Act 3 — Act III

Scene.—The same; but when the curtain rises, only the outside of the inn is now seen. It is unlighted; everything is in darkness.

Triboulet (knocking at the door): Make haste!

Saltabadil (bringing out a sack): Here is your man.

Triboulet (helping him carry it): Give me a light. I want to see him—is he really dead?

Saltabadil: We must not use a light. We might be seen. Where is the money?

Triboulet (giving him a bag): Here. (Looking at the sack) I have you at last!

Long have I waited for this happy hour!

Saltabadil: Come, throw it in the Seine!

Triboulet: I want no help. Your part is done. Leave me alone.

Saltabadil: Quick, then! Somebody may come by. Is the man mad?

[Triboulet has knelt down in the mud by the sack. The rain streams on him, and his face, convulsed with hideous joy, is illumined by the lightning. Saltabadil enters the inn and shuts the door.

Triboulet (feeling the sack): Yes! I can feel his spurs. It is the King! Now let the heavens break above my head, And the earth rock and open at my feet! The vengeance of a clown shakes the whole world! François, the pivot on which Europe turns, Is broken. German, Spaniard, and Turk Can make a slaughterhouse of Christendom. The King of France is dead!

[Leaping up in a fury, he kicks the sack.

François the First, Do you remember how you treated me? Who is the dog now, eh?—the dog to kick And tumble about to make the courtiers laugh? You liked my daughter, did you? A clown's brat Found favour with a king! You stooped too low. This is the road that you must take.

[He drags the sack to the parapet. While he is doing so, Maguelonne opens the door of the inn and lets out The King, who goes off singing gaily in the opposite direction.

Triboulet (lifting the sack on the parapet, to push it over): Go down!

The King: Oh, woman is fickle, and man is a fool To trust in her word!

Triboulet: Oh, God! Whose voice is that?

[He pulls back the sack.

The King (now unseen in the darkness): She changes without any reason or rule, As her fancies are stirred.

Triboulet: He has escaped! (Running up to the inn) Accursed villains, you have cheated me! (He pulls at the door, but it will not open.) Who have they put in the sack?

[He returns to it.

Some innocent wayfarer? I must see.

[He tears open the sack, and peers into it.

It is too dark (wildly). Has no one got a light?

[As he is dragging the body out of the sack the lightning irradiates it.

My daughter! God! My daughter! No, Blanche, no! I sent you to Evreux. It is not her.

[The lightning again flashes out, and clearly shows the pale face and closed eyes of the girl.

Speak, for the love of God! Speak! Oh, the blood! Blanche, are you hurt? Speak to me! Blanche!

Blanche (opening her eyes): Where am I? Father!

[She tries to rise, but falls back groaning. Triboulet takes her in his arms.

Triboulet: Blanche, have they struck you? It is too dark to see.

Blanche (in a broken, gasping voice): The dagger struck me ... but I ... Saved the king ... I love him. Father ... have they let him live?

Triboulet: I cannot understand.

Blanche: It was my fault ... Forgive me ... father, I——

[She struggles, speechless, in the agony of death.

Triboulet (shrieking): Help! Help! Oh, help!

[Rushing to the ferry-bell by the riverside, he rings it madly. The people in the cottages around come running out in wild alarm.

A Woman: What is it? Is she wounded?

A Man: She is dead.

Triboulet (taking the lifeless body in his arms and hugging it to his breast): I have killed my child! I have killed my child!

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