Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays before 1950

Christophe’s Daughters

JEAN, MARIE, A SOLDIER CHRISTOPHE'S DAUGHTERS CHARACTERS ATHENAIRE } . . A daughters of Ktng Henry Chnstophe METHISTE QUEEN MARIE-LoUISE, wife of the King BARON VASTEY, tutor to Prince Victor and devoted friend of the King nephew and chief aide of Duke Richard a house servant Time: 1820. Place: Milot, Haiti. SCENE: The Grand Salon of Sans Souci, the Palace of Henry Christophe. The room is a very pretentious one, done in the ornate style of Louis XIV. Rich tapestries are draped over doorways and windows. Gilded chairs and divans are placed here and there. A massive throne chair on a small dais is center back, and mid stage to the left a French door leads to the balcony. In the distance, the constant rumbling of drums is heard. Faraway shouts of an assembling mob and occasional shots sound over the valley. It is twilight. Dark shadows play in the rich hangings, and fall aslant the throne chair in which AMETHISTE, the older daughter of HENRY CRISTOPHE , is seated. She is a young woman of dark complexion and straight body, but she is sitting bent over, with her hands cupping her chin. She glances solicitously from time to time at her young sister standing at the balcony door. Reprinted by permission of the author. CHRISTOPHE'S DAUGHTERS / 167 AMETHISTE. It's getting dark, Athenaire. Come off the balcony and draw the portieres. ATHENAIRE. I think I am less afraid when I stand here and watch. At least I shall see them when they come. AMETHISTE. Seeing will not help. ATHENAIRE. Nor will drawing the portieres. You hear and I hear. From the hillsides and all down the valley they're shouting, "Down with the King! Long live Independenoe!" The horrid drums are carrying it and the peasants are singing it. Listen! (They are silent for a second, and the cries and drum beats sound louder.) As it grows darker, it grows worse. (She covers her ears with her hands but does not change her position.) AMETHISTE. Once I thought I heard a voice cry, "The King is dead." I wouldn't listen; I came in. ATHENAIRE. But he is not dead. God will not let him die; will He? Haiti needs him so much. AMETHISTE. Haiti needs him, but Haiti needed Toussaint L'Ouverture, and the people let France take him. ATHENAIRE. Once I heard our father say, "Toussaint, the Tiger, and I-we dreamt so much and have done so little." AMETHISTE. But he has done much. Under him, Haiti has grown rich. A merchant marine floats in the harbor. We export now, besides sugar more coffee, cocoa, and cotton than the people ever dreamed of. We buy with produce and are paid in gold. They ought to look to the chateaux throughout the kingdom, to this palace and the citadel, La Ferriere, and see that their king's dreams are not idle. They should have pride, but they haven 't. Maybe some day they will understand and be sorry. ATHENAIRE. Today is the one that matte'rs and today they hate him. All day long in little groups they have been stealing down the road to Cap Henry to join the rebels. Most of the house servants have gone, too. Only Marie waits in the dining hall. Even the soldiers he reviewed this morning and to whom he gave gold have slinked away. Why, why, I ask myself again and again. AMETHISTE. Because the politicians are corrupt and stir up rebellion. The mulattoes hate a black king. They call work slavery. The landlords hate justice, and the people, who themselves benefit by labor, are lazy. There is no hope for anything different. Our father, the King, works alone. He says that to be great is to be lonely; to be magnificent is to have men hate you. ATHENAIRE. But he was not magnificent this morning and still they hate him. When he came down from the balcony, dragging his poor paralyzed legs to mount his horse before the army, it was pathetic. They should have loved him for his courage, but when he fell in the mud, I heard someone jeer. I didn't wait to see them carry him in. I fled from the balcony into my chamber and wept.. (She covers her face with her hands as if to shut out the memory.) 168 / MAY MILLER AMETHISTE. It is well that he did not see...