Victor Hugo

“ Some one is here. Oh, it is you, young woman! It is you, Lady Jane. I frighten you. Don't be afraid. You know the turnkey Eneas betrayed us. Don't be afraid. I have already told you, child, you have nothing to fear from me. What was your ruin a month ago is your salvation to-day. You love Fabiano. There are only you and I in the whole world to-day who have a heart like that. Only you and I love him. We are sisters.
JANE.
Madame—
THE QUEEN.
Yes, you and I—two women, we are all he has! Every one else is against him; a whole city, a whole nation, a whole world. ”

“ Alas! we poor women, we never know just what is passing in a man's heart. We have to trust your eyes; and the handsomest eyes, Fabiani, are often the most false. But yours, my lord, are so full of loyalty, so full of candor, so full of good faith, they could not deceive, those eyes—could they? Yes, my beautiful page, your glances are artless and sincere. Oh, it would be shameful to take such heavenly eyes to betray with! Your eyes are the eyes either of a devil or an angel!
FABIANI.
Neither angel nor devil. A man who loves you!
THE QUEEN.
Who loves the Queen?
FABIANI.
Who loves Mary. ”

“ THE QUEEN.
Death to Fabiani! Do you hear that howling populace, my lords? You must throw a man out to them. The rabble is hungry!
SIMON RENARD.
What does your Majesty command?
THE QUEEN.
By heaven, my lords! it seems to me you all stand trembling around me! Upon my soul! must a woman show you your duty as noblemen? To horse, my lords, to horse! Are you afraid of the rabble? Are swords afraid of clubs?
SIMON RENARD.
Don't let things go any further. Yield, madame, while there is yet time. You can yet say "the rabble"; in an hour you will have to say "the people"! ”

“ You, so honest, so pure; you, whose brow has never been touched, except by my lips. I only feel, sometimes, that you look on the Queen's cavalcades and retinues with too much pleasure, that you enjoy too much the fine suits of velvet and satin, under which there are no hearts, no souls. Forgive me. My God! why do so many young noblemen come around here? Why am I not handsome, young, noble, rich? Gilbert the engraver—that is all I am! They are Lord Chandos, Lord Gerard Fitz-Gerard, Earl of Arundel, the Duke of Norfolk! ”

“ I know I am an honest man, I know I am a good workman; but I would rather be a robber and an assassin, and be loved by you. Jane, if you knew how much I love you!
JANE.
I know it, Gilbert, and it makes me weep.
GILBERT.
For joy, isn't it? Say it is for joy! Oh, I need to believe it. There is only that in the world—to be loved. I have only a poor workingman's heart, but my Jane must love me. Why do you always talk to me about what I have done for you? One single word of love from you puts all the gratitude on my side. I will damn myself and commit a crime, whenever you wish it. ”

“ FABIANI.
One moment more, Mary!
THE QUEEN.
It is time for the secret council to meet. Until now, there has been only a woman here. We must let the Queen enter.
FABIANI.
I wish the woman would keep the Queen waiting at the door.
THE QUEEN.
You wish, do you? You wish, do you? Look at me, my lord! Fabiani, you have a young and beautiful head!
FABIANI.
It is you who are beautiful, madame. You need only your beauty to be all-powerful. There is something on your head which tells me you are the Queen; but it is written plainer on your brow than on your crown! ”

“ MARION.
Oh, Heaven! DIDIER.
Another head!
Yes, two were needed. 'Tis the least, to bring
This Roman Cæsar one head in each hand. MARQUIS DE NANGIS.
Speak! By what right— LAFFEMAS.
Ask my lord cardinal.
All who survive a duel fall beneath
The ordinance. Give me your sword. DIDIER (looking at Saverny) .
Rash man! SAVERNY (drawing his sword and presenting it to Laffemas) .
'Tis here! MARQUIS DE NANGIS (stopping him) .
A moment! None is master here
Save me! I mete out justice high and low.
Our sire the King would be no more than guest.
[To Saverny.] Give up your sword to none but me. ”

“ I am the Queen. There is no time for astonishment. You, sir, are Gilbert, a workman, an engraver. You live somewhere beyond the borders of the river, with a woman named Jane, who is your betrothed, and who deceives you, whose lover is a man named Fabiano, who deceives me. You want revenge, so do I. In order to get it, I must be able to make any disposition I please of your life. It is necessary that you should say what I command you to say, no matter what it is. For you, there must be no longer either false or true, good or bad, justice or injustice—nothing but my vengeance and my will. ”

“ LORD MONTAGUE.
Have a care, my Lord Clinton! We are loyal subjects! Not a word against the Queen, everything against Fabiani.
SIMON RENARD (laying his hand on Lord Clinton's shoulder) .
Have patience!
LORD CLINTON.
Patience! That is easy enough for you to say, Mr. Simon Renard! You are bailiff of Amont in Franche-Comte, subject of the Emperor, and his embassador at London. You represent the Prince of Spain, the Queen's future husband. Your person is sacred to the favorite. But it is different with us. You see, for you, Fabiani is the lover; for us he is the butcher! ”

“ Here is a signature in blank which he has sent to me, in which I swear on my imperial crown that I will pardon him! My father's crown is worth as much as my mother's prayer-book. One oath destroys the other. But who says that I will pardon him?
SIMON RENARD.
He has boldly betrayed you, madame!
THE QUEEN.
What does that matter? All men are alike about that. I don't want him to die. Listen, my lord—I mean Sir Bailiff. Good God! you confuse my mind so much that I can't even tell whom I am talking to. Oh, I know all that you want to say to me! I know he is a vile, degraded, contemptible man. ”

“ I learned that Fabiani is certainly to be beheaded to-day, and you to-morrow, and from that moment I confess I lost my head, Gilbert. The scaffold drove Jane entirely out of my thoughts. Your death—
GILBERT.
My death! What do you mean by that word! My death is that Jane loves me no longer. From the day that I was no longer beloved, I was dead. Oh, yes! truly dead. Joshua, what has remained of me since that time won't be worth taking to-morrow. Oh, Joshua, you don't know, you can't understand what a man is when he loves. ”

“ Joshua, I would give, not a hundred years of life, since I no longer possess one day, but the eternity which will be mine to-morrow, just to see her smile at me once more—just once more before my death—and to have her say to me those dear words she used to say, "I love you." Joshua, Joshua, that is the way a man's heart is, when he loves. You think you would kill the woman who betrays you? No, you wouldn't kill her; you would lie at her feet afterward, the same as before, only you would be sad. You think I am weak? What should I have gained in killing Jane? ”

“ My lord duke, you are constable of the Tower; demand this man's sword!
FABIANI.
Here it is; but I protest. Admitting that it is proved that I deceived or seduced a woman—
THE QUEEN.
What does it matter to me whether you have seduced a woman? Do I concern myself about that? These gentlemen are witnesses, it is a matter of indifference to me!
FABIANI.
The seduction of a woman is not a capital offense, madame. Your Majesty could not procure Frogmorton's condemnation upon the same accusation!
THE QUEEN.
I believe he defies us now! The worm has become a serpent. Who says you are accused of that? ”

“ LORD CLINTON.
Yes. Why?
SIMON RENARD.
Look well! From here you can see the height and the depth of every favorite's fortune—Westminster and the Tower of London.
LORD CLINTON.
Well?
SIMON RENARD.
If God is with me, there is a man who at this moment is yet there [pointing to Westminster] , and who to-morrow, at the same time, will be here [pointing to the Tower] .
LORD CLINTON.
Pray God be with you!
LORD MONTAGUE.
The people hate him no less than we do. What a festival will his fall make in London!
LORD CHANDOS.
We have placed ourselves in your hands, Sir Bailiff. Dispose of us. What must we do? ”

“ JANE.
What a noble heart you have, Gilbert.
GILBERT.
Listen to me, Jane—laugh at me if you will; I am mad, I am jealous! I will tell you why. Do not get angry! It seems to me, for some time I have seen several young lords prowling around here. Do you know, Jane, I am thirty-two years old. For a poor, clumsy, badly-dressed workman like myself, who am no longer young, who am not handsome, what a misery it is to love a charming, beautiful girl of seventeen, who attracts all the handsome, gold-bedizened young nobles around her, as a light attracts the butterflies. Oh, I suffer; indeed, I do! ”

“ Jane has lost her honor, give it back to her! Proclaim her the daughter of Lord Talbot and the wife of Lord Clanbrassil, and then take my life.
THE QUEEN.
Your life! What do you want me to do with your life then? I didn't want it except to use for vengeance on this man—this Fabiano. You can't understand anything at all, can you? Well! I can't understand you, either. You talked about vengeance! That is the way you avenge yourself, is it? These men of the people are stupid! And after all, do you suppose I believe your ridiculous story about an heiress of Talbot? ”

“ The Jailer goes out.
I tremble; my knees sink under me; I have not strength enough to go myself. Ah, you have made me as mad as yourself! Miserable girl, you have made me as wretched as yourself. I curse you as you cursed me. My God, will the man get there in time? What a torturing anxiety! I can't see anything more. All is trouble in my soul. Does the bell toll yet? Is it for Gilbert? Is it for Fabiano?
JANE.
The bell ceases.
THE QUEEN.
Then the procession is on the place for the execution. Will the man get there in time? ”

“ THE QUEEN.
This creature whom I have loaded with benefits! this Neapolitan lackey whom I have made a noble knight and a proud earl of England. Ah, I ought to have expected this! But I am always like that; I am obstinate, and afterward I see that I am wrong. It is my fault. Italian stands for liar: Neapolitan for coward. Every time that my father made use of an Italian, he repented of it. This Fabiani! You see Lady Jane, unfortunate child, to what a man you have surrendered yourself! ”

“ Upon the royal crown which is here, and the divine gospel which is there, I swear it.
GILBERT.
The compact is concluded, madame. Have a tomb prepared for me and a nuptial bed prepared for the lovers. The lord I speak of is Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil. Talbot's heiress, behold her!
JANE.
What does he say?
THE QUEEN.
Am I dealing with a fool? What do you mean? Have a care, sir! You are bold to mock the Queen of England! In the royal chambers people should look to their words; there are times when the lips bring the head to the block! ”

“ What is visible of the Tower of London is also illuminated. Jane fixes her amazed eyes on this startling scene, the reflection of which lights up the theater.
THE QUEEN.
Oh, infamous city; rebellious city; accursed city; monstrous city—who soaks her holiday dress in blood, and who holds the torch for the executioner! You are afraid of it, aren't you, Jane? Doesn't it seem to you, as it does to me, that it cowardly defies us both; that it is watching us with its hundred thousand flaming eyes—us, feeble, forsaken women that we are, alone and lost in this sepulcher? ”

“ He sees on the ground the dagger with which Lord Clanbrassil killed the Jew; he picks it up with fearful haste.
Ah, you come too late; you can probably kill no one but myself. All the same, whether you fall from heaven or are vomited up from hell, I bless you. My Jane has betrayed me! Jane has given herself to this infamous man. Jane is the heiress of Lord Talbot. Jane is lost to me! O God! more terrible things have come to me in this hour than my brain can stand. ”

“ JANE.
Where are we, Joshua?
JOSHUA.
On the great landing of the staircase down which the criminals go to execution. It was draped in this way under Henry VIII.
JANE.
No way of getting out of the Tower?
JOSHUA.
The people are on guard at every exit. They want to be sure of getting their criminal this time. No one can go out before the execution.
JANE.
The proclamation they made from the balcony rings in my ears yet. This is a horrible thing, Joshua.
JOSHUA.
Oh, I've seen many such!
JANE.
If only Gilbert has been able to escape. Do you think he is safe, Joshua? ”

“ JANE (alone) .
Kind Heaven! What shall I do? It is I who have destroyed him. I must be the one to save him! I can never do it, never! A woman can do nothing! The scaffold— The scaffold! Oh, it is horrible! Come, no more tears; let us have action! I never can do it! I never can do it! Have mercy on me, my God! I think some one is coming. Whose voice is that? I recognize it. It is the Queen's voice! Ah, all is lost! ”

“ Perceiving the escort of Marquis de Nangis.
Well, my lord marquis, what is this brigade?
Are we besieged, or off to the Crusades?
To bring your guards thus boldly in my sight,
Are you a duke and peer? MARQUIS DE NANGIS.
I'm better, sire,
Than any duke and peer, created for mere show!
I'm Breton baron of four baronies. DUKE DE BELLEGARDE (aside) .
His pride is great, and here, unfortunate! THE KING.
Good! To your manors carry back your rights,
And leave us ours within our own domain.
We are justiciary! MARQUIS DE NANGIS (shuddering) . ”

“ LORD CHANDOS.
What do you mean to do?
SIMON RENARD.
You shall see. My Lord Chandos, when a woman reigns, caprice reigns. Politics are no longer a matter of calculation then, but of chance. You can count upon nothing. To-day does not logically bring to-morrow. Public affairs are no longer like a game of chess, but a game of cards.
LORD CLINTON.
That is all very well; but let us come to the point. When will you deliver us from the favorite? Time is pressing. To-morrow Tyrconnel will be beheaded. ”