Dido. You slew him with that tomahawk; and as you stood over his body with the letter in your hand, you thought that no witness saw the deed, that no eye was on you---but there was, Jacob M'Closky, there was. twit him on his silence and abstraction---I'm sure it's plain enough, for he has not spoken two words to me all the day; then joke round the subject, and at last speak out. Just as soon as we put this cotton on board. M'Closky. Whoever said so lied. Scud. What! Is it on such evidence you'd hang a human being? Zoe. George. Paul. George. It's surely worth the love that dictated it; here are the papers and accounts. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Point. Are you ready? If that old nigger ain't asleep, I'm blamed. Zoe. Dat's right, missus! Scud. No, [looks off,R.] 'tis Pete and the servants---they come this way. Scud. drop dat banana! He's too fond of thieving and whiskey. den run to dat pine tree up dar [points,L.U.E.] and back agin, and den pull down de rag so, d'ye see? Terrebonne is yours. Pete, tell Miss Zoe that we are waiting. The sheriff from New Orleans has taken possession---Terrebonne is in the hands of the law. [Going.]. Lynch him! I'm on you like a painter, and when I'm drawed out I'm pizin. Never, aunt! Zoe. I'll lend you all you want. Pete. No; like a sugar cane; so dry outside, one would never think there was so much sweetness within. The Wharf---goods, boxes, and bales scattered about---a camera on stand, R. Scudder, R., Dora, L., George*andPauldiscovered;Dorabeing photographed byScudder,who is arranging photographic apparatus,GeorgeandPaullooking on at back.*. if this is so, she's mine! Sunny. Hark! Point. Subject to your life interest and an annuity to Zoe, is it not so? George is courted by the rich Southern belle heiress Dora Sunnyside, but he finds himself falling in love with Zoe, the daughter of his uncle through one of the slaves. [Dies.---George*lowers her head gently.---Kneels.---Others form picture. [L.] Let the old darkey alone---eight hundred for that boy. Yes, I'm here, somewhere, interferin'. Get out, you cub! Sunny. So it is. Because I heard that you had traduced my character. Dear Dora, try to understand it with your heart. George. I must launch my dug-out, and put for the bay, and in a few hours I shall be safe from pursuit on board of one of the coasting schooners that run from Galveston to Matagorda. Captain, you've loaded up here until the boat is sunk so deep in the mud she won't float. Aunt, I will take my rifle down to the Atchafalaya. Scud. O! Dora. Why, judge, wasn't you lawyer enough to know that while a judgment stood against you it was a lien on your slaves? Where's that man from Mobile that wanted to give one hundred and eighty thousand? [*Exit*Thibodeaux, Sunnyside, Ratts, Pointdexter, Grace, Jackson, Lafouche, Caillou, Solon,R.U.E. Scud. What's the law? I've got four plates ready, in case we miss the first shot. and will despise me, spurn me, loathe me, when he learns who, what, he has so loved.---[Aloud.] Take my shawl, Zoe. Point. Shan't I! Hold on a bit, I get you de bottle. Thar's Miss Dora---that girl's in love with you; yes, sir, her eyes are startin' out of her head with it; now her fortune would redeem a good part of this estate. Minnie (a Quadroon Slave) Miss Walters. Is not Dora worth any man's---. "A fine, well-built old family mansion, replete with every comfort.". See also
Miss Sunnyside, permit me a word; a feeling of delicacy has suspended upon my lips an avowal, which---. [Takes them.] "Sign that," says the overseer; "it's only a formality." Pete. Ratts. Pete. Yes! [Throws down apron.] [Who has been looking about the camera.] The judge drew money like Bourbon whiskey from a barrel, and never turned off the tap. Hold on, you'll see. A puppy, if he brings any of his European airs here we'll fix him.---[Aloud.] Mrs. P.Hospitality in Europe is a courtesy; here, it is an obligation. But don't mount to nuffin---kin work cannel. It's no use you putting on airs; I ain't gwine to sit up wid you all night and you drunk. Come, then, but if I catch you drinkin', O, laws a mussey, you'll get snakes! Look here, you're free, you know nary a master to hurt you now: you will stop here as long as you're a mind to, only don't look so. No, I hesitated because an attachment I had formed before I had the pleasure of seeing you had not altogether died out. Stop, here's dem dishes---plates---dat's what he call 'em, all fix: I see Mas'r Scudder do it often---tink I can take likeness---stay dere, Wahnotee. A photographic plate. Twelve thousand. [*To*Zoe.] Look here, the boy knows and likes me, Judge; let him come my way? You don't come here to take life easy. Zoe. Ya! Dat you drink is fust rate for red fever. Deep songs don't come from the surface; they come from the deep down. [*Seizes whip, and holds*Paul. He is said to have "combined sentiment, wit and local colour with sensational and spectacular endings" (Nova). Zoe. [ExitPeteand all theNegroes,slowly,R.U.E. *Enter*Zoe[supposed to have overheard the last scene], L.U.E. Zoe. One of them is prepared with a self-developing liquid that I've invented. Pete, as you came here, did you pass Paul and the Indian with the letter-bags? Scud. Zoe. Scud. You have been tried---honestly tried and convicted. How to End "The Octoroon", John A. Degen, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Octoroon&oldid=1114317331, This page was last edited on 5 October 2022, at 22:08. No, no! Look at 'em, Jacob, for they are honest water from the well of truth. Consarn those Liverpool English fellers, why couldn't they send something by the last mail? The apparatus can't mistake. for, darn me, if I can find out. [Tumbles upon the table.]. Wahnotee. Dido. You're trembling so, you'll fall down directly. Sunny. Scud. Scud. Now, den, if Grace dere wid her chil'n were all sold, she'll begin screechin' like a cat. You thought you had cornered me, did ye? I feel that I departed amid universal and sincere regret. How can she then ask her father to free me? Scud. Dora. Yes, for I'd rather be black than ungrateful! Hold on! Just because my grandfather wasn't some broken-down Virginia transplant, or a stingy old Creole, I ain't fit to sit down with the same meat with them. What say ye? Pete. "No," say Mas'r George, "I'd rather sell myself fuss; but dey shan't suffer, nohow,---I see 'em dam fuss.". Copyright 2023 Famous Quotes & Sayings. Then I shall never leave Terrebonne---the drink, nurse; the drink; that I may never leave my home---my dear, dear home. What, you won't, won't ye? the rat's out. Thank'ye. Pete. You can protect me from that man---do let me die without pain. Scud. Come, Mrs. Peyton, take my arm. No, ma'am, I worked like an ass---an honest one, and that's all. 'Tis true! M'Closky. He confesses it; the Indian got drunk, quarreled with him, and killed him. The conflict centers around Zoe, "the Octoroon", a term used at the time to describe a person who was 1/8 African, 7/8 Caucasian. Zoe! O! Dion Boucicault Quotes - BrainyQuote. tink anybody wants you to cry? No---no. Hillo! Yes, I love you---I did not know it until your words showed me what has been in my heart; each of them awoke a new sense, and now I know how unhappy---how very unhappy I am. I shall do so if you weep. Hold on a bit. [Pete holds lantern up.] O, Mas'r Scudder, he didn't cry zackly; both ob his eyes and cheek look like de bad Bayou in low season---so dry dat I cry for him. look at these fingers; do you see the nails are of a bluish tinge? Guess they nebber was born---dem tings! Sunny. At New Orleans, they said, "She's pretty, very pretty, but no brains." I'll bear it. Gen'l'men, my colored frens and ladies, dar's mighty bad news gone round. Stand around and let me pass---room thar! Lafouche. Despite the happiness Zoe stands dying and the play ends with her death on the sitting-room couch and George kneeling beside her. Scud. ExitSolon,R.U.E.] Dem little niggers is a judgment upon dis generation. Scud. Daisaku Ikeda Culture is like the current of the ocean. Bah! Ratts. Good day, Mr. Thibodeaux---shall we drive down that way? Ain't that a cure for old age; it kinder lifts the heart up, don't it? And I remained here to induce you to offer that heart to Dora! Listen to me. I do, but I can't do it. Now, Jacob M'Closky, you despise me because you think I'm a fool; I despise you because I know you to be a knave. Zoe, he's going; I want him to stay and make love to me that's what I came for to-day. Brightness will return amongst you. Hole yer tongue, Dido. Peyton.] Fifteen thousand bid for the Octoroon. I deserve to be a nigger this day---I feel like one, inside. O, why did he speak to me at all then? Search him, we may find more evidence. He calls me Omenee, the Pigeon, and Miss Zoe is Ninemoosha, the Sweetheart. All Rights Reserved. One morning dey swarmed on a sassafras tree in de swamp, and I cotched 'em all in a sieve.---dat's how dey come on top of dis yearth---git out, you,---ya, ya! Just as McClosky points out the blood on Wahnotee's tomahawk, the oldest slave, Pete, comes to give them the photographic plate which has captured McClosky's deed. The last word, an important colloquialism, was misread by the typesetter of the play. You'll find him scenting round the rum store, hitched up by the nose. Says he'll go if I'll go with him. Thank ye; thank ye. Lafouche. No, Injiun; we deal out justice here, not revenge. And, strangers, ain't we forgetting there's a lady present. Zoe, bring here the judge's old desk; it is in the library. Scud. O, my---my heart! M'Closky. Paul. A julep, gal, that's my breakfast, and a bit of cheese. Come, Zoe, don't be a fool; I'd marry you if I could, but you know I can't; so just say what you want. Is your heart free? Paul. For ten years his letters came every quarter-day, with a remittance and a word of advice in his formal cavalier style; and then a joke in the postscript, that upset the dignity of the foregoing. Scud. Wahnotee. [R. C.] That's my son---buy him, Mas'r Ratts; he's sure to sarve you well. I'll see to that. Point. I saw a small bottle of cologne and asked if it was for sale. I'll trouble you for that piece of baccy, Judge---thank you---so, gentlemen, as life is short, we'll start right off. In comparison, a quadroon would have one quarter African ancestry and a mulatto for the most part has historically implied half African ancestry. Fifteen thousand. Scud. Your eyes are red. Pete. But now I guess it will arrive too late---these darned U. S. mails are to blame. Mas'r Ratts, you hard him sing about de place where de good niggers go, de last time. M'Closky. Scud. [Seizing a fly whisk.] Jackson. Last night I overheard you weeping in your room, and you said, "I'd rather see her dead than so! M'Closky. I have a restorative here---will you poor it in the glass? Why, Minnie, why don't you run when you hear, you lazy crittur? But now that vagrant love is---eh? Git away dere! [L.] Yelping hound---take that. What's de charge, Mas'r Scudder? A Room in Mrs. Peyton's house; entrances,R.U.E.*andL.U.E.---An Auction Bill stuck up,*L.---chairs,C.,*and tables,*R. and L. Pete. When Paul was taken down with the swamp fever the Indian sat outside the hut, and neither ate, slept, or spoke for five days, till the child could recognize and call him to his bedside. It's such a long time since I did this sort of thing, and this old machine has got so dirty and stiff, I'm afraid it won't operate. Ratts. Who is it? he tinks it's a gun. In a word, I have seen and admired you! Lafouche. George, O, forgive me! O! Zoe, you are suffering---your lips are white---your cheeks are flushed. she will har you. that he isn't to go on fooling in his slow---. or say the word, and I'll buy this old barrack, and you shall be mistress of Terrebonne. Even a letter, promising something---such is the feeling round amongst the planters. Yes; No. George. This is folly, Dora. O, aunt! Pete. When I travelled round with this machine, the homely folks used to sing out, "Hillo, mister, this ain't like me!" [Enters house.]. You begged me to call this morning. Pete. Don't do nuffin. What, on Terrebonne? The Octoroons have no apparent trace of the Negro in their appearance but still are subject to the legal disabilities which attach them to the condition of blacks. Born here---dem darkies? M'Closky. Mrs. Claiborne Miss Clinton. Scud. Well, he lived in New York by sittin' with his heels up in front of French's Hotel, and inventin'---. No, I'm the skurriest crittur at a fight you ever see; my legs have been too well brought up to stand and see my body abused; I take good care of myself, I can tell you. Don't b'lieve it, Mas'r George; dem black tings never was born at all; dey swarmed one mornin' on a sassafras tree in the swamp: I cotched 'em; dey ain't no 'count. When I am dead she will not be jealous of your love for me, no laws will stand between us. Well, ma'am, I spose there's no law agin my bidding for it. In some form, human, or wild beast, or ghost, it has tracked me through the night. It contains elements of Romanticism and melodrama. Zoe. [Points with knife off,R.] D'ye see that tree?---it's called a live oak, and is a native here; beside it grows a creeper; year after year that creeper twines its long arms round and round the tree---sucking the earth dry all about its roots---living on its life---overrunning its branches, until at last the live oak withers and dies out. Evidence! All night, as I fled through the cane-brake, I heard footsteps behind me. [A pause.] M'Closky. Jackson. Point. George. E.---Wahnoteefaces him.---Fight---buss. Yes, ma'am, I hold a mortgage over Terrebonne; mine's a ninth, and pretty near covers all the property, except the slaves. dem darkies! [*Takes Indian's tomahawk and steals to*Paul. M'Closky. me! But the creditors will not claim the gal? She said, "It's free with purchase." Scud. George. EnterPete,R.U.E. [he is lame]; he carries a mop and pail. Ah! Ugh' ach! He is incapable of any but sincere and pure feelings---so are you. He said I want a nigger. My father gives me freedom---at least he thought so. I fled; it followed. Scud. stan' round thar! George. Sunnyside, how good you are; so like my poor Peyton. [*Exit*Mrs. Peyton*and*George,L.U.E.] A slave! I the sharer of your sorrows---your wife. You don't expect to recover any of this old debt, do you? | Privacy Policy Scud. Mrs. P. George. In comparison, a quadroon would have one quarter African ancestry and a mulatto for the most part has historically implied half African ancestry. M'Closky. Am I late? blaze away! [Raises hammer.] Hold on! [Returns to table and drinks.]. Scud. Zoe. I lost them in the cedar swamp---again they haunted my path down the bayou, moving as I moved, resting when I rested---hush! Go on, Colonel---Colonel Pointdexter, ma'am---the mortgagee, auctioneer, and general agent. We can leave this country, and go far away where none can know. Dat's what her soul's gwine to do. [Cry of "fire" heard---Engine bells heard---steam whistle noise.]. Stan' back, I say I I'll nip the first that lays a finger on Him. Then, if I sink every dollar I'm worth in her purchase, I'll own that Octoroon. But dis ain't all. George, leave me! [Knocks.] Dora. | Contact Us There is a gulf between us, as wide as your love, as deep as my despair; but, O, tell me, say you will pity me! See also Trivia | Goofs | Crazy Credits | Alternate Versions | Connections | Soundtracks Getting Started | Contributor Zone D'ye feel it? Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Quotes submission guide. Mrs. P.O, George,---my son, let me call you,---I do not speak for my own sake, nor for the loss of the estate, but for the poor people here; they will be sold, divided, and taken away---they have been born here. You will not give me to that man? Scud. How came they in your possession? He's an Injiun---fair play. Well, sir, what does this Scudder do but introduces his inventions and improvements on this estate. Copyright 2023 Famous Quotes & Sayings. Lafouche. George reluctantly agrees. Zoe. No, Pete; no, I won't. *] Whenever I gets into company like yours, I always start with the advantage on my side. Scud. [Wahnotee*raises apron and runs off,*L.U.E.Paul*sits for his picture---M'Closkyappears from*R.U.E.]. I'll gib it you! Seize him, then! I don't care, they were blue this morning, but it don't signify now. I sat outside his door all night---I heard his sighs---his agony---torn from him by my coming fate; and he said, "I'd rather see her dead than his!". European, I suppose. Scud. [Draws knife.] Whar's de coffee? Scud. I shall see this estate pass from me without a sigh, for it possesses no charm for me; the wealth I covet is the love of those around me---eyes that are rich in fond looks, lips that breathe endearing words; the only estate I value is the heart of one true woman, and the slaves I'd have are her thoughts. [The knives disappear.] They don't seem to be scared by the threat. And you killed him? Zoe. Darn it, when I see a woman in trouble, I feel like selling the skin off my back. I can't introduce any darned improvement there. I dare say, now, that in Europe you have never met any lady more beautiful in person, or more polished in manners, than that girl. . M'Closky. Sorry I can't return the compliment. George. Here, stay! Have I slept upon the benefits I received, and never saw, never felt, never knew that I was forgetful and ungrateful? But how pale she looks, and she trembles so. Hold on yere, George Peyton; you sit down there. O, dear Zoe, is he in love with anybody? Curse their old families---they cut me---a bilious, conceited, thin lot of dried up aristocracy. Ratts. Dis yer prop'ty to be sold---old Terrebonne---whar we all been raised, is gwine---dey's gwine to tak it away---can't stop here no how. Providence has chosen your executioner. The house of Mason Brothers, of Liverpool, failed some twenty years ago in my husband's debt. Boucicault's manuscript actually reads "Indian, French and 'Merican." [Exit, with a low, wailing, suffocating cry,L.U.E. *EnterM'Closky, Lafouche, Jackson, Sunnyslde,and*Pointdexter,R.U.E. Point. Ten miles we've had to walk, because some blamed varmin onhitched our dug-out. Why, because I love Zoe, too, and I couldn't take that young feller from her; and she's jist living on the sight of him, as I saw her do; and they so happy in spite of this yer misery around them, and they reproachin' themselves with not feeling as they ought. Mrs. P.No, George; say you wept like a man. I'm not guilty; would ye murder me? Ratts. What was her name? here are marks of blood---look thar, red-skin, what's that? I shall never understand how to wound the feelings of any lady; and, if that is the custom here, I shall never acquire it. Zoe, explain yourself---your language fills me with shapeless fears. Zoe. DORA played by a white actress or an actress who can pass as white. You may drink dat, Mas'r George. Since this letter would allow Mrs. Peyton to avoid selling Terrebonne, McClosky kills Paul and takes the letter. And all for the sake of that old woman and that young puppy---eh? Wahnote*swims on---finds trail---follows him. TheNegromounts the table from behind*C.The Company sit. PART ONE: The estate of Terrebonne, in Louisiana, had been heavily mortgaged by the owner, Judge Payton, who, when he died, left the estate to his brother's widow and her son George, making Mrs. Peyton the guardian of Zoe, his natural daughter by a quadroon. [GoesR.,*and looks atWahnotee,L.,through the camera;Wahnoteesprings back with an expression of alarm.*]. Zoe. And we all got rich from it, so, you know, there's a benefit from it. He's yours, Captain Ratts, Magnolia steamer. Tableaux.*. Boucicault The Octoroon Quotes & Sayings. things have got so jammed in on top of us, we ain't got time to put kid gloves on to handle them. Zoe. there's that noise again! Keep quiet, and let's talk sense. You got four of dem dishes ready. Stephen King, I have a feeling that demonstrations don't accomplish anything. Excuse me, I'll light a cigar. That's right. I can go no farther. Dido. "Judgment, 40,000, 'Thibodeaux against Peyton,'"---surely, that is the judgment under which this estate is now advertised for sale---[takes up paper and examines it]; yes, "Thibodeaux against Peyton, 1838." No other cause to hate---to envy me---to be jealous of me---eh? Dora. ha---git out! M'Closky. No; but you, aunty, you are wise---you know every plant, don't you, and what it is good for? Lafouche. Well, he cut that for the photographing line. Dora. I've got engaged eight hundred bales at the next landing, and one hundred hogsheads of sugar at Patten's Slide---that'll take my guards under---hurry up thar. While the proceeds of this sale promises to realize less than the debts upon it, it is my duty to prevent any collusion for the depreciation of the property. Ah. Alas! I'm writing about America's relationship to its own history. ZOE played by an octoroon actress, a white actress, a quadroon actress, a biracial actress, a multi-racial actress, or an actress of color who can pass as an octoroon. Paul. Hole yer tongues. You see how easily I have become reconciled to my fate---so it will be with you. [Pete goes down.] Sorry I can't help you, but the fact is, you're in such an all-fired mess that you couldn't be pulled out without a derrick. Mr. Peyton, I presume you have hesitated to make this avowal because you feared, in the present condition of affairs here, your object might be misconstrued, and that your attention was rather to my fortune than myself. Those free papers ain't worth the sand that's on 'em. I'll clear him off there---he'll never know what stunned him. George, dear George, do you love me? George. Evidence! Mrs. P.Sellyourself, George! ], M'Closky. O, none for me; I never eat. 'Tain't no faint---she's a dying, sa; she got pison from old Dido here, this mornin'. Yes; I kept the letters, and squandered the money. I thought none but colored people worked. M'Closky. Point. I'm going to straighten this account clear out. Where am I to get it? I heard voices. Why, with principal and interest this debt has been more than doubled in twenty years. don't think too hardly of your poor father. Sunny. Dido. M'Closky. Zoe. Lafouche. *EnterPete, Grace, Minnie, Solon, Dido,and all*Niggers,R.U.E. Pete. I bring you news; your banker, old Lafouche, of New Orleans, is dead; the executors are winding up his affairs, and have foreclosed on all overdue mortgages, so Terrebonne is for sale. There's one name on the list of slaves scratched, I see. What's here? It was like trying to make a shark sit up and beg for treats. [Outside,R.U.E.] Dis way---dis way. save me! Mr. M'Closky has bid twenty-five thousand dollars for the Octoroon. All right, Judge; I thought there was a mistake. what will become of her when I am gone? [Aside,C.] Insolent as usual.---[Aloud.] Pete. Come along; she har what we say, and she's cryin' for us. I see it in your face. M'Closky,Why not? He wanted to know what furniture she had in her bedroom, the dresses she wore, the people she knew; even his physical desire for her gave way to a deeper yearning, a boundless, aching curiosity. What's he doing; is he asleep? [Draws pistol---M'Closky*rushes on and falls atScudder'sfeet.*]. Mas'r George---ah, no, sar---don't buy me---keep your money for some udder dat is to be sold. [Opens desk.] Point. George. I don't know when my time on earth will be up; but I DO know that today, I am one day closer. burn! Here, you tell it, since you know it. And so you really kept those foolish letters? dem tings---dem?---getaway [*makes blow at the*Children.] but the deed that freed you was not lawful. Yes, Mas'r George, dey was born here; and old Pete is fonder on 'em dan he is of his fiddle on a Sunday. I'll take back my bid, Colonel. Each word you utter makes my love sink deeper into my heart. E.---Wahnotefollows him.---Screams outside. Mrs. P.And you hesitated from motives of delicacy? [Offers hand,Georgebows coldly,R. C.] [aside.] what a bright, gay creature she is! Paul. You don't see Zoe, Mr. Sunnyside. Well, then, what has my all-cowardly heart got to skeer me so for? I know then that the boy was killed with that tomahawk---the red-skin owns it---the signs of violence are all round the shed---this apparatus smashed---ain't it plain that in a drunken fit he slew the boy, and when sober concealed the body yonder? What a find! George, do you see that hand you hold? No, sar; nigger nebber cut stick on Terrebonne; dat boy's dead, sure. [*Goes*L.] Paul reste el! Aunty, there is sickness up at the house; I have been up all night beside one who suffers, and I remembered that when I had the fever you gave me a drink, a bitter drink, that made me sleep---do you remember it? shall we have one law for the red-skin and another for the white? I hope it will turn out better than most of my notions. "No. If even Asian women saw the men of their own blood as less than other men, what was the use in arguing otherwise? It's not a painful death, aunty, is it? Come, Judge, pick up. M'Closky. How can you ask that vulgar ruffian to your table? Farewell, Dora. Yah! M'Closky. Pete. Sunny. George. [M'Closky*lowers his hand. Will ye? In a few hours that man, my master, will come for me; he has paid my price, and he only consented to let me remain here this one night, because Mrs. Peyton promised to give me up to him to-day. It ain't necessary for me to dilate, describe, or enumerate; Terrebonne is known to you as one of the richest bits of sile in Louisiana, and its condition reflects credit on them as had to keep it. Where did she live and what sort of life did she lead? At the time the judge executed those free papers to his infant slave, a judgment stood recorded against him; while that was on record he had no right to make away with his property. Dear George, you now see what a miserable thing I am. [Re-entering.] Pete. Ratts. Can you take any more? [Aside.] To-morrow they'll bloom the same---all will be here as now, and I shall be cold. Haven't you worked like a horse? I feel so big with joy, creation ain't wide enough to hold me. Don't be a fool; they'd kill you, and then take her, just as soon as---stop; Old Sunnyside, he'll buy her! The world, Zoe, the free struggle of minds and hands, if before me; the education bestowed on me by my dear uncle is a noble heritage which no sheriff can seize; with that I can build up a fortune, spread a roof over the heads I love, and place before them the food I have earned; I will work---. Mr. Scudder, I've listened to a great many of your insinuations, and now I'd like to come to an understanding what they mean. M'Closky hates Scudder in return, especially because they both love Zoe, Mr. Peyton's "octoroon" daughter, Zoe. With Dora's wealth, he explains, Terrebonne will not be sold and the slaves will not have to be separated. Zoe. Forgive him, Dora; for he knew no better until I told him. Pete. [Aside to Zoe.] [Sits,R.], Dora. Zoe. Enjoy reading and share 1 famous quotes about The Octoroon with everyone. No, dear. I want you to buy Terrebonne. I'd be darned glad if somebody would tear my past life away from me. Scud. You killed the boy to steal this letter from the mail-bags---you stole this letter, that the money should not arrive in time to save the Octoroon; had it done so, the lien on the estate would have ceased, and Zoe be free. If Omenee remain, Wahnotee will die in Terrebonne. No; the hitching line was cut with a knife. [Returning with rifle.] You'll take care, I guess, it don't go too cheap. Dora, oblivious to George's lack of affection for her, enlists Zoe's help to win him over. That's his programme---here's a pocket-book. Dora. It's dem black trash, Mas'r George; dis ere property wants claring; dem's getting too numerous round; when I gets time I'll kill some on 'em, sure! Come, Mr. Thibodeaux, a man has a chance once in his life---here's yours. Scud. The list of your slaves is incomplete---it wants one. [*ExitM'Closkyand*Pointdexter,R.U.E. Scud. Synopsis. Pete. Why you tremble so? Because, Miss Sunnyside, I have not learned to lie. Now, take care what you do. I always said you were the darndest thief that ever escaped a white jail to misrepresent the North to the South. [Seated,R. C.] Fan me, Minnie.---[Aside.] Pete. Zoe. In cash? Ho! Where are they? Be the first to contribute! [George*tries to regain his gun;Wahnoteerefuses to give it up;Paul,quietly takes it from him and remonstrates with him.*]. O, get out. M'Closky. Now, gentlemen, I'm proud to submit to you the finest lot of field hands and house servants that was ever offered for competition; they speak for themselves, and do credit to their owners.---[Reads.] [Sighing.] To be alive is to be breathing. O, Zoe, my child! *] Now, give it to me. Stealing a lantern, he sets fire to the steamship that had the slaves on board. M'Closky. Peyton.] [They get on table.]. this is worth taking to---in this desk the judge used to keep one paper I want---this should be it. Zoe. Mrs. P.[R.] No, George; your uncle said to me with his dying breath, "Nellie, never leave Terrebonne," and I never will leave it, till the law compels me. [To the men.] I have it. I saw the mail-bags lying in the shed this morning. You heard him say it was hopeless. As they exit,M'Closkyrises from behind rock,R.,*and looks after them. [Dora*gets water.] *EnterThibodeauxand*Sunnyside,R.U.E. Thibo. McClosky has proved that Judge Peyton did not succeed in legally freeing her, as he had meant to do. [*Aside to*Mrs. Unlock this Study Guide! If it was the ghost of that murdered boy haunting me! Yes---me and Co.---we done it; but, as you were senior partner in the concern, I reckon you got the big lick. Work! [Aside to Pete.] Grace. Coventry Patmore, if a man has no stability when you meet him, you may want to stay clear of him. The men leave to fetch the authorities, but McClosky escapes. I listen dar jess now---dar was ole lady cryin'---Mas'r George---ah! dat right! 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