Locale: On the street in Madrid
DON ALONSO, DON JUAN, and MOSCATEL all enter
ALONSO: That was a close call!
MOSCATEL: It was for me!
I was glad to get out of the place
after things started so badly.
Death was staring me in the face!
JUAN: It was lucky for you I decided
to enter when Don Pedro came,
as soon as I saw my chance.
MOSCATEL: Lucky for you, too, I may say.
If you hadn't, I'd have confessed
and told everything right away.
ALONSO: Do you really mean to say that?
MOSCATEL: It's easier to do than to say.
ALONSO: Don Juan is the one in love;
the one with something to fear.
JUAN: Can a man in love be a coward?
MOSCATEL: He could be worse as is quite clear.
if the life at risk is not his own,
but belongs to one he holds dear.
A lover's debt is only paid
with his life, when danger is near.
We betray love by mortgaging the life
of another so the debt can be cleared.
INEZ enters wearing a manto
INEZ: Don Juan, sir?
JUAN: Who wants to know?
INEZ: Me.
JUAN: Inez? Why're you here?
INEZ: I've been looking all over town
for you.
JUAN: What is it you fear?
Why have you come?
While DON JUAN is busy with Inez to one side, MOSCATEL puts
himself between DON ALONSO and INEZ
MOSCATEL: (That's Inez!
I was hoping he'd never see her.)
INEZ: I came to give you this letter,
JUAN: I'll read it while you wait, my dear.
ALONSO: The girl is not bad looking!
MOSCATEL: (He saw her. I wouldn't give a cent
for what's left of my honor now.)
ALONSO: Come over here.
MOSCATEL: Sir?
ALONSO: Moscatel,
If your girl were as pretty as she is,
I could forgive you if you fell
in love. That is if love could ever
be forgiven.
MOSCATEL: (I'm as jealous as Hell.
Now take it easy and do things right.)
She's good looking?
ALONSO: I hope to tell!
Does she look like a kitchen maid?
MOSCATEL: She's repulsive and I bet she smells.
If you were to see my girl, sir,
you'd swear, I'm willing to bet,
that it would be committing sodomy
to make love to this one instead.
ALONSO: Great God's Ghost! You must be lying!
JUAN: I've read the letter.
ALONSO: What's it about?
JUAN: Leonor is having some problems,
but says I can come visit now.
Anyway, no one suspects it's me,
for one reason or other. Just how
she did that, she doesn't say.
Later, when I've found out,
I'll come back. Let's go, Inez.
ALONSO: You, Moscatel, stop her, now.
Don't let her leave.
MOSCATEL: (What else?)
ALONSO: You! Good-looking!
INEZ: Don't shout!
What do you want?
ALONSO: A closer peak
at your beautiful face.
MOSCATEL: (And how!)
INEZ: There's far too much to look at
and I don't have time right now.
ALONSO: But I can do it very quickly.
MOSCATEL: (He starts fast, but he's quick to get out.)
DON LUIS and DON DIEGO enter and stand to one side
DIEGO: That one's her servant, I'm sure.
LUIS: I followed when she left the house.
I hoped to catch her and pay her
to get a letter to Beatriz now.
INEZ: (I wonder what Moscatel wants,
making those signs at me.)
DIEGO: She is talking to Don Alonso.
LUIS: So I was right to believe
her servant was looking for him!
He must be after Beatriz.
He's always here at her window,
hanging about on her street
accompanied by his friend,
trying not to be seen
while they watch her house.
Only one thing it can mean:
he's in love.
DIEGO: What'll you do?
LUIS: Well, I don't want to be seen.
She hardly knows I'm alive
so how important can I be
to her? It'd be stupid to fight
if she has hardly looked at me.
DIEGO: You're right. It would be wrong.
That vile jealousy you feel...
LUIS: You can't call jealousy vile,
Don Diego.
DIEGO: But can't you see?
LUIS: Is there anything better than truth?
Truth is an attribute of jealousy;
and, therefore, jealousy never lies.
Such virtue can never be depravity.
DON LUIS and DON DIEGO exit
INEZ: Fine. Good-bye, it's getting late.
ALONSO: At least allow my servant to go
with you. You shouldn't be alone.
INEZ: Thank you. That would be great.
MOSCATEL: (Must I really listen to this?
Must I watch?)
ALONSO: Moscatel.
MOSCATEL: Yes sir.
ALONSO: Inez, says you can go with her,
as company, to where she lives.
Go, and when you get there,
tell her that if she decides
to visit where love presides,
there'll be presents to spare.
MOSCATEL: How could you ask such a thing?
ALONSO: If I must accompany Don Juan,
she might be just what I want
to ease the effect of Cupid's sting.
MOSCATEL: I'll tell her.
ALONSO: As you know
I'll be waiting for the answer.
DON ALONSO exits
MOSCATEL: (Well, that's the end of my honor.)
INEZ: It's time, Moscatel.
MOSCATEL: Let's go.
MOSCATEL and INEZ exit and re-enter on another street
Locale : Another street on the way to Inez's house
INEZ: Why be so sad? You're with me.
Why won't you look me in the face?
What are you thinking of?
MOSCATEL: The disgrace,
Inez, that you alone, the sweet
lovely mistress of my soul,
are bringing down on me...
INEZ: What's that?
MOSCATEL: I love you, my sweet,
but I'm a servant as you know.
It seems that I must choose
between my love and my master
being unfaithful to one or the other.
INEZ: You've got me all confused.
MOSCATEL: Maybe I can make you comprehend.
Once Don Alonso saw you, my love,
--He should be blinded by God above
even though it meant my end--
he saw you --Oh, God help me!--
he wanted you as a "friend,"
not so much for your beauty Inez,
as for your very finite body.
To him you were a new face.
He sent me along so I could tell
you of the desire he felt...
--See how I'm starting to shake--
He says if you come visit, Inez,
he'll give you something to relish,
lunch, dinner, or some special dish;
he'll give you your heart's content.
INEZ: How crazy, gross, even crude!
Stop your wagging tongue!
I don't know what I've done
to hear such talk from you.
How do you dare to speak
to me that way? Get away.
You tell your master that I say
"I am what I am." He'd better seek
his wants... Just where, he knows.
There is no way that I'd ever
come visit his house. Never!
I am certainly not one of those.
I'm a lady who knows her worth
and can't be bought for a lunch.
I'm a woman who does what she wants.
Give him that as my answer.
MOSCATEL: You mean it?
INEZ: That's what I said.
Now fast, get away from here;
you mustn't be found so near
to where I work as a maid.
MOSCATEL: Please don't go away mad.
INEZ: Don't follow or come after me.
MOSCATEL: I'll obey, as you will see,
Inez, but right now I'm so sad
my eyes are filling with tears
as an open show of heartfelt shame.
MOSCATEL exits
INEZ: I'll show him I'm not to blame.
INEZ stands for a moment at the door of her house, removes her
manto, and hides it in the framework beneath her skirt
I'll have to remove my manto here.
I think we women wear these
under our skirts, in order to hide
things so we won't have to lie.
Now, my stupid mistress Beatriz,
even if she did miss me,
won't suspect that I've been out.
INEZ speaks directly to the audience.
You mustn't tell what this is about.
Keep my secret, won't you, please?
INEZ exits
Locale : A room in the house of DON PEDRO
DON JUAN, LEONOR, and INEZ all enter
LEONOR: Now you know. I told that lie
to set our worries aside.
JUAN: A real stroke of genius,
subtle and surreptitious!
LEONOR: After coming so close to losing
my life, I prevailed by choosing
not to deny the evidence
but make use of what happened.
An inspiration must be heeded
especially when it is needed.
JUAN: Your father still suspects
you both?
LEONOR: Yes. He's so intense!
With all his coming and going,
listening in without our knowing.
Still he has never learned
whose letter it was that earned
his anger. There's only one,
Inez, who knows what I've done.
Unless she decides to tell him,
he'll never know who it's from.
INEZ: I didn't dare say that it was
for Beatriz, if only because
the contents could betray me.
So, as you see, I acted boldly.
JUAN: We were lucky the letter came
couched in terms meaning the same
for one sister as for the other,
written by the hand of another
it didn't even mention your name.
But tell me what Beatriz had to say
about the mixup.
LEONOR: I expect,
now that she's the prime suspect,
that if she had any wits
she'd lose them and start having fits.
She's so vain and crazy,
so proud of her genius and beauty,
that finding herself accused
has her in tears, completely bemused.
And, Don Juan, I am so happy
to see that, that I would gladly
give my life in exchange
for a real lover to cause her shame,
if it were true rather than fake.
INEZ: Think, sir, what we can do to take
advantage of the situation.
LEONOR: One effect of our mutual admiration
has been this opportunity
to divert and blame her with impunity.
And when her persecution has ceased
she'll have to give us some peace.
JUAN: That's fine, and I am pleased
to back you in the vengeance you seek.
The next time I come over
I'll bring a friend to court her.
Later I'll tell you how.
Here she comes. I can't talk now.
LEONOR: Leave. Don't let her see you;
although she still has no idea who
has been calling on me,
it's best to cover up, I believe.
JUAN: Sweet Leonor, good night.
INEZ: Get her good and get her right!
DON JUAN and INEZ leave. DOÑA BEATRIZ enters talking to
herself
BEATRIZ: Now that I am left alone
and since my own imagination
is uncertain association,
I'll soliloquize on my own:
Why can't I be consoled?
Under what star was I born?
My squire has been my honor,
a sun to brighten the day;
the eclipse it has sustained
is mine to suffer in form.
Caught between light and flame,
in an orbit of confusion
and planetary disunion,
Leonor's lie stakes its claim.
LEONOR: What do you want?
BEATRIZ: Your name
I spoke in error while alone.
I had no wish to convoke
or upon your person to call,
but rather my worry forestall
in naming you to my soul.
LEONOR: Tell me why you're nasty to me
even when talking to yourself.
BEATRIZ: Since you interrogate me, --well--
it's castigation for your deceit.
Weren't you, --as Love could see--
the party written?
LEONOR: I was.
BEATRIZ: Weren't you the one whose response
to the paternal demand made claim
the document was mine, and the blame?
LEONOR: I was.
BEATRIZ: You're the one who's done
all she could to validate the lie.
to over-embellish reality,
to inundate and dilute my purity?
LEONOR: I was, Beatriz.
BEATRIZ: Then why shouldn't I
lament your deception?
LEONOR: Just try
to understand what you have done.
It never, never would have come
to this if you had tried to help.
But the harm has been done. Well,
Beatriz, at first it was for fun...
I won't deny, now that we're alone,
that the fault was indeed all mine,
neither will I confess my mind
to anyone else. I love, I dote,
I adore, I'm dying of love I know.
DON PEDRO enters from behind DOÑA BEATRIZ, where he is seen by
DOÑA LEONOR. LEONOR pretends not to see him and he hides where he can hear and
not be seen
LEONOR: (Good Heavens! That's my father!)
PEDRO: (I'm dying of love" is what I heard.)
LEONOR: (May I get help from the Lord above
to cure that mistake.) "I love!"
How do you dare to use that word
in front of me? "I adore!"
PEDRO: (How could this be?)
LEONOR: "I dote!"
PEDRO: (Just who it is I'll get to know.)
LEONOR: "I'm dying of love!" What more
will I have to bear? What for?
My father will have to hear
what you've been saying here:
What you've confessed to me alone.
I'll soon see that he is told.
BEATRIZ: What's that?
LEONOR: Don't come near!
"Approach me not!"
BEATRIZ: I'm troubled
Leonor, by the magnitude of your quirks.
LEONOR: "My shining purity you'll besmirch!"
BEATRIZ: What change....?
LEONOR: The insult is doubled
your tongue makes it vocal.
PEDRO: (Leonor is the one who is virtuous!)
BEATRIZ: Dear sister, I...
LEONOR: Isn't this curious?
Now I'll not listen to you it seems.
Never! "It isn't possible, I ween
for a sister of mine to be so libidinous."
LEONOR exits. DON PEDRO enters
BEATRIZ: Who ever saw such extremes?
Who ever felt these feelings?
Who would believe such faking?
She changed so fast, it seems.
PEDRO: I... I saw you here, Beatriz.
It seems my worry was not in vain.
What Leonor said made it plain:
I was concerned about you two.
It's clear I was correct about you
Leonor is right to feel ashamed.
BEATRIZ: All this time, you were here?
PEDRO: Yes, Beatriz, I certainly was.
BEATRIZ: And you heard what Leonor said?
PEDRO: Indeed I was able to hear.
BEATRIZ: You're disillusioned, I fear,
by what you overheard.
PEDRO: Even though it may seem absurd,
your sister was clearly outraged
by your deeds.
BEATRIZ: (I was upstaged!)
Hapless me! My star's adverse!
PEDRO: Why hapless? Is it that bad?
BEATRIZ: Sir...
PEDRO: Beatriz, that's enough!
No more of that affected stuff!
Enough, enough of what we've had!
Your language will drive me mad.
It's already cost your reputation.
No one understands your situation.
Because you refuse to speak
plainly, you are forced to lead
a life of poor communication.
I know what has you disturbed,
I know all about the letter,
the rogue who would be your lover,
the rake, whose love you've fostered.
That you love him I just now heard
when Leonor was scolding you.
It may well be my fault, too;
however, I know the remedy:
we'll put an end to the poetry,
as well as to any study you may do.
There'll be no more books here,
no more Latin to be found.
A Book of Prayer I'll be bound,
in simple language... You hear?
You'll learn to cook, to shed a tear,
to sing a song and to sew.
These alone a woman must know.
Leave the rest to a man.
You'll feel the weight of my hand
if you use that language. So no...
BEATRIZ: Having subordinated my will
to yours out of deference,
my previous style of elegance
I'll reject and rephrase, I promise.
Please allow your powers of analysis
to cloak the evident appearance,
the illusion of circumstance
that has brought out your malice.
I'll attempt in spite of injustice
to captivate your benevolence.
PEDRO: Beatriz!
BEATRIZ: Attend propitiously...
PEDRO: You really are making an attempt.
BEATRIZ: For kindred's sake...
PEDRO: Your contempt
has utterly diminished my capacity!
DOÑA BEATRIZ and DON PEDRO leave
Locale : A room in DON ALONSO'S house
DON ALONSO and MOSCATEL enter
ALONSO: That hypocrite Inez said that?
MOSCATEL: Your love greatly offended her.
You'd think she were a saint.
"Tell him," she said, "your master,
I'm too good to be his mistress.
I can't be bought or conquered;
and I wouldn't make a proper wife."
ALONSO: She said that like an actor.
In speaking to the king in a play
the countess of Milán or Amalfi,
--but never the scullery maid,--
could say that. But damn it!
Why not accept her luck today
in being approached by me?
I'm clean and I know how to play.
MOSCATEL: Sir, those who wear clean shirts
should seek clean company as well.
ALONSO: And what did Celia have to say?
MOSCATEL: She was drinking I suspect,
but she came to her window to talk.
She wondered about how you felt
since you hadn't come to see her.
That she never would have said
if she'd been in her right mind,
since she knows good and well
you were there just three days ago.
ALONSO: I'm undone and overwhelmed.
Because I've been too faithful,
each of the women made up her mind:
since I was pleasant when I left,
I belonged to them for life.
Well, things went better with me.
I went to Clara's and had a good time.
She invited me in, and then asked
for twenty yards of lamé.
She said it was to make a dress
that she could wear in my name.
Half in jest, I asked "what color?"
She answered, still playing the game,
that I should choose my favorite,
since her taste and mine were the same.
On that subject, I made up a verse.
As you'll see, it's not too tame.
"Of my favorite color I'd give you a dress,
my love would like to do more,
but I'm so afraid of what you expect,
that to do so would make you a... bore."
And that got me off of the hook.
MOSCATEL: I'm glad you kept your composure.
ALONSO: What do you mean by that?
MOSCATEL: You act completely unconcerned.
It pays, I guess, to think fast.
ALONSO: Do you know what makes me wonder,
almost kills me in fact?
Since men would rather offer,
why do women continue to beg?
MOSCATEL: Because that's the way they are.
(See how easily I managed
to get his mind off Inez.
So-long, jealousy.)
ALONSO: Look here.
MOSCATEL: Yes, sir?
ALONSO: Tell me, Moscatel,
do you want to know the truth?
MOSCATEL: If it doesn't take too long to tell.
ALONSO: Inez really hurt my pride.
MOSCATEL: She's keen, and sharp as well.
ALONSO: I have to get even. Go see her.
MOSCATEL: Me?
ALONSO: Yes, you.
MOSCATEL: (And so farewell!
Jealousy's still here I see.)
ALONSO: Tell her for me...
DON JUAN enters
JUAN: I've been sent
to bring news from heaven:
Lover's aren't always discontent.
The trouble and worry are over.
At last Cupid has smiled on me.
Yesterday, I asked for your help,
and made use of your bravery
to solve a problem of honor.
Things have changed, as you see,
So, Don Alonso, I have come
seeking the help of your courtesy,
your tongue and subtle genius.
I'm still caught between extremes:
worry and joy, and I wish I knew
the proper way to now proceed.
ALONSO: Fine! Tell me what happened.
JUAN: The problems Leonor was having
were solved by blaming Beatriz.
In spite of her care and denying,
their father, unable to decide
which was at fault, and doubting
the integrity of either,
has been spying on everything
they both do. In order to help
maneuver Beatriz by diverting
her attention, Leonor asked
me to convince a friend, to bring
him with me to their house
so he could help by pretending
to love Beatriz who was angry,
and when sisters are fighting...
She says it's important
to convict or divert her
and that diversion must be you.
Leonor will manage her sister
and get you into the house.
You'll be free to woo her,
to spend the night at her window
to talk or to write her a letter,
get servants to deliver notes,
and when she leaves follow after.
ALONSO: Stop there! Go no further!
I can't do that; I haven't the time
to follow or court any woman.
I wouldn't. Not on your life.
Me, stand there out on the street?
Me, spend hours every night
making ardent love to a chamber pot?
Me, give her maids a bribe
to tell her that I love her?
Me, with the guard, pick a fight?
Me, follow a woman wherever she goes
to discover her favorite shrine,
or even if she is religious?
Never, Don Juan, in my whole life
have I paid any attention
to whether a woman was baptized
or not. And that keeps them happy.
It's something they want to hide
so no one will ever know when.
Me, write a letter so wise
that it contained nothing silly,
nothing at all to compromise
my position on love and reason?
Me, spend two hours each night
talking at a window with bars,
trying to reach for the hand
of someone who will only answer
"But that belongs to my husband?"
Someone who guards her virginity,
and insistently maintains that stance
and yet teases me all day long
with her eyes peeking over a fan?
Good God, I'd rather die
than ever pursue a woman.
solicit, flatter, write, or speak,
or attempt to hold her hand.
Unless I am free to visit
a house where I can feel at ease,
sit in a chair on the first visit,
move to a couch on the second, you see,
and on the third to the bed,
making my pillow of a knee
though my mattress be the floor,
having my back scratched properly
whenever and wherever it itches,
I wouldn't offer two figs in a deal
for all the love in the world.
And look at the woman you got for me!
As charming as she is well-bred!
One who only knows how to speak
in strange tongues no man alive
can understand without a key.
See if there's another way,
please, in which I can serve you
because, by God above, I'd rather
fight a dozen men, even two,
than deal with an educated woman.
The woman for me, to tell the truth,
must be faithful, fertile, and free,
somewhat simple, easy, and smooth.
JUAN: But here in Madrid, Don Alonso,
it's really nothing new
for one friend to help another
by making love to lady number two.
ALONSO: It's nothing new in Madrid either,
Don Juan, for a friend to lose
everything he has won in a game
by feeding an extra kitty (¿pussy?) or two.
JUAN: I wouldn't expect you to make her
your bride, only that you pretend.
It's really a great big joke.
ALONSO: Make love to someone I've never met!
Play a trick on some crazy woman,
completely vain and insolent!...
MOSCATEL: (How quickly the opportunity came
to turn things right again!
Everything is going crazy.)
ALONSO: In so far as it's all a pretense,
all right; but if you think
I'll put up with any of her nonsense,
you don't know who you're asking.
JUAN: Nobody's asking you to do that.
ALONSO: Well, I'll begin the performance.
JUAN: We'll go right now, if you can,
to their house and along the way
I'll tell you a few important facts
while we plan your visit.
ALONSO: Let's go, Don Juan; make it fast.
To think of me as the answer,
to your problems, makes me laugh.
MOSCATEL: I hope it all turns out well.
ALONSO: Why shouldn't it, you silly ass?
It's all a big joke, you see,
I'm free to make the attempt
in order to help Don Juan,
backing him in his request,
by playing a trick on Beatriz,
giving Leonor some help
with the vengeance she seeks,
and getting to romp with Inez.
MOSCATEL: (The only thing sure to happen
is that my life will be pure hell.)
DON JUAN, DON ALONSO, and MOSCATEL all exit
Locale : The room of Beatriz. There is a pantry or cupboard
BEATRIZ and INEZ enter
INEZ: Ma'am, you seem quite sad.
BEATRIZ: I'm upset by the misfortune I've had.
Don't I have plenty of reason?
Paternal displeasure, brought on by treason,
has caused the calumnies,
despite my careful incorruptibility.
He believes I paid heed
to love talk and letters I received,
that I gave a man favors,
when he came through open dormers,
that his touch so clouded
my senses my honor's been routed,
in spite of being scrupulous.
No such thought, however nebulous,
ever dared to cross my mind.
As a consequence I have retired
to this melancholic place
where the sun never shows his face,
to this lugubrious sphere
where, unsure of the death I fear,
I abide, in manner unobtrusive,
negating the facts in order to live.
The sun, that golden Narcissus,
from the first refulgent moments of dawn
to night's paroxysmic cold
won't see my face, however bold,
since it can never penetrate
these fortified walls, the disjunctive state
that hides my honor defiled.
Let tears run free, though they be styled
to respond to another's sin,
not mine as it appears to have been.
Inez, haven't I complained
in language plain and sedate?
If my father could only hear me now
he'd be pleased at my progress, I vow.
INEZ: Very pleased, I'm sure,
but you did use some unusual words.
BEATRIZ: I did? Tell me which.
INEZ: I heard "lugubrious" and "melancholy,"
"refulgent," "paternal," "scrupulous,"
"paroxysmic," "Narcissus," and "nebulous."
The others I can't even remember.
BEATRIZ: Such vacuousity renders my mind asunder!
Aren't these common expressions
regularly used by any man or woman?
Right now, I make a promise
that every expression in my service
will, in spite of Saturn,
be vile clog rather than tragic cothurn.
INEZ: You are getting better, I see.
BEATRIZ: And you, if ever you hear me
speak such words as are denied
to an uneducated women, as hard as I try,
give me a yank on the sleeve.
INEZ: I'll take that job and I'll guarantee
to let you know if you fail.
DOÑA LEONOR, DON ALONSO, and MOSCATEL enter. LEONOR and ALONSO
speak to one side
LEONOR: There's Beatriz, and since you came
to create a diversion
by courting her. I'll be your protection.
So you can safely talk,
Don Juan and I will take a walk.
But we'll stay close by here
so nobody else can even come near.
LEONOR leaves
ALONSO: (Why is my love so reticent
since, in truth, it's only pretense?)
INEZ: What is this, Moscatel?
MOSCATEL: The medicine, since she's all set.
INEZ: What are you doing here?
MOSCATEL: Protection for you, Inez, my dear.
I don't dare let you
be near my master unless I am too.
DOÑA BEATRIZ sees DON ALONSO
BEATRIZ: Who's there?
INEZ: Some man who dared
to sneak into this room. I'm scared.
BEATRIZ: A man in my cubicular field?
What are you doing?
INEZ: Pulling your sleeve.
BEATRIZ: Stop acting like a dope.
That's only for when we're alone.
ALONSO: Beautiful Beatriz, don't
employ your anger uselessly,
allowing your endless wisdom
that rosebud prison to flee.
Take pity. You should listen
without becoming too angry,
since cruelty isn't always
an inborn property of beauty.
BEATRIZ: Is that antonomasy I hear?
INEZ: (That's two pulls on the sleeve.)
BEATRIZ: Enough of that, Inez.
You daring cavalier,...
It was intrepid of you
to enter this cloister here
where the sun hardly dares
enter, perhaps out of fear,
without citing the excuse
of bringing daylight near.
Only then does it dare come
into the presence of a peer.
What spirit of audacity
or treachery brought you here?
INEZ: (Now the fun can really begin.)
MOSCATEL: (He's pulling his stuff on her.)
ALONSO: Sweet, enlightened Beatriz,
enigmatic and yet tender,
speaker of great thoughts,
and cerebral among thinkers,
it is I who, after two years
as sunflower to your beauty solar,
am as delighted by your presence
as in your absence out of temper.
The distance that stands between
mournful death and joyous birth
is equal to that present
as you can or can't be observed.
INEZ: (Attention there, ladies.
Between loving and lying,
where does the real truth hide
if this is something he's faking?)
ALONSO: The cause of today's foolishness
is that yesterday your father
found this servant of mine
who brought you a letter.
In view of the obligation
I felt in the matter,
and fear that you were in danger,
when I saw my chance, I entered.
BEATRIZ: Don't go on. Stop it please.
It's important for me to know,
no matter how great the risk,
what letter or servant are those
about whom you are speaking.
ALONSO: The servant is here below.
The letter is the one Leonor,
opened, even though it was yours.
INEZ: I didn't give it to her;
she took it, as you know.
BEATRIZ: That servant was yours?
ALONSO: He was.
BEATRIZ: And the letter?
ALONSO: It also.
BEATRIZ: Intended for me?
ALONSO: It was.
BEATRIZ: I don't doubt it, since I know
you as the slayer of my peace.
The homicidal, tyrannical blow
you dealt aroused scruples
about my honor. Please go.
Turn back, turn back and leave.
Be merciful and courteous;
because you will cause my death
if my sister should ever see us.
Her vile mendacity of yesterday
will be seen today as action veracious.
INEZ: (How easily she has believed
what he said and I affirmed!)
MOSCATEL: (That it's simple to fool a woman
is something we've just confirmed.)
BEATRIZ: Don't expect a greater victory
over my vanity that to discern
my eyes spilling over with tears
because of your intrusive efforts.
It's often true that a man
can cause a woman to cry
whether she wishes or not,
whether or not she tries;
tears are not an infallible
sign of a love that's fine.
Get out.
ALONSO: (But by now I want
to give this love a try.
If I don't find an answer for her,
I think I'll go out of my mind.)
BEATRIZ: Please don't disturb this house
more than you have already.
It's enough that you came here,
and I listened concupiscently.
INEZ pulls insistently at BEATRIZ's sleeve
Don't do that. Leave me alone!
For God's sake, stop pulling at me.
Are you trying to cripple my arm
by behaving so compulsively?
ALONSO: As a truly humble lover,
like a planet reflecting the sun,
I know how to keep my distance.
Once you know of my love,
my courteous obedience...
BEATRIZ: Goodby, your meaning I fathom.
DON ALONSO speaks to MOSCATEL
ALONSO: That wasn't a bad beginning.
MOSCATEL: But it didn't end up so well.
Somebody's coming.
INEZ: Oh, madam,
don't let him go.
BEATRIZ: Why? Pray tell.
INEZ: Leonor, Don Juan, and your father
are talking outside.
MOSCATEL: (Not a friend,
only enemies, can be found
there among the three of them.)
BEATRIZ: A climacteric day for me,
if they should happen to see you.
It seems that heaven is disposed
to corroborate the evidence too,
proving the charges against me
of things I have yet to do.
You can't get out that way
without bringing on my doom;
and that door over there
leads to my father's room.
If they should decide to enter,
I must find a way to hide you.
ALONSO: Is this a play by Calderón?
Do we really have to have
a hidden lover in act two,
or a woman who wears a mask?
Me? Do I have to hide?
BEATRIZ: That's what my honor demands.
MOSCATEL: Inez, this is all a sad joke.
INEZ: Moscatel, it isn't that bad.
BEATRIZ: Because of you...
ALONSO: Good God!
You're taking this measure
causing me such trouble
after giving so little pleasure.
BEATRIZ: Why the procrastination?
ALONSO: Why?
I await your disclosure
of the site of concealment.
INEZ: There's no place better
than the china closet.
BEATRIZ: Well said.
ALONSO: Don't I make a pretty treasure,
a teacup or vase to be hidden
away in some lady's cupboard?
BEATRIZ: You must.
INEZ: Get in.
ALONSO: Impossible,
unless you have a shoehorn.
To MOSCATEL
INEZ: You too.
MOSCATEL: You mean we ride double,
like on a rented horse?
As the door is closed, the sound of breaking glass is heard
INEZ: Look out! Don't break the glass.
DON PEDRO, DON JUAN, and DOÑA LEONOR enter
PEDRO: Let's have some light in here.
JUAN: (God help me! What'll I do
if Don Alonso should appear?
As far as I know, that room
has no other way out. I fear
I've got my friend in trouble.
What if he's still here?
If Don Pedro does find him,
I've got to remedy the situation.)
LEONOR: (I wish I had never attempted
such wicked retaliation.
What began as a simple joke
has achieved substantiation.
PEDRO: If you please, Don Juan, tell me
what time you usually go home.
JUAN: Quite early. (I take it he means
I should take the hint and go.
and I must, although it seems
I'm leaving my friend Alonso
in a good bit of trouble.
I can't stay here, and so,
I'll have to wait outside
whether I'm needed or no.)
Good night.
PEDRO: Good-by. Inez,
get a candle to show him out.
JUAN: Are you leaving again so soon?
PEDRO: (I know what I have to find out.)
As INEZ shows him out, DON PEDRO accompanies them
LEONOR: (I wish I knew where Beatriz
put him so he couldn't be found.
I don't see him around here.)
BEATRIZ: (Too many reasons to doubt
a man I don't even know!
I hope Inez can get him out.)
DON PEDRO and INEZ return with the light
PEDRO: Bring that light with you, Inez.
LEONOR: They'll surely find him in that room.
PEDRO: And you two come with me,
I have something to say to you.
At this the tinkling of glass is heard from the closet, but INEZ
quickly drops the candlestick
What was that?
INEZ: I just dropped
the candle.
PEDRO: Watch what you do
Inez. Pay attention.
INEZ: Yes, sir.
DON PEDRO and DOÑA LEONOR exit to his room
BEATRIZ: Inez, that goes for me, too.
Now that my father's gone,
quickly open up for those two.
Get them out of here now.
See what there is you can do
so Leonor will never know.
INEZ: She'll never find out. But you,
tell me how it's to be done
if the chances are all too few.
Your father went down with Don Juan
not only to show his courtesy
but also to lock the doors.
BEATRIZ: I don't care how, you see,
just get them out of here now.
BEATRIZ exits
INEZ: I guess it is all up to me.
INEZ opens the closet
You two well pressed gentlemen
can come out now, but quickly.
DON ALONSO and MOSCATEL enter
ALONSO: God help me, you smelly rogue,
I'd kill you if it were up to me.
MOSCATEL: There was nothing I could do.
If I broke anything bodily
I'm sure it was only some wind.
INEZ: Come with me.
ALONSO: Inez, my sweet,
if this trouble were all for you,
it was worth it, but definitely.
MOSCATEL: I wish you wouldn't say that,
but you are in the mood, I see.
ALONSO: I can't take any more. You go.
Let us make use of the opportunity.
Let me embrace you.
MOSCATEL: Oh, damn!
Inez, the lamb, has come to feel
what it is like to be chased.
At last the world has come to see
a wolf in the arms of a lamb.
INEZ: Let's get out of here quickly.
ALONSO: Who's keeping you?
INEZ: Although
my master has used his key
to lock the door, you can both
get out through here, easily,
over the balcony. Quiet now!
Jump down onto the street.
ALONSO: Do we have to do that, Inez?
After the closet, a balcony?
INEZ: Indeed you must.
MOSCATEL: Is it high,
Inez? You can tell me.
INEZ: Only one floor up. Go now.
ALONSO: I could break a leg, but I'm ready.
You men who fall in love
take your warning from me.
If such things happen to a man
who doesn't care what love can be,
it could certainly happen to you.
God damn those who won't stay free.
Electronic text by Vern G. Williamsen
and J T Abraham
Additional formatting by Matthew D. Stroud
Most recent update: 28 Jun 2002