‘You are cowards, miserable assassins—ten men combined to murder one woman.’
The river Lys behind the little village of Armentières The four men kindly forgive her her sins against them as they give the Executioner money.
The Executioner drops the money in the river. He does not work professionally but from duty. He spreads his red cloak on the ground, lays down her body, throws in her head and tied it up. He gets into the boat with it and drops her remains into the deepest part of the river.
EXTERIOR: ARMENTIERES, FRANCE, 1628 NIGHT
MILADY, THE EXECUTIONER OF LILLE, LORD DE WINTER, ATHOS, D’ARTAGNAN, PORTHOS, ARAMIS, PLANCHET, BAZIN, GRIMAUD, MOUSQUETON, SHADOWS OF TWISTED TREES COME TO LIFE
Distant church bells toll eleven forty-five pm.
Large shadow screen shimmers at the rear of the auditorium.
Swirling lights play over the screen depicting stormy skies.
Coppery clouds evoke the bewitching hour; a twilight amid the night.
A misshapen, waning moon, reddened by storm, rises through the clouds.
A little town is silhouetted against the light of the moon. It is Armentieres, 1628.
An owl cries; shrill, periodical and monotonous.
Downstage, in the front of the screen, cutouts of water-swirl (worked by hand crank) represent the river Lys. The swirls roll like a river of molten tin. We hear the distant sound of deep water.
Upon the shadow screen we see ruins of an old abandoned windmill. The wings of the windmill are motionless.
On the right is a mass of dark, low, stunted trees. Magically, the trees uncurl and rise for a moment in the shape of deformed TREES. The trees watch a small band of MEN approaching in the dark.
As the group of HUMANS gets closer the deformed trees curl back down and are trees once more.
From time to time there is a broad sheet of lightning. The brilliant flash reveals the horizon in its whole width.
It is still and quiet once more, apart from bursts from the owl, and the lightning.
The smells of fresh rosemary and other herbs waft through the audience.
Along the road, the marching puppets become clear enough to distinguish each character.
Two lackeys, GRIMAUD and MOUSQUETON, drag MILADY, holding one arm each.
Behind them walks the EXECUTIONER, wearing a great red cloak.
LORD DE WINTER, ATHOS and D’ARTAGNAN, PORTHOS and ARAMIS walk behind the executioner.
PLANCHET and BAZIN are last.
The two lackeys lead Milady to the bank of the river.
Milady turns to look at Grimaud, and then at Mousqueton, supplicating each by turns.
The men ignore her piteous gestures.
As they draw closer to the water they are a few steps ahead of the other men.
MILADY: (WHISPERS) A thousand pistoles to each of you, if you will assist my escape.
Grimaud hesitates.
Mousqueton trembles.
Athos, who heard Milady’s voice, comes up.
Lord de Winter does the same.
LORD DE WINTER: Change these lackeys. She has spoken to them.
ATHOS: They are no longer sure.
Planchet and Bazin take the places of Grimaud and Mousqueton.
As they reach the riverbank they find a waiting ferry. There is a rope fixed across to the other side of the water to guide the small boat.
The Executioner approaches Milady and binds her hands and feet.
MILADY: You are cowards, miserable assassins—ten men combined to murder one woman.
ATHOS: You are not a woman. You do not belong to the human species. You are a demon escaped from hell, whither we send you back again.’
MILADY: Ah, you virtuous men! Please to remember that he who shall touch a hair of my head is himself an assassin.
EXECUTIONER: The executioner may kill, without being on that account an assassin. (HE INDICATES HIS SWORD) This is the last judge, that is all. Nachrichter, as say our neighbours, the Germans.
MILADY: (GIVES TWO OR THREE SAVAGE CRIES) If I am guilty, if I have committed the crimes you accuse me of, take me before a tribunal! You are not judges! You cannot condemn me!
LORD DE WINTER: I offered you Tyburn. Why did you not accept it?
MILADY: Because I am too young to die!
D’ARTAGNAN: The woman you poisoned at Bethune was still younger than you, madame.
MILADY: I will enter a cloister; I will become a nun.
EXECUTIONER: You were in a cloister. And you left it to ruin my brother.
Milady gives a cry of terror and sinks on her knees.
Executioner takes her in his arms and carries her towards the ferry boat.
MILADY: Oh, my God! My God! Are you going to drown me?
D’Artagnan sits down on the stump of a tree. He covers his ears with his hands.
D’ARTAGNAN: Oh, I cannot consent this woman should die thus!
MILADY: D’Artagnan! D’Artagan! Remember that I loved you!
Executioner struggles to calm her but her unbalanced weight means he has to put her down again. He keeps a strong hold on her during the following.
D’Artagnan rises and takes a step towards her.
Athos draws his sword and places himself in the way.
ATHOS: If you take one step farther, D’Artagnan … (WE SHALL CROSS SWORDS)
D’Artagnan sinks to his knees and prays.
ATHOS: Come, Executioner, do your duty.
EXECUTIONER: Willingly, Monseigneur, for as I am a good Catholic, I firmly believe I am acting justly in performing my functions upon this woman.
Athos speaks to Milady.
ATHOS: I pardon you, the ill you have done me. I pardon you for my blasted future, my lost honour, my defiled love and my salvation forever compromised by the despair into which you have cast me. Die in peace!
LORD DE WINTER: I pardon you for the poisoning of my brother and the assassination of his Grace, Lord Buckingham. I pardon you for the death of poor Felton; I pardon you for the attempts upon my own person. Die in peace!
D’ARTAGNAN: Pardon me, madame, for having by a trick unworthy of a gentleman provoked your anger; and I, in exchange, pardon you the murder of my poor love and your cruel vengeance against me. I pardon you, and I weep for you. Die in peace.
Milady hardly hears the men’s speeches. She looks around her wildly.
MILADY: Where am I to die?
EXECUTIONER: On the other bank.
MILADY: Not France?
EXECUTIONER: No, you do not deserve it.
Milady wails.
Executioner picks her up and places her in the boat. As he is going to set foot in it himself, he is interrupted by Athos.
ATHOS: (HANDING OVER GLITTERING COINS) Here is the price of the execution, that it may be plain we act as judges.
EXECUTIONER: That is correct. And now, in her turn, let this woman see that I am not fulfilling my trade, but my debt.
Executioner throws the money into the river. He casts off the boat. They follow the rope to the left-hand shore of the Lys.
Milady is passenger.
The other men remain on the right-hand bank, where they fall on their knees.
The boat glides along the ferry rope under the shadow of a pale cloud.
The boat gains the opposite bank.
Milady and Executioner are shadow figures defined against the red-tinted horizon.
Milady, during the passage, unties the cord which fastens her feet. She jumps on shore and takes flight. She slips and falls on her knees. She remains in the attitude in which she has fallen. Her head droops and her hands are clasped.
The Executioner raises both his arms, slowly.
A moonbeam coruscates along the edge of the blade of the large sword.
The two arms fall with a sudden force.
Milady hears the hissing of the scimitar and she remembers …
BLACK OUT
