Complete Works of Thomas Hardy (Illustrated)
Page 841
His doubts to Austria's ministrator there.
SPIRIT IRONIC
When he returns, Napoleon will be—where?
Boats put off from these ships to the quay, where are now discovered
to have silently gathered a body of grenadiers of the Old Guard. The
faces of DROUOT and CAMBRONNE are revealed by the occasional fleck of
a lantern to be in command of them. They are quietly taken aboard
the brig, and a number of men of different arms to the other vessels.
CHORUS OF RUMOURS [aerial music]
Napoleon is going,
And nought will prevent him;
He snatches the moment
Occasion has lent him!
And what is he going for,
Worn with war's labours?
—To reconquer Europe
With seven hundred sabres.
About eight o'clock we observe that the windows of the Palace of
the Mulini are lighted and open, and that two women sit at them:
the EMPEROR'S mother and the PRINCESS PAULINE. They wave adieux
to some one below, and in a short time a little open low-wheeled
carriage, drawn by the PRINCESS PAULINE'S two ponies, descends
from the house to the port. The crowd exclaims "The Emperor!"
NAPOLEON appears in his grey great-coat, and is much fatter than
when he left France. BERTRAND sits beside him.
He quickly alights and enters the waiting boat. It is a tense
moment. As the boat rows off the sailors sing the Marseillaise,
and the gathered inhabitants join in. When the boat reaches the
brig its sailors join in also, and shout "Paris or death!" Yet
the singing has a melancholy cadence. A gun fires as a signal
of departure. The night is warm and balmy for the season. Not
a breeze is there to stir a sail, and the ships are motionless.
CHORUS OF RUMOURS
Haste is salvation;
And still he stays waiting:
The calm plays the tyrant,
His venture belating!
Should the corvette return
With the anxious Scotch colonel,
Escape would be frustrate,
Retention eternal.
Four aching hours are spent thus. NAPOLEON remains silent on the
deck, looking at the town lights, whose reflections bore like augers
into the water of the bay. The sails hang flaccidly. Then a feeble
breeze, then a strong south wind, begins to belly the sails; and the
vessels move.
CHORUS OF RUMOURS
The south wind, the south wind,
The south wind will save him,
Embaying the frigate
Whose speed would enslave him;
Restoring the Empire
That fortune once gave him!
The moon rises and the ships silently disappear over the horizon
as it mounts higher into the sky.
SCENE II
VIENNA. THE IMPERIAL PALACE
[The fore-part of the scene is the interior of a dimly lit gallery
with an openwork screen or grille on one side of it that commands
a bird's-eye view of the grand saloon below. At present the screen
is curtained. Sounds of music and applause in the saloon ascend
into the gallery, and an irradiation from the same quarter shines
up through chinks in the curtains of the grille.
Enter the gallery MARIE LOUISE and the COUNTESS OF BRIGNOLE,
followed by the COUNT NEIPPERG, a handsome man of forty two with
a bandage over one eye.]
COUNTESS OF BRIGNOLE
Listen, your Majesty. You gather all
As well as if you moved amid them there,
And are advantaged with free scope to flit
The moment the scene palls.
MARIE LOUISE
Ah, my dear friend,
To put it so is flower-sweet of you;
But a fallen Empress, doomed to furtive peeps
At scenes her open presence would unhinge,
Reads not much interest in them! Yet, in truth,
'Twas gracious of my father to arrange
This glimpse-hole for my curiosity.
—But I must write a letter ere I look;
You can amuse yourself with watching them.—
Count, bring me pen and paper. I am told
Madame de Montesquiou has been distressed
By some alarm; I write to ask its shape.
[NEIPPERG spreads writing materials on a table, and MARIE LOUISE
sits. While she writes he stays near her. MADAME DE BRIGNOLE
goes to the screen and parts the curtains.
The light of a thousand candles blazes up into her eyes from
below. The great hall is decorated in white and silver, enriched
by evergreens and flowers. At the end a stage is arranged, and
Tableaux Vivants are in progress thereon, representing the history
of the House of Austria, in which figure the most charming women
of the Court.
There are present as spectators nearly all the notables who have
assembled for the Congress, including the EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA
himself, has gay wife, who quite eclipses him, the EMPEROR
ALEXANDER, the KING OF PRUSSIA—still in the mourning he has
never abandoned since the death of QUEEN LUISA,—the KING
OF BAVARIA and his son, METTERNICH, TALLEYRAND, WELLINGTON,
NESSELRODE, HARDENBERG; and minor princes, ministers, and
officials of all nations.]
COUNTESS OF BRIGNOLE [suddenly from he grille]
Something has happened—so it seems, madame!
The Tableau gains no heed from them, and all
Turn murmuring together.
MARIE LOUISE
What may be?
[She rises with languid curiosity, and COUNT NEIPPERG adroitly
takes her hand and leads her forward. All three look down through
the grille.]
NEIPPERG
some strange news, certainly, your Majesty,
Is being discussed.—I'll run down and inquire.
MARIE LOUISE [playfully]
Nay—stay here. We shall learn soon enough.
NEIPPERG
Look at their faces now. Count Metternich
Stares at Prince Talleyrand—no muscle moving.
The King of Prussia blinks bewilderedly
Upon Lord Wellington.
MARIE LOUISE [concerned]
Yes; so it seems....
They are thunderstruck. See, though the music beats,
The ladies of the Tableau leave their place,
And mingle with the rest, and quite forget
That they are in masquerade. The sovereigns show
By far the gravest mien.... I wonder, now,
If it has aught to do with me or mine?
Disasters mostly have to do with me!
COUNTESS OF BRIGNOLE
Those rude diplomists from England there,
At your Imperial father's consternation,
And Russia's, and the King of Prussia's gloom,
Shake shoulders with hid laughter! That they call
The English sense of humour, I infer,—
To see a jest in other people's troubles!
MARIE LOUISE [hiding her presages]
They ever take things thus phlegmatically:
The safe sea minimizes Continental scare
In their regard. I wish it did in mine!
But Wellington laughs not, as I discern.
NEIPPERG
Perhaps, though fun for the other English here,
It means new work for him. Ah—notice now
The music makes no more pretence to play!
Sovereigns and minist
ers have moved apart,
And talk, and leave the ladies quite aloof—
Even the Grand Duchesses and Empress, all—
Such mighty cogitations trance their minds!
MARIE LOUISE [with more anxiety]
Poor ladies; yea, they draw into the rear,
And whisper ominous words among themselves!
Count Neipperg—I must ask you now—go glean
What evil lowers. I am riddled through
With strange surmises and more strange alarms!
[The COUNTESS OF MONTESQUIOU enters.]
Ah—we shall learn it now. Well—what, madame?
COUNTESS OF MONTESQUIOU [breathlessly]
Your Majesty, the Emperor Napoleon
Has vanished from Elba! Wither flown,
And how, and why, nobody says or knows.
MARIE LOUISE [sinking into a chair]
My divination pencilled on my brain
Something not unlike that! The rigid mien
That mastered Wellington suggested it....
Complicity will be ascribed to me,
Unwitting though I stand!... [A pause.]
He'll not succeed!
And my fair plans for Parma will be marred,
And my son's future fouled!—I must go hence,
And instantly declare to Metternich
That I know nought of this; and in his hands
Place me unquestioningly, with dumb assent
To serve the Allies.... Methinks that I was born
Under an evil-coloured star, whose ray
Darts death at joys!—Take me away, Count.—You [to the ladies]
Can stay and see the end.
[Exeunt MARIE LOUISE and NEIPPERG. MESDAMES DE MONTESQUIOU and
DE BRIGNOLE go to the grille and watch and listen.]
VOICE OF ALEXANDER [below]
I told you, Prince, that it would never last!
VOICE OF TALLEYRAND
Well, sire, you should have sent him to the Azores,
Or the Antilles, or best, Saint-Helena.
VOICE OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA
Instead, we send him but two days from France,
Give him an island as his own domain,
A military guard of large resource,
And millions for his purse!
ANOTHER VOICE
The immediate cause
Must be a negligence in watching him.
The British Colonel Campbell should have seen
That apertures for flight were wired and barred
To such a cunning bird!
ANOTHER VOICE
By all report
He took the course direct to Naples Bay.
VOICES [of new arrivals]
He has made his way to France—so all tongues tell—
And landed there, at Cannes! [Excitement.]
COUNTESS OF BRIGNOLE
Do now but note
How cordial intercourse resolves itself
To sparks of sharp debate! The lesser guests
Are fain to steal unnoticed from a scene
Wherein they feel themselves as surplusage
Beside the official minds.—I catch a sign
The King of Prussia makes the English Duke;
They leave the room together.
COUNTESS OF MONTESQUIOU
Yes; wit wanes,
And all are going—Prince Talleyrand,
The Emperor Alexander, Metternich,
The Emperor Francis.... So much for the Congress!
Only a few blank nobodies remain,
And they seem terror-stricken.... Blackly ends
Such fair festivities. The red god War
Stalks Europe's plains anew!
[The curtain of the grille is dropped. MESDAMES DE MONTESQUIOU
and DE BRIGNOLE leave the gallery. The light is extinguished
there and the scene disappears.]
SCENE III
LA MURE, NEAR GRENOBLE
[A lonely road between a lake and some hills, two or three miles
outside the village of la Mure, is discovered. A battalion of
the Fifth French royalist regiment of the line under COMMANDANT
LESSARD, is drawn up in the middle of the road with a company of
sappers and miners, comprising altogether about eight hundred men.
Enter to them from the south a small detachment of lancers with
an aide-de-camp at their head. They ride up to within speaking
distance.]
LESSARD
They are from Bonaparte. Present your arms!
AIDE [calling]
We'd parley on Napoleon's behalf,
And fain would ask you join him.
LESSARD
Al parole
With rebel bands the Government forbids.
Come five steps further and we fire!
AIDE
To France,
And to posterity through fineless time,
Must you then answer for so foul a blow
Against the common weal!
[NAPOLEON'S aide-de-camp and the lancers turn about and ride
back out of sight. The royalist troops wait. Presently there
reappears from the same direction a small column of soldiery,
representing the whole of NAPOLEON'S little army shipped from
Elba. It is divided into an advance-guard under COLONEL MALLET,
and two bodies behind, a troop of Polish lancers under COLONEL
JERMANWSKI on the right side of the road, and some officers
without troops on the left, under MAJOR PACCONI.
NAPOLEON rides in the midst of the advance-guard, in the old
familiar "redingote grise," cocked hat, and tricolor cockade,
his well-known profile keen against the hills. He is attended
by GENERALS BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMBRONNE. When they get within
gun-shot of the royalists the men are halted. NAPOLEON dismounts
and steps forward.]
NAPOLEON
Direct the men
To lodge their weapons underneath the arm,
Points downward. I shall not require them here.
COLONEL MALLET
Sire, is it not a needless jeopardy
To meet them thus? The sentiments of these
We do not know, and the first trigger pressed
May end you.
NAPOLEON
I have thought it out, my friend,
And value not my life as in itself,
But as to France, severed from whose embrace]
I am dead already.
[He repeats the order, which is carried out. There is a breathless
silence, and people from the village gather round with tragic
expectations. NAPOLEON walks on alone towards the Fifth battalion,
Throwing open his great-coat and revealing his uniform and the
ribbon of the Legion of Honour. Raising his hand to his hat he
salutes.]
LESSARD
Present arms!
[The firelocks of the royalist battalion are levelled at NAPOLEON.]
NAPOLEON [still advancing]
Men of the Fifth,
See—here I am!... Old friends, do you not know me?
If there be one among you who would slay
His Chief of proud past years, let him come on
And do it now! [A pause.]
LESSARD [to his next officer]
They are death-white at his words!
They'll fire not on this man. And I am helpless.
SOLDIERS [suddenly]
Why yes! We know you, father. Glad to see ye!
The Emperor for ever! Ha! Huzza!
[They throw their arms upon the ground, and, rushing forward,
sink down and seize NAPOLEON'S knees and kiss his hands. Those
who cannot get near him wave their shakos and acclaim him
passionately. BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMB
RONNE come up.]
NAPOLEON [privately]
All is accomplished, Bertrand! Ten days more,
And we are snug within the Tuileries.
[The soldiers tear out their white cockades and trample on them,
and disinter from the bottom of their knapsacks tricolors, which
they set up.
NAPOLEON'S own men now arrive, and fraternize with and embrace
the soldiers of the Fifth. When the emotion has subsided,
NAPOLEON forms the whole body into a square and addresses them.]
Soldiers, I came with these few faithful ones
To save you from the Bourbons,—treasons, tricks,
Ancient abuses, feudal tyranny—
From which I once of old delivered you.
The Bourbon throne is illegitimate
Because not founded on the nation's will,
But propped up for the profit of a few.
Comrades, is this not so?
A GRENADIER
Yes, verily, sire.
You are the Angel of the Lord to us;
We'll march with you to death or victory! [Shouts.]
[At this moment a howling dog crosses in front of them with a
cockade tied to its tail. The soldiery of both sides laugh
loudly.
NAPOLEON forms both bodies of troops into one column. Peasantry
run up with buckets of sour wine and a single glass; NAPOLEON
takes his turn with the rank and file in drinking from it. He
bids the whole column follow him to Grenoble and Paris. Exeunt
soldiers headed by NAPOLEON. The scene shuts.]
SCENE IV
SCHONBRUNN
[The gardens of the Palace. Fountains and statuary are seen
around, and the Gloriette colonnade rising against the sky on
a hill behind.
The ex-EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE is discovered walking up and down.
Accompanying her is the KING OF ROME—now a blue-eye, fair-haired
child—in the charge of the COUNTESS OF MONTESQUIOU. Close by is
COUNT NEIPPERG, and at a little distance MENEVAL, her attendant
and Napoleon's adherent.
The EMPEROR FRANCIS and METTERNICH enter at the other end of the
parterre.]
MARIE LOUISE [with a start]
Here are the Emperor and Prince Metternich.
Wrote you as I directed?
NEIPPERG
Promptly so.
I said your Majesty had not part
In this mad move of your Imperial spouse,
And made yourself a ward of the Allies;
Adding, that you had vowed irrevocably
To enter France no more.
MARIE LOUISE
Your worthy zeal
Has been a trifle swift. My meaning stretched
Not quite so far as that.... And yet—and yet