The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts

Pauline

What a terrible duel it will be!

Ferdinand Terrible! But, Pauline be courageous, as you have so far been, in keeping the secret of our love; do not acknowledge it, until you find it no longer possible to deny it.

Pauline Oh, why did your father betray the Emperor? If fathers knew how their children would be punished for the sins of their parents, there would be none but good men!

Ferdinand Perhaps this sad interview will prove the last moment of happiness we shall have!

Pauline (aside) I will rejoin him, if he leaves me – (Aloud) See, I no longer weep, I am full of courage! But tell me, will your friend know the place where you are hiding?

Ferdinand

Eugene will be our confidential friend.

Pauline

And the letters?

Ferdinand

To-morrow! To-morrow! But where will you conceal them?

Pauline

I shall keep them about me.

Ferdinand

Good! Farewell!

Pauline

Oh no, not yet!

Ferdinand

A moment more may ruin us.

Pauline Or unite us for life. Come, let me show you out, I shall not rest until I see you in the garden. Come!

Ferdinand Let me take one more glance at this maiden chamber, in which you will think of me – where all things speak of you.

(Scene curtain.)

SCENE ELEVENTH

(The drawing-room before described.)

Pauline on the veranda; Gertrude at the door of the room.

Gertrude

She is seeing him out! He has been deceiving me! So has she! (Taking

Pauline by the hand, she leads her to the front of the stage.) Will you dare tell me, now, mademoiselle, that you do not love him?

Pauline

Madame, I am deceiving no one.

Gertrude

You are deceiving your father.

Pauline

And you, madame?

Gertrude

So both of you are against me – Oh, I shall —

Pauline

You shall do nothing, either against me or against him.

Gertrude Do not compel me to show my power! You must be obedient to your father, and – he is obedient to me.

Pauline

We shall see!

Gertrude (aside) Her coolness makes my blood boil. My brain reels! (Aloud) Do you know that I would rather die than live without him?

Pauline And so would I, madame. But I am free. I have not sworn as you have to be faithful to a husband – And your husband is my father!

Gertrude (kneeling before Pauline) What have I done to you? I have loved you, I have educated you, I have been a good mother to you.

Pauline

Be a faithful wife, and I will say no more.

Gertrude

Nay! Speak! Say all you like – Ah! the struggle has begun.

SCENE TWELFTH

The same persons and the General.

The General

How is this? What is going on here?

Gertrude (to Pauline) You must feign sickness. Come lie down. (She makes her lie down.) I happened, my dear, to hear moans. Our dear child was calling for help; she was almost suffocated by the flowers in her bedroom.

Pauline Yes, papa, Marguerite had forgotten to take away the vase of flowers, and I almost died.

Gertrude

Come, my daughter, come into the open air.

(Gertrude and Pauline go towards the door.)

The General

Stay a moment. What have you done with the flowers.

Pauline

I do not know where Madame has put them.

Gertrude

I threw them into the garden.

(The General abruptly rushes out, after setting his candle on the card table.)

SCENE THIRTEENTH

Pauline and Gertrude; later, the General.

Gertrude

Go back to your room, lock yourself in! I'll take all the blame.

(Pauline goes to her room.) I will wait for him here.

(Gertrude goes back into her room.)

The General (coming in from the garden) I can find the vase of flowers nowhere. There is some mystery in all these things. Gertrude? – There is no one here! Ah! Madame de Grandchamp, you will have to tell me! – It is a nice thing that I should be deceived by both wife and daughter!

Curtain to the Second Act.

ACT III

SCENE FIRST

(Same stage-setting. Morning.)

Gertrude; then Champagne.

Gertrude (brings a flower vase from the garden and puts it down on the table) What trouble I had to allay his suspicions! One or two more scenes like that and I shall lose control of him. But I have gained a moment of liberty now – provided Pauline does not come to trouble me! She must be asleep – she went to bed so late! – would it be possible to lock her in her room? (She goes to the door of Pauline's chamber, but cannot find the key.) I am afraid not.

Champagne (coming in)

M. Ferdinand is coming, madame.

Gertrude

Thank you, Champagne. He went to bed very late, did he not?

Champagne M. Ferdinand makes his rounds, as you know, every night, and he came in at half-past one o'clock. I sleep over him, and I heard him.

Gertrude

Does he ever go to bed later than that?

Champagne Sometimes he does, but that is according to the time he makes his rounds.

Gertrude Very good. Thank you, Champagne. (Exit Champagne.) As the reward for a sacrifice which has lasted for twelve years, and whose agonies can only be understood by women, – for what man can guess at such tortures! – what have I asked? Very little! Merely to know that he is here, near to me, without any satisfaction saving, from time to time, a furtive glance at him. I wished only to feel sure that he would wait for me. To feel sure of this is enough for us, us for whom a pure, a heavenly love is something never to be realized. Men never believe that they are loved by us, until they have brought us down into the mire! And this is how he has rewarded me! He makes nocturnal assignations with this stupid girl! Ah! He may as well pronounce my sentence of death; and if he has the courage to do so, I shall have the courage at once to bring about their eternal separation; I can do it! But here he comes! I feel faint! My God! Why hast Thou made me love with such desperate devotion him who no longer loves me!

SCENE SECOND

Ferdinand and Gertrude.

Gertrude Yesterday you deceived me. You came here last night, through this room, entering by means of a false key, to see Pauline, at the risk of being killed by M. de Grandchamp! Oh! you needn't lie about it. I saw you, and I came upon Pauline just as you concluded your nocturnal promenade. You have made a choice upon which I cannot offer you my congratulations. If only you had heard us discussing the matter, on this very spot! If you had seen the boldness of this girl, the effrontery with which she denied everything to me, you would have trembled for your future, that future which belongs to me, and for which I have sold myself, body and soul.

Ferdinand (aside) What an avalanche of reproach! (Aloud) Let us try, Gertrude, both of us, to behave wisely in this matter. Above all things, let us try to avoid base accusations. I shall never forget what you have been to me; I still entertain towards you a friendship which is sincere, unalterable and absolute; but I no longer love you.

Gertrude

That is, since eighteen months ago.

Ferdinand

No. Since three years ago.

Gertrude You must admit then that I have the right to detest and make war upon your love for Pauline; for this love has rendered you a traitor and criminal towards me.

Ferdinand

Madame!

Gertrude Yes, you have deceived me. In standing as you did between us two, you made me assume a character which is not mine. I am violent as you know. Violence is frankness, and I am living a life of outrageous duplicity. Tell me, do you know what it is to have to invent new lies, on the spur of the moment, every day, – to live with a dagger at your heart? Oh! This lying! But for us, it is the Nemesis of happiness. It is disgraceful, when it succeeds; it is death, when it fails. And you, other men envy you because you make women love you. You will be applauded, while I shall be despised. And you do not wish me to defend myself! You have nothing but bitter words for a woman who has hidden from you everything – her remorse – her tears! I have suffered alone and without you the wrath of heaven; alone and without you I have descended into my soul's abyss, an abyss which has been opened by the earthquake of sorrow; and, while repentance was gnawing at my heart, I had for you nothing but looks of tenderness, and smiles of gaiety! Come, Ferdinand, do not despise a slave who lies in such utter subjection to your will!

Ferdinand (aside) I must put an end to this. (Aloud) Listen to me, Gertrude. When first we met it was youth alone united us in love. I then yielded, you may say, to an impulse of that egotism which lies at the bottom of every man's heart, though he knows it not, concealed under the flowers of youthful passion. There is so much turbulence in our sentiments at twenty-two! The infatuation which may seize us then, permits us not to reflect either upon life as it really is, or upon the seriousness of its issues —

Gertrude (aside)

How calmly he reasons upon it all! Ah! It is infamous!

Ferdinand And at that time I loved you freely, with entire devotion; but afterwards – afterwards, life changed its aspect for both of us. If you ask why I remained under a roof which I should never have approached, it is because I chose in Pauline the only women with whom it was possible for me to end my days. Come, Gertrude, do not break yourself to pieces against the barrier raised by heaven. Do not torture two beings who ask you to yield to them happiness, and who will ever love you dearly.

Gertrude

Ah, I see! You are the martyr – and I – I am the executioner! Would not

I have been your wife to-day, if I had not set your happiness above the satisfaction of my love?

Ferdinand

Very well! Do the same thing to-day, by giving me my liberty.

Gertrude You mean the liberty of loving some one else. That is not the way you spoke twelve years ago. Now it will cost my life.

Ferdinand It is only in romance that people die of love. In real life they seek consolation.

Gertrude Do not you men die for your outraged honor, for a word, for a gesture? Well, there are women who die for their love, that is, when their love is a treasure which has become their all, which is their very life! And I am one of those women. Since you have been under this roof, Ferdinand, I have feared a catastrophe every moment. Yes. And I always carry about me something which will enable me to quit this life, the very moment that misfortune falls on us. See! (She shows him a phial.) Now you know that life that I have lived!

Ferdinand

Ah! you weep!

Gertrude I swore that I would keep back these tears, but they are strangling me! For you – While you speak to me with that cold politeness which is your last insult, – your last insult to a love which you repudiate! – you show not the least sympathy towards me! You would like to see me dead, for then you would be unhampered by me. But, Ferdinand, you do not know me! I am willing to confess everything to the General, whom I would not deceive. This lying fills me with disgust! I shall take my child, I shall come to your house, we will flee together. But no more of Pauline!

Ferdinand

If you did this, I would kill myself.

Gertrude And I, too, would kill myself! Then we should be united in death, and you would never be hers!

Ferdinand (aside)

What an infernal creature!

Gertrude And there is this consideration. What would you do if the barrier which separates you from Pauline were never broken down?

Ferdinand

Pauline will be able to maintain her own independence.

Gertrude

But if her father should marry her to some one else?

Ferdinand

It would be my death.

Gertrude People die of love in romance. In real life they console themselves with some one else, and a man only does his duty by being true to her with whom he has plighted troth.

The General (outside)

Gertrude! Gertrude!

Gertrude I hear the general calling. (The General appears.) You will then finish your business as quickly as you can, M. Ferdinand, and return promptly; I shall wait for you here.

(Exit Ferdinand.)

SCENE THIRD

The General, Gertrude, then Pauline.

The General This is rather early in the morning for you to be holding a conference with Ferdinand! What were you discussing? The factory?

Gertrude What were we discussing? I will tell you; for you are exactly like your son; when once you begin to ask questions, you must have a direct answer. I had an impression that Ferdinand had something to do with Pauline's refusal to marry Godard.

The General

When I come to think of it, you were perhaps right.

Gertrude I got M. Ferdinand to come here for the purpose of clearing up my suspicions, and you interrupted us at the very moment when I seemed likely to gain some information.

(Pauline pushes the door ajar unseen.)

The General

But if my daughter is in love with M. Ferdinand —

Pauline (aside)

I must listen.

The General I do not see why, when I questioned her yesterday in a paternal manner and with absolute kindness, she should have concealed it from me, for I left her perfectly free, and her feeling for him would be absolutely natural.

Gertrude She probably misunderstood you or you questioned her before she had made up her mind. The heart of a young girl, as you ought to know, is full of contradictions.

The General And why should there not be something between them? This young man toils with the courage of a lion, he is the soul of honor, he is probably of good family.

Pauline (aside)

I understand the situation now.

(Pauline withdraws.)

The General He will give us information on this point. He is above all things trustworthy; but you ought to know his family, for it was you who discovered this treasure for us.

Gertrude

I proposed him to you on the recommendation of old Madame Morin.

The General

But she is dead!

Gertrude (aside)

It is very lucky that I quoted her then! (Aloud) She told me that his mother was Madame de Charny to whom he is devoted; she lives in

Brittany and belongs to the Charnys, an old family of that country.

The General The Charnys. Then if he is in love with Pauline, and Pauline with him, I, for my part, would prefer him to Godard in spite of Godard's fortune. Ferdinand understands the business of the factory, he could buy the whole establishment with the dowry of Pauline. That would be understood. All he has to do is to tell us where he comes from, who he is, and who his father was. But we will see his mother.

Gertrude

Madame Charny?

The General Yes, Madame Charny. Doesn't she live near Saint-Melo? That is by no means at the other end of the world.

Gertrude Just use a little tact, some of the manoeuvres of an old soldier, and be very gentle, and you will soon learn whether this child —

The General

Why should I worry about it? Here comes Pauline herself.

SCENE FOURTH

The same persons, Marguerite, then Pauline.

The General Ah! It is you, Marguerite. You came near causing the death of my daughter last night by your carelessness. You forgot —

Marguerite

I, General, cause the death of my child!

The General You forgot to take away the vase containing flowers of a strong scent, and she was almost suffocated.

Marguerite

Impossible! I took away the vase before the arrival of M. Godard, and

Madame must have seen that it was not there while we were dressing

Mademoiselle —

Gertrude

You are mistaken. It was there.

Marguerite (aside) She's a hard one. (Aloud) Does not Madame remember that she wished to put some natural flowers in Mademoiselle's hair, and that she remarked about the vase being gone?

Gertrude

You are inventing a story. But where did you carry it?

Marguerite

To the foot of the veranda.

Gertrude (to the General)

Did you find it there last night?

The General

No.

Gertrude I took it from the chamber myself last night, and put it where it now stands. (Points to the vase of flowers on the veranda.)

Marguerite

Sir, I swear to you by my eternal salvation —

Gertrude

Do not swear. (Calling.) Pauline!

The General

Pauline!

(Pauline appears.)

Gertrude

Was the vase of flowers in your room last night?

Pauline

Yes. Marguerite, my dear old friend, you must have forgotten it.

Marguerite Why don't you say, Mademoiselle, that some one put it there on purpose to make you ill!

Gertrude

Whom do you mean by some one?

The General You old fool, if your memory failed you, it is unnecessary for you, at any rate, to accuse anybody else.

Pauline (aside to Marguerite)

Keep silence! (Aloud) Marguerite, it was there! You forgot it.

Marguerite

It is true, sir, I was thinking of the day before yesterday.

The General (aside) She has been in my service for twenty years. Strange that she should be so persistent! (Takes Marguerite aside.) Come! What did you say about the flowers for my daughter's hair?

Marguerite (while Pauline makes signs to her)

I said that, sir – I am so old that my memory is treacherous.

The General But even then, why did you suppose that any one in the house had an evil thought towards —

Pauline

Say no more, father! She has so much affection for me, dear

Marguerite, that she is sometimes distracted by it.

Marguerite (aside)

I am quite sure I took away the flowers.

The General (aside) Why should my wife and my daughter deceive me? An old trooper like me doesn't permit himself to be caught between two fires, and there is something decidedly crooked —

Gertrude

Marguerite, we will take tea in this room when M. Godard comes down.

Tell Felix to bring in all the newspapers.

Marguerite

Very good, madame.

SCENE FIFTH

Gertrude, the General and Pauline.

The General (kissing his daughter)

You've not even said good-morning to me, you unnatural child.

Pauline (kissing him) But, you began by scolding about nothing. I declare, father, I am going to undertake your education. It is quite time for you, at your age, to control yourself a little, – a young man would not be so quick as you are! You have terrified Marguerite, and when women are in fear, they tell little falsehoods, and you can get nothing out of them.

The General (aside) I'm in for it now! (Aloud) Your conduct, young lady, does not do much towards promoting my self-control. I wish you to marry, and I propose a man who is young —

Pauline

Handsome and well educated!

The General Please keep silence, when your father addresses you, mademoiselle. A man who possesses a magnificent fortune, at least six times as much as yours, and you refuse him. You are well able to do so, because I leave you free in the matter; but if you do not care for Godard, tell me who it is you choose, if I do not already know.

Pauline Ah, father, you are much more clear-sighted than I am. Tell me who he is?

The General He is a man from thirty to thirty-five years old, who pleases me much more than Godard does, although he is without fortune. He is already a member of our family.

Pauline

I don't see any of our relations here.

The General I wonder what you can have against this poor Ferdinand, that you should be unwilling —

Pauline

Ah! Who has been telling you this story? I'll warrant that it is

Madame de Grandchamp.

The General A story? I suppose, you will deny the truth of it! Have you never thought of this fine young fellow?

Pauline

Never!

Gertrude (to the General)

She is lying! Just look at her.

Pauline Madame de Grandchamp has doubtless her reasons for supposing that I have an attachment for my father's clerk. Oh! I see how it is, she wishes you to say: "If your heart, my daughter, has no preference for any one, marry Godard." (In a low voice to Gertrude) This, madame, is an atrocious move! To make me abjure my love in my father's presence! But I will have my revenge.

Gertrude (aside to Pauline)

As you choose about that; but marry Godard you shall!

The General (aside)

Can it be possible that these two are at variance? I must question

Ferdinand. (Aloud) What were you saying to each other?

Gertrude Your daughter, my dear, did not like my idea that she was taken with a subordinate; she is deeply humiliated at the thought.

The General Am I to understand, then, my daughter, that you are not in love with him?

Pauline Father, I – I do not ask you to marry me to any one! I am perfectly happy! The only thing which God has given us women, as our very own, is our heart. I do not understand why Madame de Grandchamp, who is not my mother, should interfere with my feelings.

Gertrude My child, I desire nothing but your happiness. I am merely your stepmother, I know, but if you had been in love with Ferdinand, I should have —

The General (kissing Gertrude's hand)

How good you are!

Pauline (aside)

I feel as if I were strangled! Ah! If I could only undo her!

Gertrude Yes, I should have thrown myself at your father's feet, to win his consent, if he had refused it.

The General Here comes Ferdinand. (Aside) I shall question him at my discretion; and then perhaps the mystery will be cleared up.

SCENE SIXTH

The same persons and Ferdinand.

The General (to Ferdinand) Come here, my friend. You have been with us over three years now, and I am indebted to you for the power of sleeping soundly amid all the cares of an extensive business. You are almost as much as I am the master of my factory. You have been satisfied with a salary, pretty large it is true, but scarcely proportionate perhaps to the services rendered by you. I think at last I understand the motive of your disinterestedness.

Ferdinand

It is my duty, General.

The General Granted; but does not the heart count for a good deal in this? Come now, Ferdinand, you know my way of considering the different ranks of society, and the distinctions pertaining to them. We are all the sons of our own works. I have been a soldier. You may therefore have full confidence in me. They have told me all; how you love a certain young person, here present. If you desire it, she shall be yours. My wife had pleaded your cause, and I must acknowledge that she has gained it before the tribunal of my heart.

Ferdinand General, can this be true? Madame de Grandchamp has pleaded my cause? Ah, madame! (He falls on his knees before her.) I acknowledge in this your greatness of heart! You are sublime, you are an angel! (Rising and rushing forward to Pauline.) Pauline, my Pauline!

Gertrude (to the General)

I guessed aright; he is in love with Pauline.

Pauline Sir, have I ever given you the right, by a single look, or by a single word, to utter my name in this way? No one could be more astonished than I am to find that I have inspired you with sentiments which might flatter others, but which I can never reciprocate; I have a higher ambition.

The General Pauline, my child, you are more than severe. Come, tell me, is there not some misunderstanding here? Ferdinand, come here, come close to me.

Ferdinand

How is it, mademoiselle, when your stepmother, and your father agree?

Pauline (in a low voice to Ferdinand)

We are lost!

The General Now I am going to act the tyrant. Tell me, Ferdinand, of course your family is an honorable one?

Pauline (to Ferdinand)

You hear that!

The General Your father must certainly have been a man of as honorable a profession as mine was; my father was sergeant of the watch.

Gertrude (aside)

They are now separated forever.

Ferdinand Ah! (To Gertrude) I understand your move. (To the General) General, I do not deny that once in a dream, long ago, in a sweet dream, in which it was delicious for a man poor and without family to indulge in – dreams we are told are all the fortune that ever comes to the unfortunate – I do not deny that I once regarded it as a piece of overwhelming happiness to become a member of your family; but the reception which mademoiselle accords to those natural hopes of mine, and which you have been cruel enough to make me reveal, is such that at the present moment they have left my heart, never again to return! I have been rudely awakened from that dream, General. The poor man has his pride, which it is as ungenerous in the rich man to wound, as it would be for any one to insult – mark what I say – your attachment to Napoleon. (In a low voice to Gertrude) You are playing a terrible part!