Part 33 (1/2)

_Poirier._ (_To the Servant._) Bring up a bottle of 1811 Pomard--(_To the Duke._) The year of the comet, Monsieur le duc--fifteen francs a bottle! The king drinks no better. (_Aside to Verdelet._) You mustn't drink any--neither will I!

_Gaston._ (_To the Duke._) Fifteen francs, bottle to be returned when empty!

_Verdelet._ (_Aside to Poirier._) Are you going to allow him to make fun of you like that?

_Poirier._ (_Aside to Verdelet._) In matters of this sort, you must take your time. (_They all go out._)

_Curtain._[52]

Here it is not the quietude but the particularly apt, humorous ill.u.s.tration of Poirier's character which gives climax. In _The Amazons_, too, what could better ill.u.s.trate acceptance of the usual by all the group who have been fighting against it than the sedate and utterly commonplace exeunt?

_Lady Castlejordan._ Lord Tweenwayes--

(_Tweenwayes comes with great dignity to Lady Castlejordan. The girls fall back._)

_Lady Castlejordan._ Lord Litterly--Lady Noeline. Monsieur de Grival--Lady Wilhelmina. Mr. Minchin--Lady Thomasin.

(_The couples are formed, and all go out sedately._)[53]

When quiet speech sums up the whole meaning of a scene or play, it too gives climax. Ann's words at the end of _Man and Superman_, ”John you are still talking,” make a fine ironic climax. Irony, whether quiet or decidedly dramatic, is a very effective means to climax. At the end of Act II, Herod, in the play of that name by Stephen Phillips, has ordered Mariamne killed. Completely infatuated by her, he has done this only when her enemies have forced him to believe that she is utterly false.

Almost instantly his love overwhelms his mistrust. He tries to revoke his word, crying,

Yet will I not be bound, I will break free, She shall not die--she shall not die--she shall not--

News of the triumph he has longed for interrupts:

_Enter Attendant._

_Attendant._ O king, the Roman eagles! See!

_A cry._ (_Without._) From Rome!

_Enter Roman Envoy and Suite._

_Envoy._ O king, great Caesar sent us after you, But, though we posted fast, you still outran us.

Thus then by word of mouth great Caesar greets Herod his friend. But he would not confine That friends.h.i.+p to the easy spoken word, And hear I bear a proof of Caesar's faith.

Herein is added to thy boundaries Hippo, Samaria and Gadara, And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon's sh.o.r.e, And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers. (_Moves down._) Here is the scroll, with Caesar's own hand signed.

_Herod._ (_Taking the scroll--at foot of steps._) Mariamne, hear you this? Mariamne, see you? (_Turns to look at scroll._)

(_Servant enters and moves down to Gadias down L._) (_He goes up the stairs._)

Hippo, Samaria and Gadara, And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon's sh.o.r.e, And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers.

_Servant._ (_Aside to Gadias._) O sir, the queen is dead!

_Gadias._ (_Aside to Pheroras, Cypros, and Salome._) The queen is dead!

_Herod._ Mariamne, hear you this? Mariamne, see you?