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ACT III
Dialogue following No. 22
Enter Chloe and all the ladies.
| Chloe. | Madam, your father and your brothers claim An audience! |
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| Princess. | What do they do here? | ||||
| They come | |||||
| Chloe. | To fight for you! | ||||
| Princess. | Admit them! | ||||
| Blanche. | Infamous! | ||||
| One's brothers, ma'am, are men! | |||||
| Princess. | So I have heard. | ||||
| But all my women seem to fail me when I need them most. In this emergency, Even one's brothers may be turned to use. |
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| Enter Gama, quite pale and unnerved. | |||||
| Gama. | My daughter! | ||||
| Princess. | Father! Thou art free! | ||||
| Gama. | Aye, free! | ||||
| Free as a tethered ass! I come to thee With words from Hildebrand. Those duly given I must return to blank captivity. I'm free so far. |
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| Princess. | Your message. | ||||
| Gama. | Hildebrand | ||||
| Is loth to war with women. Pit my sons, My three brave sons, against these popinjays, These tufted jack-a-dandy featherheads, And on the issue let thy hand depend! |
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| Princess. | Insult on insult's head! Are we a stake For fighting men? What fiend possesses thee, That thou has come with offers such as these From such as he to such an one as I? |
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| Gama. | I am possessed By the pale devil of a shaking heart! My stubborn will is bent. I dare not face That devilish monarch's black malignity! He tortures me with torments worse than death, I haven't anything to grumble at! He finds out what particular meats I love, And gives me them. The very choicest wines, The costliest robes – the richest rooms are mine. He suffers none to thwart my simplest plan, And gives strict orders none should contradict me! He's made my life a curse! (weeps) |
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| Princess. | My tortured father! | ||||
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| | Web Opera
Page modified 27 August 2019