The Bridge of San Luis Rey Page #3

Isn't it a pity he is so moth-eaten

with diseased bad company...

...that I shall have to discard him

like a soiled pack of cards...

...and leave him to his underworld?"

Pepita, see how like an ant he is.

Don Pio.

Seor Pio.

Send word to Uncle Pio to drop in

and see me at sunset.

My daughter must know of everything,

and know it first.

La Marquesa de Montemayor requests

you call upon her at the Palacio.

My dear Uncle Pio...

...you are the most delightful man

in the whole world...

...my daughter's husband excepted.

So, I must be the second

most delightful man in the world?

Utterly enchanting.

Exquisitely spoken.

Years of hearing nothing but the

conversations of Oaldern at the Oomedia.

I, uh, I hear the Archbishop

has just returned from a visit to Spain...

...with tomes of masses and motets

and many ballads.

- New pieces by Palestrina.

- Yes.

Motets by Morales.

And the latest Moreto.

We should put by a box for you

at the Comedia...

...where I have a mind

to make the latest Moreto...

...with the Perichole.

The Perichole is the only actress in Lima

who can interpret this beauty.

Yes. There is

a long and flowery part in it, I know.

The lover.

Doa Leonor.

That should test her talent.

I've had the piece presented

to the Viceroy.

You will have to press there

for patronage.

Your Excellency.

They say you could have been connected

to the court in Spain...

...procuring provisions for the army

and inciting insurrections on instruction...

...your discretion being so profound...

...that the French party used you.

Even when they knew

that the Spanish party used you, too.

They say you were a circus trainer

and an antique dealer...

...a trader in Italian silks...

...or a merchant in many a manner

of dissipations and pleasures...

...but that you have a reluctance

to own a single thing.

You've sold bales

of deep red porcelain from Persia...

...chests of Chinese artifacts,

even Ming vases to collectors of virtu...

...and although you started

a smart trade in pills.

You purchased from

the sovereign remedies of the Incas...

...as soon as any endeavor threatens

to prosper enormous gains...

...you abandon it.

Even when making investigations

for the Inquisition...

...inspiriting half hearted rebellions

on behalf of governments...

...so that they can presently arrive

and whole heartedly crush them...

...an anomaly the Viceroy

finds most amusing, sir.

Please keep up.

As La Perichole's

maid or errand boy...

...they say you were once

her singing master.

Some say her coiffeur.

Her masseur.

Others insist that you are her father.

His Excellency most needs

a little reassurance, however...

...that you are not,

absolutely not... her lover.

I am surrounded

by oceans of boredom!

A boredom, Uncle Pio,

so pervasive it is like a pain.

I wake up with it,

I spend the day with it,

It sits by my bedside

all night watching me sleep.

There are no aims in my existence.

Are there any aims in yours?

My life has three aims,

Your Excellency.

The first is a need for independence...

...out of a desire to be varied.

The second is to always be

near beautiful women.

I worship them all.

They torment me.

And are singularly comforted

here at court, I hear...

...by the discretion

of your dogged devotions.

I can come and go in their rooms...

...and foolish friend that I am,

I never expect to be loved in return.

For that, I carry my money

to the obscurer parts of the city.

And thirdly...

...I need to be near those

who love the literature of Spain.

You cannot be careless

to the lack of contempt His Grace carries...

...for the verses of Cervantes

and Caldern.

There are affairs on which I would

judge it tactful to engage your services.

You see, and although

I make little use of my position...

...for the perpetual pursuit of power

or frivolous fantasy...

...and I delight little in dalliance,

there still is a little

Castilian salt in me...

...for the verses of Caldern and such...

...and for the fashionably rich

and reverential rendition of them...

...by the performance of them

by La Perichole.

My discovery of La Perichole...

...combines all three of the

great aims of my life.

Perhaps you could

procure her presence...

...for a little private, uh...

une petite performance some evening?

After La Comedia?

Doa Leonor in Trampa Adelante?

In all Spanish literature,

the most legendary lover ever.

The interest of the Viceroy

is also assured.

And if he is pleased tonight...

...he may well entertain

patronizing a performance of Moreto.

Look!

"For the amusement

of the gracious La Perichole. "

"Her Ladyship is commanded...

...to sup with His Excellency

after the Oaldern at midnight. "

Oh, my!

"Her Ladyship," no less.

My love...

What passion!

Do you really think so?

You know, there is such a paucity

of passionate womers roles...

...in the classic Spanish theater.

All gentlemen heroes torn

between the conflicting claims...

...of honor and the Cross.

None of the rich studies

in... in wit and... and charm...

...passion and hysteria of the French...

...and the, uh...

...and the Venetian theaters.

He's a delightful man.

Don Andrs de Ribera.

You mean His Excellency?

Yes. At least a remnant of one...

...being broken a bit by the table.

On which no doubt he gained his gut.

He also collects coins,

with which he gains debts...

...and wines, which gave him the gout.

But books made him myopic.

And actresses...

Give him what?

A tendency to convulsions.

As a result of one

of those quarrels that arise...

...so naturally in brothels,

his life became too complicated...

...and he removed to Peru...

...where he found me singing ballads

in cafs at the age of 12.

No!

He took me in, wrote songs for me...

...and taught me how to listen

to the quality of my tone...

...and even bought me a new dress,

but never asked for anything in return...

...so nothing in the world

would surprise me now.

You shall have your Moreto...

Doa Leonor...

...and my personal patronage with it.

The ghost of passion...

...which can make even a whole lifetime

devoted to irksome duty...

...pass like a gracious dream...

...was destined to desert them all,

it seemed.

It seemed to you, did it not,

brother Juniper...

...that it was high time for theology

to take its place among the exact sciences?

That what you had lacked hereto

was a laboratory, a sheer act of God?

And that the collapse

of the bridge of San Luis Rey...

...provided a perfect control?

Here at last you thought

you could surprise God's intentions?

Coincidence confounded reason

at every turn of this endeavor.

Fate unfolds as capricious the seemingly

most inconsequential of events.

Ah, La Comedia!

Thank you.

- A letter from Spain?

- No, ma'am.

An invitation,

I believe, to La Comedia.

Uncle Pio.

And yes, I am to go to the Comedia

to attend the Moreto.

Three parts each

for the principle players, immediately.

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