Scène II.VI

Cyrano
May this moment—​this inexplicable moment—​be blessed:
You have ceased to forget my humble existence
And have come here to say . . . to tell me . . . ?

Roxane (uncovering herself)
How courageous your swordplay was yesterday.
I thank you so! Because that person you flattened—​
(searching for the word) That smug . . . that droll . . . what word can best describe him?

Cyrano
Hairpiece?

Roxane (raising her eyes, laughing)
Hairpiece! Yes! That’s it!
I’m supposed to—​well, a great lord, who loves me—​

Cyrano
Monseigneur Le Compte de Guiche.

Roxane (looking down)
Yes—​ Wants me to . . . to marry that / hairpiece.

Cyrano
Hairpiece.
(praising her) Then in that case, madame, I fought him, not for my villainous nose
But for your beautiful eyes.

Roxane smiles, meeting his eyes. They both look away.

Roxane
I’m a little . . . afraid . . . to say what I’ve come here to say.

Cyrano
Should I be afraid to hear it?

Roxane
It was so much easier when we were children, wasn’t it?
When we played in the park, by the lake.

Cyrano
Oh God—​you remember?
The summers in Bergerac!

Roxane
How could I forget? You fought with a sword, even then!

Cyrano
Well . . . two sticks tied together.

Roxane
My dolls: they only had corn silk for hair.
Hah! The games we invented!

Cyrano
Ohhhh, and do you remember?—​you must—​the tart summer taste of . . .

Roxane
Yes!

Both
Sour blackberries!!

Roxane
You did everything I asked.

Cyrano
How could I not?

Roxane
Was I pretty, then?

Cyrano
You weren’t ugly.

Roxane (excitedly)
That time you cut your hand climbing! Remember?
You ran up to me, and I played the mother:
“Why have you hurt yourself again?”

She takes his hand. She stops, stunned, seeing his current wound. In a voice trying to be hard:

Oh dear! It’s very deep this time:
Still wounding yourself at your age?

Cyrano tries to remove the hand.

No. Show me. Where did you get such a gash?

Cyrano
Playing games with the big boys. Near the Porte de Nesle.

Roxane sits down at a table and dips her handkerchief into a glass of water.

Roxane
I’ll clean it.

Cyrano (also sitting down)
Be gentle.

Roxane
Were the big boys taunting you?

Cyrano
Not the whole hundred.

Roxane
A hundred?! Tell me.

Cyrano
You tell me the thing that you don’t dare to tell me.

Roxane (without leaving his hand, and without looking him in the eye)
I can dare. In this moment . . .
We shared so much then, didn’t we? . . . And now . . .
Yes, I dare now.
(inhales) I love someone.

Cyrano (exhales)
Ah . . .

Roxane
Someone who doesn’t know it.

Cyrano
Ah . . .

Roxane
Not yet.

Cyrano
Ah . . .

Roxane
But who will know soon enough, if he doesn’t know now.

Cyrano
Ah . . .

Roxane
A wistful boy who up to this moment has loved me shyly,
Distantly, without daring to say it . . .

Cyrano (trying to remove his hand from hers)
Ah . . .

Roxane
No, let me—​
(of the hand) It’s so hot! It’s burning with fever—
But I, I saw his trembling lip confessing it.

Cyrano
Ah . . .

Roxane makes him a bandage with her handkerchief.

Roxane
He has such presence in his face—​hold that . . .

Cyrano puts his finger on the knot.

Perfect—​such intelligence;
Proud, noble, fearless . . . beautiful . . .

Cyrano (getting up, quite weak)
Beautiful . . .

Roxane
What? What is it?

Cyrano
I, nothing. It’s . . . it’s . . .

Cyrano shows the hand, with a smile, and a tear falling.

It’s this bobo.

Roxane
I love him. That’s the beginning and the end.

Cyrano
He’s a worthy man.

Roxane
A cadet of the guards. Dare I say his name?

Cyrano
Please. Dare.

Roxane (averting her eyes)
Baron Christian de Neuvillette.

A moment.

Cyrano
There’s no such cadet.

Roxane
He joined up with Captain Carbon de Castel-​Jaloux this morning!

Cyrano
Sharp, so sharp the pain!

Roxane (carefully touching the wounded hand)
Hold it above your shoulder.

Cyrano
But, cousin—​

The Companion (entering behind the tree)
Monsieur de Bergerac: I finished the cakes.

Cyrano (snapping)
Read the poems on the bags!

The Companion disappears.

What do you know of this . . . Neuvillette!

Roxane
He has hair like a Greek hero.

Cyrano
A coarse man with silken hair.

Roxane
His words are fine, too, I’m sure of it.

Cyrano (startled)
Are you saying you’ve never spoken?

Roxane
Only with our eyes.

Cyrano
What if he’s a fool?!

Roxane (stamping)
Then I will die from foolishness!
Please. I am asking for your help!

Cyrano
I don’t understand what you want from me, cousin.

Roxane
I’m frightened for him, cousin!
I know that every new man in your company
Must undergo an . . . initiation.

Cyrano
All the novices we admit.

Roxane
I’m afraid for him.

Cyrano (between his teeth)
Not without reason!

Roxane
But, yesterday, I thought—​
You were so invincible standing up to those brutes—​
Cyrano will say the word
And the rest of the Gascons will keep their hands off—​

Cyrano
Merde! [Shit.]

Roxane
Monsieur!

Cyrano
My apologies, madame. I beg your pardon.

Cyrano bows low, taking a moment to comprehend. Then rises:

I shall defend your little baron.

Roxane
Oh, cousin! I have always felt such tenderness for you.

Cyrano
Yes, yes.

Roxane
You’ll be his friend?

Cyrano
I shall be / his—​

Roxane
And never let him face a duel?

Cyrano
I swear it.

Roxane
Ohhhhh! I love you so much.
I have to go now.

She starts to cover back up, but then:

But you didn’t tell me about the battle last night!
Really, it must have been incredible.
Have Christian write and tell me the whole tale!

She blows him a small kiss.

I love you!

Cyrano
Yes, yes.

Roxane
Have him write me. A hundred men! Imagine!
That is the height of courage!

Cyrano (bowing to her)
Oh! I’ve scaled far greater heights since.

She goes out. Cyrano stays motionless, eyes on the ground.

A silence.