The Twins by Victor Hugo

Author:Victor Hugo [Hugo, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Drama
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2018-01-24T23:00:00+00:00

ACT SECOND

A very dark room, with ogive arches and floor of large flagstones, hung with scarlet velvet with gold fringe; furniture consisting of great arm-chairs with gilded arms and backs upholstered in tapestry; the appearance of the room is gloomy and at the same time magnificent. At the left, in a jog-piece, a large bed with curtains of red damask and tapestry in alternate stripes, a canopy supported by posts, and a head-piece of carved gold, and covered with a lace coverlid. At the right, in another jog-piece, a high chimney-piece, with a backing consisting of a plate of iron adorned with fleurs-de-lis. This plate is so large that it entirely fills the back of the fire-place. Also at the right, a table with a velvet cloth, standing upon a square Gobelins carpet. On the table a Venetian mirror. Above the bed a large figure of Christ in ebony, not of the shape affected by the Jansenists, that is to say, with outstretched arms. In a corner at the right, close by the table, a part of the hangings has been torn aside, disclosing the bare wall, on which can be seen strange figures cut in the stone; a long nail lies upon the table. The chamber is lighted by a single long-barred window at the back, to which three high stone steps lead. The ray of light coming through this window is distinctly marked upon the floor. The embrasure of the window shows the enormous thickness of the wall. As the curtain rises a strange figure is seen standing by the table. At first glance there is nothing to give a clue to the age or sex of this figure, which is enveloped in a long gown of violet velvet, the head being entirely encased in a black velvet mask which hides the hair as well as the features, and reaches to the shoulders. A small iron padlock secures the mask behind. When the gown is thrown partly open, it discloses garments of black satin and a youthful shape. The prisoner seems to be absorbed in a sorrowful reverie.

At the back of the stage, above the window, in a small, dark gallery which runs all around the dungeon just where the arch begins, and which communicates with the dungeon by a sort of ladder-stairway of gilded wood against the hangings at the left, can be indistinctly seen the form of a white-haired, gray-bearded halberdier, with a black bandage across his face, which covers one eye. This man, standing motionless and silent as a statue in the shadow, holds in his right hand a long pistol, in his left a naked sword; his halberd, resting against one of the ribs of the arch, glistens in the half-light behind him.

Above the stairway, at the left, an iron door, half-hidden by a rich portiere.

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