Part 11 (1/2)

_Parshandatha_

I do but speak to sting You to revenge.

_Zeresh_

Let fly your venom then.

The Persian empire is in arms. To-night The king does hold a great carouse. The Jew Will sit in state beside the profligate.

This blade I have prepared against that hour.

The queen, I understand, will be a blaze Of gems. Ahasuerus boasts this night Would all but wreck a petty kingdom.

_Parshandatha_

He Should never live to see the rising sun.

_Zeresh_

The rising sun! My dear, he shall not see The Pleiades again, and they are up At nine. When cornet and the trumpet bruit The entry of the queen, a hundred blades Like this [_disclosing dagger_] shall be unsheathed.

Parshandatha, You know whose blood my blade shall drink!

My hour has come! Ah, Esther, you shall sup Once more with Haman and your drunken lord, While Zeresh keeps her lonely watch Beneath the silent, glittering stars. Come on!

[_Exeunt Zeresh and Parshandatha._]

[_Curtain._]

SCENE II

Place--Outer hall to throne room, curtain back.

Time--The following evening.

[_Enter Vashti and Esther from opposite sides of the stage._]

_Esther_

Ah, here already, Vashti, at my poor Request, who dared defy a despot king's Command to come before him and his lords?

Your beauty, radiant and spotless, grows Each hour of exiled life more potent still Than when it hurled an oriental crown, With all its flas.h.i.+ng jewels, in the face Of brutal Xerxes rather than unveil Unto a drunken court of l.u.s.tful eyes.

Uncrowned, deposed, you are, yet thrice a queen!

_Vashti_

The sting, the sting of your envenomed words!

_Esther_

Forgive me, dear, I do not mock your fate; No word of mine is spoke in scorn. I would Exchange the royal robe and crown I wear For just one hour of virtuous freedom that Belongs to you.

_Vashti_

I can not understand!

_Esther_

I know; 'tis my misfortune, and I called You to the palace that I might explain.