660
MADAME BUTTERFLY
with American eagle—what you thing? Oh, it's more bedder I wait than those!
Sharpless. (Folding the letter.) No use—you can't understand. Madame Butterfly, suppose this waiting should never end; what would become of you?
Madame Butterfly. Me? I could dance, mebby, or—die?
Sharpless. Don't be foolish. I advise you to consider the rich Yamadori's offer.
Madame Butterfly. (Astonished.) You say those? You, 'Merican consul?—when you know that me, I am marry?
Sharpless. You heard Yamadori: it is not binding.
Madame Butterfly. Yamadori lies!
Sharpless. His offer is an unusual opportunity for a girl who—for any Japanese girl in your circumstances.
Madame Butterfly. (Enraged—she claps her hands.) Suzuki! The excellent gentleman—(bowing sarcastically) who have done us the honor to call—he wish to go hurriedly. His shoes—hasten them!
(Suzuki, who has entered carrying a jar, gets Sharpless' clogs and gives them to him—then passes off with her jar.)
Sharpless. (Holding the clogs awkwardly.) I'm really very sorry.
Madame Butterfly. No, no, don' be angery. But jus' now you tol' me—O, gods! You mean—(Looks at him pitifully.) I not Lef-ten-ant B. F. Pik-ker-ton's wive—Me?
Sharpless. Hardly.
Madame Butterfly. O, I—(She sways slightly. Sharpless goes to her assistance, but she recovers and fans herself.) Tha's all right. I got liddle heart illness. I can't . . . I can't someways give up thingin' he'll come back to me. You thing tha's all over? All finish? (Dropping her fan. Sharpless nods assent.) Oh, no! Loave don' forget some thin's or wha's use of loave? (She claps her hands—beckoning off.) Loave's got remember . . .(pointing) some thin's!
(A child enters.)
Sharpless. A child. . . . Pinkerton's? . . .
Madame Butterfly. (Showing a picture of Pinkerton's.) Look! Look! (Holding it up beside the child's face.) Tha's jus' his face, same hair, same blue eye. . . .
Sharpless. Does Lieutenant Pinkerton know?
Madame Butterfly. No, he come after he goe. (Looking at the child with pride.) You thing fath-er naever comes back—tha's what you thing? He do! You write him ledder; tell him 'bout one bes' mos' nize bebby aever seen. . . . Ha—ha! I bed all moaneys he goin' come mos' one million mile for see those chil'. Surely this is tie—bebby. Sa-ey, you didn' mean what you said 'bout me not bein' marry? You make liddle joke? (Moved, Sharpless nods his head in assent, to the great relief of Madame Butterfly.) Ha! (She lays the baby's hand in Sharpless'.) Shake hand consul 'Merican way.
Sharpless. (Shaking hands with the child.) Hm . . . hm . . . what's your name?
Madame Butterfly. Trouble. Japanese bebby always change it name. I was thinkin' some day w'en he come back, change it to Joy.
Sharpless. Yes . . . yes . . . I'll let him know.
(Glad to escape, he takes an abrupt departure.)
Suzuki. (In the distance, wailing.) Ay
. . . ay . . . ay . . .
Madame Butterfly. Tha's wail . . .
Suzuki. (Nearer.) O, Cho-Cho-San! (Madame Butterfly goes to the door to meet Suzuki.) Cho-Cho-San!
Madame Butterfly. Speak!
Suzuki. We are shamed through the town. The Nakodo—
Nakodo. (Appearing.) I but said the child—(he points to the baby, whom Madame Butterfly instinctively shelters in her arms) was a badge of shame to his father. In his country, there are homes for such unfortunates and they never rise above the stigma of their class. They are shunned and cursed from birth.
Madame Butterfly. (Who has listened stolidly—now with a savage cry, pushing him away from her until he loses his balance and falls to the floor.) You lie!
Nakodo. (On the floor.) But Yamadori—
Madame Butterfly. (Touching her father's sword.) Lies! Lies! Lies! Say again, I kill! Go . . . (The Nakodo goes quickly.) Bebby, he lies. . . . Yaes, it's lie. . . . When your fath-er knows how they speak, he will take us 'way from bad people to his own country.
