The sun is high and hot. Merchants cry their wares from stalls lining the grand piazza. Two retainers of the House of Hartwell, TOBIN and FINN, lean against a dry fountain, their hands resting on the pommels of their swords.
TOBIN
By my troth, Finn, the heat of this day doth cook the very patience from my soul. I swear, should a dog of the Davenant house so much as lift its leg upon this square, I would take it as a mortal slight.
FINN
And rightly so. For their masters are but dogs themselves, who foul the name of Veridia with their ceaseless snarling. I tell thee, Tobin, I am so weary of their pride, I cannot pass one on the street without my gorge rising. My hand, it simply yearns to clasp my hilt.
TOBIN
Let them come. I am for thee. But let us be cunning in it; let the law be on our side.
FINN
The law? The law is a cobweb spun for flies, not for the wasps of this city. Fear not the law; fear only a swifter blade.
TOBIN
Still, I will not be the one to cast the first stone. But I will scowl as they pass by. I will purse my lips and spit upon the ground they are to tread. Let them make of it what they will.
Enter two servants of the House of Davenant, SILAS and OLEN, from the opposite side of the square.
FINN
(Nudging TOBIN)
Marry, thy prayer is answered ere it leaves thy lips. Here come two of the litter. Draw thy face into a thundercloud, man. I will bite my thumb.
TOBIN
(Spitting ostentatiously on the cobblestones just ahead of the approaching servants)
A foul taste in my mouth, this morning. Like ash and bitter herbs.
SILAS and OLEN stop. They eye the Hartwell men with suspicion.
SILAS
Is the dust of this public square, sir, somehow more offensive than that of any other?
TOBIN
I spit where I please, sir. My mouth is mine own.
OLEN
It is. And the venom within it, I see, is also of your house's making.
FINN
(Biting his thumb with a sharp, deliberate motion)
I do bite my thumb, sir.
SILAS
You bite your thumb, sir? At us?
FINN
I do bite my thumb, sir. Is the sight so strange? Perhaps your lady-mother never weaned you.
OLEN
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Answer plainly!
TOBIN
(Stepping forward, hand on his sword)
And what if we do? A gesture is a gesture. A man may be offended by the wind if he is of a mind to be. Are you of such a mind?
SILAS
Of a mind to see a Hartwell cur put in his place? Aye, sir, that I am!
SILAS draws his sword. TOBIN and FINN draw theirs in response. The three clash in a clumsy, furious fray, their shouts echoing across the square.
Enter JUDE HARTWELL. He is calm and composed, and his face darkens at the sight of the brawl.
JUDE
Part, fools! Put up thy wretched steel!
You know not what you do. Upon your lives,
I charge you, cease! This madness serves no end
But to bloody the stones for the Mayor's guards
To wash at our expense. Hold, I say!
Jude draws his own sword, not to fight, but to beat down their weapons and separate them.
Enter ROWAN DAVENANT. His eyes are fire, his hand already on his sword. He sees Jude's drawn blade among the servants and his face twists into a mask of rage.
ROWAN
What, art thou drawn amongst these heartless hinds?
To flash thy blade where serving-men do brawl?
Turn thee, Jude Hartwell, look upon thy death!
For I have come to send thy soul to hell.
JUDE
Good Rowan, be but patient. Hear me speak.
You do mistake my purpose. I am here
To part these witless men and keep the peace.
Sheathe thy sword, or use it, if thou must,
To help me quell this foolish, rising strife.
ROWAN
Peace? Peace? That word doth poison on thy tongue!
I hate the word, as I hate the frozen void,
As I hate all Hartwells, and as I hate thee.
Have at thee, coward!
Rowan lunges at JUDE. Jude, with a sigh of weary resignation, is forced to parry the attack. Their fight is swift, deadly, and skillful, a stark contrast to the servants' brawling. Citizens scatter, screaming. Partisans of both houses spill from nearby alleys, drawn by the sound of steel. The brawl becomes a riot, engulfing the square in chaos.
Enter old DAMIEN HARTWELL in his housecoat, and his wife, LADY CLARISSA.
DAMIEN HARTWELL
What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
A Davenant! A Davenant doth fly
His colours in my face! My sword, I say!
Old Gideon seeks a fight, and he shall have it!
LADY CLARISSA
A sword? A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a blade?
You are a man of winter, not of war.
You shall not stir one foot to seek a foe!
Enter old GIDEON DAVENANT and his wife, LADY VIOLA.
GIDEON DAVENANT
Where is that Hartwell fiend? That braggart, Damien!
He dares to raise a blade against my kin?
Fetch me my rapier! Let me meet him now!
He has defied me in the public square!
LADY VIOLA
You shall not! Hold him, someone! By my life,
This ancient pride will be the death of us.
Let the young cocks fight, you are past your prime!
The two old lords roar at each other across the square, restrained by their wives and retainers. The fighting swells. A trumpet sounds, shrill and commanding. Enter MAYOR THALIA ROOKE with her retinue of guards, who brutally force the combatants apart.
MAYOR ROOKE
Rebellious subjects! Enemies to peace!
Profaners of this city's sacred stone!
What, will you not hear? You men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins!
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved Mayor.
(Silence falls. Swords clatter on the cobblestones.)
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Davenant, and thee, Hartwell,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Veridia's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate.
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away.
You, Gideon, shall go along with me;
And, Damien, you shall come this afternoon
To know our farther pleasure in this case.
Now, on your lives, I charge you all, depart!
The crowd disperses in sullen silence. ROWAN gives JUDE one last look of pure hatred before following GIDEON and the MAYOR. All exit, leaving DAMIEN, LADY CLARISSA, and JUDE alone in the quieted square.
DAMIEN HARTWELL
Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
JUDE
Your servants and Lord Davenant's were found
Trading swift blows when I did approach.
I drew to part them. In the instant came
The fiery Rowan, with his sword prepar'd,
Who, breathing defiance in my ear,
Did lunge at me, till we were forced to fight
As the whole city swarmed to join the fray.
LADY CLARISSA
O, where is Elias? Saw you him today?
Right glad I am he was not at this fight.
JUDE
Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son.
Towards him I made, but he was ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood.
I, measuring his affections by my own,
That most are busied when they're most alone,
Pursued my humour not pursuing his,
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
DAMIEN HARTWELL
Many a morning hath he there been seen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs.
Away from light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,
And makes himself an artificial night.
Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
JUDE
My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
DAMIEN HARTWELL
I neither know it nor can learn of him.
JUDE
Have you importun'd him by any means?
DAMIEN HARTWELL
Both by myself and many other friends:
But he, his own affections' counsellor,
Is to himself—I will not say how true—
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm,
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,
We would as willingly give cure as know.
But see, he comes. So please you, step aside;
I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.