512
MARY TUDOR
Master Æneas.Whoever I please? Stay, your Majesty.—The execution will take place at night, by torchlight, the culprit covered with a black veil, gagged, the people kept at a distance from the scaffold by pikemen, as always. 'Tis enough for them to see a head fall. The thing is possible.—If only the boatman is still there! I bade him not to hurry.
[He goes to the window from which the Thames is visible.
He is still there! but 'twas time.
[He leans from the window, torch in hand, and waves his handkerchief; then he turns to the Queen.
'Tis well.—I will answer to you for my lord Fabiani, your Majesty.
The Queen.On your head?
Master Æneas.On my head.
PART SECOND.
A sort of Hall from which one staircase ascends, another descends.—The entrances to both of these staircases are at the back of the stage. The one that goes up passes out of sight among the scenery; the one that descends passes out of sight under the stage.
The room is hung with black in a peculiar way: the walls at the right and left, and the ceiling, with black cloth upon which a great white cross is superposed; the back, which faces the spectator, with white cloth with a great black cross. The black and white hangings all extend out of sight behind the stairways. At
