Anna Cora Mowatt

“ And you laugh, man, as though you fancied yourself there already. Mr. Tiffany
Ha, ha, ha! Adam Trueman
(imitating him) Ha, ha, ha! What on earth do you mean by that ill-sounding laugh, that has nothing of a laugh about it! This fashion-worship has made heathens and hypocrites of you all! Deception is your household God! A man laughs as if he were crying, and cries as if he were laughing in his sleeve. Everything is something else from what it seems to be. I have lived in your house only three days, and I've heard more lies than were ever invented during a Presidential election! ”

“ Tiffany, I desire that you will purchase Count d'Orsay's "Science of Etiquette," and learn how to conduct yourself--especially before you appear at the grand ball, which I shall give on Friday! Mr. Tiffany
Confound your balls, Madam; they make footballs of my money, while you dance away all that I am worth! A pretty time to give a ball when you know that I am on the very brink of bankruptcy! Mrs. Tiffany
So much the greater reason that nobody should suspect your circumstances, or you would lose your credit at once. Just at this crisis a ball is absolutely necessary to save your reputation! ”

“ Rise and listen to me, Dame, for on your implicit obedience hangs your future welfare - perhaps your life. Bab
Life! life! Oh! Surely you won't kill me? Monsieur Antoine - I mean your Grace, consider my years - Mercy! Mercy! Oh my poor neck will be stiff for a year! Rich
Be silent, and listen. You were walking last evening in these gardens with Blanche, - by what unlucky chance you came here - by what strange means obtained admission, I have not time to learn. The King saw Blanche - is enamored of her - desires that she shall be presented at court. Bab
Blessed Mary! what an honor! ”

“ I told you Fashion would the fashion be! Adam Trueman
Then both its point and moral I distrust. Count Jolimaitre
Sir, is that liberal? Colonel Howard
Or is it just? Adam Trueman
The guilty have escaped! Mr. Tiffany
Is, therefore, sin made charming? Ah! there's punishment within! Guilt ever carries his own scourge along. Gertrude
Virtue her own reward! Adam Trueman
You're right, I'm wrong. Mrs. Tiffany
How we have been deceived! Prudence
I told you so. Seraphina Tiffany
To lose at once a title and a beau! ”

“ Armand, I scarce can see thee. - Art thou there? Arm
Blanche! Blanche! my own, my only love ! Oh, Heaven! she grows more ghastly white. Etienne! Quick, fly for help, - and Jaqueline bring Babette! (Exeunt Jaqueline and Etienne, r. u. r.) How cold thou art! Speak to me, Blanche! thou hearest me? Tell me thou hearest me! Blan
Yes, Armand, yes, I hear thee, my beloved, yet I feel - that we are parting - death - Arm
We cannot part! This is not death ! no, no, we will not part! Blan
Nay, Armand, war not thou with heaven's high will! Death cannot break the bond that knits our souls! ”

“ Gertrude! Gertrude
Colonel Howard! Colonel Howard
Gertrude, I must--must-- Gertrude
Yes, indeed you must, must leave me! I think I hear somebody coming--Mrs. Tiffany would not be well pleased to find you here--pray, pray leave me--that door will lead you into the street. (Hurries him out through door, C. F. ; takes up her watering pot, and commences watering flowers, tying up branches, &c.)
What a strange being is man! Why should he hesitate to say--nay, why should I prevent his saying, what I would most delight to hear? Truly man is strange--but woman is quite as incomprehensible! ”

“ Count Jolimaitre
(delightedly) The least said? We won't say anything at all. She's coming round--couldn't resist me! (aside) Charming Gertrude-- Millinette
Quoi? Vat that you say? Count Jolimaitre
My sweet, adorable Millinette, hold your tongue, will you? (aside to her) Millinette
(aloud) No, I vill not! If you do look so from out your eyes at her again, I vill tell all! Count Jolimaitre
Oh, I never could manage two women at once,--jealousy makes the dear creatures so spiteful. The only valor is in flight! (aside) Miss Gertrude, I wish you good morning. Millinette, mon enfant, adieu. ”

“ Our Blanche never denied a request of yours, Armand, nor will we who loved her so dearly do so. (Exit slowly and sorrowfully, followed by all the maidens. Arm
(after gazing awhile on Blanche.) Oh! Blanche! my own - though lost - still, still my own! A little while I yet may gaze on thee, And in the treasury of my soul may store The memory of each stiff'ning lineament Where beauty lingers still! It cannot be! Shall those soft eyes no more look into mine, Nor veil themselves when with too bold a joy I gazed within their azure depths? shall love, " With its aurora, tint thy cheek no more? ”

“ The Stage—what is it, though beneath thy ban,
But a daguerreotype of life and man?
Arraign poor human nature, if you will,
But let the Drama have her mission still;
Let her, with honest purpose, still reflect
The faults which keeneyed Satire may detect.
For there be men who fear not an hereafter,
Yet tremble at the hell of public laughter!
Friends, from these scoffers we appeal to you!
Condemn the false, but O, applaud the true.
Grant that some wit may grow on native soil
And art's fair fabric rise from woman's toil. ”

“ It's Tiffany's precious daughter that you're in love with. Colonel Howard
Miss Tiffany? Never! I never had the slightest pretension-- Adam Trueman
That lying old woman! But I'm glad of it! Oh! Ah! Um! (looking significantly at Gertrude and then at Howard) I see how it is. So you don't choose to marry Seraphina, eh? Well now, whom do you choose to marry? (glancing at Gertrude.) Colonel Howard
I shall not marry at all! Adam Trueman
You won't? (looking at them both again) Why you don't mean to say that you don't like-- (points with his thumb to Gertrude.) ”

“ Blan
'Twas the Duchess that willed it, and not I, my liege. - King
Thy tone, Fair Blanche, is grave, yet should no sadness mar its music! Now thy life shall be one pageant of long delight! Thine every hour a joy newer and gladder, and thine every wish fulfillment. Blan
Sire, I have but one - restore me to my childhood's home, to him, without whose presence even that home were joyless! King
A fate more bright awaits thee; hast thou not divined it? Knowest thou not thou art beloved? Blan
I do, my liege. ”

“ Not permit Seraphina to become a Countess? Mr. Tiffany, you are out of your senses! Mr. Tiffany
That would not be very wonderful, considering how many years I have been united to you, my dear. Modern physicians pronounce lunacy infectious! Mrs. Tiffany
Mr. Tiffany, he is a man of fashion-- Mr. Tiffany
Fashion makes fools, but cannot feed them. By the bye, I have a request,--since you are bent upon ruining me by this ball, and there is no help for it,--I desire that you will send an invitation to my confidential clerk, Mr. Snobson. Mrs. Tiffany
Mr. Snobson! ”

“ Shame on you, Antony! Put a price on your own flesh and blood! Shame on such foul traffic! Mr. Tiffany
Save me--I conjure you--for my father's sake. Adam Trueman
For your father's son's sake I will not aid you in becoming a greater villain than you are! Gertrude
(C.) Mr. Trueman--Father, I should say--save him--do not embitter our happiness by permitting this calamity to fall upon another-- Adam Trueman
Enough--I did not need your voice, child. I am going to settle this matter my own way. (Goes up to Snobson--who has seated himself and fallen asleep--tilts him out of the chair.) ”

“ Fashion don't permit the critters to have heads or hearts, but it allows them stomachs! (to Tiffany, who advances) So it's not fashionable to feel, but it's fashionable to feed, eh, Anthony? ha, ha, ha! (Trueman and Tiffany retire towards supper room. Enter Gertrude, followed by Zeke, R.)
Gertrude
Zeke, go to the supper room instantly,--whisper to Count Jolimaitre that all is ready, and that he must keep his appointment without delay,--then watch him, and as he passes out of the room, place yourself in front of Millinette in such a manner, that the Count cannot see her nor she him. ”

“ When love - the soul's first love and last - the love no absence changes, and which time and sorrow chastise to strengthen - is too fiercely curbed, its passion breaks all other ties - defies all chances and all perils - leaps all barriers, that hold or part it from its idol - or dragged by a chain too mighty to the earth, the iron eats its slow and silent way into the soul - and then - we die - my father! Rich
I know thy sex too well, girl, at its tears or wrath to change my purpose, - woman's grief is wind and rain one summer hour will end. ”

“ Tiffany shall be informed of your resolution? Mr. Tiffany
Yes. Snobson
Enough said! That's the ticket! The credit of the concern's safe, Sir! (returns to his seat.)
Mr. Tiffany
How low have I bowed to this insolent rascal! To rise himself he mounts upon my shoulders, and unless I can shake him off he must crush me! (aside) (Enter Trueman, C., down on L. H.)
Adam Trueman
Here I am, Antony, man! I told you I'd pay you a visit in your money-making quarters. (looks around) But it looks as dismal here as a cell in the States' Prison! Mr. Tiffany
(forcing a laugh) Ha, ha, ha ! States' Prison! ”

“ Dear Mam'selle Blanche, to think that I should have found you at last! and through that beautiful little page! Blan
But, Armand! Oh! my best Jaqueline, my friend, thou hast seen Armand - and he knows I live - he spoke of me as in our early days - Jaq
Ay, that he did, Mam'selle, and I am sure he loves you as much as ever. Blan
Bless thee, Jaqueline! (embracing her fervently) Oh! how one hour of joy Can brighten a whole age of agony! The weary years that sundered us so long have vanished - every pang that wrung my soul is blotted out from memory! ”

“ Mr. Snobson, it is not the fashion to introduce in France! Snobson
But, Marm, we're in America. (Mrs. T. crosses to Count, R.) The woman thinks she's somewhere else than where she is--she wants to make an alibi? (aside) Mrs. Tiffany
I hope that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you on Friday evening, Count? Count Jolimaitre
Really, madam, my invitations--my engagements--so numerous--I can hardly answer for myself: and you Americans take offence so easily-- Mrs. Tiffany
But, Count, everybody expects you at our ball--you are the principal attraction-- Seraphina Tiffany
Count, you must come! ”

“ But you will marry me? Count Jolimaitre
Give us your hand, MIllinette! Sir, command me for the most delicate pati--the daintiest croquette la royale--the most transcendent omelette soufflie that ever issued from a French pastry-cook's oven. ”

“ Tiffany surrounds you; the tempests, which her temper raises! Gertrude
They never harm me. Flowers and herbs are excellent tutors. I learn prudence from the reed, and bend until the storm has swept over me! Colonel Howard
Admirable philosophy! But still this frigid atmosphere of fashion must be uncongenial to you? Accustomed to the pleasant companionship of your kind friends in Geneva, surely you must regret this cold exchange? Gertrude
Do you think so? Can you suppose that I could possibly prefer a ramble in the woods to a promenade in Broadway? ”

“ Hey day! what next? Monsieur Armand, forsooth, and Mam'selle Blanche! how courteous we have grown! You're almost too polite Madame Babette! Bab
Mam'selle Blanche cannot dance upon the green to-day. Blan
Not dance, dear Dame, when I am chosen queen? And I, in turn, have chosen Armand king! Good Dame! dear Dame indeed, but I must dance! Arm
Are you possessed, my good Madame Babette? The villagers would tear your cottage down. Nonsense! Come, little queen, they wait for us. The Dame is but our subject after all! obedience is her duty, and not ours. Good-day, good Dame - good-day, Madame Babette! ”

“ Gertrude
(musingly) Friday night, while supper is serving, he is to meet Millinette here and explain--what? This man is an impostor ? His insulting me--his familiarity with Millinette--his whole conduct--prove it. If I tell Mrs. Tiffany this she will disbelieve me, and one word may place this so-called Count on his guard. To convince Seraphina would be equally difficult, and her rashness and infatuation may render her miserable for life. No--she shall be saved! I must devise some plan for opening their eyes. ”

“ Very beautifully arranged--does you great credit, madam! Here I encountered this young person. She was inclined to be talkative; and I indulged her with--with a--aw--demme--a few common places! What passed between us was mere harmless badinage--on my part. You, madam, you--so conversant with our European manners--you are aware that when a man of fashion--that is, when a woman--a man is bound--amongst noblemen, you know-- Mrs. Tiffany
I comprehend you perfectly--parfittement, my dear Count. ”

“ Woman! thou shalt not brave me thus! (seizes her) No human power can save thee - thou art mine! What are thy feeble struggles in my grasp? Blan
(sinking on her knees) Spare me, my liege, spare me! King
It is thy turn to sue, and all in vain! thou hast forgot that I am King, and thou hast no protector! Blan
(starting up) I have! I have! One who for sakes me not! One whom thou darest not brave! unloose thy hold or dread his fury! Heaven protects me still! (The King releases her, awed by her manner) Thou art my sovereign - I a friendless subject - I woman, and thou man! ”

“ But we have kings, princes, and nobles, in abundance--of Nature's stamp, if not of Fashion's,--we have honest men, warm hearted and brave, and we have women--gentle, fair, and true, to whom no title could add nobility. ”

“ Where is our Queen? our Queen! Bring us our Queen! (ARMAND and Villagers appear at window. Arm
(without) Patience, my friends, your patience while I seek her, and for an instant tarry where you are! Enter ARMAND lightly and quickly, R. D. F.
Arm
Blanche! Blanche! Queen Blanche! where are you dallying? Your subjects grow rebellious to behold you! Ah! who can wonder that they cannot live from thy sweet sight! And I, the least of all. Good-morrow Dame, they've sent me here to claim our faithless sovereign. Come, thou truant queen. ”

“ You must pacify Pa, and put him in a good humour before I come back, though now I'm to be a countess I suppose I shouldn't care!" Undutiful hussy! "We are going to make a little excursion and will be back in a week--Your dutiful daughter--Seraphina." A man's curse is sure to spring up at his own hearth,--here is mine! The sole curb upon that villain gone, I am wholly in his power! Oh! the first downward step from honor--he who takes it cannot pause in his mad descent, and is sure to be hurried on to ruin! Mrs. Tiffany
Why, Mr. Tiffany, how you do take on! ”

“ You know she will have her own way, and does with us all just what she pleases. She heard that the King was holding his court in Paris, and thought that her father, the Duke de Richelieu - Oh, dear, to think that the father of our little Blanche should be a Duke! what an honor, though he did shut her up in a convent, and made all the villagers believe that she was dead - well, she thought the Duke, her father, must be in Paris too, so she chose to come here. And do you know that Blanche has written twice to the Duke and told him where we are. ”

“ Ah! when I listen to thee, Armand, I tremble lest the artizan's poor garb hould hide the warrior's danger-loving heart. Arm
Nay, Blanche, to love my country with my soul is nor to love the warrior's perils - nor his triumphs. - All men, be they high or humble, owe to the land that gives them birth a tribute! And with his talents man may pay the debt, or with his industry, or with his blood ! ”

“ Thou and thy state, Armand, are not akin; And thy ambition wakes my fear - Yet why! - Why should he feel ambition to be great, whose nobler struggle, in a nobler strife, has made him good. Arm
My nature is not cast, sweet Blanche!, in mould so true and pure as thine ambition winds itself about the root of every vigorous mind. Ambition gives the startling impulse to its higher action! Ambition spurs it on - sustains - inspires! ”

“ Arise, Armand; the King but seldom sees his subjects' hearts unveiled. I value thine because I trust it. Hence, without delay; At noon the Captain of my Guard will know my wishes - seek him at that hour thou; When next we meet, be it at Fontenoye! Arm
My liege, not with my lips, but with my sword my gratitude shall thank thee! (going, returns) Must I leave thee, Blanche? But no, I will return to take one last farewell. My liege, at Fontenoye my arm shall prove my words. At Fontenoye! (Exit L l E. King
(approaching the couch, and gazing at Blanche) How potent is the sight of thee, O death! ”

“ The villagers coming here! Oh dear, Oh dear, I shall be ruined if the Duke finds them. Run, tell Blanche that I want her alone, and they must not enter. Tell her my poor neck - no, no, - tell her they must not come in. Jaq
I'll tell her, hut she wont mind; I wouldn't if I were she. (Exit. c. off L. R. D. F. Bab
(music) There they come sure enough! Oh, dear, what shall I do to get rid of them! If the Duke finds them and gets angry, I shall die of fright! Oh! my poor neck - I shall never again be sure that I have it on my shoulders. Blanche! Blanche! Is Blanche coming? ”

“ Blanche must be saved - the King must never more Behold her - to remove her secretly, would be impossible - yet at the risk of life, be it her's or mine - or both - she shall not breathe the court's contaminating air. ”

“ Armand, come back. 'Tis Blanche. She lives! Rich
My child! Hold, I command thee! Blan
Call me not thy child! Oh! what to me are nature's chance-knit ties To those that with rude hand thou sunderest now? It is the spirit's purer, stronger bonds through life - through death - to all eternity unchanging, holy, indestructible, - That join my soul to Armand! Part us not! ”

“ But one word more Of Armand. Woman may be constant - when Was man? what wouldst thou think? how wouldst thou act If Armand's troth were plighted to another? Blan
Another? Armand love and Armand wed another? No! the present could not thus belie the past! Yet is it true he thought - still thinks me dead; but death could only part, not disunite us! Armand love another - Oh wretch! to wrong his memory with the thought! Armand has not forgotten me -'tis false! ”

“ But, Monsieur Victor, a word concerning the young peasant, who yesterevening- Victor
Ah! You touch us nearly when you talk of her! Our love for the "illusive sex" for such we deem them- is our Achilles' heel- our vulnerable point! His Majesty, like ourself, has been cold for a season; but once more the intoxicating effect of the tender passion has overpowered us.In a word, his Majesty is pleased with this young piece of incarnate loveliness, we may say charmed. Enter King and Richelieu. ”

“ The hour of her reviving must be near. Nay, at this very moment animation may to her dormant form return. - All's lost unless - Your Majesty - (approaching him. King
Ah! Richelieu, look! Rich
This vain indulgence of your sorrow, sire, is to yourself injurious. King
Richelieu - no - Look - death itself hath lost its wonted terrors, touching her beauty but to borrow it! Death, did I say? It doth not seem like death! Rich
(much agitated) Not seem like death? I pray your Majesty, permit me, sire - let me conduct you hence. ”

“ Rich
(after pausing and looking at Armand,) Armand, I hated thee - had planned thy ruin - But yet I loved my child, and would have sold myself to slavery to have shielded her from Louis. Now, all feelings merge in one,that one the last! She lives - may live for thee. Find her, and she is thine! or if, when found, thou canst not from the royal libertine, defend her, save her as a Roman would. Arm
Fear not - the King is but a man! A man with no more rights than I, when on my rights he dares to trench! ”

“ For Heavenward as my tearful eyes I turn, A radiant vision meets them there, and bids Me guard my soul, unsullied by a deed That could divide us in that land of joy! My heart hath but one wish - my life one hope - All time one joy -that of rejoining thee! (Sinks at the head of the couch, and buries his head in his hands. Enter Victor, ushering in the King, L. D. l E. (Exit Victor, L. u.
King
A secret awe has paralyzed my limbs - I scarcely dare - (approaching the couch, perceives Armand) Ha! what is this! a youth o'erwhelmed with grief, kneeling beside her corse? ”

“ Dullness ends her weary reign. 'Tis plain this young enchantress will dethrone her. King
In sooth, she shall! Richelieu, my friend, be With speed let this new constellation shine Upon our court. - Some noble dame select, Beneath her high protection place this maid. ”