The Hunchback. Paul Feval
That can be relied on?
PEYROLLES: If well paid, yes.
GONZAGUE: Call him!
LAGARDÈRE: (aside) Could this be the leader of the assassins?
PEYROLLES: Staupitz!
LAGARDÈRE: Present!
PEYROLLES: Advance!
GONZAGUE: Would you like to earn fifty pistoles?
LAFARDERRE: What has to be done?
GONZAGUE: Stay at your post under this window and wait until nine o’clock strikes. Then you will rap at the shutter of this window which will open and you will say two words to the woman who opens: “I’m here.”
LAGARDÈRE: I’m here. (low) That’s Nevers’ motto.
GONZAGUE: As you don’t have the voice of the one she’s expecting, don’t speak.
LAGARDÈRE: I will make a sign to her that we are spied on.
GONZAGUE: Precisely. She will deliver to you a bundle that you will take in silence and carry straight away to the Inn of Adam’s Apple. In exchange you will have your fifty pistoles.
LAGARDÈRE: I am your man.
PEYROLLES: Hush! (in the distance the horn of an ox-cart is heard) That’s the first signal. Nevers is approaching. On the second he will enter the forest.
GONZAGUE: Then my handsome cousin has no more than a quarter of an hour to live. Let’s separate ourselves.
PEYROLLES: (to Lagardère) Your companions?
LAGARDÈRE: Here. (pointing to the back of the moat)
GONZAGUE: You remember the password?
LAGARDÈRE: I am here.
GONZAGUE: Till later. We will go back in through the small postern.
(They go back into the castle)
LAGARDÈRE: (tossing the purse away) Ah! God will take me to task in my last moments for not putting my sword into the torsos of those wretches! What to do now? Some infamy is being plotted around here! Let’s go to the end. It’s no longer a question of a duel, of scaling a ladder for love. But I intend to know. Here’s the hour. Let’s do what the Duke told me. No one. Ah! They are waiting for the password—I am here!
BLANCHE: (opening the window) God be praised! (she offers him her hand through the window.) I cannot see anything. Philippe, where are you?
LAGARDÈRE: Here! Let’s be quick.
BLANCHE: I obey you, my Philippe. Here’s our treasure; it’s no longer safe with me.
LAGARDÈRE: (taking the bundle) Quick! Quick!
BLANCHE: Ah, I thought my heart was stronger.
LAGARDÈRE: Courage! Courage! (after having passed the child to Lagardère Blanche offers him a book) What’s this?
BLANCHE: My book of hours; I’ve placed in it a hidden fold with your arms, and in this fold pages torn from the registry of Chaplain Don Bernard. (sound of a horn) A signal—. Save yourself, save yourself. (quickly pulling Lagardère’s hand and pulling it to her lips) I love you! (she shuts the grill and disappears.)
LAGARDÈRE: What the devil is this? Ah, triple fool! What kind of adventure have I got myself into? Come on—make a good face over a bad hand! Sonofabitch! One can give him by the thousands to all the Light Cavalry. I wager a thousand pistoles and from the devil—that not a single one would guess what I’m holding in my arms at this moment. Ah, what a white and rosy child he is! How he sleeps. Ah, my word, he’s very cute.You are cute, Miss or Mister—but very embarrassing. Fight then, with this in my arms. If I leave, Nevers will come and they’ll kill him. I don’t want him killed. No—by a thousand devils, I don’t want it. Ah, yet another signal. That one’s just been given quite near us. And despite what I said the assassins are following him and watching him, no question. Which direction is he coming from?
NEVERS: ( descending the stairs) Two torch bearers wouldn’t be bad here.
LAGARDÈRE: Someone—it’s Nevers. Yes, it’s him. Over here, Duke.
NEVERS: (unsheathing) You are Lagardère: To work, Chevalier, I’m in a hurry. Just touch swords with me so that I know where you are.
LAGARDÈRE: Not before you’ve listened to me.
NEVERS: (groping towards him) Some further insult against Miss de Caylus?
LAGARDÈRE: No, by Jove! I was unaware. Be very careful.
NEVERS: There has to be blood.
LAGARDÈRE: Listen to me.
NEVERS: No, no—
LAGARDÈRE: Ah, devil from Hell! Is it necessary to crack your skull to prevent you from killing your child?
NEVERS: My child! My daughter?
LAGARDÈRE: Ah, it’s a girl! Eh, by Jove, here she is.
NEVERS: My daughter, in your arms!
LAGARDÈRE: Softly—you are going to wake her up.
NEVERS: At least tell me—
LAGARDÈRE: Devil of a man—he won’t even let me speak.Here he is trying to force me to tell him stories! Look, hold this for me, daddy. Gently, very gently. There, there—enough hugs, papa We are already two old friends, the little one and me. Let’s put her down—first of all these bundles of hay. (placing the child on the hay)
NEVERS: Ah, Chevalier!
LAGARD: (with nobility) Now, I will answer for her on my life, Duke, I expiate, as much as is in me, a double insult—to you first of all who are honesty itself! and to her mother who is a noble wife.
NEVERS: You’ve seen Miss de Caylus?
LAGARDÈRE: I’ve seen Madame de Nevers.
NEVERS: Where’s that?
LAGARDÈRE: At this window.
NEVERS: And it was she who confided to you?
LAGARDÈRE: This treasure? Yes, thinking she was giving it to yourself. Oh, don’t try to understand. Strange things are happening here, Duke, and since you are in a mood to fight, By Jove you will soon have a joyous heart.
NEVERS: An attack?
LAGARDÈRE: An assassination! Ordered by a man I don’t know but who’s called Milord, and who calls himself your cousin.
NEVERS: Gonzague! A friend, almost a brother!. Ah, Chevalier, it’s not possible!
LAGARDÈRE: (polishes his sword) I don’t know if that is possible—but I know quite well what this is. And, as I don’t think you are in the mood to flee before assassins—
NEVERS: No, by Jove! I will await them if only to know who the bandit is that’s paying them
LAGARDÈRE: (to his sword) You hear, my beauty. Ah, that’s enough of escapades! Praise God, Miss. Let’s try to distinguish ourselves and to be led by a noble girl—
NEVERS: You are going to fight for me?
LAGARDÈRE: A bit for you. Immensely for the little one.
NEVERS: Ah, Lagardère, I didn’t know you; you are a great heart.
LAGARDÈRE: As for me, I’m a fool! But, Bah! The child has transformed me, turned me