- Very soon after my arrival there - I...

• Very soon after my arrival there
• I met Orphise. Her charms, beyond compare,
• Would have subdued a heart of flint. Her gaze
• Transfixed me with its bright, soul-searching rays.
• I sought an introduction: the reward
• For my attentions was her kind regard;
• Within six months she had returned my love
• With secret favors… nothing to reprove
• Until at last I had obtained the right
• To climb into her bedroom, late at night…
• Just for a chat. One night -- I can remember
• The date -- it was the second of November --
• (It was the night that I was caught, you see)
• Her father had been dining out, and we
• Heard him come up the stairs, and stop, and knock
• On the bedroom door. Orphise got quite a shock!
• She froze, then blenched, then blushed, then used her head --
• She drew the curtains round me in the bed
• And let him in. She seemed to have a plan:
• She hugged him -- almost choked the poor old man --
• So that it wouldn’t look as though he’d caught her
• Off guard. He took a seat, and told his daughter
• He’d just received a very handsome offer
• For her hand! Picture what I had to suffer.
• She managed to respond so cleverly
• As to please him, without alarming me.
• At length they finished this distressing chat --
• But just as he was going out -- guess what?
• My watch began to strike! He dropped the latch,
• And said: “I didn’t know you had a watch.
• Who gave it you?” “Cousin Acaste,” she stalled,
• “Just brought it round -- he wants it overhauled.
• It seems to go off every other minute.
• His quarter’s got no decent jewelers in it.”
• “Give it to me. That’s easily corrected,”
• He said. Orphise came over to collect it --
• I passed it through the curtain, but in vain --
• My pistol got entangled with the chain,
• Which pulled the trigger and discharged a shot.
• Disaster! Orphise fainted on the spot.
• Her father hurled himself onto the floor,
• And shouted “Assassins!” and “Au secours!”
• His son and several servants blocked my path,
• But I was practically insane with wrath:
• I drew my sword, and tried to force my way
• Between them, but, in the ensuing fray,
• My rapier snapped, which forced me to give ground.
• Meanwhile, Orphise was starting to come round:
• Recent events had clearly stunned her, but
• She was sufficiently alert to shut
• The bedroom door, with only her and me
• Inside. We both began, spontaneously,
• To pile up boxes, tables, chairs and beds,
• In a huge barricade; we’d lost our heads --
• As if our puny efforts could achieve
• Anything better than a brief reprieve!
• They smashed a hole and entered through the wall --
• I saw the game was up, and had to call
• Our struggle to a halt.

Corneille, Pierre. Two Plays: The Liar, The Illusion. trans. Ranjit Bolt. Absolute Classics, Bath, England. 1989. pp. 30-31.