Spaniards in Denmark Act III

Spaniards in Denmark
Act III
Translated by Fini Løkke

Day III, Scene I

A parlour
Don Juan, the Marquis

DON JUAN
I have prayed and implored but it has been impossible for me to see her. It seems she is ill.

THE MARQUIS
This devil of a woman is a sorcerer!

DON JUAN
Now you perhaps understand, general, that it is not so bad to confront an amorous and a political intrigue at the same time.

THE MARQUIS
Her mother seemed suspicious to me.

DON JUAN
Her mother? She is really an old fool. She has spoken to me for two hours today about her two sons who are in the army, and how much she loves her daughter!….Admit it, there is not a single grain of malice in her heart.

THE MARQUIS
But tell me then, what was she doing on the beach that late when you left?

DON JUAN
How would I know? She has told me that she had met smugglers yesterday evening, and that she would have told the mayor for whom she acted. She has told me about the most horrible dreams she has had. She has seen daggers, ghosts….I have made her afraid because she might well have seen something.

THE MARQUIS
The British Navy will soon be in this bay and put an end to our anxiety. I pray to God that the wind does not change.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
(enters)

DON JUAN
Ah, madame, if you please, how is your madam daughter?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
A little better since this morning, thank God. The poor child; at first she frightened me. But I hope it will amount to nothing.

THE MARQUIS
Please assure her of my respect.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
I am much obliged, monsieur general. Oh, if you knew what a fright I had yesterday evening.

THE MARQUIS
I have been told something like that.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
So to begin with the beginning, I had gone to the French envoy who had invited me and my daughter to spend an evening with him. Everybody was there; his salon was full. Time passes quickly at parties, and later although it was already late he wanted to play bouillotte. I refused but without me the game would be incomplete, and he would probably have stopped it, so I played. But as soon as I had sat down in my armchair, you will not believe it, I won all the time. Impossible to clean me out. Well, at last I did not even notice the time when I had stopped playing. One of your officers gallantly had offered me his arm but I refused as I feared the poor young man could be doing time for returning to his barracks so late. – My son, when he was at military school…

DON JUAN
(aside)
Here we have it, a story.

THE MARQUIS
How about the smugglers?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
I have seen two in front of our door; one of them was wrapped in a big black cloak with the face of a scoundrel. His belt was full of pistols. I almost thought he would murder us.

THE MARQUIS
Oh, they never hurt anybody. Is it not so that you might want sometimes to get some tobacco from Virginia or Guatemala instead of that which you are offered from your imperial regime?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Oh, monsieur Marquis, you certainly found one of my weaknesses. – But now…I would tell you something…if I didn’t fear that you would take me for a sneak.

THE MARQUIS
Please tell me, madame.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
The sentinel in front of your door has seen everything and has not whistled. You must believe me when I say that it’s because I want you to punish him.

THE MARQUIS
Damn, please do not betray me; it is to me the smugglers come; they bring me cigars from America. We never smoke any other kind, just ask him.

DON JUAN
Certainly.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Oh good, general, that’s fine, but you can be sure I will report you if you do not give me some Virginia or Saint-Vincent to make me keep silent.

THE MARQUIS
All right. It so happens that I have tobacco of both kinds to offer you.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
No no no. What I said to you was just kidding. I won’t take it from you.

THE MARQUIS
No, you shall have it. It’s for my own protection that I compromise you too by letting you have half of the fraud.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
All right; here is my tobacco tin.

THE MARQUIS
Keep this, and let me do you the favour of giving you some bottles of wine.

DON JUAN
How can I pay my respects to your madame daughter? Oh madame de Tourville, I need so much to see her.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
She won’t see anybody. (Low) By the way she has done nothing but talk about you.

DON JUAN
Really? And what did she say?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Oh, a thousand things. What do I know? But now I have to keep her company. Good-bye, messieurs.

She leaves

DON JUAN
We kiss your hands. -And now, seigneur Marquis, what do you think?

THE MARQUIS
She is cunning if we are wrong. At any rate we don’t have much time to fear her.

Day III, Scene II

The office of the French envoy

THE ENVOY
(alone)
This should certainly soon end for me by the appointment of Knight of the Legion of Honour. There is nothing as easy as detecting a conspiracy; and I flatter myself for being acclaimed as being cold-blooded and self-possessed among enemies. Nevertheless I hope that the French troops will arrive soon; I want to see my dear compatriots as soon as possible. My position is awful….With all the courage that is possible…alone against a division…one definitely needs reinforcement.

A SERVANT
(enters)
A gentleman wants to see you.

CHARLES LEBLANC
(enters)

THE ENVOY
Monsieur, what can I do for you?

CHARLES LEBLANC
Nothing for me, monsieur, but something for His Majesty. As you can see me now, monsieur, I am premier lieutenant of the Grenadiers in the Imperial Guard. I have cut my moustache and put on a dress coat to come here. I am therefore officer in the Imperial Guard. Bernadotte, the Prince of Ponte-Corvo, I want to tell you, sends me here, here are my orders to make a certain Spanish general listen to reason because he is about to do some bad things. You know whom I am referring to?

THE ENVOY
Definitely, monsieur, but you probably bring seven or eight thousand men with you?

CHARLES LEBLANC
What? Do you really think you can travel with a division in a balloon? Monsieur Envoy, you are pulling my leg. I come alone; I bring nothing with me except my sword but I am a man of action, and I will manage.

THE ENVOY
(smiling)
The matter seems just a bit difficult to me. The Spaniards are numerous, the Danes, the Hanoverians that are with them, they are not quite harmless…

CHARLES LEBLANC
It doesn’t matter! We will pass through them. But listen to me now. (He sits down) Oh I am exhausted, I had to change horses thrice on the way, – Listen! It will not be more than three days before our vanguards arrive; if we wait the heat will increase. The ships have departed from Heligoland, toe wind is good, the British will be in the Great Belt before we see it, and all will be lost.

THE ENVOY
You have very convincingly touched the tender spot.

CHARLES LEBLANC
I don’t know what you would say, but between us, the Prince of Ponte-Corvo has warned me that if you should be somewhat of a fool I should try to see a certain dame Coulanges and another lady, dame Tourville who both are here.

THE ENVOY
Monsieur, you really have a way of expressing yourself that I will not allow…except from a military man.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Let your women come. You can see that I am exhausted. I have worn out the bottom of my trousers and some of my skin too in the saddle of my horse, so I do not have time for long phrases. Have your spies fetched. – Take your precautions. And then you can give me a bed or a bundle of hay so that I can sleep. You see, damn it, I am beat like a cooked potato.

THE ENVOY
Madame de Tourville should arrive at my apartment at any moment, and I am surprised she hasn’t come yet.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Is that your dinner? Good. Ask for a cover for us. – To your health, mate…a bottle, your wine is good. – You are a good guy, or I’ll be damned. – Oh, I am so hungry that I could eat my father without salt.

THE ENVOY
(aside)
How such people express themselves. (Loud) Monsieur, please feel at home.

CHARLES LEBLANC
You are right, you sure are right. I see you are a good fellow. Listen, I really like the French, – What do you call yourself if I may ask?

THE ENVOY
Baron Amédée de Pacaret.

CHARLES LEBLANC
To your health, monsieur Baron de Pacaret. There’s a good wine of that name. My name is Charles Leblanc, premier lieutenant in the Imperial Guard, third battalion, grenadiers. – Come on, drink to my health, monsieur Baron. – You do not have a glass?. – Here, take mine. Good, war is war. – You have been in the service?

THE ENVOY
Not in the army….But I have served my Emperor and my country in another way.

CHARLES LEBLANC
In the di…diplomacy, in the pen corps…that’s even better….You don’t risk being caught in the ink stains. But don’t the damned females come?

THE ENVOY
I expect madame de Tourville any moment….It seems to me, monsieur, that as a Frenchman and a gentleman….(Points at the Legion of Honour of Charles Leblanc) Because as a gentleman, hé hé hé… you do not have much respect of the charming sex, destined…

CHARLES LEBLANC
Fair as you please…I like women who don’t speak and don’t cost too much. To your health, M. Pacaret.

THE ENVOY
I hear a woman’s steps….There she is.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
(enters)

CHARLES LEBLANC
Gosh, it’s my mother!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Oh, my friend, embrace your mother, my little Charles.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Good! Good!… Is it over? Oh, it’s really you?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
My friend.

CHARLES LEBLANC
My compliments! You make a good show of it. If they just knew that in the regiment….The devil may choke me if I did not like it better if you were buried as a spy.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Oh! Charles!

CHARLES LEBLANC
My sister is, I suppose, enrolled in the same regiment….Why has she not approached me; there is no sisterly respect between her and me….Never mind!….Listen and be silent!….Let me drink to digest the news! – Bah, is that all?….Listen, papa Pacaret, to what I have found out; you are going to invite the General La Romana to dinner tomorrow, do you hear me?

THE ENVOY
But what if he refuses?

CHARLES LEBLANC
He will not dare to. – Do you have fifty Frenchmen here?

THE ENVOY
There is a company of chasseurs stationed here.

CHARLES LEBLANC
That is just what I need. Well then, invite the general Romana with his entire staff and the Danish officers etcetera. You put me opposite the general at the dinner table. And then between the pear and the cheese you propose a toast to the Emperor; that’s the signal we have agreed on….My chasseurs who have kept ready now enter and aim at all the Spaniards. I take the general from one side, you from the other. If they seem to resist, we throw ourselves under the table, and our men make a line of fire. – Then we barricade the doors; the Danes and the other scoundrels will be easily sent away when the Spaniards are disorganised and without chiefs. In any case we don’t hold the position longer than we can, and if we are forced to withdraw we kill our prisoners and shoot one by one. What do you say to that?

THE ENVOY
Monsieur…but…the means are…a little…violent.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
It seems to me that we could…

CHARLES LEBLANC
Quiet!….Monsieur de Pacaret, do you know how to handle a pistol?

THE ENVOY
(trying to look very firm)
I never miss my man at thirty feet.

CHARLES LEBLANC
What a pest, but anyway. You just use it if there is any need for it. So we will be brave, won’t we?

THE ENVOY
No doubt, I am French. – But you have to be sure to succeed if they await…

CHARLES LEBLANC
Yes, the British are coming, isn’t that so?

THE ENVOY
No, no! The French.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Hé, my God, have you forgotten that they can’t be here earlier than three days from now?

THE ENVOY
Hell!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
There might be a way to avoid running that great a risk…with a little arsenic…

CHARLES LEBLANC
Arsenic! A thousand bombs, arsenic, do you take me for a poisoner? Me, lieutenant grenadier in the Imperial Guard! Me, should I allow giving arsenic to brave military men to let them peg out like rats? I would rather have my brain burned than giving other pills than pills of lead to military men. Arsenic, like hell it is, arsenic!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
But…

CHARLES LEBLANC
Shut up! I am not a stool pidgeon. Do not speak to me of arsenic or I will forget you are my mother. – And you, my little baron, do me the favour to execute the orders that I give. Write your invitation letters, and if they do not accept them, I shall see to it that a bullet will do as pill if you don’t have to taste the blade of my sabre.

THE ENVOY
Monsieur…monsieur…it is in order to serve His Majesty…if my duty…

CHARLES LEBLANC
Ok, you are a good guy, let me shake your hand, and tell me that they have a bed ready for me. (He drinks and leaves)

THE ENVOY
My God, madame, I must compliment you. What a nice young man you have there.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Alas; he is just like his father. He did not know anything but his sabre.

THE ENVOY
Then I am in an awkward position.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
By the way, he is not to be disdained for his opinion; he has to follow it.

THE ENVOY
Well that’s how it is; but you will dine with us, madame?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
But I will be completely useless to you, monsieur.

THE ENVOY
But really, madame, you must dine with us or I might have to arrest you.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
I look forward to your dinner, monsieur. I will return, and I will convince you that even if I am a woman I have more courage than you, my little diplomat. See you! (She leaves)

THE ENVOY
(alone)
Heaven and Earth! Gosh! I’ll be damned! I wish I could get far away from here….Poor me, what is to become of me?… I would rather find myself in a battlefield than in this mess…at least you could earn your living….Miserable that’s how I feel….And I who thought it was easy to serve in the diplomatic corps….And this wretched island; I needed just this!….But why not wait for the French? You will lose everything if you act prematurely, Oh, if only they had let me decide…the cross of the Legion of Honour was already mine…and now this lanky officer will take all the credit. An ignorant who does not know what it takes in diplomacy…who has never opened Vatel’s international law…and I….If they let themselves be deceived into this confusion?….Wretched business, a dog’s life, wretched island!…oh, here are the pistols I have to use…let me see….I will put twelve bullets into each of them, then I can’t miss anyone if I aim at….Come on now…you only die once….I wish they would arrive, the Spaniards! that they would come now; every Frenchman is a soldier!…. (He gesticulates with the pistols)But…careful…what an admirable idea!….No, these weapons are not diplomatic. (He aims with the pistols) At the end of dinner I will tell them: Allow me to fetch you an excellent wine….That’s it! And they will do what they intend without me….My God, cheers to men of genius! That’s what you call a nice retreat. Our lieutenant will perhaps be killed in the confusion….I make the report…and then…then, my god, the problem is solved, and I become ambassador!….That’s it, you bet, how lucky can you get when you are a man of spirit! A bumpkin like this Leblanc may well fight when he has the opportunity…but we diplomats know how to save ourselves…yes, we know how to tend to our business. (He leaves)

Day III, Scene III

A room at the Three Crowns

DON JUAN
I implore you to pardon my impertinence. But…I found you alone…in my room…so late….And you came to save me!

MADAME DE COULANGES
Monsieur, let us not speak about that. Are you certain that you will succeed? Have you taken your precautions?

DON JUAN
Yes. Our regiments gather at Nyborg. The British Navy will…

MADAME DE COULANGES
I want nothing from you; do not tell me anything; but are you certain of your success?

DON JUAN
As much as one can be.

MADAME DE COULANGES
I am relieved.

DON JUAN
In a short while I will return to Spain.

MADAME DE COULANGES
What joy you must feel finding yourself together with your friendsâ after being away so long!

DON JUAN
Alas!, there was a time when I so vividly longed to return to Galicia, but now I am unhappy to leave this uncivilized island.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Think of your duties, monsieur, you are going to fight for your country, you will have all sorts of distractions. I, I hope that nothing bad will happen to you in Spain, that peace will come, and then if you come back to France, I would be so glad to see you again.

DON JUAN
I do not see anything but bad in my future, you have been my good angel, and now,

MADAME DE COULANGES
Will I not see you once more before you leave? Right now I embroider a little purse that I will ask you to accept as a souvenir from me.

DON JUAN
I can’t resist. Madame, give me your life or death. – Tell me, will you?….I hardly dare to propose it to you…would you take my name and follow me to my poor country?

MADAME DE COULANGES
Monsieur…what are you proposing me? (Aside) Oh if only I didn’t love him that much!

DON JUAN
I know that Spain is a country that seems quite dreary to a French lady, and especially in the situation it is right now! The stars as tent, the straw in a bivouac…that’s the whole room for a long time of the wife of Juan Diaz….I do not speak to you of my fortune, my birth…your soul is too elevated to let itself be touched by considerations of that sort…but…if the most burning love, if the most vivid friendship…seems to be worth of your heart….You may think I do not love you enough, that I will not love you except for my own sake, that I do not offer you anything but hardship, to take part in sufferings…but what can I do? My country calls for me…and I feel that I cannot live without you!

MADAME DE COULANGES
Monsieur…can he…you give me your hand…I am a French lady with no fortune…how can you dream of me…and give up your fortune?

DON JUAN
Really, you feel no repugnance against me? You could love me?…

MADAME DE COULANGES
Yes, Don Juan, I love you, but I cannot marry you…no, that cannot be done…don’t ask me again!

DON JUAN
I am the happiest man there is, do not think about the difference in fortune any more…what does it matter. If you were richer than I, would you then not love me?

MADAME DE COULANGES
Oh, all the way to heaven.

DON JUAN
Well then, let me be just as generous towards you.

MADAME DE COULANGES
No, let me go. You have made me happy…I am satisfied… Good-bye…

DON JUAN
What does this mystery mean? Tell me at once about your scruples; my love will then remove them.

MADAME DE COULANGES
I cannot.

DON JUAN
You drive me to despair.

MADAME DE COULANGES
My family is so numerous!

DON JUAN
I have money enough for all of them.

MADAME DE COULANGES
My mother…

DON JUAN
I will persuade her to follow us.

MADAME DE COULANGES
No, no, she would never do that.

DON JUAN
You hide some wrong scruple for me, Dona Elisa, in the name of our love tell me what it is.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Why do you press me?….Listen, Don Juan, you go to Spain. Very serious matters will demand all your time, all your efforts… In the middle of scuffle and the dangers of camps what would become of me?….A woman would be a burden to you, think of the dangers of war.

DON JUAN
(beats his brow)
And I who thought a woman could follow someone like me! Good-bye, madame, you have just dictated my duty. Yes, I go to Spain; but the first bullet will be for me. At least you will not have the pain of being a widow.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Stop, Don Juan…do not believe what I am going to say to you…the thrust that hits you will also hit me….I love you too much to marry you without saying it…but do not ask it of me if you would love me. Good-bye, Don Juan, I will always think of you.

DON JUAN
Elisa, Elisa, I swear on my honour that I will never ask you what that reason is…that I never will speak about it….I will not be less worried…nothing can change my love…but if you have any affection for me, please consent in following me….(With a badly concealed worry)Some scruple…is there some childish thing that is stopping you?

MADAME DE COULANGES
Don Juan, when you declared your love for me, you have made me happier than I have ever been; now you force me to lose all that happiness in an instant…but you will have it that way.

DON JUAN
No, I will not have it; do not say a word…I swear in advance that all that you may say will not prevent me from loving you….Next to honour, you are the one I cherish the most in the world.

MADAME DE COULANGES
No, you will never get to know. (She leaves and locks the door in her room)

DON JUAN
(alone)
What is it with her? Is she crazy? What is the secret that she does not dare to disclose? (He knocks at the door) Elisa! Elisa!. – She does not answer!….Elisa! – Was there ever a man more unhappy than I? Every thinkable misery arrives at the same time. I am lost in it. I think only of her! But never have I loved her so much! Oh, God be praised! There is her mother!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
What is it, monsieur? What is the matter with you? What can I do for you?

DON JUAN
Oh, madame, I put my fate into your hands…I am so unhappy…I come to see your daughter, and I have confessed that I love…

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
What do you mean? my daughter?

DON JUAN
Yes, I adore her. I cannot live without her. She has admitted that she had nothing against me…that she loved me…I do not know which bizarre idea it is that has taken possession of her…she has told me that she could never become my wife….Oh, madame, if you had any influence on her…

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
You want to marry my daughter?

DON JUAN
Oh, if she consented I would be the happiest of all men.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
You….(Aside) What have I done to be so unlucky! Nobody has thought about me!

DON JUAN
But never, in spite of all my prayers, she has never been willing to tell me the motive or the scruple…

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
But, monsieur, the necessary fortune…is it?…

DON JUAN
Do not speak to me about that. I have an income of thirty thousand piastres….I am rich, noble…but what does it matter? She has some extravagant scruple, she hides it for me, she will make me die.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
What a fool I am! What am I thinking of? There would have been much advantage in this.

DON JUAN
For Heaven’s sake, madame, I implore you, please find her…by my mother already now…speak for me…tell her how unhappy I will be if she is not with me….But perhaps you are yourself involved in the difficulties of your daughter, madame?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Me, monsieur colonel, on the contrary I have the highest esteem for you. I want very much to be part of your alliance. (Aside) She has lost her head.

DON JUAN
That is the limit! Run along, my dear madame de Tourville! Tell her that I do not want to know her secrets…tell her that if she does not hate me…

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Believe me, colonel, I beg you, it is really only a childishness….I have educated my daughter sufficiently well to know when she has something serious to hide. (Aside) I would really be stupid if I missed the opportunity. The bounty is not paid for withdrawing from that. I will tell him everything.

DON JUAN
Oh madame, you are my only hope!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Listen to me, young man, I have something very serious to tell you.

DON JUAN
My dear madame de Tourville, please go to speak to her, get her back here, there is nothing that I have to know about.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
A little patience, hothead! I come directly from monsieur the Envoy of France. I went there to speak to him. I have been waiting for some time in the anteroom because he had someone with him….The natural curiosity of my sex made me listen in, I must admit, and as the interior wall was thin, I have heard everything. Do you know what he said? He conspired, monsieur Juan Diaz, with a young man thoughtless like you; he conspired to have the general invited to dinner in order to assassinate or seize them while he was waiting until the French regiments that are on the march might arrive, and which will exterminate all the Spaniards present on this island.

DON JUAN
My God…the Envoy!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
The little young man who was with him looked as if he did not agree; he has realized how dreadful his action was…but that buffoon the Envoy has threatened to let him shoot; and he has been forced to consent however bad it might be for himself; I am sure of it.

DON JUAN
I needed only this!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
You will not harm him, this little young man, will you?….As to the Envoy he is an old depraved scoundrel who is worthy of all your indignation.

DON JUAN
I will go to the Marquis de La Romana; will you accompany me?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
At least do not miss the Envoy. I am still quite upset by his vile treason…he ought to be shot at once without listening to him….As to the other…

DON JUAN
His plan is clear.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
You have promised me to have mercy with him….But listen, my good young man…listen, my child…

DON JUAN
Oh, you are like a mother to me.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
I will go fetch my daughter, and while you make peace with her I will go tell the whole thing to your general; this is the way we kill two birds with one stone.

DON JUAN
Quickly, go to her. I will be back in a minute.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
No, stay. I will bring her to you in a moment. – She is so innocent, the poor Elisa!….Between us, you see I don’t even know if her first husband has been her husband…he was an old fool.

DON JUAN
Go in, quickly.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
An ambush. Do not say a word. Stay, beside the door. (She knocks) It’s me, it’s your mother; open the door, Elisa. (She enters)

DON JUAN
(alone)
I don’t know if it is the good God or the Devil who tends to my affairs but my head is splitting! I cannot stay here any longer. Never have I had such an ordeal. Listen…her mother seems to press her…she resists.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Come to my assistance, colonel, please! Don Juan enters the apartment and comes out again with Madame de Coulanges, Madame de Tourville.

DON JUAN
Oh, you will not get away from me. You are mine for life, your mother consents.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Oh, that tender sight gives me tears of joy in my eyes. Go now, dear children, be happy, it is your mother blessing you. (Low to Don Juan) I go to your general.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Do you want to know everything then?. – Let me alone; take this ring back and keep it for a Marchioness. Do you know, Don Juan, what I came here for? They gave me six thousand francs to find out about your secrets. Do you get it, Don Juan?

DON JUAN
Ah!

MADAME DE COULANGES
Now you know how honourable a profession I serve…my real name is Leblanc…do you want to know the story of my life? Listen for a minute, you are not yet through, and you will need your courage once more.

DON JUAN
For God’s sake…you must be joking.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Quiet!….my mother has raised me in the hope that my beauty and wit would get her money. Surrounded by a family used to infamy would you be surprised if I learnt from the example I had before my eyes? – Yes, Don Juan, I am paid by the police; they have sent me here to seduce you in order to pull out of you the secrets of your friend to send you to the scaffold…(She falls down on a sofa)

DON JUAN
Elisa…oh, I could die…Elisa!

MADAME DE COULANGES
You are not buried!

DON JUAN
You are mad, Elisa! Mad!

MADAME DE COULANGES
Go away, monsieur, you will defile yourself by touching a miserable person like me. – I will be strong enough to get to my room alone. (She makes an effort to get up and at once falls back)

DON JUAN
Elisa, all you say is false….Have you and your mother not come to discover the snares our enemies have made for us?

MADAME DE COULANGES
I do not know what my mother has said to you but I, Don Juan, I have been paid, paid to reveal your secrets.

DON JUAN
I do not believe you.

MADAME DE COULANGES
From the day I met you, I someway had a change of mind…my eyes opened…for the first time I have thought that I did something wrong….I have wished to save you….Oh, Don Juan, the love I feel for you, please allow me once more to speak about my love…my love for you has made me into a different person…I begin to see what virtue is..it is…it is my wish to please you.

DON JUAN
Poor woman! What bandits those barbarians must be who have corrupted your youth that way!

MADAME DE COULANGES
Oh, Don Juan, you have pity for me. But you are so good!…you suffered when you saw your horse suffer….Oh, I will think of you all my life….Perhaps God will forgive me, yes, because there is a God in Heaven.

DON JUAN
But right now you love virtue.

MADAME DE COULANGES
I love you with all the might of my soul….But I disgust you…I see that.

DON JUAN
(after a silence)
Listen Elisa, be sincere, just one question….Have you ever caused the death of a man?….But, no, do not answer…I demand nothing…I don’t have the right to ask that of you….Me!….Eh, have I not fought at Trafalgar, Eylau, Friedland, for the despot of the universe?….Have I not killed courageous men who fought together for the freedom of their country? Haven’t I a couple of days ago, on the first beat of the drummer massacred a patriot just to please the Emperor? And I should dare to demand….All men are wolves, monsters!….I am tempted to blow out his brain and then kill myself on top of his body.

MADAME DE COULANGES
I will answer you, Don Juan, that I could do it. I swear it by…but the oaths in my mouth, who would believe them? No, never have I caused the death of a man….Get up again, Don Juan, take back your ring…but thank the good fortune which has protected me….If these hands that you kiss are not tainte by the blood of the innocents, I thank my good fortune for it….Before I knew you I do not know what I would have done…

DON JUAN
You are virtuous too, Elisa…you have more virtue than all the prudes who, just because they have spent their lives in a convent, boast of their courage to resist temptations! Elisa, you are my woman!….Your mother will stay here, I will give all the money she wants…but you, you follow me, you will be my companion, you will take part in all my luck.

MADAME DE COULANGES
You are mad. In a moment you change your mind, and then you wonder why you never have felt pity with a creature like me.

DON JUAN
Never, never.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Yes, I am lucky enough that I am not already pushed by your feet like another pest. I will make your life unhappy if I take you at your word in a moment’s enthusiasm. You need a wife, Don Juan, who is worthy of you. Good-bye.

DON JUAN
You are not going to leave me, or I’ll be damned. I can’t do without you, I could never love anyone else but you. Come with me. – Eh, who will ever know your history in Spain?

MADAME DE COULANGES
Ah, Don Juan. (She takes his hand) You see, I am with you. But I can never be your wife, I will be your mistress, your maid. When you get tired of me, you may send me away….If you still want me to stay close to you, it will be between us in life and death.

DON JUAN
You will always be my mistress and my wife. (He embraces her)

MADAME DE COULANGES
I have taken my decision, and I will not change that.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
(enters)
In the arms of each other! …At last I am satisfied! I wanted to tell you that nothing would have suited her better.

DON JUAN
Elisa, let us be alone for a moment. Wait in my room. I come to you.

DON JUAN
I know who you are, madame…if I wanted to, I could have you hanged. – Do you want ten thousand piastres to stay here, or go to Hell if you preferred that, on the condition that you never see your daughter again, never speak to her, never writes to her?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
Monsieur…but…my dear daughter.

DON JUAN
Ten thousand piastres, think about it!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
A mother who feels…

DON JUAN
Yes or no?

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
I accept the piastres…but after all it is rather hard for a mother…

DON JUAN
Go back to your room. Tonight you will have them. Do not try to leave, or the sentinels will fire at you.

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
At least permit me for the last time…

DON JUAN
Leave! And don’t make me angry!

MADAME DE TOURVILLE
(aside)
How sly he is!

She leaves

THE MARQUIS
(enters)
By God I give in. Cheers to the great guys! Madame de Tourville has told me the truth. Here is the letter from the Envoy who has invited me to dine with him.

DON JUAN
Twelve bullets in the brain, that’s exactly what he deserves.

THE MARQUIS
I do not intend that to happen to him any more; I will arrest his halberdiers and his dinner will end quite differently from what he has hoped. That will be the last thing we will do on this island. The wind is favourable; tomorrow the British admiral will anchor at Nyborg. I will take care of all the German and Danish officers just like they planned to take care of us.

DON JUAN
Shoot them, shoot them, shoot them! They are all scoundrels who value the cartridge taking them into the next world the most.

THE MARQUIS
No, No, what is it with you? I will not kill anyone, except perhaps mosieur Envoy whom I will have hanged to teach others that a dining hall must be just as sacred as the place of the sessions of the congress. Tomorrow he will serve as an example to coming diplomats and a sign for this inn.

DON JUAN
Amen!

THE MARQUIS
Bring this message to Colonel de Zamora, that all couriers are stopped. The rolling artillery has arrived. I am going to write to the commandant. The fortress will be occupied by the grenadiers de Catalunia. All the regiments unite at five o’clock on the drill ground, and if the Devil doesn’t interfere, the Prince de Ponte-Corvo will find no one here to respond to his roll-call.

DON JUAN
Oh, general, I wish I already stood vis-à-vis the French.

FIRST ENTRY OF THE BALLET
4 gunners and 4 canteen girls

SECOND ENTRY OF THE BALLET
A fandango

THIRD ENTRY OF THE BALLET
Waltz. Spanish soldiers and girls from Nyborg

Music is played for curtain call. The dancers cease.

CONCLUSION
Day III, Scene IV

A dining hall
The Marquis, Don Juan, the Envoy, Charles Leblanc, Spanish, Danish, German officers sitting at the table

CHARLES LEBLANC
The dessert is being brought in.

THE ENVOY
Hé! Not yet, not yet, there isn’t enough time…it isn’t ready yet.

THE MARQUIS
How are you doing, monsieur Baron, you seem indisposed.

THE ENVOY
Nothing wrong, monsieur General…on the contrary… M. Leblanc, wait…I was going to say: do not drink that wine… I will go fetch an excellent wine that I have kept for a long time. I will get it myself.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Send a servant.

THE ENVOY
(low)
No, I confide the keys to my cellar to no one…the servants have so little care. They might drop the bottles and crush them.

CHARLES LEBLANC
He cares about broken bottles. Go then, quickly, we want you to be here for the dessert.

THE ENVOY
No, no, just go along with it.

CHARLES LEBLANC
That’s not impossible. But during this quarter of an hour I am the secretary of Monsieur the Envoy, besides I am at your service.

THE MARQUIS
Don Juan, do you remember this officer whom we picked up at Friedland covered with wounds and thrown into a ditch by the Cossacks?

CHARLES LEBLANC
I wish the Devil would strangle them! It was me. You have a very good memory, general. – But now we must concentrate on the order. As I represent monsieur the Envoy for the next quarter of an hour, and he has placed a sentry there, I will propose a toast to our corporal by all. – To the health of His Majesty the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! (Aside) Well then, they do not?

THE SPANISH OFFICERS
Long live the King! (Tumult)

CHARLES LEBLANC
Long live the Emperor! To me, chasseurs! General, I arrest you. Come on, help us, you Danish rascals.

Gentlemen, Spanish officers; I knew this corps that I had the honour to lead too well to doubt for one instant that you would not react with enthusiasm to the call of the fatherland. You will have to come up to the tyrants and the conquerors of the world, to this waves of foreign slaves who push towards Spain. You will find our armies disorganized, destroyed, but all Spain has become soldiers, and the mountain of la Morena already attest that our peasants can defeat the conquerors of Austerlitz. Treason has delivered our strong points to the enemy; our arsenals are in their power. – But our towns without walls have Palafoxes and have become impregnable citadels like Saragossa. – All our provinces are invaded – but all over the country the French are besieged in their camps. – Our king is captive but we have the Pélages.

To Spain, gentlemen, and death to the French!

ALL
To Spain!

THE MARQUIS
I will see to the troops. Don Juan, you take care of the Envoy. You knew my intentions.

DON JUAN
What is your name?

CHARLES LEBLANC
Charles Leblanc, lieutenant of the Grenadiers in the Imperial Guard.

DON JUAN
How come, monsieur, that a military man who is a member of a corps of such honourable status condescends to join the trade of assassin?

CHARLES LEBLANC
Colonel, it is not me that name applies to. I have never wanted to murder anyone.

DON JUAN
And the chasseurs?

CHARLES LEBLANC
At first they should not shoot until the very last moment but later it was not assassination that was intended but an ambush which is quite a different thing. To be an assassin is something for a rascal or a stool pigeon. – But an ambush, that is quite permitted for a brave soldier.

DON JUAN
Monsieur, it seems to me that you rather listen to the laws of the military code than to those of honesty and criminality. – Tell me what distinguishes a military man who goes to an ambush in bourgeois clothes?

CHARLES LEBLANC
I sense that if you wanted to have me shot you have all the right in the world to do so, I could not say a word against it; but as I still do not find it right to compare a stool pigeon to a brave officer whom I value highly, I ask you to notice – and understand me right, I do not ask for my life – notice that I have not sought the means I could have found to know about your secrets, to see where your regiments were camped, where especially your artillery was parked, nothing of the sort. I have made an ambush for you as I have had the honour of telling you… I admit that I did wrong dressing as a civilian…but this suit?… No, it could never pass for military uniform! Well, shower my head with lead; it will teach me never to quit the uniform.

DON JUAN
No. You have a name that saves you, M. Leblanc.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Ah, evidently it’s because you are in love with my mother or my sister who serve in the regiments of stool pigeons.

DON JUAN
Be quiet!

CHARLES LEBLANC
To Hell with the stool pigeons! Let me shoot, I do not want it to be said that a rascal of that sort has saved the life of an officer of the Imperial Guard. Let me shoot, or I might not want to be captain any more.

DON JUAN
No, you shall live. It is I who give you your life in consideration of your courage.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Accepted on these conditions! Colonel, you are a good chap, you have the looks of a brave soldier although you haven’t fired many cartridges as I have. But I am just a poor devil of a lieutenant, and you…oh, the good service is the service of Spain.

DON JUAN
You would not like to join our division?

CHARLES LEBLANC
No, like hell I won’t. You shall know that I would rather be cut in four parts than take another cockade than the cockade of France.

A SERVANT
(enters)
Colonel, I don’t know what has become of the Envoy but it is impossible to find him. Nevertheless the rope is ready at the door of this inn.

CHARLES LEBLANC
Ha! Ha! So a rope is placed instead of the sign of the Three Crowns.

DON JUAN
Oh my dear Elisa!

CHARLES LEBLANC
My sister! Come hell or high water!

DON JUAN
The cannon gives the signal of departure. Come my beloved.

MADAME DE COULANGES
Good-bye France, I will never come back!

CHARLES LEBLANC
(aside)
What a relief! (Loud) Good-bye, colonel, I won’t thank you.

THE ENVOY
(enters)
(He cautiously opens the door) I didn’t hear anything. It’s all over. I have not wanted to come forward as long as I heard Spanish voices. Ah, here is our brave man. And so, my dear lieutenant, you have taken good care of our affairs. But, I’ll be damned, I was quite alone in the cellar against a dozen… What the hell, why couldn’t you just wait for me?

CHARLES LEBLANC
Look out this window.

THE ENVOY
Heaven! La Romana in front of his Spaniards! …What does that mean?

CHARLES LEBLANC
That means that we have been betrayed, that I would have been shot without the colonel Juan Diaz, and that they seek you everywhere in order to hang you.

THE ENVOY
To hang me!

CHARLES LEBLANC
I sure wish you good luck, monsieur Envoy.

THE ENVOY
Oh, Good Heavens, monsieur, defend me; they will hang me.

CHARLES LEBLANC
What can I do? I have no weapons. You have only one thing to do, and that is to ask for mercy from these ladies and gentlemen.

THE ENVOY
And so ends this comedy; pardon the faults of the author.