He wouldn't touch the corset of the Queen! THE KING (_after a moment's hesitation, dismisses Marion with a gesture without looking at her_). Well, go! MARION (_bowing profoundly to The King_). I'll fly to save the prisoners! [_Exits._ L'ANGELY (_to The King_). She's sister to Didier, the falconer. THE KING. She can be what she will. It's very strange, The way she made me drop my eyes! Made me, A man-- [_Silence._ Fool, you have played a trick on me! I'll have to pardon you a second time. L'ANGELY. Yes, do it! Every time they grant a pardon, Kings lift a dreary weight from off their hearts. THE KING. You speak the truth. I always suffer when La Grève holds court. Nangis was right: the dead Serve nobody. To fill Montfaucon I make a desert of the Louvre! [_Walking rapidly._ 'Tis treason To strike my right of pardon out, before My face. What can I do? Disarmed, dethroned, And fallen: in this man absorbed, as in A sepulcher! His cloak becomes my shroud: My people mourn for me as for the dead. I am resolved: those two boys shall not die! The joy of living is a heavenly gift. [_After reflection._ God, who knows where we go, can ope the tomb; A king cannot. Back to their families I give them; that old man, that fair young girl, Will bless me. It is said: I've signed it--I, The King. The Cardinal will be furious, But it will please Bellegarde. L'ANGELY. One can, sometimes, Be kingly by mistake. _ACT V_ THE CARDINAL Scene.--_Beaugency. The tower of Beaugency. A courtyard; the tower in the background, all around a high wall. To the left, a tall arched door; to the right, a small rounded door in the wall; near the door a stone table and stone bench_ SCENE I _Some Workmen. They are pulling down a corner of the back wall on the left. The demolition is almost completed_ FIRST WORKMAN (_working with his pickax_). It's very hard! SECOND WORKMAN (_working_). Deuce take this heavy wall we're pulling down! THIRD WORKMAN (_working_). Saw you the scaffold, Peter? FIRST WORKMAN. Yes, I did. [_He goes to the large door and measures it._ The door is narrow; never will the litter Of the Lord Cardinal go through it. THIRD WORKMAN. Bah! Is it a house? FIRST WORKMAN (_with affirmative gesture_). With great long curtains. Yes. It takes some four and twenty men on foot To carry it. SECOND WORKMAN. I saw the great machine, One night when it was very dark. It looked Just like Leviathan in shadow-land. THIRD WORKMAN. What does he come here with his sergeants for? FIRST WORKMAN. To see the execution of those two young men. He's sick. He needs to be amused. SECOND WORKMAN. To work! [_They resume work; the wall is about torn down._ Saw you the scaffold, all in black? That comes Of being noble!