James Cabell - The Jewel Merchants. A Comedy in One Act

GRACIOSA But in three months, Guido, I shall be sixteen. My sisters went to court when they were sixteen.

GUIDO In fact, a noble who is not rich cannot afford to continue supporting a daughter who is salable in marriage.

GRACIOSA No, of course not. (She speaks in the most matter-of-fact tone possible. Then, more impulsively, the girl slips down from the bench, and sits by him on the around.) Do you think I shall make as good a match as my sisters, Guido? Do you think some great rich nobleman will marry me very soon? And shall I like the court! What shall I see there?

GUIDO Marvels. I think—yes, I am afraid that you will like them.

GRACIOSA And Duke Alessandro—shall I like him?

GUIDO Few courtiers have expressed dislike of him in my presence.

GRACIOSA Do you like him? Does he too buy lavishly?

GUIDO Eh, madonna! some day, when you have seen his jewels—

GRACIOSA Oh! I shall see them when I go to court?

GUIDO Yes, he will show them to you, I think, without fail, for the Duke loves beauty in all its forms. So he will take pleasure in confronting the brightness of your eyes with the brightness of the four kinds of sapphires, of the twelve kinds of rubies, and of many extraordinary pearls—

GRACIOSA (With eyes shining, and lips parted.) Oh!

GUIDO And you will see his famous emerald necklace, and all his diamonds, and his huge turquoises, which will make you ashamed of your poor talisman—

GRACIOSA He will show all these jewels to me!

GUIDO (Looking at her, and still smiling thoughtfully.) He will show you the very finest of his gems, assuredly. And then, worse still, he will be making verses in your honor.

GRACIOSA It would be droll to have a great duke making songs about me!

GUIDO It is a preposterous feature of Duke Alessandro's character that he is always making songs about some beautiful thing or another.

GRACIOSA Such strange songs, Guido! I was singing over one of them just before you came,—

    Let me have dames and damsels richly clad      To feed and tend my mirth,    Singing by day and night to make me glad—

But I could not quite understand it. Are his songs thought good?

GUIDO The songs of a reigning duke are always good.

GRACIOSA And is he as handsome as people report?

GUIDO Tastes differ, of course—

GRACIOSA And is he—?

GUIDO I have a portrait of the Duke. It does not, I think, unduly flatter him. Will you look at it?

GRACIOSA Yes, yes!

GUIDO (Drawing out a miniature on a chain.) Here is the likeness.

GRACIOSA But how should you—?

GUIDO (Seeing her surprise.) Oh, it was a gift to me from his highness for a special service I did him, and as such must be treasured.

GRACIOSA Perhaps, then, I shall see yon at court, Messer Guido, who are the friend of princes?

GUIDO If you do, I ask only that in noisy Florence you remember this quiet garden.

GRACIOSA (Looks at him silently, then glances at the portrait. She speaks with evident disappointment.) Is this the Duke?

GUIDO You may see his arms on it, and on the back his inscription.

GRACIOSA Yes, but—(looking at the portrait again)—but … he is … so …

GUIDO You are astonished at his highness' coloring? That he inherits from his mother. She was, you know, a blackamoor.

GRACIOSA And my sisters wrote me he was like a god!

GUIDO Such observations are court etiquette.

GRACIOSA (With an outburst of disgust.) Take it back! Though how can you bear to look at it, far less to have it touching you! And only yesterday I was angry because I had not seen the Duke riding past!

GUIDO Seen him! here! riding past!

GRACIOSA Old Ursula told me that the Duke had gone by with twenty men, riding down toward the convent at the border. And I flung my sewing-bag straight at her head because she had not called me.

GUIDO That was idle gossip, I fancy. The Duke rarely rides abroad without my—(he stops)—without my lavish patron Eglamore, the friend of all honest merchants.

GRACIOSA But that abominable Eglamore may have been with him. I heard nothing to the contrary.

GUIDO True, madonna, true. I had forgotten you did not see them.

GRACIOSA No. What is he like, this Eglamore? Is he as appalling to look at as the Duke?

GUIDO Madonna! but wise persons do not apply such adjectives to dukes. And wise persons do not criticize Count Eglamore's appearance, either, now that Eglamore is indispensable to the all-powerful Duke of Florence.

GRACIOSA Indispensable?

GUIDO It is thanks to the Eglamore whom you hate that the Duke has ample leisure to indulge in recreations which are reputed to be—curious.

GRACIOSA I do not understand you, Guido.

GUIDO That is perhaps quite as well. (Attempting to explain as much as is decently expressible.) To be brief, madonna, business annoys the Duke.

GRACIOSA Why?

GUIDO It interferes with the pursuit of all the beautiful things he asks for in that song.

GRACIOSA But how does that make Eglamore indispensable?

GUIDO Eglamore is an industrious person who affixes seals, and signs treaties, and musters armies, and collects revenues, upon the whole, quite as efficiently as Alessandro would be capable of doing these things.

GRACIOSA So Duke Alessandro merely makes verses?

GUIDO And otherwise amuses himself as his inclinations prompt, while Eglamore rules Tuscany—and the Tuscans are none the worse off on account of it. (He rises, and his hand goes to the dagger at his belt.) But is not that a horseman?

GRACIOSA (She too has risen, and is now standing on the bench, looking over the wall.) A solitary rider, far down by the convent, so far away that he seems hardly larger than a scarlet dragon-fly.

GUIDO I confess I wish to run no risk of being found here, by your respected father or by your ingenious cousins and uncles.

GRACIOSA (She turns, but remains standing upon the bench.) I think your Duke is much more dangerous looking than any of them. Heigho! I can quite foresee that I shall never fall in love with this Duke.

GUIDO A prince has means to overcome all obstacles.

GRACIOSA No. It is unbefitting and a little cowardly for Duke Alessandro to shirk the duties of his station for verse-making and eternal pleasure-seeking. Now if I were Duke—

GUIDO What would you do?

GRACIOSA (Posturing a little as she stands upon the bench.) If I were duke? Oh … I would grant my father a pension … and I would have Eglamore hanged … and I would purchase a new gown of silvery green—

GUIDO In which you would be very ravishingly beautiful.

His tone has become rather ardent, and he is now standing nearer to her than the size of the garden necessitates. So GRACIOSA demurely steps down from the bench, and sits at the far end.

GRACIOSA And that is all I can think of. What would you do if you were duke,

Messer Guido?

GUIDO (Who is now sitting beside her at closer quarters than the length of the bench quite strictly demands.) I? What would I do if I were a great lord instead of a tradesman! (Softly.) I think you know the answer, madonna.

GRACIOSA Oh, you would make me your duchess, of course. That is quite understood. But I was speaking seriously, Guido.

GUIDO And is it not a serious matter that a pedler of crystals should have dared to love a nobleman's daughter?

GRACIOSA (Delighted.) This is the first I have heard of it.

GUIDO But you are perfectly right. It is not a serious matter. That I worship you is an affair which does not seriously concern any person save me in any way whatsoever. Yet I think that knowledge of the fact would put your father to the trouble of sharpening his dagger.

GRACIOSA Ye-es. But not even Father would deny that you were showing excellent taste.

GUIDO Indeed, I am not certain that I do worship you; for in order to adore whole-heartedly the idolater must believe his idol to be perfect. (Taking her hand.) Now your nails are of an ugly shape, like that of little fans. Your nose is nothing to boast of. And your mouth is too large. I do not admire these faults, for faults they are undoubtedly—

GRACIOSA Do they make me very ugly? I know that I have not a really good mouth,

GUIDO, but do you think it is positively repulsive?

GUIDO No…. Then, too, I know that you are vain and self-seeking, and look forward contentedly to the time when your father will transfer his ownership of your physical attractions to that nobleman who offers the highest price for them.