Part 30 (1/2)

But has not her Grace been tearing the Queen's curtains back at dawn?

1ST LADY

No, why should she be? What has happened?

[_They all crowd around him._]

A LADY

The air seems sizzling with lightning. Tell us, has the Queen done her some rudeness again? We were just saying how charming she was and thinking of how to express our admiration to her on her arrival.

PHEDRO

Don't disturb your vocabulary for the sake of the d.u.c.h.ess.

LADIES AND COURTIERS [_in one voice_]

Why, what has happened?

PHEDRO

The d.u.c.h.ess does not exist any longer.

A COURTIER

She is dead?

2D COURTIER

Artemis has risen to hunt, but in heaven--

3D COURTIER

Good G.o.d! [_he gradually recovers himself_] What a shame the cla.s.sics are taught. It lends a pulpit to such tedious people.

A LADY

Oh, we must know, if we are to live. What has happened to the d.u.c.h.ess?

PHEDRO [_grimly--with finality_]

She has become _decla.s.see_.

[_Everybody grows gradually stupefied._]

A LADY [_only partially recovering_]

You mean that she left the door open? Or mislaid one of her jewels somewhere?

OTHER LADY [_just able to murmur_]