Vict.To-morrow night Shall see me safe returned.Thou art the star To guide me to an anchorage.Good night!
My beauteous star! My star of love, good night!
Prec.Good night!
Watchman (at a distance).Ave Maria Purissima!
Scene IV.-- An inn on the road to Alcala.
BALTASAR asleep on a bench.Enter CHISPA.
Chispa.And here we are, halfway to Alcala, between cocks and midnight.Body o' me! what an inn this is! The lights out, and the landlord asleep.Hola! ancient Baltasar!
Bal.(waking).Here I am.
Chispa.Yes, there you are, like a one-eyed Alcalde in a town without inhabitants.Bring a light, and let me have supper.
Bal.Where is your master?
Chispo.Do not trouble yourself about him.We have stopped a moment to breathe our horses; and, if he chooses to walk up and down in the open air, looking into the sky as one who hears it rain, that does not satisfy my hunger, you know.But be quick, for I am in a hurry, and every man stretches his legs according to the length of his coverlet.What have we here?
Bal.(setting a light on the table).Stewed rabbit.
Chispa (eating).Conscience of Portalegre! Stewed kitten, you mean!
Bal.And a pitcher of Pedro Ximenes, with a roasted pear in it.
Chispa (drinking).Ancient Baltasar, amigo! You know how to cry wine and sell vinegar.I tell you this is nothing but Vino Tinto of La Mancha, with a tang of the swine-skin.
Bal.I swear to you by Saint Simon and Judas, it is all as Isay.
Chispa.And I swear to you by Saint Peter and Saint Paul, that it is no such thing.Moreover, your supper is like the hidalgo's dinner, very little meat and a great deal of tablecloth.
Bal.Ha! ha! ha!
Chispa.And more noise than nuts.
Bal.Ha! ha! ha! You must have your joke, Master Chispa.Butshall I not ask Don Victorian in, to take a draught of the Pedro Ximenes?
Chispa.No; you might as well say, "Don't-you-want-some?" to a dead man.
Bal.Why does he go so often to Madrid?
Chispa.For the same reason that he eats no supper.He is in love.Were you ever in love, Baltasar?
Bal.I was never out of it, good Chispa.It has been the torment of my life.
Chispa.What! are you on fire, too, old hay-stack? Why, we shall never be able to put you out.
Vict.(without).Chispa!
Chispa.Go to bed, Pero Grullo, for the cocks are crowing.
Vict.Ea! Chispa! Chispa!
Chispa.Ea! Senor.Come with me, ancient Baltasar, and bring water for the horses.I will pay for the supper tomorrow.
[Exeunt.
SCENE V.-- VICTORIAN'S chambers at Alcala.HYPOLITO asleep in an arm-chair.He awakes slowly.
Hyp.I must have been asleep! ay, sound asleep!
And it was all a dream.O sleep, sweet sleep Whatever form thou takest, thou art fair, Holding unto our lips thy goblet filled Out of Oblivion's well, a healing draught!
The candles have burned low; it must be late.
Where can Victorian be? Like Fray Carrillo, The only place in which one cannot find him Is his own cell.Here's his guitar, that seldom Feels the caresses of its master's hand.
Open thy silent lips, sweet instrument!
And make dull midnight merry with a song.
(He plays and sings.)
Padre Francisco!
Padre Francisco!
What do you want of Padre Francisco?
Here is a pretty young maiden Who wants to confess her sins!
Open the door and let her come in, I will shrive her from every sin.
(Enter VICTORIAN.)
Vict.Padre Hypolito! Padre Hypolito!
Hyp.What do you want of Padre Hypolito?
Vict.Come, shrive me straight; for, if love be a sin, I am the greatest sinner that doth live.
I will confess the sweetest of all crimes, A maiden wooed and won.
Hyp.The same old tale Of the old woman in the chimney-corner, Who, while the pot boils, says, "Come here, my child;I'll tell thee a story of my wedding-day."Vict.Nay, listen, for my heart is full; so full That I must speak.
Hyp.Alas! that heart of thine Is like a scene in the old play; the curtain Rises to solemn music, and lo! enter The eleven thousand virgins of Cologne!
Vict.Nay, like the Sibyl's volumes, thou shouldst say;Those that remained, after the six were burned, Being held more precious than the nine together.
But listen to my tale.Dost thou remember The Gypsy girl we saw at Cordova Dance the Romalis in the market-place?
Hyp.Thou meanest Preciosa.
Vict.Ay, the same.
Thou knowest how her image haunted me Long after we returned to Alcala.
She's in Madrid.
Hyp.I know it.
Vict.And I'm in love.
Hyp.And therefore in Madrid when thou shouldst be In Alcala.
Vict.O pardon me, my friend, If I so long have kept this secret from thee;But silence is the charm that guards such treasures, And, if a word be spoken ere the time, They sink again, they were not meant for us.
Hyp.Alas! alas! I see thou art in love.
Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak.
It serves for food and raiment.Give a Spaniard His mass, his olla, and his Dona Luisa--Thou knowest the proverb.But pray tell me, lover, How speeds thy wooing? Is the maiden coy?
Write her a song, beginning with an Ave;
Sing as the monk sang to the Virgin Mary,Ave! cujus calcem clare Nec centenni commendare Sciret Seraph studio!
Vict.Pray, do not jest! This is no time for it!
I am in earnest!
Hyp.Seriously enamored?
What, ho! The Primus of great Alcala Enamored of a Gypsy? Tell me frankly, How meanest thou?
Vict.I mean it honestly.
Hyp.Surely thou wilt not marry her!
Vict.Why not?
Hyp.She was betrothed to one Bartolome, If I remember rightly, a young Gypsy Who danced with her at Cordova.
Vict.They quarrelled, And so the matter ended.
Hyp.But in truth Thou wilt not marry her.
Vict.In truth I will.
The angels sang in heaven when she was born!
She is a precious jewel I have found Among the filth and rubbish of the world.
I'll stoop for it; but when I wear it here, Set on my forehead like the morning star, The world may wonder, but it will not laugh.
Hyp.If thou wear'st nothing else upon thy forehead, 'T will be indeed a wonder.
Vict.Out upon thee With thy unseasonable jests! Pray tell me, Is there no virtue in the world?
Hyp.Not much.
What, think'st thou, is she doing at this moment;Now, while we speak of her?