The Romancers | Page 2

of those two rascals, Bergamin and his son Percinet. Mark well my words, and obey me to the letter, or I shall cast you off as an enemy. Their family has always been at bitter enmity with our own." And I promised. But you see how I keep my word!
PERCINET. Did I not promise my father to do the same, Sylvette? Yet I love you!
SYLVETTE. Holy saints!
PERCINET. I love you, my dearest!
SYLVETTE. It's sinful!
PERCINET. Very--but what can we do? The greater the obstacles to be overcome, the sweeter the reward. Sylvette, kiss me!
SYLVETTE. Never! [She jumps down from the bench and runs off a few steps.]
PERCINET. But you love me?
SYLVETTE. What?
PERCINET. My dear child: I, too, sometimes think of us and compare you and me with those other lovers--of Verona.
SYLVETTE. But I didn't compare--!
PERCINET. You and I are Juliet and Romeo; I love you to despair, and I shall brave the wrath of Pasquinot-Capulet and Bergamin-Montague!
SYLVETTE. [Coming a little nearer to the wall] Then we love? But how, Monsieur Percinet, has it happened so soon?
PERCINET. Love is born we know not how, because it must be born. I often saw you pass my window--
SYLVETTE. I saw you, too!
PERCINET. And our eyes spoke in silence.
SYLVETTE. One day I was gathering nuts in the garden by the wall--
PERCINET. One day I happened to be reading Shakespeare. See how everything conspired to unite two hearts!
SYLVETTE. And a little gust of wind blew my scarf in your direction.
PERCINET. I climbed to the wall to return it--
SYLVETTE. [Climbing the wall again] I climbed too!
PERCINET. And since that day, my dear, I have waited at the same hour, here by this wall; and each time my heart beat louder and faster, until I knew by your laugh that you were near!
SYLVETTE. Now since we love, we must be married.
PERCINET. I was just thinking about that.
SYLVETTE. [Solemnly] I, last of the Pasquinots, do solemnly pledge myself to you, last of the Bergamins.
PERCINET. What noble recklessness!
SYLVETTE. We shall be sung in future ages!
PERCINET. Two tender children of two hard-hearted fathers!
SYLVETTE. But who knows whether the hour is not at hand when our fathers' hatred may end?
PERCINET. I doubt it.
SYLVETTE. I have heard of stranger things. I can think of half a dozen--
PERCINET. What, for instance?
SYLVETTE. Imagine that the reigning prince comes riding past some day--I run to him and kneel, and tell him the story of our love and of our fathers' hatred. The prince asks to see my father and Bergamin, and they are reconciled.
PERCINET. And your father gives me your hand!
SYLVETTE. Yes. Or else, you languish, the doctor declares you cannot live--
PERCINET. And asks: "What ails you?"
SYLVETTE. And you answer: "I must have Sylvette!"
PERCINET. And his pride is then forced to bend.
SYLVETTE. Yes. Or else: an aged duke, having seen my portrait, falls in love with me, sends a 'squire to sue for my hand, and offers to make me a duchess.
PERCINET. And you say, "No!"
SYLVETTE. He is offended, and some dark night when I am in the garden, meditating, he springs forth out of the darkness! I scream!
PERCINET. And I lose not a second in springing over the wall, dagger in hand. I fight like a tiger, I--
SYLVETTE. You lay low three or four men. Then my father rushes in and takes me in his arms. You tell him who you are. His heart softens, he gives me to my savior. Your father consents, for he is proud of your bravery.
PERCINET. Then we live together for years, happy and content!
SYLVETTE. This is not at all impossible, is it?
PERCINET. Someone's coming!
SYLVETTE. [Forgetting herself] Kiss me!
PERCINET. [Kissing her] This evening, at eight, then? As usual? You will come?
SYLVETTE. [Disappearing behind the wall] Your father! [PERCINET jumps quickly from the wall.]
[Enter BERGAMIN.]
BERGAMIN. Ah, ha, I find you here again, dreaming in this corner of the park!
PERCINET. Father, I love this old corner! I adore this bench over which the vines of the wall have so gracefully draped themselves. See, what graceful arabesques these festoons make! The air is purer here.
BERGAMIN. By the side of this wall?
PERCINET. I love it!
BERGAMIN. I see nothing lovable about it!
SYLVETTE. [Aside] He can't see why!
PERCINET. But it is charming, all covered with ivy and creeper. See here, what honeysuckle! This hundred-year-old wall, with its clinging vines, its constellations of flowers, looking through the crannies, kissed by the summer sun, makes the bench a throne fit for kings!
BERGAMIN. Nonsense, you hare-brained youth! Do you mean to tell me that this wall has eyes?
PERCINET. Ah, what eyes! [Turns toward the wall.] Of soft azure, yet dazzlingly blue; let but a tear come to dim your brightness, or a single kiss--
BERGAMIN. But the wall hasn't eyes, you idiot!
PERCINET. See this vine, though! [He plucks part of the vine from the wall and graciously presents it to