The Jewel Merchants | Page 6

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