The Dramas of Victor Hugo: Mary Tudor, Marion de Lorme, EsmeraldaHugo, Victor
General
The Dramas of Victor Hugo: Mary Tudor, Marion de Lorme, Esmeralda
Hugo, Victor
French drama -- 19th century -- Translations into English
Ah, you are a coward! You betray one and disown the other! You don't
even know who she is? Do you want me to tell you? This woman is Jane
Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, the good Catholic lord who perished
on the scaffold for my mother. This woman is Jane Talbot, my cousin:
Jane Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, Countess of Wexford, Countess of
Waterford, peeress of England. That is who she is, this woman! Lord
Paget, you are commissioner of the private seal; you will remember
our words. The Queen of England solemnly recognizes this woman here
present, as Jane, daughter and sole heiress of the last Earl of
Waterford. [_Showing the papers._] Here are the titles and the
proofs, which you will have sealed with the great seal. It is our
will.
[_To Fabiani_] Yes, Countess of Waterford, and it is proved! And
you will give back her estates, you wretched man! Ah, you don't know
this woman? You don't know who she is? Well, I am telling you! It is
Jane Talbot. Shall I tell you more yet?
[_Looking him in the face, in a low voice, between her teeth._
Coward, she is your mistress!
FABIANI.
Madame!
THE QUEEN.
That is what she is! Now, this is what you are! You are a man without
soul, a man without heart, a man without brains. You are a liar and a
villain! You are--By my faith, gentlemen, you need not draw away. I
am quite willing you should hear what I have to say to this man. I am
not lowering my voice, it seems to me. Fabiano, you are a wretch; a
traitor to me, a coward to her; a lying lackey, the most vile, the
lowest of all men. Yet it is true, I made you Earl of Clanbrassil,
Baron of Dinasmonddy and what more? Baron of Darmouth in Devonshire.
Ah, well! I was an idiot! My lords, I ask your pardon for having
forced you to be elbowed by that man there. You, a knight! you, a
noble! you, a lord! Compare yourself a little with those who are
such. Look! look around you! There stand noblemen. There is Bridges,
Baron Chandos; there is Seymour, Duke of Somerset. There are the
Stanleys, who have been Earls of Derby since 1485. There are the
Clintons, who have been barons since 1298. Do you imagine you are
like these people--you? You say that you are allied to the Spanish
family of Peñalver, but it is not true; you are only a bad Italian.
Nothing--worse than nothing! Son of a shoemaker in the village of
Larino! Yes, gentlemen, the son of a shoemaker! I knew it, and I did
not tell it; I concealed it, and I made believe I credited this man
when he talked about his nobility. That is the way we are, we women.
Oh, Heaven! I wish there were women here; it would be a lesson to
them all. This scoundrel! this scoundrel! he betrays one woman and
disowns the other. Infamous creature! Oh, yes, indeed you are
infamous. What! I have been speaking all this time and he is not yet
on his knees? On your knees, Fabiani! My lords, force this man to
kneel!
FABIANI.
Your Majesty--
THE QUEEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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