Loves Comedy | Page 6

know them too!
MISS JAY. Oh Mrs. Halm! now let me tell it, do! Well, Mr. Falk, you see--he passed at college For quite a miracle of wit and knowledge, Had admirable taste in books and dress--
MRS. HALM. And acted--privately--with great success.
MISS JAY. Yes, wait a bit--he painted, played and wrote--
MRS. HALM. And don't forget his gift of anecdote.
MISS JAY. Do give me time; I know the whole affair: He made some verses, set them to an air, Also his own,--and found a publisher. O heavens! with what romantic melancholy He played and sang his "Madrigals to Molly"!
MRS. HALM. He was a genius, the simple fact.
GULDSTAD [to himself]. Hm! Some were of opinion he was cracked.
FALK. A gray old stager,(2)whose sagacious head Was never upon mouldy parchments fed, Says "Love makes Petrarchs, just as many lambs And little occupation, Abrahams." But who was Molly?
MISS JAY. Molly? His elect, His lady-love, whom shortly we expect. Of a great firm her father was a member--
GULDSTAD. A timber house.
MISS JAY [curtly]. I'm really not aware.
GULDSTAD. Did a large trade in scantlings, I remember.
MISS JAY. That is the trivial side of the affair.
FALK. A firm?
MISS JAY [continuing]. Of vast resources, I'm informed. You can imagine how the suitors swarm'd; Gentlemen of the highest reputation.--
MRS. HALM. Even a baronet made application.
MISS JAY. But Molly was not to be made their catch. She had met Strawman upon private stages; To see him was to love him--
FALK. And despatch The wooing gentry home without their wages?
MRS. HALM. Was it not just a too romantic match?
MISS JAY. And then there was a terrible old father, Whose sport was thrusting happy souls apart; She had a guardian also, as I gather, To add fresh torment to her tortured heart. But each of them was loyal to his vow; A straw-hatched cottage and a snow-white ewe They dream'd of, just enough to nourish two--
MRS. HALM. Or at the very uttermost a cow,--
MISS JAY. In short, I've heard it from the lips of both,-- A beck, a byre, two bosoms, and one troth.
FALK. Ah yes! And then--?
MISS JAY. She broke with kin and class.
FALK. She broke--?
MRS. HALM. Broke with them.
FALK. There's a plucky lass!
MISS JAY. And fled to Strawman's garret--
FALK. How? Without-- Ahem, the priestly consecration?
MISS JAY. Shame!
MRS. HALM. Fy, fy! my late beloved husband's name Was on the list of sponsors--!
STIVER [to MISS JAY]. The one room Not housing sheep and cattle, I presume.
MISS JAY [to STIVER]. O, but you must consider this, my friend; There is no Want where Love's the guiding star; All's right without if tender Troth's within. [To Falk. He loved her to the notes of the guitar, And she gave lessons on the violin--
MRS. HALM. Then all, of course, on credit they bespoke--
GULDSTAD. Till, in a year, the timber merchant broke.
MRS. HALM. Then Strawman had a call to north.
MISS JAY. And there Vowed, in a letter that I saw (as few did), He lived but for his duty, and for her.
FALK [as if completing her statement]. And with those words his Life's Romance concluded.
MRS. HALM [rising]. How if we should go out upon the lawn, And see if there's no prospect of them yet?
MISS JAY [drawing on her mantle]. It's cool already.
MRS. HALM. Svanhild, will you get My woollen shawl?--Come ladies, pray!
LIND [to ANNA, unobserved by the others]. Go on!
[SVANHILD goes into the house; the others, except FALK, go towards the back and out to the left. LIND, who has followed, stops and returns.
LIND. My friend!
FALK. Ah, ditto.
LIND. Falk, your hand! The tide Of joy's so vehement, it will perforce Break out--
FALK. Hullo there; you must first be tried; Sentence and hanging follow in due course. Now, what on earth's the matter? To conceal From me, your friend, this treasure of your finding; For you'll confess the inference is binding: You've come into a prize off Fortune's wheel!
LIND. I've snared and taken Fortune's blessed bird!
FALK. How? Living,--and undamaged by the steel?
LIND. Patience; I'll tell the matter in one word. I am engaged! Conceive--!
FALK [quickly]. Engaged!
LIND. It's true! To-day,--with unimagined courage swelling, I said,--ahem, it will not bear re-telling;-- But only think,--the sweet young maiden grew Quite rosy-red,--but not at all enraged! You see, Falk, what I ventured for a bride! She listened,--and I rather think she cried; That, sure, means "Yes"?
FALK. If precedents decide; Go on.
LIND. And so we really are--engaged?
FALK. I should conclude so; but the only way To be quite certain, is to ask Miss Jay.
LIND. O no, I feel so confident, so clear! So perfectly assured, and void of fear. [Radiantly, in a mysterious tone. Hark! I had leave her fingers to caress When from the coffee-board she drew the cover.
FALK [lifting and emptying his glass]. Well, flowers of spring your wedding garland dress!
LIND [doing the same]. And here I swear by heaven