The Jewel Merchants | Page 5

Oh, the nobles
complain of him, but we merchants have no quarrel with Eglamore. He
buys too lavishly.
GRACIOSA Do you think only of buying and selling, Guido?
GUIDO It is a pursuit not limited to us who frankly live by sale and
purchase. Count Eglamore, for example, knows that men may be
bought as readily as merchandise. It is one reason why he is so
hated--by the unbought.
GRACIOSA (_Irritated by the title._) Count Eglamore, indeed! I ask in
my prayers every night that some honest gentleman may contrive to cut
the throat of this abominable creature.
GUIDO (_His hand going to his throat._) You pray too much, madonna.
Even very pious people ought to be reasonable.
GRACIOSA (_Rising from the bench._) Have I not reason to hate the
man who killed my kinsman?
GUIDO (_Rising from his gems._) The Marquis of Cibo conspired, or
so the court judged--
GRACIOSA I know nothing of the judgment. But it was this Eglamore
who discovered the plot, if there indeed was any plot, and who sent my
cousin Cibo to a death--(_pointing to the shrine_)--oh, to a death as
horrible as that. So I hate him.
GUIDO Yet you have never even seen him, I believe?
GRACIOSA And it would be better for him never to see me or any of
my kin. My father, my uncles and my cousins have all sworn to kill
him--
GUIDO So I have gathered. They remain among the unbought.
GRACIOSA (_Returning, sits upon the bench, and speaks regretfully._)
But they have never any luck. Cousin Pietro contrived to have a beam
dropped on Eglamore's head, and it missed him by not half a foot--
GUIDO Ah, yes, I remember.
GRACIOSA And Cousin Georgio stabbed him in the back one night,
but the coward had on chain-armor under his finery--
GUIDO I remember that also.

GRACIOSA And Uncle Lorenzo poisoned his soup, but a pet dog got
at it first. That was very unfortunate.
GUIDO Yes, the dog seemed to think so, I remember.
GRACIOSA However, perseverance is always rewarded. So I still hope
that one or another of my kinsmen will contrive to kill this Eglamore
before I go to court.
GUIDO (_Sits at her feet._) Has my Lord Balthazar yet set a day for
that presentation?
GRACIOSA Not yet.
GUIDO I wish to have this Eglamore's accounts all settled by that date.
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