was just asking me — PAOLO I was n't asking you anything. Go away. (He takes her by the arm amd puis her out of the room) MAEIO What 's happened.'' PAOLO What an irrepressible old woman! Do you think she '11 stay there with her ear to the keyhole? MAKIO No. Don't bother about her. If you listen you 'U SACRED GROUND 291 hear her out in the garden already. What 's hap- pened? You seem all worked up. PAOLO {after a pause) Do you know why Luciano killed himself.'' MARIO No. PAOLO He killed himself for love — for love of Anna. 1 have the proofs — there they are on the desk. I found it out today — just a little while ago. He killed himself for love of my wife. You and I were his only relatives; he was my playfellow as a child and my dearest friend. And he tried to get her away from me. But she repulsed him. He kept on. She sent him a crushing answer, and in a fit of de- spair produced by it, he killed himself. MAKIO How did you find it out.? PAOLO I have the proofs, I tell you. I 've been reading them over for the last hour. I 'm still bewildered. They 've been there for a month. I was in Milan when I got the telegram from London announcing the suicide; and I went at once to Luciano's lodg- ings and gathered up all his papers and made a sealed packet of them which I brought here with me. MAUIO I told you to burn them. PAOLO I was going to ; but then I thought it best to wait until the management of the hospital to which he left his money had verified the accounts. An hour 292 SACRED GROUND ago the town clerk came here on behalf of the sub- prefect to bring me the pocketbook that was found on the body. You know our counsel sent it from London to the foreign minister. I was just about to lock it up in the desk when it occurred to me that it might contain something that could throw light on this strange suicide that had puzzled us all. (Mario moves tmeasilt/) Did you — by any chance — guess the reason? MAKIO Did I guess — ? PAOLO Leaving suspicions aside, did you know that he was in love with her? MAUIO Go on and tell your story. Don't get excited, PAOLO No. Answer. Did you know? MARIO Yes, I had noticed that Luciano was losing his head. PAOLO And you said nothing to me about it ! MAKIO What was I to say? When such things come to one from outsiders they loom much larger and are much more offensive. And then there was the possibility of my being mistaken. I never see you and Anna except for a short time here in the country. If you who live in the same house with her all the year round had noticed nothing. — Besides, Anna is a woman of character and quite able to take care of herself. SACRED GROUND 2^3 PAOLO Oh, Anna — Anna is a saint ! I have always thought so. But now — MARIO Go on. Tell your story. PAOLO In the pocketbook I found a letter, and I recognized Anna's handwriting on the envelope. MARIO Was it at all out of the way that your wife should write to our cousin.'' PAOLO Of course not. I read the letter. Here it is. (^Mario puts out Ms hand to take it) No. I '11 read it to you. (Reading) " You write me — " (Speakimg) There 's no superscription. (Reading) " You write me that if I don't answer, you will return at once. I love my husband. That is my answer — that, only that, and always that. Please don't torment me. — Anna." MARIO Well, well! PAOLO The scoundrel! MARIO What 's the date on that letter.? PAOLO Luciano himself took care to make known the day and the hour that he got the letter. He wrote under- neath in pencil : " Received today, the 20th of June, at eleven o'clock in the morning." He killed himself before noon. 294 SACRED GROUND MAKIO Poor fellow ! It 's pretty evident that he went in- sane. That writing alone shows it. PAOLO Of course I did n't stop there. I opened the sealed packet. In it I found four other letters from Anna, all to the same eifect and in the same tone. The first is dated three years back. It contains only a few words. She sends back to Luciano a letter that he had written her. I looked for the letter, but it was n't there. He must have destroyed it and kept only hers. Then there is a note from Rome. You know that last winter Anna was in Rome with her mother for a month. Needless to say, the lover ran after her. Anna refused to see him. Then there is a long one which must have been written when he was recovering from that fall from his horse. It 's the only long one of the five — reasoning with him, imploring him in terms of affection. A wonderful letter, kind, lofty. Read it, read it. MARIO No, no, no! PAOLO Listen — just to this — MARIO No, I don't want to. PAOLO It 's all about me, and about how he and I were such good chums as boys. She speaks of you too. She says — MARIO No, please. It 's not necessary. I don't want to listen to proofs of my sister-in-law's honesty. — SACRED GROUND 295 Why keep dragging out those poor letters ? It 's a great pity that you ever discovered them at all. PAOLO A great pity ! Is it a great pity that I can now stop weeping for a false friend who tried to rob me of — MAEIO Oh, stop harping on it. He 's dead, and he robbed you of nothing. And even if he were alive, he would stiU rob you of nothing. Anna was quite able — PAOLO Yes, how about that.? How about that.? Is that a little thing.? Is that a great pity.? I 've never had a shade of doubt concerning Anna — never — and the thought never entered my head. — But it 's one thing not to doubt, not to have a thought of doubt- ing, but it 's quite another to have the actual proof of her fidelity and love. " I love my husband," is the refrain of all her letters. MAKIO Did she have to tell you so.? PAOLO She didn't teU me. She told him. She told him, you understand. Luciano had all the qualities that attract women. He was younger and handsomer than I. He talked well; he was fuU of enthusiasm and courage. MARIO It seems to give you great satisfaction to praise him now. PAOLO A great pity! If I had done as you wanted me to and burned those papers, and then some fine day 296 SACRED GROUND had found out about this affair, how could I ever have been sure — MABIO Certainty seems to make you suspicious! PAOLO What do you mean? MARIO This. If you had been suspicious a year ago, per- haps what has now happened might have been avoided. I did wrong not to open your eyes. If he had had a break with you, perhaps Luciano would never have killed himself. PAOLO But I should never have had this proof. MABIO Your peace of mind is dearly paid for — by others. PAOLO It 's no use for me to try to pretend that I feel at all sorry for Luciano. MAEIO I 'm not speaking of him. PAOLO Of whom, then.'' MARIO Of your wife. Try to imagine how she must feel. PAOLO Do you think she blames herself — ? MARIO She can't do otherwise. PAOLO She seemed very much grieved, but not in any turmoil. SACRED GROUND 297 MARIO You don't see what 's going on all the time. You only notice things when they're unexpectedly pushed imder your nose. Besides, Anna has great control over herself. PAOLO And she has done her duty. MARIO She has been doing it for some time. PAOLO I '11 make her happy again ; I '11 console her. — You '11 see, Mario. It seems as if I were back again in the first days of marriage — as if from today she were entirely mine. MARIO Leave it to time to console her. You 've read and found out, and that ought to be enough. There 's no need for Anna to know. PAOLO She was here an hour ago, when the town clerk brought me the pocketbook. But she went out im- mediately after. MARIO Then she does n't know that you 've read — PAOLO But she '11 probably infer that I have. MARIO Not necessarily. And in any case she '11 be grateful to you if you pretend not to know. PAOLO Oh, come now ! Let 's not split hairs. Nothing could be flatter than to prepare a plan of conduct 298 SACRED GROUND in a case like this. What Anna did, she did for me. And it 's I who must think of making it up to her. She did it for me, for me, do you understand? MAEIO Has anybody said that she did n't? Why should you fuss and fret so? PAOLO I 'm not fussing and fretting. Of course I shall not go up to her and say : " I 've read your letters and thank you so much." You understand that when I speak of making her happy and consoling her, I mean to do so by tenderness, by the most limitless confidence. I have always been like that. I was like that when she fell in love with me. There 's no reason why I should make myself over, even though I don't suit you. MABIO How you take it! PAOLO It 's you who take it ill. You have n't said a decent word to me. I expected something very different from you. Hearing you talk, one might think that this discovery was a disgrace. Has it done any harm beyond what had already been done? Luciano has been dead a month, and the first sorrow has already been softened down. And if I had remained igno- rant about the whole thing, that would not have brought him back to life, would it? He didn't succeed in doing me the injury he intended. Peace to his ashes! I have the certainty of my wife's love; and, no matter how you may feel about it, that seems to me the best stroke of luck that could come my way. SACRED GROUND 299 MARIO Come here. {He puts his arm about Paolo's neck) You know that I love you? PAOLO Yes. MAKIO Well then, if you 're satisfied, I 'm satisfied. Does that suit you? PAOLO Yes. And now go and do your packing. MAKIO Oh, by the way, I can't go tomorrow. PAOLO No? MAKIO Falchi, the engineer, has just come. And the day after tomorrow the water company meets. PAOLO Oh, to the deuce with the water company! MAKIO I can't get rid of it so easily ; I 'm the president. PAOLO We had decided to go today, and we were staying over on your account alone. MAKIO But what can I do? I had to sell the hay. And now it 's a question of three days, perhaps four. PAOLO Suppose Anna and I go in the meantime? We 've been paying rent for the chalet for the past fort- night. You can come as soon as you *re free. MAKIO If you think — 300 SACRED GROUND PAOLO I '11 tell you. The day after tomorrow is Anna's birthday. In the days when business kept me in Milan all through July, Anna and I always passed that day alone together. We did n't make any point of doing so, but it happened that way. Last year I was able to get away the first of July and we came here intending to stay until September. Well, three days before her birthday, Anna begged me to take her for a trip to Switzerland. She did n't tell me why, but she insisted that she wanted to go at once. We went to Interlaken and from there up as far as Murren. On her birthday we were in Murren. It was such a delightful spot, and Anna was so charmed with it that I engaged a chalet, then and there, for this year. A fortnight ago, you, who never before have been known to move, unex- pectedly suggested going with us — MABIO Was it indiscreet of me.'' PAOLO Not at all. You could see for yourself that Anna was pleased. She 's very fond of you. MARIO Yes — PAOLO When you found that you would have to stay over, it was she herself who suggested that we wait for you. But that first delay would n't keep us from getting there in time; this second one would. And I myself, especially after this, am anxious to be there on a certain day. You '11 call it childish, I suppose — SACRED GROUND 301 MAKIO No. It 's all right. I '11 come after you. PAOLO We put off going until tomorrow on your account, but seeing that you don't intend to come right away, we might as well leave this evening. {Changmg his toTie) I feel like being off — getting away from here. Those letters — MABIO Burn them. Give them to me. PAOLO Oh no — not yet. MABIO Yes, go — go this evening. It 's better. But Anna will have to make good use of the time. ANNA (entering) Why shall I have to make good use of the time? MASIO I was just telling Paolo that I can't go tomorrow. I shall be kept here three or four days more. But there 's no reason why you two should stay here in the heat and wait for me. Paolo has to be in Milan the first of September; every delay shortens his holiday. I 'm old enough to travel alone, and as soon as I can get away, I '11 join you. What do you think.? ANNA Do what suits you best. MABIO Besides that, I want to have the house and garden all cleaned up. You two would be in the way, but I'm needed to oversee the thing. 302 SACRED GROUND PAOLO And since Mario is going to stay, I told him that we 'd go this evening. ANNA So soon? PAOLO Your trunks are almost packed, aren't they? MARIO You '11 save a day. And at this time of the year it 's better to travel by night than by day. The St. Gotthard pass is wonderful by moonlight. ANNA (absent-mmdedly) Yes — MAKio {to Paolo) Then you 'd better go right over to the livery stable in the square and tell them to send around a car- riage. When does the train leave Poggio? PAOLO Twenty minutes past seven. MARIO Tell him to be here at six. I should send Battlsta to order it, but he had to go with the engineer. Besides, it 's better to see the carriage yourself ; he has a number of antediluvian arks. PAOLO Why don't i/ou go? You know him and his arsenal; you could make a better choice. Excuse me if — MARIO Perhaps you're right. Anna, shall I send Madda- lena to help you with your trunks? ANNA Yes, thank you, Mario. Send her, please. SACRED GROUND 303 MAEio {going out) Then we '11 have dinner at jBvc. PAOLO Yes. [Mario goes out. A pause follows. Anna takes a few steps toward the writing-desk. Paolo rushes up to her, takes her in his arms and kisses her) ANNA {freeing herself violently) Oh, how horrible ! {The words " How horrible " slip involuntarily from her lips, rather breathed than said) PAOLO {dismayed) Anna! ANNA Was there one of my letters in that pocketbook? PAOLO Yes — there was, ANNA Did you read it? PAOLO Yes. ANNA I killed a man — and you kissed me for it ! PAOLO I did n't mean it. I had made up my mind not to tell you. Besides, Mario advised me not to. Then, when I looked at you — such a flood of tenderness came over me! But what was that word you said, Anna.'' ANNA Forgive me. And promise me that you '11 never speak about all this again — that you '11 never refer to it directly or indirectly — now or at any time in the future — never. 304 SACRED GROUND PAOLO I promise. ANNA And see that you keep your promise. - PAOLO Oh! ANNA See that you keep it. I know you. It 's terrible to think that you 've found out. As soon as I came in, I read in your eyes that you knew — I had hoped and prayed that you would never know. But as soon as I came in, I saw at once. {With an imper- ceptible touch of mocking pity) You had such a modest, embarrassed air. You see, I know you so well! Shall I tell you? When Mario suggested that you go to see about the carriage — I thought — he won't go. I had to smile when you sent him. PAOLO I noticed it — and wondered. ANNA Yes? Mario saw me smUe too — and understood. PAOLO Please don't say so. It 's all right for you to under- stand me. ANNA In exchange, eh? And then, when Mario was going out, I thought too : now, as soon as we 're alone, he '11 come up and kiss me. PAOLO But you see — ANNA That, too, was natural, was n't it ? SACRED GROUND 305 PAOLO I love you so much, Anna ! {Long pause) It *s strange how you seem to overawe me. I say some- thing, and immediately I think: Ought I to have said it? Ought I to have kept quiet? It 's the first time that I 've ever had that sort of feeling about you. Both of us need a change. ANNA Yes. — But I don't want to go today. PAOLO No? But you just said — ANNA I 've thought better of it. There is n't even time to get ready. PAOLO But your trunks are already packed, ANNA Oh, there *s a lot of stuff to go into them yet. PAOLO We have a good eight hours. ANNA I 'm tired. PAOLO And Mario has gone to order the carriage. ANNA It will do just as well for another day. PAOLO Well, you 'U surely go tomorrow? ANNA Not today, at any rate. ' PAOLO I don't even know how to explain to Mario. It makes you seem so undependable. 306 SACRED GROUND ANNA Oh, Mario will understand. PAOLO Better than I? ANNA I didn't mean — PAOLO Anna, you have n't forgiven me yet for reading those letters. ANNA There you are, referring to them already ! — Oh, that 's all right, Paolo ; it is n't that. I have noth- ing to forgive you. Believe me. There is n't a bit of anger or bitterness in me. I should have given anything in the world to keep you from knowing — for your own sake, for your good, for your peace of mind — not for myself. But yet I felt that some- time or other — (Pause) You '11 know some day that there has been an unnecessary tragedy. PAOLO What do you mean? ANNA I don't know. Don't pay any attention — forgive me. (/* about to leave the room) PAOLO Are you going? ANNA Yes. PAOLO Won't you even tell me whether or not you '11 go tomorrow? ANNA We have plenty of time to decide. SACRED GROUND 307 PAOLO Oh, well then, there 's nothing more to say. [Anna goes out. PAOLO (after a pause) An unnecessary tragedy! (He sits with his elbows on his knttes and his head in his hamds) MAEio (entering) It 's all right. And how about Anna.'' PAOLO She 's just gone out. MARIO Maddalena will be here right away. She had gone to the wash-house. Here now, brother, get up and bestir yourself and get rid of this obsession. Of course, just at first — It 's best for you to go at once. The trip will brighten you up. PAOLO We *re not going. MARIO What? PAOLO Anna refused to go. MARIO Why.? PAOLO How should I know? MARIO Did you tell her — PAOLO She understood, she asked me — I could n't deny it. MARIO Did she ask you right out of a clear sky, without your saying anything whatever about it? 308 SACRED GROUND PAOLO For Heaven's sake, don't put me through a cross- examination now. If you only knew what ideas have been going through my head! MAB.IO Would you like me to speak to her? I think myself that it 's a very bad thing for you to stay here. PAOLO Do what you can. You understand her so well! She said as much herself. MAKIO But you must promise me not to go puzzling your brains in the meantime. PAOLO What 's the use of my promising? I don't keep my promises. She said that too. She knows me. — You don't know me. MARIO Is she in her room? PAOLO I think so. MARIO And do try to forget about it. PAOLO Oh, wait ! If — but no, go on, go on. — We 'U see later. [Mario goes out. PAOLO (takes the letter from his pocketbook amd reads very deliberately, acceniing each word) " You write me that if I do not reply, you will return at once." {Speaking) You write me! I wonder where that letter is? (Reading) "I love my husband. That is my answer, that, only that and always that. I SACRED GROUND 309 beg you not td torment me." (^Speaking) I beg you not to torment me — Uhmm ! MADDAiiENA {entering) Here I am. PAOLO You 're not needed — not for the present, at any rate. We '11 call you when we want you. MADDALENA Excuse me, sir ; but is it true — what they 're say- ing around the town? PAOLO What.? MADDALENA That the town clerk brought you Signor Luciano's pocketbook this morning, with a lot of money for the poor in it.? PAOLO What a ridiculous idea? MADDALENA The town clerk's servant has just been saying so at the wash-house. PAOLO There was no money in the pocketbook. The town clerk himself knows that. MADDALENA It would n't have been surprising if there had been. Signor Luciano did n't visit us often, but when he did, he was a great spender. PAOLO I 'm glad to hear it. MADDALENA Just last year, Liberata, the miner's widow, who went to America to join her son — the one that you 310 SACRED GROUND gave fifty lire to. — Well, Signor Luciano gave her a hundred. PAOLO What a lot of idle talk ! Why, he was n't even here. MADDALENA He wasn't here? Why, I saw him myself — PAOLO Oh, for the Lord's sake — ! The woman got news that her husband had been killed in a mine, and that her son wanted her to go to America, the day before I left for Switzerland, a year ago yesterday or today. I remember it because I was able to give her that little money that I had collected for her in gold. She was to leave in two days — MADDALENA Yes. PAOLO What do you mean by "yes"? Luciano wasn't here. I know he was n't. MADDALENA He came the day that Liberata left for America. PAOLO Oh! Two days after we left! MADDALENA Yes. He came in the morning. PAOLO Did he go to his own place? MADDALENA No, no, he came here. But he found nobody but your brother. The poor fellow was bored to death and went right away again. PAOLO Ah ! I did n't know. — Then you 're right. — Oh, SACRED GROUND 311 c ■ ' he came ? You 're right. Oh, he was generous ! He left everything he had to the hospital. MADDALENA Yes, but he knew the hospital ! — MAUio (callmg from withm) Maddalena ! MADDALENA Here I am. MARIO (enters) My sister wants you. [^Maddalena goes out. MAEio (to Paolo) I 've managed to persuade her. PAOLO It 's a fine thing to have a good advocate ! MARIO And, as you see, I did n't have to use much eloquence. PAOLO I bet I can guess how you did it. MARIO Oh, it was very simple. I — PAOLO No, let me say it. I should like to have my little triumph too. You gave up the business that was keeping you and decided to leave with us, MARIO Exactly. PAOLO Eh.'' Didn't I know? I was going to tell you be- fore you went out, but then I thought I 'd wait and see. And when you made that suggestion, Anna suddenly agreed,'' 312 SACRED GROUND MABIO Do you object. PAOLO Why, of course not. The more the merrier! Are we not going to have a good time.'' And for that purpose new places, travels, hotels and all that sort of thing are all right. But company is best of all! It 's only when you 're running away that you need to reduce your numbers. MARIO What 's that you 're saying? PAOLO {puts Ms hands on Mario's shoulders amd looks him straight in the face) It 's when you 're rimning away, you understand, that you need to reduce your numbers — when you 're running away — as Anna and I were doing last year. MAEIO I don't understand what you mean. PAOLO You did n't even tell me that Luciano was here last year — nor when he was here. MASIO I don't know — I don't remember. PAOLO Oh, don't try to put me oflf with that! You knew, and you knew that Anna insisted on running away so as to avoid him. And I ran away with her, un- suspecting fool ! A pretty figure I cut — the hus- band — taking the train to rush off — before the other one arrived! MARIO Well, suppose it to be true. It tells you neither more nor less than the letters. SACRED GROUND 813 PAOLO No. A little more. Everything tells a little more. Put one little grain on top of another, and after a while you have a pile that can crush the life out of you. It tells a little more. It was one thing to keep him at a distance, and it was another to run away from him. You keep a troublesome person at a distance — ^without imploring him, however! But you run away because you 're afraid ! IklABIO Uh! PAOLO And look here, let's make a little investigation, so to speak. Let 's see. It 's improbable that he wrote her that he intended to come. Indeed, it "s certain that he did n't write her, because she would have answered : " You write me that you are coming. — I love my husband. — I implore you to stay where you are." HASIO Oh! PAOLO So it must have been she — who foresaw his inten- tion. She felt him coming — by some divination — MAKIO You 're the first husband to feel injured because his wife did her duty. PAOLO Uhmm — duty — dreary word ! MABIO If there is a good woman in the world — PAOLO Woman — or wife."" 314 SACRED GROUND MASIO It *s the same thing. PAOLO Not at all ! She 's a woman to everybody ; she 's a wife to me alone. Do you think any man ever mar- ried a woman because she was good? Never in the world! I married because I loved and believed my- self loved. There are thousands of good women. There is only one whom I love. There is only one who loves me — if that many ! MAEIO Paolo ! PAOLO And if she loved hhn? Tell me, if she loved him and repulsed him on account of virtue and duty.'' Tell me. What sort of figure do I cut? If he were alive, we might have it out, and I might win. But he 's dead — 'he killed himself for love of her. If she loved him, there 's nothing in the world that can tear him out of her heart now. MAKIO You think — PAOLO I don't know. And it *s just that ! It 's not knowing. I want to know — I want her to tell me to my face. And she shall tell me! Oh, I had a premonition of this as soon as I read that first letter. I had no suspicions before, so I believed that " I love my hus- band." But I felt all at once as if I had been struck a blow that hurt — that hurt. And I could n't understand what it was. Oh, what a long time it takes for certain fears to take shape! At first they gnaw and gnaw — and you can't make out what they SACRED GROUND 315 are. I was happy; I told you I was happy; I wanted to convince myself of it. But you could see that fear was gnawing at me. And if she loved him.'' Oh! Her action was so much the more praise- worthy, was it.!" Everybody would praise her. Such a saint! I, too, would go down on my knees to praise her if she were somebody else's wife. But she 's mine ! It 's not for me to be my wife's judge. I 'm too much an interested party to be a good judge. I 'm the owner — she 's mine — it 's my interests that are at stake ! You '11 say I ought to admire her because when she could have taken everything, she took only a part. But I can see only what she has taken, not what is left. MAKIO Brother, you must be crazy! PAOLO But can't you see that she abhors me? MARIO Oh, my God! PAOLO She abhors me! You weren't here a moment ago. Can't you see that she has to have you around to help her endure my presence.'' MARIO Today, perhaps — because she knows that you've read. — Did n't I warn you? It 's terribly embar- rassing for her. PAOLO No, it 's not only today. You 've never budged from this place — never. For the fifteen years that you've been living this country life, you've never been away from here for a week. And then a fort- 316 SACRED GROUND night ago you quite suddenly took it into your head to become a traveller. Did she ask you to? MAEIO I solenmly swear — PAOLO I wouldn't believe anything you told me. Anna shall tell me herself. MAKIO What are you going to do? PAOLO (^about to leave the room) I 'm going to ask her. MAEIO No, for Heaven's sake, Paolo! PAOLO Let me go. MAKIO No, no! Maddalena is in there with her. PAOLO That 's easily remedied. {Calls in a loud voice) Anna! MABIO Oh, what an ungrateful wretch! PAOLO If she loved me, it was n't hard for her to reject him. — If she loved him, I don't owe her any gratitude. ANNA {entering) Did you call me? PAOLO {to Mario, who is about to leave the room) No, no — • stay. Yes, Anna, I wanted to ask you one thing. Whatever your answer is, I '11 believe it. ANNA I 'm sure you wOl. SACRED GROUND 317 PAOLO Was it you who asked Mario to come with us? I don't mean today. ANNA I never asked him — neither today nor at any other time. MAEIO Now you see ! ANNA I did n't ask him and I did n't suggest it to him. I feel forced to say, however, that if Mario hadn't offered to come, I shouldn't have been willing to go either. PAOLO Today, of course. But how about a fortnight ago? MARIO Oh, can't you see how ridiculous it all is ? I told you before — ANNA No, Mario, it is n't ridiculous. It 's quite natural that Paolo should want to know ; and he has a right to question me. PAOLO I don't want to appear to be standing on my rights. ANNA You make a mistake in not doing so. We should stand upon our own — and respect those of others. A fortnight ago I should have gone with you alone. MARIO Oh, thank God! PAOLO Were you afraid — that she might say no ? 318 SACRED GROUND ANNA But when Mario suggested going with us — I was very glad. PAOLO That 's the same thing as saying that my company would have bored you. ANNA No, it would n't have bored me. But it would have been painful to me. PAOLO And may I ask why? ANNA Now that we have gone this far, you may. Because then you did n't know the reason of the tragedy that had occurred, but now you do know it. And now, when you know, you will understand that I must have been much afflicted. But for the sake of your peace of mind I had to hide my affliction from you; and I had a right to hide it, since I had nothing to reproach myself with toward you. You can't help realizing that it would be harder for me to hide my feelings if we two were alone together — every hour — every hour — ! While the presence of a third person — MARIO Now you see! Now you see! ANNA Then Mario had the happy thought of going with us. PAOLO Mario, who knew. ANNA I don't know whether or not Mario knew. SACRED GROUND 319 PAOLO Did he never speak to you about it? MARIO Don't answer him, Anna, don't answer him. Come away. He 's ill — he 's not reasonable — poor fellow — it '11 pass off — and then he 'U understand — ANNA Oh no. It 's unnecessary — PAOLO An unnecessary tragedy, eh, Anna? ANNA Have you anything more to say to me? PAOLO (imperiously) Yes. I want to see the letters that Luciano wrote you. ANNA Of course ! I '11 go and get them. (She is about to go) PAOLO Remember I want them all. ANNA {returning and handimg him a hey) They are in my desk, in the first drawer to the right. They are tied together with a black ribbon. PAOLO Very well. (^He goes out) MAKIO Forgive him, Anna ; he does n't know what he 's doing. He loves you so much — and he 's so weak. ANNA Oh, he has no mercy ! MAEIO Like all weak people. But he loves you, he loves you. 320 SACRED GROUND ANNA So much the worse. His love will be his ruin. MABIO No. It 's your place to help him. ANNA Perhaps — as long as I can do any good. [^Paolo returns with the letters i/n his hand. He goes to the desk, takes up the others, throws them all mto the fireplace and sets fire to them. MA£IO What are you doing? Anna — look! ANNA (^stands motionless, watching the letters burn and murmuring in a low voice as if through a dream) Gone! Gone! Gone! Gone! \^Paolo goes up to Anna with Ms hands clasped in a frenzy of supplication. He hursts into tears and falls down on his knees before her. Mario goes out half touched and half disgusted. PAOLO (^ still on his knees) And now — can you forgive me? ANNA (in an indulgent and hopeless voice, reluctantly placing her hand on his head) Get up, get up. PAOLO Tell me you forgive me. I swear that I should be glad to die here and now. ANNA Yes, yes. But get up; don't stay in that position. It hurts me. PAOLO {rising) I don't know what it was that got into my head — but I 've suffered horribly. ANNA Yes, I can see that you have — yes — calm yourself. SACRED GROUND 321 PAOLO Mario did n't — It was he who irritated me from the very beginning. (Anna is about to leave the room) Don't go away — stay here a moment. {Anna sits down on the sofa) You see that violent fit did n't last long. It was on account of Mario's being here. Mario is good and reasonable, but his presence .irritated me. — Yes, yes,, you were right. But you must also understand my state of mind. (Rises and walks up and down) When all is said and done, what does this outbreak mean.? It means that I love you. — And it seems to me that 's the essential thing. One must look to the root of things. We 've been married for five years, and I ask you if I 've ever given you the slightest reason for com- plaint. I think not. And five years are five years. I have worked my way into a good position. You have always been able to go into society. I never cared much for amusements that are nothing but amusements. I used to have my bachelor friends, and my club — where other husbands go after they 've been married a year or so. I gave them all up. I don't want to make a virtue out of it, but — ANNA Please don't walk up and down so much. PAOLO Excuse me. Will you let me sit down here beside you.? (Long sil^ice) When shall I see you smile again, Anna.? No, don't get up. Then you have n't forgiven me! ANNA What do you want, Paolo.? What do you want me to do.? Tell me quickly. 322 SACRED GROUND PAOLO You made me promise never to say anything about — ANNA Yes, but I also told you that you would n't keep your promise. You 're making a mistake, however. Believe me. Don't ask me anything. When there is no more danger, I promise you — and I keep my promises — I promise you that I will tell you every- thing without your asking me. And it will be a good thing for both of us. But I want to be the one to decide when. PAOLO Very well, Anna, don't teU me anything. — But come away with me, with me alone. I '11 speak to Mario about it. He was only coming on your account, and he 'U be much more pleased to see us go away to- gether as good friends. I understand that it 's pain- ful to you to recall those memories. Very well, instead of reminding you of them, I 'U help you to forget them — I swear I will. I swear that I '11 never refer to them again. But come away with me, come with me, and you '11 see how much love — ANNA Don't insist on it, Paolo. If you insist I '11 go with you, but — PAOLO No, no, I don't insist. You see that I 'm begging for you; I don't want you by force. But think again, think again. I realize what you have done; and I '11 spend all the rest of my life in making up to you for it. I realize it. There is n*t a saintlier woman in the world than you. But you ought to SACRED GROUND 323 try to put yourself in my place and have some pity for me too. ANNA {smiling bitterly) Ah! PAOLO Why do you want to keep up this torment? You said : when there is n't any more danger. What danger can there be? On whom does that danger depend — on you or on me? What is there about us that time can change? I have always loved you; I love you now ; and at this moment I love you more than I have ever loved you before. — Give me your hand — just your hand. God, Anna, you're so beautiful ! And you 're mine — you 're my wife ! And the vow that you plighted to me when you married me was not only a vow of fidelity but of love. Come away with me, come with me! ANNA No, no, no! PAOLO No? Are you afraid — that you '11 be unfaithful to him? ANNA Paolo ! Paolo ! PAOLO And suppose I insist upon it? ANNA You can't insist upon it. PAOLO But suppose I do? ANNA Paolo ! 324 SACRED GROUND PAOLO Suppose I command you? ANNA In one moment you would destroy all my work. But — your violence would set me free. PAOLO Go on and say it aU. ANNA Is that what you want? Have we come to that? I 've done all I could — ! PAOLO Yes, go ahead. Say it. ANNA I loved Luciano and I still love him. PAOLO Oh! ANNA I loved him, I loved him. — Do you hear? — And it gives me the most intense joy to tell you so. And you never saw that I was dying with the desire to scream out my secret! And when I watched you driving me to bay with your fierce curiosity, I said to myself : it 's coming, it 's coming ! — It has come now. I loved him, I love him, and I have never loved anyone in the world but him ! And I am suffer- ing an agony of remorse for my virtue. Now you tnow. PAOLO Very well. (7s about to leave the room) ANNA Oh no. You must stay here now ; it 's your turn to listen to me. You wanted me to speak. Now I 'm speaking. Now it 's I who will insist on being SACRED GROUND 326 heard. Of course, you realize that after a talk like this, it 's all over between you and me. So I must tell you everything. I listened to you, I will listen to you again if you want me to. But now you must listen to me. What have you ever done for me.'' What help have you ever given me? Did you see when you ought to have seen.? Did you even sus- pect.'' No. A man had to die — and even that was n't enough ! When you were not suffering as you suffer now, were you able to see that I was suf- fering.'' You thought my grief was for the death of one of your relatives ! You could n't understand that the very soul was crushed out of me : you slept beside me those first nights and never noticed that I had to stuff the blankets into my mouth to keep from screaming aloud! Then all at once you found out the facts. And what were those facts.'' That I, your wife, through long years, in silence, had stood guard over your peace of mind and fulfilled what the world calls my duty. Then your curiosity was awakened, and to make up for lost time you tried to violate my soul, to pry into its innermost depths. Oh no, Paolo, no ! That can't be done — neither by you nor by me. One must not try to know every- thing. And you can't walk into people's souls by the front door; you have to creep into them by stealth. You tried to force mine open. Very well, you 've had the satisfaction of seeing. There 's nothing more there for you. PAOLO No.'' You're in the right, of course? — Well, you are in the right — even I recognize it. But then, I 've never had your love ? You said so yourself. 326 SACRED GROUND I've never had your love? Well, then? You're in the right. But do you know what I'll do? I'll drive you out of my house. ANNA (joyously) Oh, I '11 go, I '11 go, I '11 go. And I '11 never come back ! And you must n't make any demands on me, or ever come near me again. I have no more strength to keep me merciful. When I 've said good-bye I shall be dead as far as you are concerned! \^She runs into her room. Paolo, inotionless, thwnder- strtick, stands waiting. Anna returns with her hat and coat on and crosses the stage as if to go out. PAOLO No, Anna, no, no, no! Anna, no! For pity's sake, wait ! We 're both crazy ! What would become of us? I need you! {Approaching her) Don't go. I don't want you to, you know I don't. I was crazy. Don't go. You'll see — our whole lives — (Anna tries to tear herself away) No, for pity's sake ! If you go — if you once get away — if you speak — I feel that it 's inexorable. Stay, stay, Anna ! ANNA (freeing herself) Good-bye! (She goes out) CUETAIN