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Etext by Dagny
Lovelace Polly Jeremy Lucy Bellamy Jacob Lettice Peter Luke
Jeremy
Let me put it in the plainest terms: I advanced the money for our
expenses from our garrison to this village. We've already lived for
fifteen days off my pile. Please settle up, and let me take my leave.
Lovelace
Oh—damn it. You pick a fine time.
Jeremy
Hey, sir, what better time is there? You've just been discharged.
Now you must discharge your followers.
Lovelace
Jeremy, to quit an officer's service is to jeer at Fortune.
Jeremy
Sir, I've been jeered at since the day I entered your
service—but, thank you very much, I am above Fortune. I intend to
retire from the world.
Lovelace
The stupid—stupid——
Jeremy
Yes, sire, I have made several little reflections on the vanity of
worldly pleasures. I am tired of being beaten and malnourished. I am
tired of spending my evenings at the door of a gambling den, and my
days warning off whores. I am tired of whiling away the time at the
buffet while you get drunk at the table. One must make an end, sir. I
am going to marry a certain Lucy, who is the wittiest girl in this
village. The prettiest girls in Wales consult her like an oracle
because she understudied a coquette in London. It was in London that
she became amorous of me.
Lovelace
Hey, why haven't I met this amiable Lucy? My star is running out
of luck.
Jeremy
It's not your star, sir, it's my care in hiding Lucy from you.
She's too pretty to make your acquaintance. But this digression is
causing you to forget a little question of arithmetic between us. I've
been in your service for eight years at twenty-five shillings per
annum, sum total six hundred pounds; instead I have received two
hundred blows with your cane and fifty kicks in the ass: there remains
then, the six hundred pounds, which I beg you to give me instantly.
Lovelace (in a rage)
What! I've had the patience to put up with a rascal like you for
eight years!
Jeremy
A little more, actually.
Lovelace
A thief.
Jeremy
Yes, sir.
Lovelace
Eight years—a valet worth hanging!
Jeremy
Ah!
Lovelace
Who should be destroyed, wiped out!
Jeremy
Something's wrong here. Up to the present moment, you've been very
satisfied with my service. The moment I ask for my wages you change.
Lovelace (softening)
Jeremy, I am not to be duped by my own good nature today. Go, old
boy, I have no intent of running you off.
Jeremy
Truly, sir, it's not you who is running me off. It's I who ask for
my leave—and six hundred pounds.
Lovelace
No, dear heart, you cannot leave me. You know you are necessary to
me. Rustic life does not agree with an intriguer, a trickster.
Jeremy
I know I have all the necessary talents to make my fortune in the
city—but, I sacrifice my ambitions to Lucy—to whom I intend to give
my six hundred pounds. Here, I'll give you a receipt. (pulls out a
paper and gives it to Lovelace)
Lovelace
Plague on the cad! You have only your own business on your mind.
Let's speak a little of mine. Tomorrow, I will marry Polly. I have
managed things so well that her father is, at present, fonder of me
than of his daughter. She has ten thousand pounds, Jeremy.
Jeremy
You've only got your own affairs in mind. Let's return a bit to
mine.
Lovelace
Polly is waiting for me at her home at four o'clock. And before
going to her, I have to arrange certain things with the solicitor.
Jeremy
Sir, there's only two words to my affair.
Lovelace
The notary is waiting for me, Jeremy.
Jeremy
My discharge and my wages.
Lovelace
Oh, if you absolutely insist on finishing our relationship
together.
Jeremy
If it were not for a pressing circumstance—
Lovelace
One must make an effort.
Jeremy
I don't want to importune you.
Lovelace
You don't know how this pains me.
Jeremy
Here's your receipt.
Lovelace (taking the receipt and hugging Jeremy)
Go, I give you your leave.
Jeremy
And my wages?
Lovelace
You'll have to wait, Jeremy. I don't have time to see you anymore.
(Exit Lovelace.)
Jeremy
The rogue! I owe him one! Lucy has asked me to help break his
engagement to Polly. Well, we'll see what we can do.
(Enter Lucy.)
Jeremy
Ah, you here!
Lucy
I've been looking for you for over an hour. Have you come to terms
with your master?
Jeremy
Hardly. There's a dispute between him and me over two articles. I
asked for my leave and my wages. He split the difference—he gave me
my leave and kept my wages.
Lucy
And your refuse to take off the kid gloves with him! Do you still
have to be pulled by the ear to help me break his marriage, to help my
poor brother Bellamy to whom Polly was originally promised. It's up to
you to make the whole village happy. There were dances and feasts held
in honor of Bellamy and Polly until this discharged officer came and
stole the heart of the pretty farmer's daughter. And since then, all
the gallants are in mourning.
Jeremy
I don't lack the will to do it, but I consider.
Lucy
And I, I consider nothing. I am very stupid to beg you when I have
a right to command. Bellamy is my brother—and if he doesn't marry
Polly as I wish, Lucy will not marry Jeremy.
Jeremy
Listen to that. You really put me in a predicament.
Lucy
Except that I am not like most women who create such dilemmas. I
haven't given any deposit, and I will break it off if—
Jeremy
Easy. What has to be done for little brother Bellamy? Have you
made any plans with him?
Lucy
Plans with Bellamy! He's a naïve young lover who is capable only
of fidgeting. He comes, he goes, he can't sit still; he curses his
unfaithful lover, and he always has some childish plan which he
insists you listen to. Besides, he's a little obstinate—so, I've had
to shut him up so he'll leave me in peace to manage his business. I
believe that he's coming now.
(Enter Bellamy.)
Lucy
What! Little imp, are you always under foot?
Bellamy
I crawled out of the window of the room you locked me up in, so as
to come tell you that this plan of yours about a widow to expose
Lovelace won't work.
Lucy
You'll be the death of me if you—
Jeremy
Let Bellamy speak. He seems like a weighty fellow to me.
Bellamy
Exactly. I discovered a secret that proves Polly loves me, and I
began to think—
Lucy
So, go finish your thinking and leave me along to manage—
Bellamy
Oh—perhaps I could—
Lucy
It won't be you—
Bellamy
I tell you that—
Lucy
I tell you to quiet down—
Bellamy
Look, I'm the one who's in love. I want to talk—to speak—with
all my soul.
Lucy
Oh—this little amorous troublemaker.
Bellamy
Hold on. If Jeremy tells me, I don't know better than you how to
get Polly back—I'll return to my room.
Lucy
Let's listen, on that condition.
Bellamy
What I have here is a trick to get Polly in a corner while you
both listen.
Jeremy
So far, so good.
Bellamy
And then, when she's there, I will say to her: "Since there's
nobody who can hear us—Isn't it true, Polly, that you've told me a
hundred times that you love me?" She'll say: "Yes, Bellamy, because
it's true." I'll say: "Isn't it true that when you told me you loved
me, I said that oaths were nice, but they don't mean anything. They
don't prove you won't marry somebody else, besides me?" Polly will
say: "Yes, Bellamy." Then I will say, "Isn't it true that on a certain
day, when your collar pin broke, I repaired it sweetly, very sweetly?"
Lucy
Oh! Hurry up. I like despatch.
Jeremy
This story is very promising. And we will be hidden to hear all
this?
Bellamy
Right. I'm not going to hem and haw with her—for she's engaged to
me and that covers everything—and if not, I'm quite easy that
everyone knows who brought the earth to harvest. Anyway, then—I say
to her: "Isn't it true that while opening your collar, I found a paper
against your breast, and that on this paper you had written your name
with mine to show that we would become one?" And she will say: "Yes,
Bellamy." Oh, she may have gone to sleep by then, but I know she's
only pretending, for I woke her once when—
Lucy
All right, now, after she's said all that?
Bellamy
You will jump out of your hiding place and say to her: "Polly, you
must not marry anyone except Bellamy or else we'll tell everybody that
you love two men at the same time." She wouldn't put up with that.
Lucy
Oh, yes she would. Women love to glory in it.
Bellamy
To glory in loving someone else when one is already engaged!
No,—no, there isn't a woman like that in the whole world.
Jeremy
Bellamy hasn't been around. Still, I believe Mr. Bellamy is better
at thinking than we are; however, we're better at doing than Bellamy.
So —he is condemned to return to his chamber until we have need of
him.
Bellamy
Oh, he cannot mean what he said, Lucy, because—hey!
Lucy (pushing him out)
Come on, go—or I'm not going to bother myself with your affairs.
Bellamy (exiting)
I'm going, but I'm furious.
Lucy
Oh, at last we are rid of him. Now all we have to do is cure Polly
of her infatuation with your master.
Jeremy
Huh! When love gets into a heart as simple as Polly's, it's
difficult to drive out. It's more firmly placed there than in the
heart of a changeable coquette.
Lucy
I admit your master's grand airs have taken her imagination, but
in the depths of her heart, she's still for Bellamy. Let's finish this
up. We must prevent Polly from leaving home, so she cannot thwart our
plans. How do you feel about it?
Jeremy
Hum! Listen, we've accustomed her to London fashions. Suppose I
told her my master wanted her to have presentable clothes. The
hairdressing alone would keep an ordinary woman busy all day long.
Lucy
Here she comes. Think of a way to keep her here.
Polly (entering)
Jeremy, where's your master? I've been waiting for him for two
hours.
Jeremy
You're mistaken, Madame, my master is very intent on your waiting
for him.
Lucy (aside to Polly)
Didn't I tell you his zeal wouldn't last?
Polly
Oh, on the contrary, Lucy, Lovelace must be in love with me today
to utter madness, for he promised me that each day his love would
grow; and he's already loved me since yesterday.
Lucy
In one night, a man's heart may undergo a revolution.
Jeremy
Yes, at the end of this century, loves, like the seasons, are
quite out of cycle; hot and cold come only by caprice.
Lucy
In this village, we have an absolute rule: it's that on the
wedding day the thermometer of tenderness is in a very high degree;
but the next day it drops a bit.
Polly
You both want to convince me that Lovelace will be
inconstant—but, I'd have to be crazy to believe that he would change.
What! When Bellamy told me quite simply that he would be faithful to
me forever, I believed him—and you expect me not to believe Lovelace,
who is a refined gentleman, and who takes the most horrible oaths that
he will love me always?
Jeremy
In love, the oaths of a lover mean nothing; it's the language of
the country.
Lucy
If you would listen to me one time in your life, I would make you
see that Lovelace—
Polly
Let's talk about something else, shall we, Lucy—
Jeremy
She's right. (to Polly) Let's talk about the beautiful clothes my
master is going to get for you.
Polly
Oh, Jeremy, I'm delighted!
Jeremy
By the way, my master would like you to dress today in London
fashion.
Polly
I'd like nothing better myself, but I don't know which of my two
clothes I should wear. Tell me, Jeremy, which does he like better, the
ingenue or the seductress?
Jeremy
The harlot/seductress has always been to my master's taste.
Polly
London women must have great wit to invent such clever names.
Jeremy
The devil! Their imagination works overtime. They only invent
fashions to hide sins. Furbelows for those who don't have hips; those
who have hips, hid them. The long neck and wrinkled throat have given
place to the steinkerk and so forth.
Polly
What puzzles me the most is the coiffure. I can never arrange so
much machinery on my head. There's never room to put half of it.
Jeremy
Oh—when it's a question of arranging pieces of nonsense, the head
of a woman has more understanding than one gives them credit for. But,
you remind me that I have here an instruction book on the coiffure
translated from the French and direct from London. It's entitled: "The
elements of the toilet or the harmonious system of feminine coiffure."
Polly
Oh! How nice that book must be!
Jeremy (drawing the book from his pocket)
Here's the second volume. The first only contained an alphabetical
list of the principal pieces used, like: La Duchess, le solitaire, Les
Fontages, le chou, la tete a tete, la culbute, the somersault, Le
Mousquetaire, le firmament, the tenth heaven, the palissade and the
mouse.
Polly
Ah, Jeremy, find the place in the book which describes the Mouse.
I have a knot of ribbon called "le souris."
Jeremy
Here's some of it; listen: "Coiffure to shorten the face."—That's
not it. "Dashing little curls for straight faces and long noses." I'm
not there yet. "Ingenious supplements which give relief to flat
cheeks." Listen to that! "Flying headpieces to make the eyes stand
out." Ah, here's what you ask: "The Mouse—a little ribbon of silk
which is placed in the wood. Note: one calls 'wood' a little pack of
bristling hairs which garnish the front of a wooden buckle." But, you
can read this at your leisure. Go quickly, arrange your toilet. I will
send my master to you as soon as he has finished some business he has.
Polly
He won't have to wait for me at least. Adieu, Lucy.
Lucy
Adieu, Polly.
(Exit Polly.)
Lucy
It's apparent that in the end, in this world, each must be
deceived through his weakness: men by women, women by their clothes.
Jeremy
He's with the notary. He'll have to pass this way to see Polly,
and I will delay him while you go disguise yourself as the widow.
Lucy
Go over this disguise a little. You're certain your master has
never seen this widow?
Jeremy
Assuredly. My boasting is based on her reputation in the county of
being very rich; that she is in love with him. To revenge herself on
him for his indifference, she's taken pleasure in appearing masked at
two or three parties where he was—to inflame him—in a word, to mock
him, always finding an excuse for not unmasking. She's a merry widow,
who plays a thousand pranks like this to liven up her widowhood.
Lucy
Since it's that way, I'll counterfeit the widow better than she
herself could.
Jeremy
So be it. One cannot know how to play the woman if you don't know
how to play a married woman.—Is the dress ready?
Lucy
Yes.
Jeremy
Here comes my master.
Lucy
Amuse the gallows bird, so I can disguise myself—then go warn
Polly, so that she may come and surprise us.—You will make her
eavesdrop on our conversation. Let me proceed.
(Exit Lucy.)
Jeremy
Now, how shall I bring it off? But, one doesn't need much skill
with my master. A man who believes himself loved by the ladies is
easily duped.
(Enter Lovelace.)
Jeremy
Sir, sir!
Lovelace
Don't stop me. Polly is waiting for me.
Jeremy
There's more to my business than I expect to speak to you about at
present.
Lovelace
I'm dying with impatience to see her. Love, Jeremy, love—Ah, when
one's heart is taken.
Jeremy
I had never thought you to be the type of man to let love prevent
him from making his fortune.
Lovelace
What do you mean by that?
Jeremy
That your love for Polly would make you lose this widow of fifty
thousand pounds.
Lovelace
Hey! Didn't you say this crazy woman has become invisible?
Jeremy
Apparently, she intends to test your fidelity. The happy moment is
come. She is here.
Lovelace
Is it possible?
Jeremy
Nothing could be more true—and since you have left me—But let's
not speak of it any more—your heart belongs to Polly.
Lovelace
Finish, Jeremy, finish.
Jeremy
In love, as you are, you wouldn't break off a marriage of
inclination for a difference of twenty thousand pounds more or less.
Lovelace
One would have to employ violence. But, with twenty thousand
pounds, one could buy a regiment; one is useful to the King—you know
a man of honor ought to sacrifice himself to the interests of his
country.
Jeremy
Between us, the country has no great need of you—it's already
thanked you for your services.
Lovelace
Speak of the widow, Jeremy.
Jeremy
The widow came to town this morning to see your handsome face.
And, after you left me, she offered me a hundred pounds if I would
deliver your heart to her.
Lovelace
Jeremy, old friend, faithful servant, I'd be delighted to help you
earn a hundred pounds. I love to pay my obligations, Jeremy.
Jeremy
By reducing my wages and paying them off with hers!
Lovelace
What does it take, dear heart?
Jeremy
It's agreed between us, that chance will bring the widow under
this elm tree in a quarter of an hour.
Lovelace
Excellent.
Jeremy
I have promised her that the same chance will bring you there.
Lovelace
Dear Jeremy.
Jeremy
You must walk up and down without seeming to do anything. She's
going to come without seeming to do anything. You will accost her
without seeming to; she will listen to you without seeming to. That's
how marriages are made in London.
Lovelace
My word, you're an adorable man.
Jeremy
There—prepare to accost the widow like a school master. Hide an
eye with your hat, hand on your belt, elbow sticking out, body to the
side, head the other way—and be careful not to walk a straight path.
That's a good little bourgeois.
Lovelace
You rascal, you know almost as much as I do.
Jeremy
Now's the time, sir, to profit by the talents you have acquired in
the grand art of trickery! Ah, if you recall that glance you gave the
other day at the theatre—a certain glance that caused a woman you had
never spoken to in your life to lose her reputation.
Lovelace
You're a jokester.
(Enter Lucy, dressed as the widow.)
Jeremy (low to Lovelace)
Here's the widow, sir. Pretend to do nothing. (aloud to Lovelace,
while signalling to Lucy) Is there nothing new in the catalogue? Have
you received letters from London? The promenade is awfully deserted
today. Which way's the wind blowing? My God—pretty day!
Lovelace (low to Jeremy)
Jeremy, the poor thing is sighing.
Jeremy (low to Lovelace)
Apparently, for the deceased.
Lovelace
We have to let her suffer a little more. She's sensitive to music.
I'll use that to my advantage.
Jeremy
Right. Your style is full of merit, and you have even more wit. If
she listens to your song, she'll be charmed, sir. Don't you remember
some impromptu from the latest opera?
Lovelace
I am going to sing to keep from being bored—a little air that I
composed for a charming widow. (singing)
Damn—love is stupid.
Yes, stupid.
Without regard for my birth
Love makes me sigh.
Love makes me tremble.
Just like a bourgeois.
Damn—love is stupid.
There's no prettier face in England.
Must I submit to this pretty flirt?
And in recompense
Be enchained
Like a galley slave?
Damn—love is stupid.
Jeremy (after Lovelace finishes his song)
You are love itself, sir.
Lovelace (low to Jeremy)
It's enough to make one expire. Heavens, what an adventure,
Jeremy. I believe that now my amiable invisible is going to speak to
me.
Jeremy
It's herself.
Lovelace (accosting her)
By what chance, Madame, do you find yourself in this village?
Lucy
I came to seek out solitude and cry if I want to.
Jeremy
Let us retire, sir; it is dangerous to interrupt the tears of a
widow. The sight of a handsome man reopens the wound.
Lovelace
I have told you a hundred times, charming, spiritual Lady, I am
the English Cavalier most specific for the consolation of ladies. I am
the remedy.
Lucy
A knight like you cannot console one—without afflicting many
others.
Lovelace
Let all the women in the world perish of jealousy, provided you
desire—
Lucy
Ah! Don't finish, sir. I fear you're about to make proposals to me
that I cannot listen to without horror. My husband has only been dead
eight years.
Lovelace
Ah, Jeremy, I sense my flame re-igniting.
Jeremy
She is speaking of the deceased. Your affair is going well.
Lucy
My husband made me promise when he died, (lowering her voice) that
I must never remarry.
Jeremy
Profit by the opportunity, sir. She's a woman and when she lowers
her voice, it means she's weakening.
Lucy (stammering)
I w-will k-keep my p-promise—and y-yet—
Jeremy (low to Lovelace)
She's stammering. Time for me to retire.
Lovelace (low to Jeremy)
Go on, then.
(Exit Jeremy.)
Lovelace
You are alone, Madame. Do for me now, what you have always refused
to do—raise your cruel veil.
Lucy
Sir, sorrow has so changed me.
Lovelace
Hey, I pray you—
Lucy (in an affected tone)
I never sleep. Fatigue causes wrinkles. The heat—the dust—I'm
afraid you'll think I'm ugly.
Lovelace
I will find you charming. (aside) You'd have to be uglier than
Medusa to frighten me off, child.
Lucy (raising her veil)
You mean it?
Lovelace
What do I see?
Lucy
I suppose it's necessary to admit that from the second time I saw
you, I intended to make your fortune—but I had to test you. Ah! Cruel
man —did you have to rebuff me so soon?
Lovelace
Hey—where have I seen you, Madame?
(Enter Jeremy, leading Polly to listen.)
Polly (aside to Jeremy)
Is it for this that you made me wait?
Jeremy (aside)
Listen.
(Exit Jeremy.)
Lovelace
I admit frankly, that because of your refusal I lowered my sights
to a farmer's daughter—because I found a pile of money to compensate
for the great wealth I might have had from you.—But, honor bright, I
never regarded her as anything but a child, a doll to play with, and
since our charming conversation in London, you have never lost the
empire you gained over my heart.
Polly (aside)
The traitor!
Lucy
Evidently, I believe you, for I still intend to marry you. But
above all, you must first tell this Polly, in my presence, that you
never loved her.
Lovelace
In her presence?
Lucy
What, do you hesitate?
Lovelace
Not at all. But, how can I say to a woman, face to face, that I
don't love her? It would kill her. The blow is mortal, Madame, and I
ought to have some care of a poor creature who—
Lucy
Who?
Lovelace
Who? To tell you a secret has a certain weakness for me—but, I am
a gallant man.
Polly (aside, agitated)
How he lies!
Lovelace
But, Madame, I will give up all to follow you. I let myself be
caught. I will marry you. Is more proof of my love necessary?
Lucy
At least, I order you to break the engagement you have with her
father, immediately.
Lovelace
Oh, as to that, willingly.
Lucy
Go, promptly, and return in half an hour—and wait for me
here—under the elm.
Lovelace
I will give you satisfaction.
Lucy
Under the elm—remember.
(Exit Lovelace.)
Polly (not daring to accost the widow)
I must know it from her. But, dare I meet her after what he just
told her about me?
Lucy
My God! The pretty trollop. How lovely. Do you wish to speak to
me?
Polly
No.
Lucy
I believe I've seen you somewhere. Aren't you the pretty Polly,
the farmer's daughter?
Polly
I don't know.
Lucy
Don't be afraid, my little sweetheart. You stole my lover from
me—but I've already avenged myself, because he has sacrificed you to
me.
Polly
The traitor.
Lucy
You're angry, aren't you, to lose such a handsome little man?
Polly
I'm angry that he told you lies about me. He said that I had a
weakness for him. Ah, don't believe that, Madame, he's a bad man, and
will say the same of you.
Lucy
Ha, ha.
Polly
You laugh? Is it because you believe what that liar told you?
Lucy
Lovelace doesn't know how to lie; he is a gentleman.
Polly
How unhappy I am! What! You believe him?
Lucy (unveiling)
Yes, I do.
Polly
It's Lucy.
Lucy
I believe him the way I've always believed him—and I believe that
you are very wise and Lovelace is a rat. But, I am happy you listened.
You see, it's not his fault that I am a phoney widow. Well, what does
your heart say now?
Polly
I am betrayed. Does Bellamy still love me?
Lucy
He will always love you if you love him. And if you say one word
to him he will devote his life to paying Lovelace back.
Polly
Ah! That's not bad: Lovelace told me he was no good.
Lucy
It's an act of vengeance that will serve to divert all our
fashionable society. Lovelace will be bantered to such a degree that
he will have his fill of it.
(Enter Bellamy.)
Bellamy (aside, without seeing Polly)
Jeremy just told me all that's happening to make me patient. But,
although I may spoil everything, I cannot hold still. I'm too much in
love.
Polly (angry to have been betrayed to Bellamy)
Ah, Bellamy, Bellamy.
Bellamy (seeing her)
At least I didn't say I was in love with you! It would be very
silly for me to still love an ingrate.
Polly
That's true.
Bellamy
An infidel!
Polly
Yes, Bellamy.
Bellamy
A changeable woman.
Polly
Alas, I didn't want to change—it just happened—'cause I had
never seen a man like Lovelace before.
Bellamy
Oh, yes. You are a traitress.
Polly
Oh—as for being a traitor—I didn't avoid you when I fell in love
with Lovelace.
Bellamy (stifling, from a lover's rage)
Ah—ouf! There's but one way I can return to my old self. Give me
your hand.
Polly
Ah, Bellamy—how angry I am.
Bellamy
Ah, Polly—how good I feel.
Lucy
You will use up all your tenderness—keep it for after you get
married—then you'll need it. Now, Lovelace is coming to wait for me
under the elm. We've resolved to mock him—Peter, Jacob, and Luke are
going to aid us. They are already near. Here they are, in fact.
(Enter Jacob and shepherds.)
Lucy
Who told you it was already time?
Jacob
We saw from a distance that she let Bellamy kiss her hand.
Bellamy
It's the sign of the return of a lost spirit.
Polly
How ashamed I am, Jacob, to have been deceived by such a man.
Jacob
Alas, which one of us doesn't arrive at that point? But, we are
going to make this little Lothario, Lovelace, see that he doesn't know
his job, if he lets a girl have time to think.
Lucy
Are you ready in your roles to mock him?
Jacob
Exactly. Luke and Peter will make an opera of it in two hours.
Lucy
Yes, I am going to give you your parts.
Jacob
Here's Lovelace. Hide! It's time for me to begin.
(They all leave hurriedly. Enter Lovelace, going under the elm.)
Lovelace
Here we are a little beforehand. I haven't seen the girl or her
father. If this widow plays me a little trick, it's going to be easy
to go back to Polly—because I haven't left. I hear the villagers
singing—let's let them pass by.
(Enter Jacob and Lettice. Lettice sings to a peasant boy who flees.)
Jacob
My poor Lettice, you're wasting your time and your song. It's true
I've loved you, but it's exactly because of that that I don't love you
any more. Those are the rules.
Lettice (singing)
When you promised me
Under the fatal elm
That I would soon
Triumph over my rival
Ah! Why didn't I profit by it?
It wouldn't be so painful.
Now, I can only reproach your infidelity.
Jacob (singing)
It's true that my frankness
Was surprised by your deceiving talk
And your charming manners.
I wanted to do something stupid.
You didn't take me at my word.
You were the stupid.
You were the fool.
You were the chump.
Lovelace
These villagers are naturally gallant. But the widow's a little
late.
(Enter Jeremy.)
Jeremy
Ah, sir—we've had bad luck.
Lovelace
What is it?
Jeremy
The widow's gone, sir. One of her aunts came to drag her away. All
the poor woman could do was to stick her hand out of the carriage
window and make me a sign that she would always love you.
Lovelace
Is she mocking me?
Jeremy
Sir, I've saddled your horse. He's tied up at the door. If you
wish to follow, the carriage cannot have got far.
Lovelace
Jeremy, we have to do something we can be certain of. I am going
to find Polly and conclude things with her. Here she is right now when
I want her.
(Enter Polly.)
Polly (aside)
I am indeed going to mock him. (aloud) Ah, here you are, sir. I
suppose I have to look for you all day?
Lovelace
Ah, pardon, my charmer. I had a business transaction that I
couldn't put off.
Polly
Rather—weren't you being unfaithful?
Lovelace
What do you say, cruel unjust, ingrate? May heaven witness—
Polly
Hey, don't swear. I know how much you love me.
Lovelace
But you—who speak of love—can love wait until tomorrow?
Polly
All right—Let's get married now!
Lovelace
Tell that to papa—to shorten the formalities, the articles, the
contract.
Jeremy
A stupid custom for lovers who are in a hurry.
Polly
We will go in a moment to find my father—and if he makes us wait
too long, we'll marry ourselves all by ourselves.
Chorus of farmers and shepherds from the depths of the theatre
If you wait for me under the elm
You may have to wait a while!
Lovelace
What's that I hear?
Polly
It's the wedding of a boy named Bellamy. Don't you know who he is?
Jeremy (leaping about)
A wedding! My word, I'm going to dance.
(Enter the shepherds.)
Lovelace
They're coming. Let's give them room.
Polly
Oh—I have to be of that party.
Lovelace
What—you can change in a minute?
Polly
As soon as the marriage is over, we can get married.
Chorus
Wait for me under the elm.
You may have to wait a while.
Lovelace
Jeremy, something funny's happening.
Jeremy
Pure chance, sir.
Lovelace
In that case, we must put a good face on it. (mingling with the
villagers) Good, children. Long live the people of this village.
Courage, Jeremy.
Chorus
Take the filly
At first chance
'Cause she's subject
To changes.
Often the most tender
When you make them wait
Mock you
At the rendez-vous.
Jeremy (mocking Lovelace)
We are betrayed. They are mocking us, sir.
Lovelace
This confounds me.
Lucy (singing)
You, who have for heritage
Only your good looks
Neither money, nor equipage
You lack nothing.
Despite your discharge
The widow will do it.
Wait under the elm
—Perhaps, she'll come!
Polly (singing to Lovelace)
The village girl
Only gives to a soldier
A passing love.
It's the right of war.
But the formal contract
It's the peasant's lot.
Wait for me under the elm
Captain good for nothing.
Bellamy (singing)
One day
Our greedy cat
Caught a mouse.
But, because it was
Too delicate
Let it go
To catch a
RAT!
Jeremy (to Lovelace)
There are bad jokes, sir. Your horse is saddled.
(Lovelace starts to draw his sword.)
Peter
Gently, or we'll sound the tocsin on you.
Lovelace
I am going to sack this village with a regiment which I will
purchase expressly for the purpose.
Lucy
From the widow's mite?
(Exit Lovelace in a fury. The villagers pursue Lovelace, singing.)
Chorus
Wait for me under the elm.
You may have to wait a long time!
CURTAIN.