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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
BY HERMANN HAGEDORN 
 
 The Silver Blade. A one-act play in verse. Out of print 
 
 The Woman of Corinth. A tale in verse. Out of print. 
 
 A Troop of the Guard and Other Poems. Out of print. 
 
 Poems and Ballads. 
 
 J^aces in the Dawn. A novel. 
 
 Makers of Madness. A war play. 
 
 IN PREPARATION : 
 
 The Heart of Youth and Other Poems, 
 
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THE HEART 
 OF YOUTH 
 
 Hermann Hagedorn 
 
 Web) gorfe 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 1915 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
T53rir 
 
 Copyright, 1915, 
 By HERMANN HAGEDORN. 
 
 NotfaDOU ©tf8B 
 
 J. 8. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
 
 Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
 JUN-5I9I5 
 )C1.D 40968 
 
^ 
 
 " MRS. JOHN " 
 
 Not with swords, not with guns, 
 
 Mother of boys, you arm your sons. 
 
 East and west, south and north, 
 
 With a word in their ears, you send them forth ; 
 
 With a word you gird their souls 
 
 For storms and starry goals. 
 
 And send them over the lands 
 
 With a torch, a torch in their hands. 
 
NOTE 
 
 " The Heart of Youth " was written for the dedi- 
 cation of the Deli Theatre at the Hill School, in 
 Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and performed for the 
 first time on the evening of June 6, 191 5, with the 
 following cast : 
 
 Fra Angelo William A. Hanway 
 
 Rabelin George T. Achelis 
 
 The Duke Louis C. Raegener, Jr. 
 
 Arabis Gerald F. Siereeney 
 
 Althaea Cornelius P. Troivbridge 
 
 Melissa Horace M. Carleton 
 
 A Physician R. Wolcott Hooker 
 
 A Page Sheldon Abbett 
 
 A Man on Crutches Herbert R. Reif 
 
 A Monk Lewis M. Billingslea 
 
 A Boy T/io?nas Denny, Jr. 
 
 The Master in Charge Mr. Johti A. Lester 
 
CHARACTERS 
 
 Fra Angelo. 
 Rabelin, his companion. 
 The Duke. 
 Arabis, his daughter. 
 Alth^a 
 
 her friends. 
 Melissa J 
 
 A Physician. 
 
 A Page. 
 
 A Man on Crutches. 
 
 A Monk. 
 
 A Boy. 
 
 Handmaidens. 
 
 Pages. 
 
 Men, Women and Children. 
 
 The Master in Charge 
 OF THE Performance. 
 
 SEQUENCE OF SCENES 
 
 Scene I. A forest. 
 
 Scene II. A public square. 
 
 Scene III. A dark street. 
 
 Scene IV. A room in the palace. 
 
THE 
 HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 (The Master in Charge, without hat, coat or 
 waistcoat and with the sleeves of his shirt rolled 
 up, appears at back of stage. He is evidently 
 very hot aiid somewhat exhausted and out of 
 temper. Even before he appears he may be heard 
 calling impatiently to two boys who are quarrelling 
 unseen, but distinctly audible, in the gulley be- 
 hind the stage.) 
 
 THE MASTER IN CHARGE 
 
 Come, come now ! Stop your jabber. Stop, stop, 
 
 stop! 
 D'ye think those pretty girls and their mammas 
 Have come to hsten to you, jabbering 
 Behind the wings ? Louis, if you don't quit 
 Rough-housing Bill this very minute, I'll — 
 What difference if Bill did steal your towel ? 
 
 B I 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 Steal George's, Gerald's, anybody's. Oh ! 
 
 If you were only now professionals 
 
 I'd have the fun at least of firing you ! 
 
 But amateurs ! Never again, I swear ! 
 
 If there is anything inside this shirt 
 
 Able to profit by experience, 
 
 I wash my hands of amateurs henceforth. 
 
 Come, play the game. Do, for the love of Mike. 
 
 Pretend it's football — anything but Art, 
 
 And take a brace, so we can start the show. 
 
 Come, now, and stop your nonsense. Up this way. 
 {To the audience, as he comes forward mopping his 
 brow.) 
 
 They're amateurs. And, worse than that, they're 
 boys. 
 
 God knows if there'll be any play to watch. 
 
 {A number of Boys appear at the back and hesi- 
 tatingly come forward, one by one, as the Master 
 IN Charge introduces them.) 
 
 Well, here they come, prepared to make their bow. 
 
 Bow, William. This is William. He's to play 
 
 The saint, the wandering good man. This is 
 George. 
 {In a whisper.) 
 
 2 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 Stand up, for heaven's sake, and be a man. 
 
 He plays the hero-villain, Rabelin. 
 
 You've heard it said. Art is economy. 
 
 Well, we've economized. Like life itself 
 
 We've thrown our good and evil in one pot 
 
 And saved one acting role, creating thus 
 
 A Rabelin too virtuous to hang, 
 
 Too wicked to exalt in other ways, 
 
 Who knows ? — perhaps a man like me — or George. 
 
 Watch him ! His fault is that he tries to heal 
 
 Ere he himself is healed. You know the kind. 
 
 Perhaps you've met him — in the looking-glass. 
 
 Run along, George. Come, Wolcott. This young 
 
 man 
 Is our Physician. He looks wise, and talks. 
 Herbert's our Cripple, Sheldon is our Page, 
 Whose vice is that he sleeps when he should watch, 
 A thing some folk are prone to. Here's Cornelius — 
 Althaea in the play. Melissa here 
 Goes down to glory with the name of Horace. 
 Bow, Louis. He's our Duke, straight from Illyria — 
 Stern parent of a sixteen-year-old girl. 
 Spite of his obviously tender years. 
 And here is Gerald, the fair maid herself, 
 3 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 As muscular a Princess, take my word, 
 
 As ever bloomed in gardens. Ah, but wait ! 
 
 We'll have her dying soon, and pale as death ; 
 
 And Rabelin with horror in his eyes, 
 
 Crying, "Relent ! Oh, punish me no more — " 
 
 But that's our story. 
 
 {The Boys have one by one edged over to the right 
 and disappeared.) 
 
 Well, you've seen our players, 
 And laughed at them a bit ; and that was right. 
 For they were only boys in paint and wig, 
 Meant to be laughed at, boys like other boys, 
 Your boys and mine. But once the play begins 
 Forego the laughter. They are ours no more. 
 The little while you sit upon this slope 
 And watch our story like deep waters flow 
 Before your eyes, now calm, now full of storm, 
 They are not of this world. A little while 
 They put their souls to sleep, and lend to ghosts 
 From other worlds the bodies that are theirs. 
 They do not act, they are the Saint, the Duke, 
 The hero-villain, the fair, fragile maid. 
 Real for the moment of our pageantry 
 As love and faith and God's hand in the dark — 
 4 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 Spirits made flesh, not boys, but visions ! Ah ! 
 Not boys, but dreams ; not words, but Truth ; not 
 
 man. 
 But something mightier, commanding man, 
 Alone can fitly dedicate this stage. 
 This church — where not in unctuous brocade 
 Prinked and emblazoned for the sight of heaven, 
 But nakedly in combat, stripped of sham, 
 Man talks with God. Let spirits dedicate 
 What is the spirit's ! In the name of Truth ! 
 
 (With an emphatic gesture.) 
 Now let the curtain rise ! 
 
 {He turns as though to leave the stage, hesitates and 
 turns again to the audience.) 
 You smile. The curtain? Let the curtain rise? 
 Who speaks of curtains in this open dell 
 Of cool, green turf and unperturbed waters? 
 What curtain is there here to rise or fall ? 
 Ah, there are hundreds ! On your eyes they lie — 
 The curtains which the busy weaving men. 
 We call the years, have woven of your thoughts. 
 You said that thoughts were nothing. What a web 
 Have now the weavers made of that thin silk 
 The spider-brain spun of the love of things 
 5 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 The eye could see, the ear could hear, the hand 
 Could finger, squeeze and claw. Ah, what a web 
 Of gray, inconsequential-seeming threads ! 
 The modish thoughts, the meat-and-money 
 
 thoughts — 
 In webs, in webs, in iron curtains, proof 
 Against whatever fires of poesy 
 Burn in white aspirations from our lines. 
 They hang between us and your inner eyes, 
 Those better eyes, the pure eyes of the soul. 
 
 Lift up the curtain ! For an hour lift up 
 The veil that holds you prisoners in this world 
 Of coins and wires and motor-horns, this world 
 Of figures and of men who trust in facts. 
 This pitiable, hypocritic world 
 Wliere men with blinkered eyes and hobbled feet 
 Grope down a narrow gorge and call it life. 
 Lift up the curtain ! Gaze upon our world. 
 Look ! Are there cedars here, a fence beyond, 
 A pond, a football field, an ugly mass 
 Of huddled roofs behind that poplar-row ? 
 Lift up the curtain ! We are in a wood 
 Above a city in lUyria. 
 
 6 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 The time is twilight. From the hills, the Saint 
 
 Comes with his young disciple ; in the town 
 
 The people wait. Hush ! You can hear the bell 
 
 Calling their hope across the golden eve. 
 
 The dusk is full of peace. You would not dream 
 
 That in the town a Princess perishes 
 
 For love of God, and on these hills, a boy 
 
 Struts gaily toward disaster. Look, what heights? 
 
 What deeps, break on your eyes, what heavens, what 
 
 hells 
 In the small orbit of the heart of youth ? 
 Lift up the curtain ! Let the play begin. 
 
SCENE I 
 
 A Forest 
 
 {From the right enter Era Angelo, a tall friar in a 
 white cowl. He is accompanied by Rabelin, a 
 hoy of seventeen in mediceval garb.) 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Look, Rabelin. Our journey nears its end. 
 
 There lies the city, slumbering in the dusk. 
 
 So beautiful it is, so calm, so mute. 
 
 So open to God's gaze, you would not guess 
 
 How the bees hum and labor in the hive 
 
 And love and kill and die. So many roofs, 
 
 And under each the struggle and the pain ; 
 
 Youth reaching out, and old age falling back ; 
 
 Youth, hoping ; age, remembering ; each at strife 
 
 With earth and heaven, scarce knowing why he 
 
 strives. 
 So many roofs, so many tragedies 
 
SCENE I 
 
 Of unfulfilled existences. 
 
 The sun 
 Plays with gay magic on the fretted dome. 
 Look, with what reckless generosity 
 He strews his gems. That flash was from a pan 
 In some poor drudge's hand ; that running light 
 Broke from a sudden ripple on the stream, 
 Raised by the first puff of the evening breeze. 
 How soft the night falls on those far, dark hills. 
 Like an inaudible, blue wave it breaks 
 Along the horizon's edge. The valley mists 
 Rise up Hke foam. Wait. Soon upon the deep 
 The white sails shall appear, the silver sails 
 That carry cargoes through sidereal seas 
 For the immortal venturers of heaven. 
 I shall be glad to see the stars again. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 You are a strange man when the stars come out. 
 I know you while the sun shines. Now and then 
 I almost dare to laugh at you as though 
 You were a human being Hke myself. 
 But when the stars come out, you make me think 
 Of mountains and enormous ghosts that tower 
 9 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 To heaven and make me shiver and feel small. 
 I don't much like to think of things like that. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Are you afraid of me ? 
 
 RABEUN 
 
 Not now. You have 
 A dear and human way with you by day, 
 A way of being near. I never thought 
 'A good man could be such a friend. I'm sure 
 You're pleasanter than ordinary saints. 
 And yet, at twilight, when the stars come out, 
 You frighten me. You seem so far away. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 The stars are friends of mine. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Yes, that's the joke. 
 You're human, but you have such queer ideas. 
 If you were only now like other men. 
 Why, with your reputation as a saint. 
 Your holiness, and that odd gift of yours 
 Of making sick men well and bad men good — 
 Heaven knows what eminence you might attain. 
 
 lO 
 
SCENE I 
 
 You ought to be the Pope, you might be King ; 
 K you would do as much as lift your hand, 
 You could be richer than a duke, with gold 
 And jewelry and robes of scarlet silk . 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Gold must have guardians, jewels must have locks, 
 Clothes must have roofs to shield them from the 
 
 weather. 
 Such things are nothing if they are not all. 
 It is a matter of the eyes ; and mine 
 See heaven's gold and have no taste for earth's. 
 
 RABELTN 
 
 You are a holy man and I am not. 
 
 There lies the trouble. You don't care a rap 
 
 For gems and gold and scarlet things to wear. 
 
 I do, like every gentleman of taste. 
 
 I think I must have noble blood somewhere, 
 
 For I have feelings for life's higher things 
 
 That as a rule only a noble has, 
 
 Fine linen and such things. You wear a cowl 
 
 And under that a rope and that is all. 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 You think that's saintly. Well, I think it's just 
 A little narrow, I might almost say 
 A little cowardly, as though you feared 
 That your religion might not stand the strain 
 Of silk on Sundays. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Something might be said 
 About the cowardice that hides in cowls. 
 But I prefer a cowl. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 That's your affair. 
 I'll not dispute you have a free man's right 
 To your own kind of clothes. But I assert 
 You have no right to keep from me the means 
 To clothe myself in silks if I so wish. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 What have I done ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 What have you done ? Last night 
 You healed a rich man's son, you raised him up 
 When he was gone almost, and when they brought 
 
 12 
 
SCENE I 
 
 Gold to repay you, you rejected it ! 
 That was your business, that was your affair 
 If you refused the wherewithal to give 
 Drink to the orphan, to the widow meat. 
 Oh, I'll admit that was your own affair. 
 Though I've my notions of its saintliness ! — 
 But when they turned and offered me their gold, 
 Saying, "Your friend is young, he wears no cowl. 
 Some day perhaps he may have need of gold," 
 And you refused to let me take their gift. 
 That, I declare, was holiness gone mad. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 A week ago your thoughts were all of heaven. 
 Why are they turned so suddenly to earth ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, I am sick of this religious buncome. 
 I think and think and don't get anywhere. 
 Things you can see, things you can touch and smell , 
 Those are the things I seem to want — real things. 
 Substantial things that you can weigh. God knows 
 If there is any God. I'm sure I don't. 
 But there is money and there's power and place — 
 13 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 If you wish money there are many ways 
 
 That money may be sought. Why do you, then, 
 
 Follow a wandering madman through the hills ? 
 
 RABELESf 
 
 Heaven knows. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 I never urged you, Rabelin. 
 You came to me. I did not ask you whence, 
 Nor why you came. 
 
 RABELESr 
 
 I came from dice and taverns. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 So wicked and so young ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, laugh ! You think 
 I'm just a boy. You never would believe 
 How bad I was. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 (Warmly.) 
 
 No. • 
 
 14 
 
SCENE I 
 RABELIN 
 
 Well, then, don't blame me 
 When you discover what a devil I am. 
 Sometimes I fear I'll be an atheist. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 But you were such a fire of faith. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I know. 
 I swallowed everything, hook, bait and sinker. 
 Now half of it seems childish, and the rest 
 Old women's talk, not meant for grown-up men. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Perhaps when you have lived — 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 But I have lived. 
 You don't quite realize what I've been through. 
 I've passed through terrible temptations. I'm 
 Not like those other boys who don't know life. 
 I'm different. I've seen things. Oh, I have. 
 I wouldn't for the world upset your faith — 
 15 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 I understand. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 But my experience 
 Has taught me that there isn't much worth while 
 Except success. When you've got that, you've 
 
 got it. 
 It isn't hke this moonshine talk of God 
 You can't clutch anywhere but like an eel 
 It slips between your fingers. By and by, 
 When I begin to heal — 
 
 ERA ANGELO 
 
 To heal? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Why not? 
 
 ERA ANGELO 
 
 I must be getting old, and my mind weak. 
 I can't quite seem to follow your swift flights. 
 Did you say — heal ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Why, yes. 
 i6 
 
SCENE I 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 But you're a sceptic ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Of course. But then the sick folk won't know that. 
 I've watched you heal. It doesn't seem so hard. 
 Some day I'll learn the trick, and when I do, 
 You bet, I'll not refuse a rich man's gift. 
 
 ERA ANGELO 
 
 So? So? A trick? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Well, something like a trick. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Is that the reason why you cleave and cling, 
 
 To learn my trick ? A trick, a juggler's trick ! — 
 
 And turn it into goblets and fine linen ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I've made you angry. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Yes, you strike at God 
 When you strike at His work, 
 c 17 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 RABELIN 
 
 It's your work. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 No. 
 
 RABELIN- 
 
 Well, I suppose you're through with me for good. 
 I'm sorry and — I swear — I meant no harm. 
 I've followed you because I cannot help 
 But follow. There is something in your eyes. 
 I love you, and I follow. That is all. 
 
 ERA ANGELO 
 
 Give me your hand. I love you, Rabelin. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 You were young once. You know the fires that 
 
 burn 
 Inside a fellow. Oh, I can't explain. 
 I hate myself, and everything, but you, 
 And somehow, you're the one of all the world 
 I'm meanest to. I don't know what I want. 
 I think I want to do something, to fight, 
 Or go to sea, or be a missionary, 
 i8 
 
SCENE I 
 
 Or go about the country, healing folk 
 Like you. Sometimes I want to die. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Not yet, my brother. God has quite enough 
 Boys of your age to manage up in heaven. 
 And earth may find some labor for you yet. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 You're making fun of me again ! 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Of course. 
 My love were less the deep love that it is 
 If it were love unmixed with laughter. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Almost tearful.) 
 
 Well, 
 
 I won't be laughed at, teased and patronized. 
 
 It may be sinful, but I'm not a saint, 
 
 And don't pretend to be, and I'm not meek. 
 
 Nor humble. Not a bit of it. I'm proud. 
 
 Some day or other we are bound to break. 
 
 It might as well be now. 
 
 19 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Why, yes. Why, yes. 
 Freely you came and you shall freely go. 
 Give me your hand, 
 (Rabelin, with his hack turned toward him, makes 
 no move to accept the proffered hand.) 
 
 You won't? Why, then, good by. 
 I'm very sure that we shall meet again. 
 (He goes out, centre back.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Tossing his head defiantly.) 
 Oh, for a chance to show what I can do ! 
 Anything ! Just to show him. Anything ! 
 If only some one'd fall into a river 
 While I was near, or there would come a war, 
 I'd make him swallow humble pie, I would ! 
 
 (He goes out, whistling desperately.) 
 
 20 
 
SCENE II 
 
 A Public Square in the Town 
 
 (A choir is heard chanting off stage. Enter the 
 Page, left.) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (Yawning and stretching.) 
 "Watch and be ready," said His Nibs the Duke. 
 "Run, Theobald, and fetch the holy man. 
 He may come soon. He may not come till 
 
 night. 
 Watch and be ready." That's all very well. 
 I've watched for seven blank and weary hours. 
 I don't believe there is a holy man. 
 And even if there is, it's ten to one 
 He'll somehow circumnavigate this burg. 
 All the excitements do. I'm going to sleep. 
 Cathedral steps don't make the softest bed. 
 But it's a hard stone that'll keep my brain 
 Working against my will. That holy man ! 
 Pshaw ! probably he'll never come at all, 
 Or if he does — well, I'll wake up in time. 
 Good night, proud world. 
 
 21 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 (He settles himself comfortably and drops to sleep. 
 Again the choir may he faintly heard. From the 
 left, enters a Man on Crutches.) 
 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 I wonder — will he come ? 
 
 {From the right, a Voice is heard calling.) 
 
 VOICE 
 
 Coming ! 
 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 Oh, where ? Which way ? 
 
 VOICE 
 
 Coming ! 
 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 Dear God ! 
 
 (A Boy runs in from the right.) 
 
 BOY 
 
 He's here ! He's in the town ! 
 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 He's here ? 
 
 BOY 
 
 I saw 
 Him close as I see you. I saw him heal ! 
 
 22 
 
SCENE II 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 Heal! 
 
 BOY 
 
 Yes. A woman. She was blind. He said — 
 {The great Bell of the cathedral close by begins to 
 ring with eager, rejoicing strokes.) 
 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 He's here ! 
 
 {The Page moves restlessly, but settles down again 
 into still sounder slumber. From the left and 
 rear. Men, Women and Children, among them 
 the halt, the lame and the blind, run in, crying 
 excitedly to each other.) 
 
 VOICES 
 
 The bell ! . He's here ! He's in the town ! 
 This way ! Come, this way ! 
 You're crowding me ! 
 What do I care? 
 He's coming this way. 
 I can't breathe ! 
 Heal me ! 
 
 He's coming ! He's coming ! He's coming ! 
 23 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 Oh, wonderful ! 
 
 (Voices, gaining in volume, are heard at right, 
 then a throng presses in, shouting.) 
 
 NEW VOICES 
 
 He's here ! 
 
 THE OTHERS 
 
 He's here ! He's here ! 
 
 (Fra Angelo enters. The crowd surges about him 
 with shouts. The Cathedral Choir is heard 
 again more loudly and dominantly than before.) 
 
 voices 
 Heal me ! Holy man, heal me ! 
 
 (Rabelin enters right and stands apart from the 
 crowd, a little supercilious and bored.) 
 
 ERA angelo 
 
 {Gently) 
 
 Peace, peace, good friends. 
 
 {The crowd parts and Fra Angelo emerges. 
 The Man on Crutches, who has kept in the 
 background, hobbles up to him.) 
 24 
 
SCENE II 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 (Stretching out his hand.) 
 Heal me ! 
 
 ERA ANGELO 
 
 (Gazing tenderly into his eyes.) 
 You are healed. 
 
 THE MAN ON CRUTCHES 
 
 (Stares incredulously, stretches his limbs wonder- 
 ingly and suddenly lets his crutches fall with a 
 cry.) 
 Healed ! 
 
 (The cry is taken up hy the others who surge about 
 Fra Angelo.) 
 
 era angelo 
 
 Come. Let us rest our hearts in God's good 
 
 house, 
 And speak with one another. 
 
 (He goes out left, followed by the hushed and awe- 
 struck crowd. Rabelin, startled out of his 
 defiant mood by the healing of the cripple, stands 
 motionless an instant, pondering.) 
 25 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 RABELIN 
 
 "You — are — healed." 
 Um. That seemed easy. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 (At left, waking.) 
 
 Is it morning yet ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Hello. What's here? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Don't talk to. me like that. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Say, who are you ? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I am the Duke's own page. 
 Remember that. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Pooh ! What's a duke? I've been 
 A saint's companion, and I could be now, 
 If I'd been willing to endure his ways. 
 But he was — fresh, as teachers sometimes are, 
 And, well, I felt I was too old to stand 
 That sort of thing even from a holy man. 
 26 
 
SCENE II 
 
 PAGE 
 A holy man ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Offhand.) 
 
 Why, yes. They call him that. 
 Of course, when you go travelling with a man 
 You do see faults. But then, he's good, he's good. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Say, it's a holy man I'm out to find. 
 When is he coming ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Why, he's come and gone. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 {Jumping to his feet.) 
 Gone! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 You're a foolish virgin. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Where'd he go ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, you can't see him now. He's healing folk. 
 There's thousands clamoring to see him now. 
 27 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 You'll have to wait in line. If things go right 
 He may be free to-morrow at this time. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Oh, help a fellow, won't you ? I'll be fired 
 If I come back without him. I sure will. 
 I've got to see the holy man. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 What for? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Well, some one wants him. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Who? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 {Ofhand.) 
 
 Oh, just the Duke. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Impressed.) 
 The Duke? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 For his sick daughter. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Fascinated.) 
 
 What's her name? 
 
 28 
 
SCENE II 
 PAGE 
 
 The Princess Arabis. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 My, what a name ! 
 The Princess Arabis — 
 
 PAGE 
 
 She's very sick. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 She is? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 And awfully pretty. White and pink 
 Like a magnolia flower. And fun to talk to. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 What did you say her name was? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Arabis. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 That's a sweet-smelling name. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 She's very ill. 
 
 Oh, please persuade the holy man 
 
 29 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, no, 
 He's far too busy, and besides a duke 
 To him means no more than a beggar. But — 
 There might be others who could possibly — 
 What is the ailment? Measles? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Worse than that. 
 
 RABELiN 
 
 Mumps? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Oh, far worse. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Then chicken pox? 
 
 ' PAGE 
 
 No. Worse. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Dejected.) 
 Then I'm afraid the saint had better not 
 Attempt to tackle it. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Oh, he must come ! 
 ^o 
 
SCENE II 
 RABELIN 
 
 What is her ailment ? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 No one seems to know. 
 She's drooping, fading, slowly, like a flower 
 That's thirsty. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Softly.) 
 
 Arabis ! 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I've heard them say 
 It's all because she wants to be a nun, 
 And the old Duke won't let her. That's absurd I 
 WTio'd droop and pine away to be a nun ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Pondering.) 
 Of course, a thing like that is easier 
 To heal than real diseases — mumps or such things. 
 It's barely possible the holy man 
 Might be persuaded, at a pinch, to come ; 
 Since it's not mumps, or something serious, 
 But just — 
 
 31 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 PAGE 
 
 The Duke said he'd pay well ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 He did? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Yes. Heaps and heaps of gold. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, wonderful ! 
 
 PAGE 
 
 You bring the holy man and you'll get some. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Carelessly.) 
 Oh, that's all right. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I'll skip. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Dreamily.) 
 
 Sweet Arabis ! 
 Why, that's a flower's name. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 You'll make him come ? 
 32 
 
SCENE II 
 RABELJN 
 
 (Breathlessly.) 
 Yes. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Good for you. I'll go and tell the Duke. 
 (He runs out right.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 A Duke ! A Princess ! Princess Arabis ! 
 
 A pining Princess ! Heaps and heaps of gold ! 
 
 It's like a fairy-story. (Pause.) "You — are — 
 
 healed." 
 Why, it looks easy. Why not ? Why, perhaps — 
 I might — I'm rather bright in other ways — 
 Who knows? Perhaps it's Opportunity 
 Banging at my front door. It is ! It is ! 
 It's the great chance to show what I can do, 
 To show the holy man — ! 
 
 (A Monk enters right, hurrying across the stage. 
 
 Rabelin impetuously stops him.) 
 Hold on ! 
 
 MONK 
 
 What's this? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Take off your cowl ! 
 
 D 
 
 33 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 
 My cowl? 
 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 
 Quick ! 
 
 
 MONK 
 
 
 Please, sir, but — 
 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I want it. 
 
 
 
 MONK 
 
 
 So do I. 
 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 
 Quick ! Take it off ! 
 
 MONK 
 
 I've only got a hair-shirt underneath ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I don't care. Quick ! 
 
 {He strips the Monk of his cowl and quickly puts it 
 on over his clothes. The Monk, in his brown 
 hair-shirt, reaching to his knees, hurries out, right, 
 calling, " Help I Robbers / ") 
 Now, which way to the palace of the Duke ? 
 {He looks right and left, then runs out, back.) 
 34 
 
SCENE III 
 A Dark Street 
 (Enter Rabelin, stealthily, rear centre.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 That's it. That must be it. Where is the gate ? 
 How black and tall and hard and cold and stern 
 The walls rise up. There's not a tree, just 
 
 stones. 
 Beneath, above, about — a world of stone. 
 It makes me shiver. I'm not used to towns. 
 I wonder what the holy man would say 
 If he could see me now? It's getting dark. 
 How funny shadows act behind one's back ! 
 They act alive, but not alive with people. 
 I'm not afraid of flesh and blood and bone, 
 Robbers and such things, nor of ghosts; but 
 
 these 
 Queer shifting shreds that are not ghosts nor men 
 Make me all goose-flesh. What was that? Good 
 
 Lord! 
 (Fra Angelo enters right.) 
 35 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Is that you, Rabelin ? 
 
 (Rabelin cowers, but does not answer.) 
 
 Is that you, brother? 
 I missed you and a something in my heart 
 Said that you needed me. And so I came. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Softly.) 
 I do not need you. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Then my heart was wrong. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Yes. Very probably. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Why do you keep 
 Your face so hidden ? Are there tales inscribed 
 On the truth-telling tablets of your eyes 
 You dare not let me read ? Why do you hide ? 
 Are you, a man of seventeen years, afraid? 
 36 
 
SCENE III 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Turning sharply.) 
 I'm not afraid ! 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 What errand are you on? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 What's that to you 
 
 ? 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Nothing — or everything. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Well, nothing then. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 There's something in your voice 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 What of it? 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Rabelin, come back. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I won't. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 (Laying his hands on Rabelin's shoulders.) 
 What deviltry is on you ? There's a door 
 37 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 Closed in the shadowy passage of your eyes. 
 You've slammed a door wherethrough I used to 
 
 pass. 
 You've slammed it in my face. Look up at me. 
 A wall ! a wall ! No passage for me now. 
 What mischief's brewing on the farther side ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 What's that to you? 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 I am your friend. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 My friend ! 
 My teacher's what you are and ever will be. 
 Because I came to you and asked to learn, 
 You've got a notion it's your heaven-sent job 
 Forever to look after me, to keep 
 My feet safe in the straight-and-narrow, watch 
 My very goings-out and comings-in 
 As though I was a girl at boarding school 
 And you my old-maid chaperone. 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Dear boy ! 
 Look in my eyes. Am I a friend or not ? 
 
 38 
 
SCENE III 
 RABEHN 
 
 I tell you, I am sick of being taught 
 
 And led about like a tame elephant. 
 
 I know some things and now I'm going to live. 
 
 Perhaps I'm not the muddle-headed boy 
 
 You think I am, perhaps I am a man, 
 
 Perhaps I've got it in me to do things. 
 
 Let go ! I've got my opportunity, 
 
 And opportunity comes only once ! 
 
 Others have fought and won — at seventeen. 
 
 Why shouldn't I ? Let go ! 
 
 (Fra Angelo drops his hands from Rabelin's 
 shoulders.) 
 
 Where is the gate ? 
 I'm going to the palace of the Duke ! 
 
 {He runs out, left.) 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 The Duke ! What ! Not — to heal ? 
 
 Youth, youth ! Ah, God ! 
 Be merciful to the wild heart of youth. 
 
 {Exit.) 
 
 39 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 A Room in the Duke's Palace 
 
 (Alth^a enters right, tiptoes across stage, and 
 stands at extreme left of stage as though listening 
 at a door. She gives a sob. Melissa enters, 
 also crossing.) 
 
 ALTH.EA 
 
 (Softly.) 
 Has the saint come ? 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Not yet. 
 
 ALTERA 
 
 I scarcely dare 
 Go back to her and say he hasn't come. 
 
 aCELISSA 
 
 He's in the town. 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 I know. I heard the bell. 
 I can't see why he doesn't come — The Duke ! 
 
 (The Duke enters right. The Girls curtsey deep.) 
 My lord ! 
 
 40 
 
My lord ! 
 {Cheerfully.) 
 
 SCENE IV 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What news? 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 No news, my lord. 
 She sobs and laughs and speaks of foolish things. 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 Oh, yield, my lord, before it is too late. 
 It is no sin to want to be a nun 
 And vow oneself to heaven. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 You too are young. 
 You do not understand such things. A child 
 Has whims hke this that fade out and are gone. 
 I am not wholly selfish. I desire 
 To shield her from herself, to be her watchman 
 Against the intrusive enemies of youth. 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 It's not a whim, my lord. It is a call. 
 I know it is a call. To see her face 
 Is to be sure it is a call from God. 
 41 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 DUKE 
 
 Spare me these arguments. Call the physician. 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 My lord, she's dying ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Tush ! Comfort yourself. 
 Girls do not die as patly as they faint, 
 When lovers or recalcitrant papas 
 Demand rebuke. My girl shall have the saint 
 She's crying for, to bring the red cheeks back. 
 She shall not have her convent. That is final. 
 Call the physician. 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 (Drawing back.) 
 
 Very good, my lord. 
 (Sobbing, she goes out left, followed by Melissa.) 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Absurd, ingenuous, earnest heart of youth ! 
 (Enter the Physician, left.) 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 My lord ! 
 
 42 
 
SCENE IV 
 DUKE 
 
 (Lightly.) 
 
 Well how's our young besieger? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 Sire? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What spectres is she threatening me with now ? 
 What bugaboos to force a stubborn parent ? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 No bugaboos, my lord. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 You are too serious. 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 It seems the hour demands it. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Come, come. Laugh. 
 You must not trust her earnestness too much. 
 It is a children's ailment. 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 Sire, I fear — 
 43 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 DUKE 
 
 Don't be so serious, man. 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 Ah, God in heaven, 
 She's dying ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 I can do nothing more. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What did you say ? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 She's flickering, like a lamp, 
 Burnt out. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 You're a physician, and you say 
 This d)dng is no empty threat of hers ? 
 She's — 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 She is dying. 
 
 44 
 
SCENE IV 
 DUKE 
 
 Why ! I must be mad. 
 This is against all reason ! Men might die 
 For faith, conviction, men ! But not young girls 
 Of sixteen years. You are absurd ! 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 My lord, 
 I would I were. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I do not imderstand — 
 You say — why, it's absurd ! Youth may be strange 
 And from its dewy inexperience weave 
 Amazing webs of whim ; but even youth 
 Would balk at perpetrating such a travesty 
 Of reason and of life. You are all wrong ; 
 Or else in league with her to break my will. 
 Which is it ? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 Sire, I say what I have seen. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I do not understand the heart of youth. 
 If she had been the praying kind, a prig. 
 Worried about salvation, bigoted, 
 45 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 Mawkish, anaemic, anything except 
 
 The hearty, wholesome tomboy that she was, 
 
 Why, I might understand. A year ago, 
 
 One dusk, she saw a beautiful young nun. 
 
 That's all the stimulus there is. That's all. 
 
 But something opens in her, something shuts. 
 
 And suddenly the devil-boy is gone, 
 
 And she is all dreams, and deep-sparkling eyes. 
 
 Dreams, a long quarter-year ; then, overnight, 
 
 A blaze of faith. I said, she is a child ; 
 
 And laughed. She did not laugh. And I laughed 
 
 more 
 To see the grief she did not try to hide 
 That I should sin against the Holy Ghost 
 By ridiculing what to her was holy. 
 I said, this fever will be over soon. 
 And now you say she's — d3dng ? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 So it seems. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I did not know that children of her age 
 Could feel so deeply. When they laugh, they laugh 
 So like the sunlight, so like running water, 
 46 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 So without any backward look toward pain, 
 I did not know that when they wept, their woe 
 Could tap the same cold, deep, eternal springs 
 That feed our older grief. I did not dream 
 Her spirit might be stronger than her flesh 
 And frown the body's youthful ardor down. 
 I grope in darkness. Youth bewilders me. 
 I cannot probe it, plumb it, comprehend 
 The meanings of the songs and silences 
 That shake its lovely temples into dust. 
 Dying, you say? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 (With a helpless gesture.) 
 
 My lord — 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Bring her in here, 
 Where she can see what light the day has left 
 For a bewildered world. 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 (Withdraming.) 
 
 I go. 
 (He crosses to extreme left.) 
 47 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 DUKE 
 
 Dear heaven! 
 
 What an unmotivated farce is life — 
 Unless indeed — Where is the holy man ? 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 (Returning.) 
 They're bringing her, my lord. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Good. You may go. 
 (The Physician bows and goes out back.) 
 The holy man ! Is he the answer ? Ah! 
 
 (Enter left, Alth^a, Melissa, and Four other 
 Girls, attendants on the Princess Arabis, bear- 
 ing a cot on which Arabis is lying. They set the 
 cot down at left centre, forward, and group them- 
 selves about it.) 
 
 arabis 
 (Faintly.) 
 
 It must be very late. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 The sun has set. 
 
 arabis 
 You promised that the holy man would come. 
 48 
 
SCENE IV 
 DUKE 
 
 I sent for him. He was delayed, perhaps, 
 And will still come. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 I fear he will not come. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I sent a page to meet him. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Oh, I fear 
 The messenger forgot, or else the word 
 He bore from you lacked warmth. If the saint 
 
 knew 
 How much I want him he would come, I know. 
 There is so much I want to ask of him. 
 I think that I could live, if I saw him, 
 And he could tell me how to make my way 
 Through this most difficult thicket. Why, it 
 
 seemed 
 As though all weakness faded like the dark 
 At your mere word that he might come. The sun 
 Was high then. That was long ago. And now 
 The night comes on, and he has not yet come. 
 E 49 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 I'm hot and very tired. 
 
 You see, if Christ 
 Called, and I did not come, and up in heaven 
 My mother heard him call, and stood by him 
 Waiting for me to answer all night long — 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 She's wandering again. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 {Dreamily.) 
 
 What did you say? 
 
 ALTHAEA 
 
 Sleep, sleep, my Arabis. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 I can't. You know 
 Mother is weeping, for she hasn't heard 
 The sound of all sweet sounds she wants to hear. 
 And Christ is saying, "Never mind, don't cry, 
 She'll answer soon." But mother's half afraid 
 I never will — 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Oh, child, you break my heart ! 
 
 SO 
 
SCENE IV 
 ARABIS 
 
 I try to call and try to call, and can't. 
 {The Page enters.) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 My lord ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 He's here? 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 
 
 He's in the town, 
 
 my 
 
 lord, 
 
 Not here? 
 
 DUKE 
 ALTH.EA 
 
 Not here ? 
 
 
 
 {Faintly.) 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Not here ? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 
 He's on his way. 
 I dare say, any minute he'll be here. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 What did he say ? — 
 
 ALTHjEA 
 
 He's coming, Arabis ! 
 SI 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 DUKE 
 
 {To Page.) 
 Bring him up quickly when he comes. 
 {Exit Page.) 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 The saint — 
 The holy man — he's coming. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 ^ith a long, glad sigh.) 
 
 Oh! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Listen ! 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 He'll just say, Rise ! And you'll get on your feet. 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Listen ! It won't be long before you'll hear 
 His footsteps now. 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 Listen ! Was that a step? 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 First on the stair, then in the corridor — 
 
 ALTH.a:A 
 Then at the door — 
 
 52 
 
SCENE IV 
 MELISSA 
 
 And then here in the room ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Yes. And he'll cry, Arise ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 {Aside.) 
 
 Oh, heart of youth ! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 And you'll be up on your two feet again. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 And strong, you think ? 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 Of course. And with red cheeks. 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 And all the hair you lost will come again 
 Just twice as beautiful. It's always so 
 In story-books. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 {Dreamily.) 
 
 I don't care about hair. 
 S3 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 Listen ! I heard a knocking at the gate ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 I heard it, too ! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Listen ! They've drawn the bolt ! 
 I heard it grate, 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 There ! Did you hear the chain ? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 (Crossing swiftly to back.) 
 Steps ! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 On the stair ! 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 Louder and louder now ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (Faintly.) 
 Steps ! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Oh, it's he ! 
 
 54 
 
SCENE IV 
 ALTH^A 
 
 The holy man ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Dear mother, 
 Help me to do my share. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 {Softly.) 
 
 Good God, have mercy. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 {Reentering.) 
 My lord, the holy man — 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Let him come in. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 At last ! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Now in a minute you'll be well. 
 (Rabelin, disguised, enters. The Page goes out. 
 The Duke, Alth^a and Melissa fall on their 
 knees.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 ( Uncomfortably. ) 
 Please — please get up. 
 
 55 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 DUKE 
 (Kissing Rabelin's hand as he rises.) 
 Father — 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Awed.) 
 
 Are you the Duke? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I am. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 You know, you mustn't kiss my hand. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Forgive. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I will. 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 (Softly to Melissa.) 
 
 A curious holy man. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Here is my daughter. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Approaching the cot.) 
 
 Oh! 
 56 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I think my page 
 Told you our sorrow. Yet you seem surprised. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Softly.) 
 She's very beautiful. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Without, within. 
 Her body is no fairer than her soul. 
 
 ARAB IS 
 
 I wish it were so. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {To Duke.) 
 
 Wait outside the door. 
 
 {The Duke retires to the right, Alth^a and Me- 
 lissa and Attendants to the left.) 
 
 arabis 
 You're very young. I thought all saints were old. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I'm — older — than I look. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 I'm glad. 
 57 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 But years 
 
 Don't count in matters of this kind, of course. 
 
 It's what we've learned from worry and the knocks 
 
 Of hard experience that counts, not years. 
 
 You'll understand when you have lived. Of course, 
 
 It's easy to be good, before you know 
 
 The fun of being wicked — 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 {Bewildered.) 
 
 You are strange. 
 
 You say so much that I can't understand. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 You're young. When you have lived — 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 When I have lived, 
 It won't much matter, will it, what is said 
 On earth ? For I will understand the words 
 The angels speak to one another in heaven, 
 And need no lesser understanding. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Still, 
 
 Experience — 
 
 58 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Oh, I am sick of words. 
 My head burns. Why are you so different 
 From what I dreamed ? 
 
 RABELTN 
 
 How — different ? 
 
 ABABIS 
 
 {Staring.) 
 He's standing on the crystal wall of heaven 
 Telling my mother, "Wait. She will speak soon. 
 Listen. Above the roaring of the world 
 Can you not hear the voice of Arabis?" 
 I try to speak and can't. Oh, holy man. 
 Help me to speak ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 She's very sick. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Why can't I speak? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {In fear.) 
 
 Suppose — 
 
 59 
 
 Oh, mother ! 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (Conscious again.) 
 
 What did you say ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Relieved.) 
 She's clear again ! 
 
 ARABTS 
 
 If I could see your eyes 
 I might gain strength. I feel so limp and weak. 
 It's always in the eyes God has his seat. 
 Perhaps, if I could look into your eyes — 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Turning his head away, softly to himself.) 
 What have I done ? 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 You will not let me look. 
 (She begins to weep softly.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Kneeling impetuously at her bedside.) 
 Don't cry. Forgive me. Oh, don't cry ! You 
 
 wrench 
 The living heart right out of me. Don't cry. 
 Look in my eyes. 
 
 60 
 
SCENE IV 
 ARABIS 
 
 I can't see, for these tears. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, please don't cry. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 You are so different 
 From what I hoped and longed for. I was sure 
 The holy man who healed folk would heal me. 
 I did not wish to live until I heard 
 That you were near with healing in your eyes. 
 I knew how you would guide my strengthened feet. 
 And when I heard you on the stair, I said, 
 "One minute more and he will come, and stand 
 Beside my bed and Hft his hands, and cry, 
 Arise! and I will rise, healed." — Such a dream ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Urgently.) 
 Don't be afraid. I — know the way — it's done. 
 Of course, you shall be healed. 
 (Faintly, as he draws back.) 
 
 Oh, close those eyes ! 
 They burn into my conscience ! 
 6i 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 I believe ! 
 By God's dear grace, I know I can be healed. 
 Oh, I believe, believe, believe. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Aside.) 
 
 Dear God ! 
 
 I'll serve you ever after ! Give me help ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 I know I can be healed. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Faintly, apprehensively.) 
 
 Rise. You are healed ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (With a glad cry.) 
 Healed ! 
 
 (She tries to raise herself, struggles and falls back, 
 struggles upward again, and again falls back.) 
 Give me strength ! Oh, give me faith ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Prayerfully.) 
 
 God ! God ! 
 
 62 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (With a last supreme effort.) 
 Mother ! If you could only hear me, hear — 
 (She falls back, unconscious.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Flinging himself on his knees beside her.) 
 What is it ? Are you tired ? Are you asleep ? 
 What is it ? Speak ! Oh, answer, answer ! Speak ! 
 Oh, do not lie so silent and so white! 
 Your cheek is cold. Your hand is cold and 
 
 limp. 
 Arabis ! princess ! Princess Arabis ! 
 Oh, beautiful sweet flower, Arabis ! 
 The last tears that she shed are not yet dry 
 Upon her cheek. Oh, wake! Why do you 
 
 sleep 
 So soundly? Wake. 
 (He shakes her gently.) 
 
 Oh, wake ! I beg. Oh, wake ! 
 I see my sin ! You've punished me enough, 
 Sweet Arabis. Forgive. Relent. Relent ! 
 Oh, punish me no more with those closed eyes, 
 63 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 Those cold, limp hands ! She's fainted. 
 
 (Calling.) 
 
 Some one ! Help ! 
 
 (Enter the Duke, right.) 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What is it? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Water ! Quick ! Some one bring water ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 (Kneeling beside the bed.) 
 She's dead ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 No, no, not that, not that ! 
 
 (Althaea and Melissa enter left. Alth^a brings 
 
 water.) 
 
 althma 
 
 Here's water ! 
 
 (They bathe Arabis's face.) 
 
 duke 
 What have you done ? What evil — 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 No, no, no ! 
 Nothing! She lives. She's tired. That's all. 
 She sleeps. 
 
 64 
 
SCENE IV 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 I cannot hear her heart beat, 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Is she dead ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 No, no ! She shall be healed. She shall rise up. 
 
 {On his knees in pleading prayer.) 
 Dear God ! Forgive. Forgive. Make her rise up. 
 I did not mean such wickedness. Ah, God, 
 I did not mean it. I'll be good ! I swear. 
 Humble and good. Oh, this time, save me, God ! 
 I thought, I really thought that I could heal. 
 If I deceived, oh, I deceived myself 
 As well as her. Oh, heal her, God ! I'll pray 
 Until you must relent. Oh, you'll not wreck 
 Two Hves for one impulsive moment. I — 
 Just did not understand. I was not bad. 
 Just vain and proud. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 {At left, motioning the Handmaidens outside.) 
 
 Bear her into her chamber. 
 {The Handmaidens enter.) 
 F 65 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 RABELIN 
 
 Not yet. 
 
 {At the bedside.) 
 
 Sweet Arabis, shake off that slumber. 
 You are so beautiful, you must be kind. 
 Surely behind your beautiful white face 
 Are mercy and relenting. Wake, oh, wake ! 
 I did not mean to wrong you. Oh, be merciful ! 
 Wake ! Wake ! She does not stir — she's — Oh ! 
 she's — look ! — 
 
 (Staggering backwards.) 
 Fra Angelo ! Fra Angelo ! Fra Angelo ! 
 I need you ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 (Rigid and cold.) 
 
 Bear the princess to her chamber. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Clutching the Duke's arm.) 
 Send for Fra Angelo ! Cry through the streets. 
 Send for the holy man. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Why, what are you ? 
 66 
 
SCENE IV 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Flinging off his cowl.) 
 I am a sham, a fraud, a murderer ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 (Retreating in horror.) 
 Oh, base, base, base ! 
 
 (The Handmaidens surge indignantly toward 
 Rabelin.) 
 
 Let no one touch the man. 
 There are diseases of the soul in him 
 Who cheats in God's name. Go ! I have no sword 
 To reach the depths where those diseases root. 
 Go ! Let the earth unclose and cover you. 
 I will not stain my sword with sulphur. Go ! 
 {The Duke goes out, left, followed by Alth^a, 
 Melissa and the other Handmaidens, bearing 
 Arabis.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Stumbling after them.) 
 Not all, all base. I swear it. Arabis ! 
 
 {He falls down and remains lying in an attitude of 
 lifeless despair. Althaea appears left.) 
 67 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 (Calling.) 
 Physician ! Come ! Physician ! Oh, where is he ? 
 
 (She crosses to the back and calls.) 
 Page ! Page ! 
 
 (The Page enters back.) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Yes, lady? 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 Run. Fetch the physician. 
 (The Page disappears again. Altera crosses to 
 the left and goes out.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Flinging himself over on his back.) 
 What have I done? (Pause.) Oh, God! What 
 have I done ? 
 (The Physician enters back and swiftly crosses and 
 disappears left.) 
 Who's that? He's gone. To her, perhaps. To 
 
 her. 
 If only I could wash out of my eyes 
 68 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 The look she gave me. Oh, the heights and deeps 
 Of that reproach ! It was as though she cried, 
 "I wanted strength and you had none to give me. 
 I wanted God, and you had only words." 
 The sorrow in her eyes. The pain ! 
 (Alth^a reenters, left.) 
 
 ALTH.EA 
 
 (Calling.) 
 (Crossing to back.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Clutching Alth^a's dress.) 
 
 Has she awaked? 
 
 alth^a 
 (Startled.) 
 
 Lights ! 
 
 Lights ! 
 
 
 
 
 Who's there? 
 
 
 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 No. 
 
 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 Oh! 
 
 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 
 Poor 
 
 boy 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 Has she awaked ? 
 
 (Exit.) 
 
 69 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 RABELIN 
 
 Oh, God ! {Pause.) Dear God ! 
 
 I really thought that I could heal. Forgive. 
 
 I did not know that men must heal themselves 
 
 Before they dare stretch out their hands to heal 
 
 The other sick. I know now. Oh, I know ! 
 
 (Pages appear carrying torches that flare and 
 
 flame eerily in the gathering dusk. They cross 
 
 the stage and go out left.) 
 
 Forgive ! See, I am punished. You have whipped 
 
 My spirit, God, my heart, with a barbed whip. 
 
 I'll not be proud again, or vain, or stubborn. 
 
 I'll serve, I'll learn, I'll labor. You shall know — 
 
 (He rises to his feet with a sudden consciousness of 
 
 new strength and resolution.) 
 
 God, you shall know you need teach Rabehn 
 
 His lesson — only once. 
 
 (He stands upright, victorious. Enter, right, Fra 
 
 Angelo.) 
 
 fra angelo 
 
 You called. I came. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Without turning.) 
 I knew that you would come. 
 70 
 
SCENE IV 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 Why, yes, of course. 
 A friend comes when he's called. 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Deeply stirred.) 
 
 A friend? 
 
 FRA ANGELO 
 
 (Taking Rabelin's two hands in his and looking 
 deep into his eyes.) 
 
 A friend. 
 (Rabelin sinks slowly down at Fra Angelo's 
 feet. Fra Angelo lays his hands gently on the 
 boy^s head.) 
 If there are any shades in God's deep love 
 I do believe His deepest love goes out 
 To the tormented, irresponsible, 
 Gay, eager, burning, foolish heart of youth. 
 
 (He drops his hands; Rabelin remains motionless. 
 Fra Angelo crosses softly to the left and goes out. 
 In the distance, the Choir of the Cathedral may 
 be heard again chanting. From the left, Pages, 
 bearing torches, stu?nble in, startled.) 
 
 n 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 A PAGE 
 Who — who was that ? 
 
 {The Physician enters, confused.) 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 Who was it? 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I don't know. 
 {The Duke enters, followed a moment later hy 
 Althaea and Melissa and the other Attendants 
 all in more or less confusion.) 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Strange ! 
 
 physician 
 
 Do you know him, sire? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 I could not tell. 
 
 The place was dark. 
 
 physician 
 I stood beside the bed. 
 He came into the room and looked at me — 
 72 
 
SCENE IV 
 DUKE 
 
 My tongue was lamed that tried to challenge him. 
 His eyes — 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 His eyes ! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 His wonderful, deep eyes ! 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 (Awed.) 
 Sire, was that — Death ? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Strange, strange ! But no — not Death ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 (With a cry of understanding.) 
 The stars are out. That's why he's strange. The 
 stars ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 You ! You here ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Yes — 
 73 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 DUKE 
 
 {To Pages.) 
 
 Seize him. Take him away! 
 Take him away before I murder him. 
 Take him away — 
 
 ALTHiEA 
 
 Look! 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Heaven ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What's that — white thing? 
 {The Pages who have laid hands on Rabelin re- 
 treat with confused exclamations. The Duke, 
 Physician, Alth^ea, Melissa, Torch-bearers 
 and Handmaidens stand huddled in an amazed 
 group, in centre stage. Out oj the dusk at left 
 appears Arabis, looking very slender ajid white, 
 and moves slowly toward Rabelin. He steps 
 aside startled. The Others cry out and retreat 
 stumblingly before her.) 
 74 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 ARABIS 
 Don't run away from me. I'm not a ghost. 
 
 {The Group draws back yet further, in panic.) 
 He said, Awake! and I awoke. He said, 
 Arise ! and like a new, fresh wind 
 Life seemed to fill my sails, and I — came forth. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 God pity me. My child. My poor, dead child ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Don't say such things. I'm really not a ghost. 
 Touch me. I am alive ! I'm strong, I'm well ! 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 It is her ghost. 
 
 ALTILEA 
 
 Poor Arabis ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Oh, dear ! 
 Has no one faith enough to think that God 
 Could raise a sick girl up ? 
 75 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 RABELIN 
 
 (Who has been watching her, spell-bound with won- 
 der and growing ecstasy.) 
 
 Yes. Yes. Yes. 
 (He goes toward her with slow, hesitating steps and 
 fixed eyes.) 
 See. / believe. I knew that you would live. 
 
 {Touching his heart.) 
 In here I knew. When God sent me my friend, 
 I knew that He forgave, and you would live. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (Tenderly.) 
 You ? Who are you ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 I did an evil thing. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Oh, I remember now. And yet — and yet — 
 You do not look as though your heart were base. 
 I scarce remember what you did to me. 
 I only know, in some black desert, hung 
 Between the stars and earth, you gave me pain. 
 76 
 
SCENE IV 
 
 But that is past, and worse things I'd forgive, 
 
 Because you knew that I was not a ghost. 
 
 To think a boy would know more than all these ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {Kneeling before her.) 
 Oh, lady, let me serve you. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (With childlike eagerness.) 
 
 Why, indeed. 
 I'll tell my father. He must make a place 
 For you somewhere, so we can talk together 
 Of many things I dream of and half see, 
 Things you'll be glad to hear about, I know, 
 For you have friendly eyes. 
 
 (She chatters on, absorbed. The Others draw 
 nearer as they slowly realize that She is actually 
 
 alive.) 
 
 A thousand things ! 
 
 My head's just full of things to talk about. 
 
 I want to know what you think about life 
 
 And God and convents. Do you know, I think 
 
 That one can serve the Lord in other ways 
 
 Than in a nunnery. 
 
 77 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Child, it is you ! 
 
 ALTH^A 
 
 {Touching Arabis timidly.) 
 She's real. 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 She's living ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Why, of course, of course! 
 But it is strange to be back in the world. 
 Where is the holy man ? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Go. Bring him here. 
 {The Physician goes out left.) 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 {To Duke.) 
 Forgive me. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 {Giving him his hand.) 
 
 Yes. I do forgive you. 
 78 
 
SCENE IV 
 ARABIS 
 
 {Crying sharply.) Oh! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 What is it ? Speak. 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (Mysteriously.) 
 
 He is not in my room. 
 I felt a gentle wind blow through my heart. 
 He's gone. 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 {Reentering.) 
 
 He is not there. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Not in the room? 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 (Softly.) 
 There is no door but this ! 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Not in the room ? 
 
 ALTERA 
 
 Not in the room ? 
 
 MELISSA 
 
 Not in the room? 
 79 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 He's gone. 
 
 DUKE 
 
 {To Physician.) 
 The windows there are barred. There's no way out 
 But this, but this, no way but through this room ! 
 If you say, he's not there — 
 
 arabis 
 {Awe- struck.) 
 
 Who — was — he ? 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Yes. 
 
 Who — was — he ? 
 
 RABELIN 
 
 Why, my friend, of course ! My friend ! 
 {Grasping a torch.) 
 Come ! Come ! We'll find him ! 
 
 ARABIS 
 
 Take me with you ! 
 
 DUKE 
 
 Lights ! 
 (They surge forth with their torches into the night.) 
 80 
 
SCENE IV 
 RABELIN 
 
 Come ! (More distantly.) Come ! 
 
 (From afar off, but clearly, like a challenge.) 
 
 Come! 
 
 (Numberless torches appear, following Rabelin up 
 the steep incline and out of sight. From a dis- 
 tance the cathedral Choir may be heard again, 
 singing first softly, then more and more trium- 
 phantly, until the swelling music of the hymn 
 dominates all other sounds, finally drowning out 
 even Rabelin 's distant call.) 
 
 Come ! Come ! Come ! 
 
 Hymn 
 
 Out of pain and black disaster, 
 Hear our voices, mighty Master ! 
 Fires of hell rise round and sear us, 
 Lord in love and pity, hear us ! 
 War and torment roar, assailing, 
 Sick with sorrow, earth is wailing. 
 Trampled, broken, bleeding, dying, 
 Lord, for Thee our hearts are crying ! 
 G 8i 
 
THE HEART OF YOUTH 
 
 Lord, in pride we scorned to heed Thee, 
 Boasting, "God, we do not need Thee! 
 We, to whom all earth is given, 
 What have we to ask of Heaven ? 
 Soaring, delving, warring, slaying. 
 What have we to do with praying?" 
 Lord, forgive the mad words spoken. 
 Lord, behold ! Our pride is broken. 
 
 Lord, with hearts abrased and bm-ning. 
 See, Thy beaten sons returning ! 
 Blind with smoke and bent with grieving, 
 Hungry, tattered — but believing 1 
 See, we gather round about Thee, 
 Failures, failures, Lord, without Thee ! 
 Take us, Lord. These hands, O take them ! 
 Breathe upon our souls and wake them. 
 
 Lord, we fell in our defiance. 
 Look ! With Thee we stand as giants ! 
 Lord, we perished, burning, rending, 
 Lord, with Thee is battle's-ending ! 
 Lord, with Thee, the darkness dwindles, 
 Lord, with Thee, the daylight kindles. 
 82 
 
HYMN 
 
 Lord, we faint without Thee. Feed us ! 
 Lord, we fail without Thee. Lead us ! 
 
 Lead us, Lord ! 
 
 Lead us. Lord ! 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 
 83