Cast

Teresa, la Marquise de Boissy

Mrs. Mary Darby Smith

Catherine, the Ambassadors wife

Lord Byron

St. Peter

Flaücher - T's butler

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​SCENE 1

 

Paris, 1868 - a party hosted by the American Ambassador, John Adams Dix, and his wife Catherine

 

C: Oh! Mrs. Darby Smith - I'm delighted you have accepted my invitation - how pleasant it is to see - and hear - one of my countrywomen here in Paris

DS: Why, thanks Mrs. Ambassador (curtseys) - may I ask? (points) - who is that venerable yet luminous lady seated next to the fire?

C: Ah! that fine lady is the Marquise de Boissy - formerly the mistress of Lord Byron - and wife of the late, loaded Marquise de Boissy - would you care for an introduction?

DS: oh, er - most certainly!

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The ladies amble eagerly toward T

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C: Madame, (they curtsey) may I introduce - from America - Mrs. Mary Darby Smith (to DS) - did you know that the Marquise here is one of the last people alive who knew Byron personally 

T(acknowledges homage with all due good breeding): Oui - 'tis true - although Mr. Hobhouse is hanging in there (laughs musically)

C: I shall leave you ladies - Napoleon III is due at any moment and is sorely in need of a translator and a step-ladder

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DS snuggles next to T on the sopha

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DS: Madame - if you would permit my forwardness..

T: Not at all, my dear - how his Lordship adored the forwardness of American ladies - as they were about to set sail

DS: hey? - er, is it true - I have heard Lord Byron was the “ King of Poets"

T: Mrs. Darbysmith - my Lord Byron was the King of Men! - and 'tis not incroyable to say that he would have been the King of Greece had not his cattivo Inglese doctors murdered him with their leeches and lancets (is distressed into handkerchief) - but enough of the past!

DS: Madame, would do well to write your recollections recalling your youth with Byron in Austrian-occupied Tuscany

T: As chance would have it, Mrs. Darbysmith - I have penned two manuscripts - although I shall have to consult with his Lordship first if publication were ever to be contemplated

DS: His Lordship?  Do you have another amoroso? (head darts about, is impressed)

T: No, my child! I speak of Lord Byron, naturallamente! (confidingly) I am, you see, what we call a 'Spiritist', which isn't easy to say - never mind spell - and have the gift of conversing with the departed

DS: Oh! how I would love to be present at your next meeting! Would his Lordship condescend to a stranger - albeit a dashing young American obsessive with an extensive questionnaire about her person - eavesdropping? 

T: hmm - I suspect he will be forthcoming (pats her hand) Mind! we converse - even in the Spirit Land - solely in Italian - do you speak Italian?

DS: Nay - not even in blasphemies

T(appears relieved): Very well, you shall visit me at my Palace in the Rue St. Lazare tomorrow - for Dinner and the Dead - at eight, si?

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The ladies exchange pleasantries and part

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​SCENE 2

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​T's hôtel is spectacularly luxurious - the butler Flaücher appears

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F: Bonjour Mrs. Darbysmith - come this way - the Marquise is up t'stairs

 

DS is shown into a fairy world of Venetian glass, silver frog condiment sets, gurgling fountains - and an apparition over the mantlepiece

DS(gasps): Ah! Good Go.. - I mean - shoot! Is that...

T: Yes, my dear (gazes forlornly) - that is a portrait of milord, taken at my own request in the days of our youth - mon dieu! (sighs) he was beautiful! Although why he insisted on wearing that tartan blanket about the place, I'm sure I'll never know

DS: Perchance, you could ask him tonight?

T: Peut être - but his allocated time for sartorial inquisitions is somewhat limited, for he has many demands upon his good advices - now(claps hands) Flaücher!! To eat!

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The ladies feast amid the scent of violets, wavering moonlight and irate canaries

 

T: Now - Mary, my dear, tonight I shall devote myself to the accomplishment of your wish, to obtain a communication from Lord Byron - are you ready? (DS brings forth her questionnaire) Mind! - remember to be silent - I am also a writing medium and shall record his Lordship's responses with utmost rapidity in my journal

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T bends head over her hands, clasped in prayer

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T(after a minute's silence): He will speak with us (makes the sign of the cross on the paper)

DS: Oh, super!! (claps hands)

T: Silence, my dear (closes eyes - converses in Italian) - Byron, mio Byron, the little American is here and is just aching for some conversation with you

B: mmm - once that would have delighted me, but her countrymen lately gave scandalous reviews of Mazeppa and other assorted odes and whatnot - I have therefore switched my allegiances to the Canadians

T: Dio! - I can't tell her that! 

DS: Is there a problem?! You seem distressed, milady - here is my list of questions...

T: Dear girl - please - everything fine - 

B: My - she's a feisty young lady - I am up to my oxters here mio Teresa - why - who do think persists in harassing us here this side of the gates? - he had no luck getting into Whites yet imagines success here! (laughter is heard in the background) - the dog Brougham!

T: Ill bastardo! (DS starts)

DS: The answers come like magic! Ask him has he been to Boston, do!

T: His Lordship is with his Heavenly Father, not touring the globe in a coach and four my de...

B: As chance would have it - we did...

T: We??!

B: Indeed - Scrope, Pope and I did saunter one quiet dusk for a bit - discovered a tavern where my Papa left owing tidy fortunes - his likeness is still plastered all over the outhouses - was tempted to disturb the ale - 

DS: What visions has God given him? 

T(groans): ​​​​​​​​​He says - "I see you with a very kind woman, who understands me more than my compatriots have ever understood me - tell her that I love her"

DS: What? (faints)

B: Steady on a bit there Teresa

T: Flaücher!!

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​SCENE 3

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​DS regains consciousness on the divan 

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T: 

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x

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​END

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REQUEST. — Will I see you?

ANSWER. — Yes, one day you will be in our sky.

REQUEST. — Will I find in heaven the one I can love?

ANSWER. — But that is not for me to say. These are mysteries whose secret God does not reveal to us. However, I believe that having a big heart like you have, you will find contentment in heaven, what you lack on earth, because you have not been able to find a companion worthy of understanding you.t I am happy to see her with you, my good Therese

She wants to leave for America. What advice do you give him?

ANSWER.— Yes, I advise him to hang around a little longer - so that America in him writes - more positive things about these affairs. Then she will be able to take her side without having to continue, without fear of breaking.

DEMAXDE. — Don't you have anything else to say to him? ANSWER. — Yes, I can tell her that everything she does will always be worthy of an honest and generous heart. However, she must walk in the path of justice and religion, because it is in this path only that one can find rest on earth, and happiness in eternity. REQUEST. — Do you have anything else to say to him? REPOXSE. — But no, except that I will always pray for her to the good Lord so that he gives her rest on earth, and happiness in eternity.

REQUEST. — Can you tell me all your thoughts about her? REPOXSE. — Yes, she is goodness itself, but too enthusiastic in everything; which means that she ruined her life, and was never able to marry, because she was never able to understand others, nor be understood. Now you are his idol. Her enthusiasm for me has increased since she met you. She has great intelligence, but she suffocates it with religious prejudices. His consciousness is all that is purest on earth. She will be one of the angels of our heaven when she dies, and she will have very little to atone for. It passed over the earth without getting dirty.