Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works. Knowledge house
A lovely lord, a lord whose blood is blue!
bianca
But where did he receive you?
maria
Where, but there
In yonder palace, in a painted hall!—
Painted with naked women on the walls,—
Would make a common man or blush or smile
But he seemed not to heed them, being a lord,
·132· bianca
But how know you ’tis not a chamberlayne,
A lackey merely?
maria
Why, how know I there is a God in heaven?
Because the angels have a master surely.
So to this lord they bowed, all others bowed,
And swept the marble flags, doffing their caps,
With the gay plumes. Because he stiffly said,
And seemed to see me as those folk are seen
That will be never seen again by you,
‘Woman, your mistress then returns this purse
Of forty thousand crowns, is it fifty thousand?
Come name the sum will buy me grace of her/
bianca
What, were there forty thousand crowns therein?
marta
I know it was all gold; heavy with gold.
bianca
It must be he, none else could give so much.
·133· maria
’Tis he, ’tis my lord Guido, Guido Bardi.
bianca
What said you?
maria
I, I said my mistress never
Looked at the gold, never opened the purse,
Never counted a coin. But asked again
What she had asked before, ‘How young you looked?
How handsome your lordship looked? What doublet
Your majesty had on? What chains, what hose
Upon your revered legs?’ And curtseyed I, …
bianca
What said he?
maria
Curtseyed I, and he replied,
‘Has she a lover then beside that old
Soured husband or is it him she loves, my God!
Is it him?’
·134· bianca
Well?
maria
Curtseyed I low and said
‘Not him, my lord, nor you, nor no man else.
Thou art rich, my lord, and honoured, my lord, and she
Though not so rich is honoured …’
bianca
Fool, you fool,
I never bid you say a word of that.
maria
Nor did I say a word of that you said;
I said, ‘She loves him not, my lord, nor loves
Any man else. Yet she might like to love,
If she were loved by one who pleased her well;
For she is weary of spinning long alone.
She is not rich and yet she is not poor; but young
She is, my lord, and you are young. [Pauses smiling.]
·135· bianca
Quick, quick!
maria
There, there! ’Twas but to show you how I smiled
Saying the lord was young. It took him too;
For he said, ‘This will do! If I should call
To-night to pay respect unto your lovely—
Our lovely mistress, tell her that I said,
Our lovely mistress, shall I be received?’
And I said, ‘Yes.’ Then say I come and if
All else is well let her throw down some favour
When as I pass below/ He should be there!
Look from the balcony; he should be there!—
And there he is, dost see?
bianca
Some favour. Yes.
This ribbon weighted by this brooch will do.
Maria, be you busy near within, but, till
I call take care you enter not. Go down
And let the young lord in, for hark, he knocks. [Exit Maria.]
·136· Great ladies might he choose from and yet he
Is drawn … ah, there my fear is! Was he drawn
By love to me—by love’s young strength alone?
That’s where it is, if I were sure he loved,
I then might do what greater dames have done
And venge me on a husband blind to beauty.
But if! Ah if! he is a wandering bee,
Mere gallant taster, who befools poor flowers …
[Maria opens the door for Guido Bardi, and then withdraws.]
My lord, I learn that we have something here,
In this poor house, which thou dost wish to buy.
My husband is from home, but my poor fate
Has made me perfect in the price of velvets,
Of silks and gay brocades. I think you offered
Some forty thousand crowns, or fifty thousand,
For something we have here? And it must be
That wonder of the loom, which my Simone
Has lately home; it is a Lucca damask,
The web is silver over-wrought with roses.
Since you did offer fifty thousand crowns
It must be that. Pray wait, for I will fetch it.
·137· guido
Nay, nay, thou gracious wonder of a loom
More cunning far than those of Lucca, I
Had in my thought no damask silver cloth
By hunch-back weavers woven toilsomely.
If such are priced at fifty thousand crowns
It shames me, for I hoped to buy a fabric
For which a hundred thousand then were little.
bianca
A hundred thousand was it that you said?
Nay, poor Simone for so great a sum
Would sell you everything the house contains.
The thought of such a sum doth daze the brains
Of