The Wonder-Working Magician by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (thriller books to read .TXT) 📖

in another manner Once to listen to me.

JUSTINA. Sir, Different were the circumstances.

LELIUS [at the door, aside]. I can hear but indistinctly Half-formed words and broken accents.


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SCENE XIII.

FLORUS enters. - JUSTINA and LYSANDER; LELIUS, peeping at the door of the inner room.

FLORUS [aside]. Licence has a jealous lover, Who but enters to unmask here A pretended purity, To forego politer manners. I come here with that intention . . . But as she is with her father I will wait a new occasion.

LYSANDER. Who is there? Some footstep passes.

FLORUS [aside]. Ah! 'tis now impossible Without speaking to get back here. Some excuse I'll try to offer:- I am . . .

LYSANDER. You here, sir?

FLORUS. Your pardon. I ask leave, sir, to speak with you On a most important matter.

JUSTINA [aside]. Oh! take pity on me, fortune, For these trials are too many.

LYSANDER. Well, sir, speak.

FLORUS [aside, at the door]. Florus in Justina's house Leaves and enters like a master!- These are not unfounded jealousies, These are real and substantial.

LYSANDER. You grow pale, you change your colour.

FLORUS. Do not wonder, be not startled, For I came to give a warning, To your life of utmost value, Of an enemy that you have, Who your swift destruction planneth. What I've said is quite sufficient.

LYSANDER [aside]. Florus, doubtless, must have gathered Somehow that I am a Christian, And thus comes in kindliest manner Of my danger to apprise me.- [Aloud. Speak, hide nothing in this matter.


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SCENE XIV.

LIVIA enters. - JUSTINA, LYSANDER, and FLORUS; LELIUS at the door of the room.

LIVIA. Sir, the Governor, who is waiting At the door of the house, commanded Me to call you to his presence.

FLORUS. Best I wait for his departure:- [Aside. (Meantime my excuse I'll think of.) So 'tis well that you despatch him.

LYSANDER. I appreciate your politeness. Here I will return instanter. [Exeunt LYSANDER and LIVIA.


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SCENE XV.

JUSTINA and FLORUS; LELIUS at the door.

FLORUS. Are you then that virtuous maiden, Who, the very breeze that flatters With its soft and sweet caresses, You would call rude, bold, unmannered? How then is it you surrendered Even the very keys of the casket Of your honour?

JUSTINA. Hold, hold, Florus, Do not dare to throw a shadow On that honour which the sun After the most strict examen Has proved bright and pure.

FLORUS. Too late Comes this idle boast. It happens That I know to whom you have given Free access . . .

JUSTINA. You dare this scandal?-

FLORUS. By a balcony . . .

JUSTINA. Do not say it.

FLORUS. To your honour.

JUSTINA. Thus will you blast me?

FLORUS. Yes, for hypocritical virtue Merits something even harsher.

LELIUS [at the door, aside]. Florus was not then the hero Of the balcony; some more happy Lover than us twain she welcomes.

JUSTINA. Oh! defame not noble damsels, Since you noble blood inherit.

FLORUS. Noble damsel, dar'st thou call thee, When thy very arms received him, And from thy balcony he departed? Power subdued thee; from the fact That the Governor is his father, Vanity led thee on to show That in Antioch he commanded . . .

LELIUS [aside]. Here he speaks of me.

FLORUS. Not seeing Any graver defect of manner, Than what in his birth and breeding Rank may cover with its mantle, But not so . . . .

[LELIUS enters. LELIUS. Be silent, Florus, Nor attack me in my absence; For of a rival to speak ill, Is the act but of a dastard. 'Tis to stop this I come forward, Angry after so many passes Which my sword has had with thine, That I have not yet dispatched thee.

JUSTINA. Who, not guilty, ever saw her In such dangerous straits entangled?

FLORUS. What behind your back was spoken, I before you will establish, Truth is truth where'er 'tis uttered. [They grasp their swords.

JUSTINA. Florus! Lelius! what would you have then.

LELIUS. I would have full satisfaction Where I heard th'insulting language.

FLORUS. I'll maintain what I have said Where I said it.

JUSTINA. From so many Strokes of fortune, free me, Heaven!-

FLORUS. And I'll learn to chastise your rashness.


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SCENE XVI.

The Governor enters with LYSANDER and attendants. - JUSTINA, LELIUS, and FLORUS.

[All who enter]. Hold! stand back!

JUSTINA. Unhappy me!

GOVERNOR. What is this? But empty scabbards, Naked swords, are quite sufficient To inform me what has happened.

JUSTINA. What misfortune!

LYSANDER. What affliction!-

LELIUS. Ah, my lord . . .

GOVERNOR. Enough, no farther. Lelius, thou a son of mine, A disturber? Thou a scandal To all Antioch through my favour?

LELIUS. Think, my lord . . .

GOVERNOR. Arrest, disarm them, Take them hence. Make no distinction On account of blood or rank here. Let them suffer both alike, Since in guilt alike they acted.

LELIUS [aside]. I came jealous, and go outraged.

FLORUS [aside]. To my pains new pains are added.

GOVERNOR. In distinct and separate prisons, And with watchful eyes to guard them, Place the two. - And you, Lysander, Is it possible you have tarnished Such a noble reputation, Suffering . . . .

LYSANDER. No; let not these dazzling False appearances mislead you, For Justina in what happened Was quite blameless.

GOVERNOR. In her house here, Would you have her live regardless Of the fact that they were young, And that she was fair; My anger I restrain, lest people say, I, an interested party, Sentence passed as partial judge.- But of you who caused this quarrel, Now that maiden shame has left you, Well I know that you will glad me With the occasion I desire, Of exposing, of unmasking, In the light of actual vices, The false virtuous part you've acted. [Exeunt The Governor and his attendants; LELIUS and FLORUS follow as prisoners.


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SCENE XVII.

JUSTINA and LYSANDER.

JUSTINA. I reply but with my tears.

LYSANDER. Tears as vain as they are tardy. What an act was mine, Justina, When to thee my lips imparted Who thou art! Oh, would I never Told thee, that upon the margin Of a rivulet in this forest, A dead mother's womb here cast thee!

JUSTINA. I . . . .

LYSANDER. Do not attempt excuses.

JUSTINA. Heaven will make them, then, hereafter

LYSANDER. When too late, perhaps.

JUSTINA. No limit Can be late here while life lasteth.

LYSANDER. For the punishment of crimes.

JUSTINA. Injured truth to re-establish.

LYSANDER. I, from what I have seen, condemn thee.

JUSTINA. I thee, from what thou knowest not, rather.

LYSANDER. Leave me; I go forth to die Where my grief will soon dispatch me.

JUSTINA. At thy feet I would lose my life; But do not reject me, father. [Exeunt.


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SCENE XVIII.

A HALL IN CYPRIAN'S HOUSE. At the end is an open gallery, through which is seen the country.

CYPRIAN, the Demon, MOSCON, and CLARIN.

DEMON. Since the hour that I have been In your house a guest, you ne'er Show a gay and cheerful air. Sadness in your face is seen. It is wrong your cure to shun, Seeking to mislead mine eyes, Since I would unsphere the skies, Shake the stars, and shroud the sun, For the least desire you feel That more pleasantly you might live.

CYPRIAN. Magic has no power to give The impossible I conceal, Though the misery I betray.

DEMON. Come, confess the longed-for bliss.

CYPRIAN. I love a woman.

DEMON. And is this The impossible that you say?

CYPRIAN. If you knew her, you'd agree.

DEMON. Well, describe her, I'm resigned; Though I can't but smile to find What a coward you must be.

CYPRIAN. The fair cradle of the skies, Where the infant sun reposes, Ere he rises, decked with roses, Robed in snow, to dry heaven's eyes. The green prison-bud that tries To restrain the conscious rose, When the crimson captive knows April treads its gardens near, Turning dawn's half frozen tear To a smile where sunshine glows. The sweet streamlet gliding by, Though it scarcely dares to breathe Softest murmurs through its teeth, From the frosts that on it lie. The bright pink, in its small sky Shining like a coral star. The blithe bird that flies afar, Drest in shifting shades and blooms - Soaring cithern of plumes Harping high o'er heaven's blue bar. The white rock that cheats the sun When it tries to melt it down, What it melts is but the crown Which from winter's snow it won. The green bay that will not shun, Though the heavens are all aglow, For its feet a bath of snow,- Green Narcissus of the brook, Fearless leaning o'er to look, Though the stream runs chill below In a word, the crimson dawn, Sun, mead, streamlet, rosebud, May Bird that sings his amorous lay, April's laugh that gems the lawn, Pink that sips the dews up-drawn, Rock that stands in storm and shine, Bay-tree that delights to twine Round its fadeless leaves the sun, All are parts which met in one Form this woman most divine. For myself, in blind unrest, (Guess my madness if you can) I, to seem another man, In these courtly robes am drest, Studious calm I now detest, Fame no longer fires my mind, Passion reigns where thought refined, I my