ACT II - SCENE I

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ACT II: SCENE I

(SCENE.--A park with old lofty trees. In the foreground, to the
right, an arbour with a seat. The KING is sitting, talking to BANG,
who is a man of gross corpulence.)

BANG. And I felt so well in every way that, I assure your Majesty,
I used to feel it a pleasure to be alive.

THE KING (drawing patterns in the dust with his walking stick). I
can quite believe it.

BANG. And then I was attacked by this pain in my heart and this
difficulty in breathing. I run round and round this park, on an
empty stomach, till I am absolutely exhausted.

THE KING (absently). Couldn't you drive round, then?

BANG. Drive?--But it is the exercise, your Majesty, that--

THE KING. Of course. I was thinking of something else.

BANG. I would not mind betting that I know what your Majesty was
thinking of--if I may say so without impertinence.

THE KING. What was it, then?

BANG. Your Majesty was thinking of the socialists!

THE KING. Of the--?

BANG. The socialists!

THE KING (looking amused). Why particularly of them?

BANG. I was right, you see! Ha, ha, ha! (His laughter brings on a
violent fit of coughing.) Your Majesty must excuse me; laughing
always brings on my cough.--But, you know, the papers this morning
are full of their goings on!

THE KING. I have not read the paper.

BANG. Then I can assure your Majesty that the way they are going on
is dreadful. And just when we were all getting on so comfortably!
What in the world do they want?

THE KING. Probably they want to get on comfortably too.

BANG. Aren't they well off as it is, the beasts? Excuse me, your
Majesty, for losing my temper in your Majesty's presence.

THE KING. Don't mention it.

BANG. You are very good. These strikes, too--what is the object of
them? To make every one poor? Every one can't be rich. However, I
pin my faith to a strong monarchy. Your Majesty is the padlock on
my cash-box!

THE KING. I am what?

BANG. The padlock on my cash-box! A figure of speech I ventured to
apply to your Majesty.

THE KING. I am much obliged!

BANG. Heaven help us if the liberals come into power; their aim is
to weaken the monarchy.

(A BEGGAR BOY comes up to them.)

BEGGAR BOY . Please, kind gentlemen, spare a penny! I've had nothing
to eat to-day!

BANG (taking no notice of him). Aren't there whispers of the sort
about? But of course it can't be true.

BEGGAR BOY (pertinaciously). Please, kind gentlemen, spare a penny!
I've had nothing to eat to-day.

BANG. You have no right to beg.

THE KING. You have only the right to starve, my boy! Here! (Gives
him a gold coin. The BEGGAR Boy backs away from him, staring at
him, and gripping the coin in his fist.)

BANG. He never even thanked you! Probably the son of a socialist!--
I would never have opened this park to every one in the way your
Majesty has done.

THE KING. It saves the work-people a quarter of am hour if they can
go through it to get to their work.

(The GENERAL appears, driving the BEGGAR BOY before him with his
stick.)

THE GENERAL (to the BEGGAR). A gentleman sitting on a seat gave it
you? Point him out to me, then!

BANG (getting up). Good morning, your Majesty!

THE KING. Good morning! (Looks at his watch.)

THE GENERAL. That gentleman, do you say?

THE KING (looking up). What is it?

THE GENERAL. Your Majesty? Allow me to welcome you back!

THE KING. Thank you.

THE GENERAL. Excuse me, sir; but I saw this fellow with a gold coin
in his hand, and stopped him. He says your Majesty gave it to him--?

THE KING. It is quite true.

THE GENERAL. Oh--of course that alters the case! (To the BEGGAR.)
It is the King. Have you thanked him? (The boy stands still,
staring at the KING.)

THE KING. Are you taking a morning walk on an empty stomach because
of a weak heart, too?

THE GENERAL. Because of my stomach, sir--because of my stomach! It
has struck work!

BEGGAR BOY . Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! (Runs away.)

THE GENERAL. I am astonished at your Majesty's having thrown this
park open to every one.

THE KING. It saves the work-people a quarter of an hour if they can
go through it to get to their work.--Well, General, it seems you
have become religious all of a sudden?

THE GENERAL. Ha, ha, ha! Your Majesty has read my Order of the Day,
then?

THE KING. Yes.

THE GENERAL (confidentially). Well, sir, you see things couldn't go
on any longer as they were. (Whispers.) Debauchery in the ranks! I
won't say anything about the officers; but when the men take to
such courses openly--!

THE KING. Oho!

THE GENERAL. My brother the bishop and I, between us, composed an
Order of the Day on the subject of the necessity of religion--
religion as the basis of discipline.

THE KING. As a matter of fact the bishop was the first person I
met here to-day.--Is he suffering from a disordered stomach, too?

THE GENERAL. More so than any of us, Sir! Ha, ha, ha! (The KING
motions to him to sit down.) Thank you, Sir.--But, apart from that,
I have had it in my mind for some time that in these troublous days
there ought to be a closer co-operation between the Army and the
Church--

THE KING. In the matter of digestion, do you mean?

THE GENERAL. Ha, ha, ha!--But seriously, Sir, the time is
approaching when such a co-operation will be the only safeguard
of the throne.

THE KING. Indeed?

THE GENERAL (hurriedly). That is to say, of course, the throne
stands firm by itself--God forbid I should hint otherwise! But
what I mean is that it is the Army ants the Church that must
supply the monarchy with the necessary splendour and authority--

THE KING. I suppose, then, that the monarchy has no longer any
of its own?

THE GENERAL (jumping up). Heaven forbid that I should say such
a thing! I would give my life in support of the monarchy!

THE KING. You will have to die some day, unfortunately (Laughs
as he gets up.) Who is that coming this way?

THE GENERAL (putting up his eyeglass). That? It is the Princess
and Countess L'Estoque, Sir.

THE KING. Is the Princess suffering from indigestion too?

THE GENERAL (confidentially). I fancy your Majesty knows best
what the Princess is suffering from. (The KING moves away from
him.) I made a mess of that! It comes of my trying to be too
clever.--He is walking towards her. Perhaps there is something in
it, after all? I must tell Falbe about it. (Turns to go.) Confound
it, he saw that I was watching them! (Goes out. The KING returns to
the arbour with the PRINCESS on his arm. The COUNTESS and one of
the royal servants are seen crossing the park in the background.)

PRINCESS. This is a most surprising meeting! When did your
Majesty return?

THE KING. Last night.--You look very charming, Princess! Such
blushing cheeks!--and so early in the morning!

PRINCESS. I suppose you think it is rouge?--No, Sir, it is
nothing but pleasure at meeting you.

THE KING. Flatterer! And I went pale at the sight of you.

THE PRINCESS. Perhaps your conscience--?

THE KING. I am sorry to say my conscience had nothing to do with
it. But this morning I have been meeting so many people that are
suffering from indigestion that, when I saw your Highness walking
quickly along--

THE PRINCESS. Make your mind easy! My reason for my morning walk is
to keep my fat down. Later in the day I ride--for the same reason.
I live for nothing else now.

THE KING. It is a sacred vocation!

THE PRINCESS. Because it is a royal one?

THE KING. Do you attribute your sanctity to me? Wicked Princess!

THE PRINCESS. Both my sanctity and any good fortune I enjoy. It
is nothing but my relationship to your Majesty that induces the
tradespeople to give me unlimited credit.

THE KING. You don't feel any awkwardness about it, then?

THE PRINCESS. Not a bit! The good folk have to maintain many worse
parasites than me!--By the way, talking of parasites, is it true
that you have pensioned off all your lords-in-waiting and their
hangers-on?

THE KING. Yes.

THE PRINCESS. Ha, ha, ha! But why did you make the special
stipulation that they should live in Switzerland?

THE KING. Because there is no court in Switzerland, and--

THE PRINCESS. And so they could not fall into temptation again!
I have had many a good laugh at the thought of it. But it has its
serious side too, you know; because your Majesty cannot dispense
with a court.

THE KING. Why not?

THE PRINCESS. Well, suppose some day you are "joined in the bonds
of holy matrimony," as the parsons so beautifully put it?

THE KING. If I were, it would be for the sake of knowing what
family life is.

THE PRINCESS. Like any other citizen?

THE KING. Precisely.

THE PRINCESS. Are you going to keep no servants?

THE KING. As many as are necessary--but no more.

THE PRINCESS. Then I must secure a place as chambermaid in your
Majesty's household as soon as possible. Because if my financial
circumstances are inquired into there will be nothing else left for
me but that!

THE KING. You have too sacred a vocation for that, Princess!

THE PRINCESS. How pretty! Your Majesty is a poet, and poets are
allowed to be enthusiastic about ideals. But the people are poets
too, in their way; they like their figure-head to be well gilded,
and don't mind paying for it. That is their poetry.

THE KING. Are you certain of that?

THE PRINCESS. Absolutely certain! It is a point of honour with
them.

THE KING. Then I have to weigh my honour against theirs! And
my honour forbids me--for the honour of my people and their
poetry--to keep up my palaces, my guards, and my court any
longer! _Voila tout_!

THE PRINCESS. My dear King, certain positions carry with them
certain duties!

THE KING. Then I know higher duties than those!--But, Princess,
here are we two seriously discussing--

THE PRINCESS. Yes, but there is something at the bottom of it that
is not to be laughed away. All tradition and all experience
proclaim it to be the truth that a king--the kingly majesty--should
be a dignity apart; and should be the ultimate source of law,
surrounded with pomp and circumstance, and secure behind the
fortified walls of wealth, rank, and hereditary nobility. If he
steps out of that magic circle, the law's authority is weakened.

THE KING. Has your Royal Highness breakfasted yet?

THE PRINCESS. No. (Bursts out laughing.)

THE KING. Because, if you had, I should have had great pleasure
is giving you a lesson in history; but on an empty stomach that
would be cruel.

THE PRINCESS. Do you know--you used to be such an entertaining
king, but this last year you have become so tedious!

THE KING. Most beautiful of princesses! Do you really mean to say
that I rise and fall in your estimation according as I have my
pretty royal gew-gaws on or not?

THE PRINCESS. In my estimation?

THE KING. Or in any one's? You know the story of "The Emperor's New
Clothes"?

THE PRINCESS. Yes.

THE KING. We don't keep up that pretence any longer.

THE PRINCESS. But will every one understand?

THE KING. You understand, don't you?

THE PRINCESS. The people or I--that is all the same, I suppose!
You are very flattering.

THE KING. Heaven forbid that I should lump your Royal Highness
together with the common herd; but--

THE PRINCESS. We have already had proof of the fact that your
Majesty does not hold the same place in _every one's_ estimation
that you do in mine, at all events!

THE KING. If I occupy a place of honour in your Royal Highness's
heart, your Royal Highness may be certain that--

THE PRINCESS. I will interrupt you to save you from speaking an
untruth! Because the way to attain to a place of honour in your
Majesty's heart is not to admire you as I do, but, on the contrary,
to shout out: "I despise you!"--Au revoir!

THE KING. You wicked, terrifying, dangerous--

THE PRINCESS. --omniscient and ubiquitous Princess! (Makes a deep
curtsey, and goes away.)

THE KING (calling after her). In spite of everything, my heart goes
with you--

THE PRINCESS. --to show me the door! I know all about that! (To
the COUNTESS.) Come, Countess! (Goes out. FALBE, an old gentleman
in civilian dress, has come in from the side to which the KING'S
back is turned.)

THE KING. How the devil did she--?

FALBE (coming up behind him). Your Majesty!

THE KING (turning quickly). Ah, there you are!

FALBE. Yes, sir--we have been walking about in the park for some
time; your Majesty was engaged.

THE KING. Not engaged--I was only deadening thoughts by gossiping.
My anxiety was too much for me. So they have come?--both of them?

FALBE. Both of them.

THE KING. Can I believe it! (Appears overcome.) But--you must wait
a moment! I can't, just at this moment--. I don't know what has
come over me!

FALBE. Are you unwell, sir? You look so pale.

THE KING My nerves are not what they should be. Is there any water
near here?

FALBE (pointing, in astonishment). Why, there is the fountain,
Sir!

THE KING. Of course! Of course!--I don't seem able to collect my
thoughts. And my mouth is as dry as--. Look here, I am going that
way (points); and then you can--you can bring the ladies here.--She
is here! She is here! (Goes out to the left, and turns round as he
goes.) Don't forget to lock the gates of the inner park!

FALBE. Of course not, Sir. (Goes out to the right, and returns
bringing in the BARONESS MARC and CLARA.) His Majesty will be
here in a moment. (Goes out to the right.)

CLARA. You must stay near enough for me to be able to call you.

BARONESS. Of course, my dear. Compose yourself; nothing can happen.

CLARA. I am so frightened.

BARONESS. Here is the King! (The KING comes in and bows to them.)

THE KING. Excuse me, ladies, for having kept you waiting. I am
very grateful to you both for coming.

BARONESS. We only came upon your Majesty's solemn promise--

THE KING. --which shall be inviolable.

BARONESS. I understand that you wish to speak to Miss Ernst alone?

THE KING. Your ladyship need only go up to the top of that little
slope. (Points.) I can recommend the view from there.

BARONESS. The interview will not be a long one, I suppose?

THE KING. If it is, I give your ladyship permission to come and
interrupt us. (The BARONESS goes out. The KING turns to CLARA.) May
I be permitted to thank you again--you especially--for having been
so good as to grant me this interview?

CLARA. It will be the only one.

THE KING. I know that. You have not condescended to answer one
of my letters--

CLARA. I have not read them.

THE KING. --so there was nothing left for me but to address myself
to the Baroness. She was _obliged_ to listen to me, Miss Ernst.

CLARA (trembling). What has your Majesty to say to me?

THE KING. Indeed, I can't tell it you in a single sentence. Won't
you sit down? (CLARA remains standing.) You must not be afraid
of me. I mean you no harm; I never could mean you any harm.

CLARA (in tears). Then what do you call the persecution that I
have endured for more than a year?

THE KING. If you had condescended to read a single one of my long
and many letters you would have known I call it a passion that is
stronger than--. (CLARA turns to go. The KING continues anxiously.)
No, Miss Ernst, by everything you hold dear, I beg you not to leave
me!

CLARA. Then you must not insult me!

THE KING. If that is an insult your terms are very hard.

CLARA. Hard? No, but what you have done to me is hard! (Bursts into
tears.)

THE KING. Don't cry, Miss Ernst! You don't know how you hurt me!

CLARA (angrily). Do you know what it means to try and ruin a young
girl's reputation?

THE KING. I repeat that you are doing me an injustice

CLARA. An injustice?--Good God! Do you know who I am?

THE KING (taking of his hat respectfully). You are the woman I
love.

CLARA (quietly and with dignity). Your Majesty has solemnly
promised not to insult me.

THE KING. As sure as there is a heaven above us I will not, and
could not, insult you! But I will obey your wishes.

CLARA. When a king says such a thing as--as you did just now, to a
poor little governess, it is more than an insult! It is so
cowardly, so base! And to think that you could have the heart to do
it after what you have done to my father!

THE KING. Your father?--I?

CLARA. Do you really not know who I am?

THE KING I don't understand--

CLARA. Whose daughter I am, I mean?

THE KING. I only know that your father's name is Ernst. (Suddenly.)
Surely your father is not--?

CLARA. Professor Ernst.

THE KING. The republican?

CLARA (slowly). Yes. (A pause.) I may remind your Majesty that he
was sentenced for high treason. And why? Because he warned the
young men at the university against the bad example set by the
King! (A pause.) He was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment.
In escaping from his prison he broke both his legs; and now he
lives in exile--a cripple--supported by what money I am able to
earn. (A pause.) You have ruined his life--and now you are trying
to ruin mine too!

THE KING. I beg of you--!

CLARA. I am ashamed of my tears. It is not compassion for myself
or for my father that makes them flow; it is the heartless
injustice of it all that overcomes me.

THE KING. God knows, if only I could atone for the injustice--!
But what can I do?

CLARA. You can let me alone, so that I may do my work in peace;
that is what you can do! Neither he nor I ask for more than that--
of you!

THE KING. I must do more than that!

CLARA. No! Can you not understand that a girl who is persecuted
by the king's attentions cannot be a governess? All you will
achieve will be to rob me and my father of our bread!--Oh, God!

THE KING. But my intention is not to--

CLARA (interrupting him). And you are not even man enough to be
ashamed of yourself!

THE KING. Yes, you may say what you please to me!

CLARA. I have nothing more to say to you. I have said what I have
to say. (Turns to go.)

THE KING. No, don't go! You have not even heard me yet. You don't
even know what I want to beg of you!

CLARA. My dishonour.

THE KING (vehemently). You misunderstand me utterly! If you had
only read a single one of my letters you would have known that
there is standing before you a man whom you have humbled. Ah, don't
look so incredulous! It is true, if there is any truth in anything.
You don't believe me? (Despairingly.) How am I to--! A man who has
risked your contempt for more than a year, and has been faithful to
you without even being allowed to see you or exchange a word with
you--who has had no thought for anything or any one else--is not
likely to be doing that out of mere idleness of heart! Do you not
believe that, either?

CLARA. No.

THE KING. Well, then, there must surely be some general truths that
you, as Ernst's daughter, cannot refuse to believe! Let me ask you
if you can understand how a man becomes what I was at the time when
I repeatedly insulted you. You must know, from your father's books,
in what an unnatural atmosphere a king is brought up, the soul-destroying
sense of self-importance which all his surroundings foster, until,
even in his dreams, he thinks himself something more than human;
the doubtful channels into which his thoughts are forced, while any
virtues that he has are trumpeted abroad, and his vices glossed
over with tactful and humorous tolerance. Don't you think that a
young king, full of eager life, as I was, may plead something in
excuse of himself that no other man can?

CLARA. Yes, I admit that.

THE KING. Then you must admit that the very position he has to
assume as a constitutional monarch is an acted lie. Think what a
king's vocation is; _can_ a vocation of that sort be hereditary?
Can the finest and noblest vocation in the world be that?

CLARA. No!

THE KING. Then suppose that he realises that himself; suppose that
the young king is conscious, however dimly and partially, of the
lie he is living--and suppose that, to escape from it, he rushes
into a life of pleasure. Is it not conceivable that he may have
some good in him, for all that? And then suppose that one morning,
after a night of revelling, the sun shines into his room; and he
seems to see upon the wall, in letters of fire, some words that
were said to him the night before--true words (CLARA looks up at
him in surprise)--the words: "I despise you!" (CLARA gives a
start.) Words like that can burn out falsehood. And he, to whom
they are said, may long to hear again the tones of the voice that
spoke them. No man has ever hated what has given him new life. If
you had read a single one of the letters which I felt impelled to
write even if they were refused acceptance--you would not have
called it persecution. (CLARA does not answer.) And, as for my
persecution of your father--I am not going to make any excuses for
myself; I will only ask you to remember that a king has no control
over the law and its judgments. I feel the sincerest respect for
your father.

CLARA. Thank you.

THE KING. And it is just part of the falsehood I was speaking of,
that he should be condemned for saying of me what I have said a
thousand times of myself!

CLARA (softly). Dare I believe that?

THE KING. Ah, if only you had read one of my letters! Or even the
little book of poems I sent you last! I thought that, if you would
not receive my letters, perhaps a book--

CLARA. I do not accept anonymous gifts.

THE KING. I see you are on your guard--although I don't admit that
the poems were mine! May I read it to you?

CLARA. I don't understand--.

THE KING. One that I marked--for you. It will prove to you what
you refuse to believe.

CLARA. But if the poem is not yours?

THE KING. The fact that I have marked it shows that its sentiments
apply to me. Will you let me read it to you? (CLARA looks up.) Do
not be too much surprised, Miss Ernst! (Takes a slim volume from
his pocket.) I found this somewhere. (Turns over the leaves.) It
won't take long to read. May I?

CLARA. If only I understood--

THE KING. --why I want to read it? Simply for the reason that you
have forbidden me to speak to you--or to write to you; but not, as
yet, to read to you! (CLARA smiles. A pause.) Do you know--a little
event has just happened in my life?--and yet not such a little one,
after all!

CLARA. What is that?

THE KING. I have seen you smile for the first time.

CLARA. Your Majesty!

THE KING. But, Miss Ernst, is it an insult, too, to see you smile?

CLARA (smiling). If I consent to hear the poem, shall not the
Baroness--

THE KING. --hear it also? With pleasure; but not at the same time!
Please! Because I am a very bad reader. You can show it to the
Baroness afterwards, if you like. (CLARA smiles.) May I?

CLARA. You are sure there is nothing in it that--

THE KING. You can interrupt me, if you think fit. It is called "The
Young Prince;" and it is about--no, I won't tell you what it is
about unless you will be so good as to sit down, so that I can sit
down too. If I stand up I shall be sure to begin declaiming, and I
do that shockingly badly!--You can get up again when you like, you
know! (CLARA smiles and sits down. The KING sits down beside her.)
Now, then! "The Young Prince." (To himself.) I can scarcely
breathe. (He begins to read.)

Full fed with early flattery and pride--

(Breaks off.) Excuse me, Miss Ernst! I don't feel--

CLARA. Is your Majesty not well?

THE KING. Quite well! It is only--. Now, then!

Full fed with early flattery and pride,
His sated soul was wearied all too young;
Honour and kingly pomp seemed naught to him
But whimsies from the people's folly sprung.

From such pretence he fled to what was real--
Fair women's arms, laughter and love and pleasure,
All the mad joy of life; whate'er he craved,
He found was given him in double measure.

Whate'er he craved--until one day a maiden
To whom he whispered, like a drunken sot,
"I'd give my life to make thee mine, my sweeting!"
Turned from him silently and answered not.

He sought by every means to win her to him;
But when his love with cold _contempt_ was met,
It was as if a judgment had been spoken
Upon his life, and doom thereon were set.

His boon companions left him; in his castles
None seemed to be awake but he alone,
Racked with remorse, enshrouded in the darkness
Of dull despair, yet longing to atone.

Then through the darkness she appeared! and humbly,
Emboldend by her gentleness of mien,
He sued once more: "If only thou wouldst listen!
If still 'twere not too late--"

(His emotion overcomes him, and he stops suddenly, gets up, and
walks away from CLARA. She gets up, as he comes back to her.)
Excuse me! I had no intention of making a scene. But it made me
think of--. (Breaks of again overcome by emotion, and moves a
little way from her. There is a pause as he collects himself before
returning to her.) As you can hear, Miss Ernst, it is nothing much
of a poem--not written by a real poet, that is to say; a real poet
would have exalted his theme, but this is a commonplace--

CLARA. Has your Majesty anything more to say to me? (A pause.)

THE KING. If I have anything more to say to any one, it is to you.

CLARA. I beg your pardon.

THE KING. No, it is I should beg yours. But I am sure you do not
wish me to lie to you.

CLARA (turning her head away). No.

THE KING. You have no confidence in me. (Control, his emotion.)
Will you ever, I wonder, come to under stand that the only thing I
crave for now is--one person's confidence!

CLARA. Any one who speaks as your Majesty has done to-day surely
craves for more than that.

THE KING. More than that, yes; but, first of all, one person's
confidence.

CLARA (turning away). I don't understand--

THE KING (interrupting her, with emotion). Your life has not been
as empty and artificial as mine.

CLARA. But surely you have your task here to fill it with?

THE KING. I remember reading once about the way a rock was
undermined, and the mine filled with gunpowder with an electric
wire leading to it. Just a slight pressure on a little button and
the great rock was shattered into a thousand pieces. And in the
same way everything is ready here; but the little pressure--to
cause the explosion--is what I am waiting for!

CLARA. The metaphor is a little forced.

THE KING. And yet it came into my mind as unconsciously as you
broke off that twig just now. If I do not get what I lack, nothing
can be accomplished--there can be no explosion! I shall abandon the
whole thing and let myself go under.

CLARA. Go under?

THE KING. Well, not like the hero of a sensational novel--not
straight to the bottom like a stone--but like a dreamer carried off
by pixies in a wood, with one name ever upon my lips! And the world
would have to look after itself.

CLARA. But that is sheer recklessness.

THE KING. I know it is; but I am reckless. I stake everything upon
one throw! (A pause.)

CLARA. Heaven send you may win.

THE KING. At least I am daring enough to hope that I may--and there
are moments when I almost feel certain of victory!

CLARA (embarrassed). It is a lovely morning--

THE KING. --for the time of year; yes. And it is lovelier here than
it is anywhere else!

CLARA. I cannot really understand a course of action which implies
a want of all sense of responsibility--

THE KING. Every one has their own point of view. A scheme of life,
to satisfy me, must have its greatest happiness hidden away at its
core; in my case that would be to have a house of my own--all to
myself, like any other citizen--from which I should go away to my
work, and come back to as to a safe refuge. That is the button on
the electric wire, do you understand? It is the little pressure on
it that I am waiting for. (A pause.)

CLARA. Have you read my father's book, _Democratic Monarchy_?

THE KING. Yes.

CLARA. He wrote it when I was a child; and so I may say that I grew
up amongst ideas like--like those I have heard from you to-day. All
the friends that came to our house used to talk to me about it.

THE KING. Then no doubt you heard the crown prince talked about,
too!

CLARA. I think I heard his name oftener mentioned at home than any
one's. I believe the book was written expressly for you.

THE KING. I can feel that when I read it. If only I had been
allowed to read it in those days! Do you remember how in it your
father maintains, too, that all reform depends on the beating down
of the hedge that surrounds royalty?--on a king's becoming, as he
says, "wedded to his people" in the fullest sense of the word, not
irregularly or surreptitiously? No king can share his people's
thoughts if he lives apart from them in a great palace, married to
a foreign princess. There is no national spirit behind a
complicated court life of outlandish ceremonial.

CLARA (turning away her head). You should have heard how vehemently
my father used to assert those ideas.

THE KING. And yet he abandoned them.

CLARA. Became a republican, you mean?

THE KING. Yes.

CLARA. He was so disappointed. (A pause.)

THE KING. I sometimes wonder every one isn't a republican! It must
come to that in the end; I can see that. If only royalties nowadays
thought seriously enough about it to realise it!

CLARA. It is made so difficult for them by those who surround them.

THE KING. Yes, you see, that is another reason why any such reform
must begin at home. Do you think that a king, who went every day to
his work from a home that was in every respect like that of one of
his people, could fail in the long run?

CLARA. There are so many different kinds of homes.

THE KING. I mean a home that holds love instead of subservience--
comfort instead of ceremony-truth instead of flattery; a home
where--ah, well, I need not teach a woman what a home means.

CLARA. We make them what they are.

THE KING. Surely; but they are especially what women make them. (A
pause.)

CLARA. The sun is quite strong now.

THE KING. But it can scarcely pierce through the screen of leaves
here.

CLARA. When the sun shines down like this and the leaves tremble--

THE KING. The sunshine seems to tremble too.

CLARA. Yes, but it makes one feel as if everything were trembling--
even deep down into our hearts!

THE KING. That is true.--Yes, its homes are the most precious
things a nation makes. Their national characteristics mean
reverence for their past and possibilities for their future.

CLARA. I understand better now what you meant.

THE KING. When I said I wanted to begin at the beginning?

CLARA. Yes. (A pause.)

THE KING. I cannot do otherwise. My heart must be in my work.

CLARA (smiling). My father had his heart in his work, too.

THE KING. Forgive me--but don't you think it was just the want of
an object in his life that led your father to push his theories too
far?--an object outside himself, I mean?

CLARA. Perhaps. If my mother had lived--. (Stops.)

THE KING. --he might have taken it differently; don't you think so?

CLARA. I have sometimes thought so. (A pause.)

THE KING. How still it is! Not a sound!

CLARA. Yes, there is the fountain.

THE KING. That is true; but one ends by hardly hearing a continuous
sound like that.

CLARA. There is a tremulousness in _that_ too. (Looks round her.)

THE KING. What are you looking for?

CLARA. It is time to look for the Baroness.

THE KING. She is up on that slope. Shall I call her? Or--perhaps
you would like to see a fine view?

CLARA. Yes.

THE KING. Then let us go up to her together! (They go.)

Content of ACT II: SCENE I [Bjornstjerne Bjornson's play/drama: The King]

_

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