Albert (drawing his key)
Yes, I have what he needs. Jenny, take my key, go, run upstairs, take
the viol--
Jenny
I'm afraid I'm too upset to do it properly. You'd better go instead.
Scratch
Run--quickly. Would you let a man who has offered to die for you
perish?
Jenny (pushing Albert)
Go, quick--go now!
Albert
I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!
(Exit Albert. As soon as Albert leaves, everybody stops and there is a
moment of absolute quiet.)
Worthy
Don't lose any time--let's get out of here. Head for the woods. Albert
won't know which way love has headed us.
Arabella
I put my life and my fate in your hands.
Scratch
Live, live, Scratch--and long live Folly. Let's run cross-country to
meet our fate--and leave Albert all alone here to pour out his rage.
(Exit Worthy, Arabella, Scratch, and Jenny in a wild burst of speed.
After a moment, enter Albert with a phial in his hand.)
Albert
I bring an elixir of astonishing strength.-- But, I don't see anybody.
What suspicion overwhelms me. Jenny! Arabella! Oh, heaven! All is deaf
to my cries. What's become of them? What road have they taken? Where
to run? Thief-- Police! Help! I stagger, I faint, I fall--for this
feigned folly has seduced me, and I alone have lost my wits today.
Here's the ridiculous end of my love. Ah, cursed bottle (throws the
phial) and credulous old man. Come, follow their steps, we won't give
up. Traitorous ravishers--you will be hanged! And you, deceitful sex--
more to be feared than fire, plague, famine, and war--you ought to be
cursed by all men. I consign you forever to the devil. Let him take
you!
CURTAIN
End of Project Gutenberg's The Follies of Love, by Jean-Francois Regnard
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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