MARIETTA He screams in the night, such...

MARIETTA

He screams in the night, such screams as I’ve never heard come out of the mouth of a man. He screams like a woman laboring over a breech birth, just before she gives up the ghost. Then during the day, he says nothing, Doctore, he goes into his study, scribbles a few words, and then…he wanders off. Towards the chickens.

ALPHONSO

This is not like Niccolo. The man could write a single sentence half a page long and barely stop to breathe.

MARIETTA

Just a few words, then he stops. Since he’s come back. From that place.

ALPHONSO

Do you want me to bleed him?

MARIETTA

I don’t think that will help.

ALPHONSO

Nothing better than a good bleeding!

MARIETTA

He won’t eat, or he eats too much. He can’t sleep, or he sleeps all day long.

ALPHONSO

I have seen this before, in men who have been imprisoned in the Bargello. They say he bore the strappado many times.

MARIETTA

I must know, what is this strappado?

ALPHONSO

They tie a man’s hands up behind his back, and pull them straight up, like so. (he demonstrates) Then they hoist the poor fellow up by his wrists to near the top of the ceiling and drop him, until his feet almost touch the ground. They say the pain is unbearable, but that cannot be true. For Niccolo has borne it. But the others…

MARIETTA

What happened to the others?

ALPHONSO

Let us not speak ill of the dead.

MARIETTA

Dio Mio!

(she crosses herself)

They died of their wounds?

ALPHONSO

Oh no. Men can survive quite a pounding on the strappado, and recover almost completely.

MARIETTA

Thank God!

ALPHONSO

They do tend to kill themselves, however. Afterwards. I know of several who have hung themselves from a tree, and two or three who threw themselves into the sea to drown their sorrows. Does Niccolo speak of going to the sea?

MARIETTA

No…but he did walk into town to buy some rope. He said he needed it to fix the chicken coop. But how does one need rope to do that?

ALPHONSO

You must prepare yourself, Marietta, to become a widow.

MARIETTA

How can you say such a thing? If he should hang himself, how could I live?

ALPHONSO

You might marry again…

MARIETTA

You must help him. What can you, in your doctor’s wisdom, suggest?

ALPHONSO

Bring him his favorite Mistress. When a man is depressed, there is nothing in my experience that can compare with a few nights alone with a Mistress.

MARIETTA

Doctore Alphonso!

ALPHONSO

This is no time to pretend you are shocked, Marietta. This is a time to act, and act swiftly, before he finds a use for all that new rope.

MARIETTA

Then let’s speak frankly to each other. Why must it be a Mistress?

ALPHONSO

My dear Marietta, it’s been twenty years since you last bore him a child. When is the last time you slept in the same bed?

MARIETTA

He snores like a pig!

ALPHONSO

Still. That would not prevent a Mistress from/

MARIETTA

Stop! You think this is best?

ALPHONSO

I know it. In my heart.

MARIETTA

She is younger?

ALPHONSO

Like a tender fawn.

MARIETTA

And beautiful?

ALPHONSO

Like Aphrodite herself, emerging from the waves.

MARIETTA

Then I will do my duty as a wife and send for La Riccia.

ALPHONSO

Well, you could do that.

MARIETTA

What’s wrong with her?

ALPHONSO

You might think she was the favorite, but I know for a fact there is another. More fair. And younger.

MARIETTA

What, much younger and she’d be a babe in arms!

ALPHONSO

You must send for the new one. Her name is Francesa de la Tours. She’s an actress.

MARIETTA

An actress! It’s one thing to lay down with a woman from a good family, like La Riccia, but another thing entirely to…are you sure?

ALPHONSO

Quite.

MARIETTA

And you could find her?

ALPHONSO

She is not hard to find. But I warn you, it will cost you a pretty penny. She will not come for love, only for money.

MARIETTA

He pays this one?

ALPHONSO

He pays all of them.

MARIETTA

That is not what he tells me!

ALPHONSO

Well, you know Niccolo. Pretends to be the most desirable of men, the finest orator, the grandest poet.

MARIETTA

Then go, Doctore, and bring her at once. Offer her whatever she needs. I shall temporarily stop my weekly bleedings, and spend the money on her.

ALPHONSO

A most loyal wife. He doesn’t deserve you, you know. But for you, for you, I will do what you ask.

MARIETTA

Ah, but if he knew that I am paying her…the shame would kill him. It is one thing for a man to pay a mistress, and another thing entirely for his wife to pay for it. Niccolo is a man of some honor.

ALPHONSO

Yes. You are right. I will instruct the whore to say that she comes not for money, but for love. That will boost his confidence even further! And soon he will be back to writing his essays and poems, and maybe even looking for a new job!

MARIETTA

And the whore will leave the minute I stop paying her! A great plan! What could possibly go wrong?

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