Explore "The Lamp and the Bell" by Edna St. Vincent Millay on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
[Court-yard of the palace at Fiori. Entire court assembled. / A band of strolling players, with a little stage / on wheels, are doing a Harlequinade pantomime to amuse / the young King Mario, the guest of honor. Beatrice sits / beside him. In this scene the two people who are oblivious / to the pantomime are Guido and Octavia. Guido is / apparently brooding over something. From time to time / he looks at Beatrice and Mario. Once, having gazed for / some moments at the pair, he looks at Octavia and sees / that she, too, is looking at them, which seems to satisfy / him. The Queen does not take her eyes from the two during / the entire scene. Beatrice and Mario do not conduct / themselves precisely as lovers, but they are very gay and / happy to be in each other's company, apparently. Lorenzo / watches the show with a benign, almost childish / interest.]
[Pantomime begins.]