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_ ACT V - SCENE V
[A room at Lagoverde, The next day. Beatrice alone.]
BEA.
In sooth, I do not feel the earth so firm
Under my feet as yesterday it was.
All that I loved are gone to a far land,
And left me here alone, save for two children
And twenty thousand enemies, and the thing
Of horror that's in store for me. Almost
I feel my feet uprooted from the earth,
There's such a tugging at me to be gone.
Save for your children,
[Looking off stage towards Bianca's room.]
'twould be simple enough
To lay me down beside you in your bed,
And call on Death, who is not yet out of hearing,
To take me, too.
[Enter Fidelio.]
FID.
Mistress I have news for you.
Guido is dead!
BEA.
Is dead?
FID.
Ay, he is dead,
Dead of a dagger i' the back,--and dead enough
For twenty. Scarce were you gone an hour's time
We came upon him cold. And in a pool
Nearby, the Lady Francesca floating drowned,
Who last was seen a-listening like a ghost
At the door of the dungeon, 'Tis a marvelous thing!
But that's not all!
BEA.
Why, what more can there be?
FID.
Mistress, in the night the people of Fiori
Rose like a wind and swept the Duke's men down
Like leaves! Your throne is empty,--and awaits you!
[Enter Giulietta,]
GIU.
Madam.
BEA.
Ay, Giulietta.
GIU.
Madam, last night,
Before you came, she bade me tell you something,
And not forget. 'Tis this: That the foot stumbles,
The hand doth awkward things, and the foolish tongue
Says what it would not say,--but in the heart
Truth lies,--and all is well 'twixt her and you.
[She starts to go out, and turns back at the door.]
She bade me above all things to forget not
The last: that all is well 'twixt her and you.
[Exit.]
BEA.
[Slowly and with great content.]
She is not gone from me. Oh, there be places
Farther away than Death! She is returned
From her long silence, and rings out above me
Like a silver bell!--Let us go back, Fidelio,
And gather up the fallen stones, and build us
Another tower.
[THE END]
Edna St Vincent Millay's play: Lamp And The Bell: A Drama In Five Acts
_
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