Cyrano de Bergerac Read online

  CHRISTIAN [whom CYRANO is prompting] You accuse me ... just Heaven! of loving you no more.... when I can love you no more!

  ROXANE [who was about to close her window, stopping] Ah, that is a little better!

  CHRISTIAN [same business] To what a ... size has Love grown in my... sigh-rocked soul which the ... cruel cherub has chosen for his cradle!

  ROXANE [stepping nearer to the edge of the balcony] That is distinctly better! ... But, since he is so cruel, this Cupid, you were unwise not to smother him in his cradle!

  CHRISTIAN [same business] I tried to, but, Madame, the... attempt was futile. This... new-born Love is... a little Hercules...

  ROXANE Much, much better!

  CHRISTIAN [same business] ... Who found it merest baby-play to ... strangle the serpents... twain, Pride and... Mistrust.

  ROXANE [leaning her elbows on the balcony-rail] Ah, that is very good indeed! ... But why do you speak so slowly and stintedly? Has your imagination gout in its wings?

  CYRANO [drawing CHRISTIAN under the balcony, and taking his place] Hush! It is becoming too difficult!

  ROXANE To-night your words come falteringly.... Why is it?

  CYRANO [talking low like CHRISTIAN] Because of the dark. They have to grope to find your ear.

  ROXANE My words do not find the same difficulty.

  CYRANO They reach their point at once? Of course they do! That is because I catch them with my heart. My heart, you see, is very large, your ear particularly small.... Besides, your words drop... that goes quickly; mine have to climb... and that takes longer!

  ROXANE They have been climbing more nimbly, however, in the last few minutes.

  CYRANO They are becoming used to this gymnastic feat!

  ROXANE It is true that I am talking with you from a very mountain top!

  CYRANO It is sure that a hard word dropped from such a height upon my heart would shatter it!

  ROXANE [with the motion of leaving] I will come down.

  CYRANO [quickly] Do not!

  ROXANE [pointing at the bench at the foot of the balcony] Then do you get up on the seat! ...

  CYRANO [drawing away in terror] No!

  ROXANE How do you mean... no?

  CYRANO [with ever-increasing emotion] Let us profit a little by this chance of talking softly together without seeing each other...

  ROXANE Without seeing each other? ...

  CYRANO Yes, to my mind, delectable! Each guesses at the other, and no more. You discern but the trailing blackness of a mantle, and I a dawn-grey glimmer which is a summer gown. I am a shadow merely, a pearly phantom are you! You can never know what these moments are to me! If ever I was eloquent . . .

  ROXANE You were!

  CYRANO My words never till now surged from my very heart...

  ROXANE And why?

  CYRANO Because, till now, they must strain to reach you through...

  ROXANE What?

  CYRANO Why, the bewildering emotion a man feels who sees you, and whom you look upon! ... But this evening, it seems to me that I am speaking to you for the first time!

  ROXANE It is true that your voice is altogether different.

  CYRANO [coming nearer, feverishly] Yes, altogether different, because, protected by the dark, I dare at last to be myself. I dare . . . [He stops, and distractedly.] What was I saying? ... I do not know.... All this... forgive my incoherence! ... is so delicious ... is so new to me!

  ROXANE So new? ...

  CYRANO [in extreme confusion, still trying to mend his expressions] So new... yes, new, to be sincere; the fear of being mocked always constrains my heart...

  ROXANE Mocked... for what?

  CYRANO Why,... for its impulses, its flights! ... Yes, my heart always cowers behind the defence of my wit. I set forth to capture a star . . . and then, for dread of laughter, I stop and pick a flower... of rhetoric!

  ROXANE That sort of flower has its pleasing points...

  CYRANO But yet, to-night, let us scorn it!

  ROXANE Never before had you spoken as you are speaking! ...

  CYRANO Ah, if far from Cupid-darts and quivers, we might seek a place of somewhat fresher things! If instead of drinking, flat sip by sip, from a chiselled golden thimble, drops distilled and dulcified, we might try the sensation of quenching the thirst of our souls by stooping to the level of the great river, and setting our lips to the stream!

  ROXANE But yet, wit ... fancy . . . delicate conceits....

  CYRANO I gave my fancy leave to frame conceits, before, to make you linger, ... but now it would be an affront to this balm-breathing night, to Nature and the hour, to talk like characters in a pastoral performed at Court! ... Let us give Heaven leave, looking at us with all its earnest stars, to strip us of disguise and artifice: I fear, ... oh, fear! ... lest in our mistaken alchemy sentiment should be subtilized to evaporation; lest the life of the heart should waste in these empty pastimes, and the final refinement of the fine be the undoing of the refined!

  ROXANE But yet, wit, ... aptness, ... ingenuity...

  CYRANO I hate them in love! Criminal, when one loves, to prolong over-much that paltry thrust and parry! The moment, however, comes inevitably,—and I pity those for whom it never conies!—in which, we apprehending the noble depth of the love we harbor, a shallow word hurts us to utter!

  ROXANE If... if, then, that moment has come for us two, what words will you say to me?

  CYRANO All those, all those, all those that come to me! Not in formal nosegay order, . . . I will throw them to you in a wild sheaf! I love you, choke with love, I love you, dear.... My brain reels, I can bear no more, it is too much.... Your name is in my heart the golden clapper in a bell; and as I know no rest, Roxane, always the heart is shaken, and ever rings your name! ... Of you, I remember all, all have I loved! Last year, one day, the twelfth of May, in going out at morning you changed the fashion of your hair.... I have taken the light of your hair for my light, and as having stared too long at the sun, on everything one sees a scarlet wheel, on everything when I come from my chosen light, my dazzled eye sets swimming golden blots! ...

  ROXANE [in a voice unsteady with emotion] Yes . . . this is love...

  CYRANO Ah, verily! The feeling which invades me, terrible and jealous, is love... with all its mournful frenzy! It is love, yet self-forgetting more than the wont of love! Ah, for your happiness now readily would I give mine, though you should never know it, might I but, from a distance, sometimes, hear the happy laughter bought by my sacrifice! Every glance of yours breeds in me new strength, new valor! Are you beginning to understand? Tell me, do you grasp my love’s measure? Does some little part of my soul make itself felt of you there in the darkness? ... Oh, what is happening to me this evening is too sweet, too deeply dear! I tell you all these things, and you listen to me, you! Not in my least modest hoping did I ever hope so much! I have now only to die! It is because of words of mine that she is trembling among the dusky branches! For you are trembling, like a flower among leaves! Yes, you tremble, ... for whether you will or no, I have felt the worshipped trembling of your hand all along this thrilled and blissful jasmin-bough! [He madly kisses the end of a pendant bough. ]

  ROXANE Yes, I tremble... and weep... and love you... and am yours! ... For you have carried me away... away! ...

  CYRANO Then, let death come! I have moved you, I! ... There is but one thing more I ask...

  CHRISTIAN [under the balcony] A kiss!

  ROXANE [drawing hastily back] What?

  CYRANO Oh!

  ROXANE You ask? ...

  CYRANO Yes . . . I ... [To CHRISTIAN.] You are in too great haste!

  CHRISTIAN Since she is so moved, I must take advantage of it!

  CYRANO [to ROXANE] I... Yes, it is true I asked... but, merciful heavens! ... I knew at once that I had been too bold.

  ROXANE [a shade disappointed] You insist no more than so?

  CYRANO Indeed, I insist... without insisting! Yes! yes! but your modesty shrinks! . . . I insist, but yet... the kis
s I begged . . . refuse it me!

  CHRISTIAN [to CYRANO, pulling at his mantle] Why?

  CYRANO Hush, Christian!

  ROXANE [bending over the balcony-rail] What are you whispering?

  CYRANO Reproaches to myself for having gone too far; I was saying “Hush, Christian!” [The theorbos are heard playing] Your pardon!... a second! ... Someone is coming! [ROXANE closes the window. CYRANO listens to the theorbos, one of which plays a lively, and the other a lugubrious tune]

  CYRANO A dance? ... A dirge? ... What do they mean? Is it a man or a woman? ... Ah, it is a monk! [Enter a CAPUCHIN MONK, who goes from house to house, with a lantern, examining the doors.]

  SCENE VIII

  Cyrano, Christian, a Capuchin

  CYRANO [to THE CAPUCHIN] What are you looking for, Diogenes?53

  THE CAPUCHIN I am looking for the house of Madame...

  CHRISTIAN He is in the way!

  THE CAPUCHIN Magdeleine Robin...

  CYRANO [pointing up one of the streets] This way! . . . Straight ahead... go straight ahead...

  THE CAPUCHIN I thank you. I will say ten Aves for your peace. [Exit.]

  CYRANO My good wishes speed your cowl! [He comes forward toward CHRISTIAN.]

  SCENE IX

  Cyrano, Christian

  CHRISTIAN Insist upon the kiss! ...

  CYRANO No, I will not!

  CHRISTIAN Sooner or later...

  CYRANO It is true! It must come, the moment of inebriation when your lips shall imperiously be impelled toward each other, because the one is fledged with youthful gold and the other is so soft a pink! ... [To himself.] had rather it should be because... [Sound of the window reopening; CHRISTIAN hides under the balcony.]

  SCENE X

  Cyrano, Christian, Roxane

  ROXANE [stepping forward on the balcony] Are you there? We were speaking of... of...of a...

  CYRANO Kiss. The word is sweet. Why does your fair lip stop at it? If the mere word burns it, what will be of the thing itself? Do not make it into a fearful matter, and then fear! Did you not a moment ago insensibly leave playfulness behind and slip without trepidation from a smile to a sigh, from a sigh to a tear? Slip but a little further in the same blessed direction: from a tear to a kiss there is scarcely a dividing shiver!

  ROXANE Say no more!

  CYRANO A kiss! When all is said, what is a kiss? An oath of allegiance taken in closer proximity, a promise more precise, a seal on a confession, a rose-red dot upon the letter i in loving; a secret which elects the mouth for ear; an instant of eternity murmuring like a bee; balmy communion with a flavor of flowers; a fashion of inhaling each other’s heart, and of tasting, on the brink of the lips, each other’s soul!

  ROXANE Say no more... no more!

  CYRANO A kiss, Madame, is a thing so noble that the Queen of France, on the most fortunate of lords, bestowed one, did the queen herself!

  ROXANE If that be so ...

  CYRANO [with increasing fervor] Like Buckingham54 I have suffered in long silence, like him I worship a queen, like him I am sorrowful and unchanging...

  ROXANE Like him you enthrall through the eyes the heart that follows you!

  CYRANO [to himself, sobered] True, I am handsome... I had forgotten!

  ROXANE Come then and gather it, the supreme flower...

  CYRANO [pushing CHRISTIAN toward the balcony] Go!

  ROXANE ... tasting of the heart.

  CYRANO Go!...

  ROXANE ... murmuring like a bee...

  CYRANO Go!

  CHRISTIAN [hesitating] But now I feel as if I ought not!

  ROXANE ... making Eternity an instant...

  CYRANO [pushing CHRISTIAN] Scale the balcony, you donkey! [CHRISTIAN springs toward the balcony, and climbs by means of the bench, the vine, the posts and balusters]

  CHRISTIAN Ah, Roxane! [He clasps her to him, and bends over her lips]

  CYRANO Ha!... What a turn of the screw to my heart! ... Kiss, banquet of Love at which I am Lazarus, a crumb drops from your table even to me,55 here in the shade.... Yes, in my outstretched heart a little falls, as I feel that upon the lip pressing her lip Roxane kisses the words spoken by me! ... [The theorbos are heard.] A merry tune... a mournful one... The monk! [He goes through the pretence of arriving on the spot at a run, as if from a distance; calling. ] Ho, there!

  ROXANE What is it?

  CYRANO It is I. I was passing this way. Is Christian there?

  CHRISTIAN [astonished] Cyrano!

  ROXANE Good-evening, cousin!

  CYRANO Cousin, good-evening!

  ROXANE I will come down. [ROXANE disappears in the house. THE CAPUCHIN re-enters at the back.]

  CHRISTIAN [seeing him] Oh, again! [He follows ROXANE.]

  SCENE XI

  Cyrano, Christian, Roxane, the Capuchin, Ragueneau

  THE CAPUCHIN It is here she lives, I am certain... Magdeleine Robin.

  CYRANO You said Ro-lin.

  THE CAPUCHIN No, bin, ... b, i, n, bin!

  ROXANE [appearing upon the threshold, followed by RAGUENEAU carrying a lantern, and CHRISTIAN] What is it?

  THE CAPUCHIN A letter.

  CHRISTIAN What?

  THE CAPUCHIN [to ROXANE] Oh, the contents can be only of a sacred character! It is from a worthy nobleman who . . .

  ROXANE [to CHRISTIAN] It is from De Guiche!

  CHRISTIAN He dares to ... ?

  ROXANE Oh, he will not trouble me much longer! [Opening the letter.] I love you, and if... [By the light of RAGUENEAU’s lantern she reads, aside, low.] Mademoiselle: The drums are beating. My regiment is buckling on its corselet. It is about to leave. I am thought to have left already, but lag behind. I am disobeying you. I am in the convent here. I am coming to you, and send you word by a friar, silly as a sheep, who has no suspicion of the import of this letter. You smiled too sweetly upon me an hour ago: I must see you smile again. Provide to be alone, and deign graciously to receive the audacious worshipper, forgiven already, I can but hope, who signs himself your—etc.... [To THE CAPUCHIN.] Father, this is what the letter tells me ... Listen: [All draw nearer; she reads aloud.] Mademoiselle: The wishes of the cardinal may not be disregarded, however hard compliance with them prove. I have therefore chosen as bearer of this letter a most reverend, holy, and sagacious Capuchin; it is our wish that he should at once, in your own dwelling, pronounce the nuptial blessing over you. Christian must secretly become your husband. I send him to you. You dislike him. Bow to Heaven’s will in resignation, and be sure that it will bless your zeal, and sure, likewise, Mademoiselle, of the respect of him who is and will be ever your most humble and... etc.

  THE CAPUCHIN [beaming] The worthy gentleman! ... I knew it! You remember that I said so: The contents of that letter can be only of a sacred character!

  ROXANE [low, to CHRISTIAN] I am a fluent reader, am I not?

  CHRISTIAN Hm!

  ROXANE [with feigned despair] Ah ... it is horrible!

  THE CAPUCHIN [who has turned the light of his lantern upon CYRANO] You are the one?

  CHRISTIAN No, I am.

  THE CAPUCHIN [turning the light upon him, and as if his good looks aroused suspicion] But...

  ROXANE [quickly] Postscript: You will bestow upon the convent two hundred and fifty crowns.

  THE CAPUCHIN The worthy, worthy gentleman! [To ROXANE.] Be reconciled!

  ROXANE [with the expression of a martyr] I will endeavor! [While RAGUENEAU opens the door for THE CAPUCHIN, whom CHRISTIAN is showing into the house, ROXANE says low to CYRANO.] De Guiche is coming! ... Keep him here! Do not let him enter until...

  CYRANO I understand! [To THE CAPUCHIN.] How long will it take to marry them?

  THE CAPUCHIN A quarter of an hour.

  CYRANO [pushing all toward the house] Go in! I shall be here!

  ROXANE [to CHRISTIAN] Come! [They go in.]

  SCENE XII

  Cyrano, alone

  CYRANO How can I detain De Guiche for a quarter of an hour? [He jumps upon the bench, climbs the wall t
oward the balcony rail. So! ... I climb up here! ... I know what I will do! ... [The theorbos play a melancholy tune.] Ho, it is a man! [The tune quavers lugubriously.] Ho, ho, this time there is no mistake! [He is on the balcony; he pulls the brim of his hat over his eyes, takes off his sword, wraps his cloak about him, and bends over the balcony-rail.] No, it is not too far! [He climbs over the balcony-rail, and reaching for a long bough that projects beyond the garden wall, holds on to it with both hands, ready to let himself drop.] I shall make a slight commotion in the atmosphere!

  SCENE XIII

  Cyrano, De Guiche

  DE GUICHE [enters masked, groping in the dark] What can that thrice-damned Capuchin be about?

  CYRANO The devil! if he should recognize my voice? [Letting go with one hand, he makes show of turning a key.] Cric! crac! [Solemnly.] Cyrano, resume the accent of Bergerac!

  DE GUICHE [looking at ROXANE’s house] Yes, that is it. I can scarcely see. This mask bothers my eyes! [He is about to enter ROXANE’s house; CYRANO swings from the balcony, holding on to the bough, which bends and lets him down between the door and DE GUICHE. He intentionally drops very heavily, to give the effect of dropping from a great height, and lies flattened upon the ground, motionless, as if stunned.]

  DE GUICHE What is it? [When he looks up, the bough has swung into place; sees nothing but the sky] Where did this man drop from?

  CYRANO [rising to a sitting posture] From the moon!

  lo2 CYRANO DE BERGERAC.

  DE GUICHE From the ... ?

  CYRANO [in a dreamy voice] What time is it?

  DE GUICHE Is he mad?

  CYRANO What time? What country? What day? What season?

  DE GUICHE But...

  CYRANO I am dazed!

  DE GUICHE Monsieur...

  CYRANO I have dropped from the moon like a bomb!

  DE GUICHE [impatiently] What are you babbling about?

  CYRANO [rising, in a terrible voice] I tell you I have dropped from the moon!