TI YETTE

A Play

in one act

by

John F Matheus

in which appear

Racine, a quadroon, creole, brother of Ti Yette

Joseph Rhubotham, a white American, lawyer and member
of the Louisiana legislature

Pompey, a Negro slave

Ti Yette, beautiful creole quadroon girl, olive com-
plexion, thoro Latin type

Policemen

Carnival revelers off stage

Place- New Orleans

Time- early spring, 1855.

Scene I

Stage shows the interior of a dining room, built in old
Louisiana French style. Bare tile floor, high ceilings, white
walls. In the center of the room a rectangular table covered
with a red cloth and service for two. High back chairs are at
the ends of the table where the service has been set up. In the
background, behind the table, facing the audience, a French
window, reaching to the floor. The folding wings of the window
stand open, giving a view into a luxuriant garden, adorned with,
a rose bower, japonica bushes and the overhanging branches of a
magnolia tree, laden with ivory-petaled blossoms. In front of t
the window a couch. To the left of the couch on a shelf within

TI YETTE

A Play

in one act

by

John F Matheus

in which appear

Jeseph Rhubotham, a white American, lawyer and member
of the Louisiana legislature

Pompey, A Negro slave

Policemen

Carnival revelers off stage

Place- New Orleans

Time- early spring, 1855.

Scene I

easy reach, a row of French books. To right of the window a door
leading into the garden. On the right wing a curtained exit lead-
ing into the kitchen. On the left another curtained exit leading
into Ti Yette's bedroom.

It is early morning. Racine enters from right, dressed in the
garb of a wharf worker. He is big-chested, brawny-armed. He carries
a pot of ateaming coffee in his right hand; in his left a tray of
rolls. He walks to the table, sets the pot on a mat, puts the rolls
before the place next to the exit that leads to Ti Yette's bedroom.
He calls.

RACINE. Ti Yette ! ( No answer ) By the Holy Virgin that
girl is sleeping the sleep of the innocent. ( Louder ) Ti Yette!

TI YETTE. ( Calling from her room ) Mais oui, in a minute,
brother.

RACINE. ( To himself ) By the saints, I feel ashamed to call
the pretty bird so early in the morning, but this day I have impor-
tant things to do. ( A bustle is heard in Ti Yette's bedroom and the
sound of a silvery voice, singing a creole ditty. )

" Milatraisse courri dans bal
Cocodrie po'té fanal,
Trouloulou :
C'est pas zaffaire à tou
C'est pas zaffaire à tou
Trouloulou. " ×

¹ ( Taken from " On Trail of Negro Folk Songs " by Dorothy Scarborough, page 122, *Harvard University Press*. English version:

" Yellow girl goes to the ball,
Darky lights her to the hall,
Fiddler man :
Now, what is that to you?
Say, what is that to you,
Fiddler man ? "

( while the singing is heard, Racine walks to the shelf of books and takes down a volume, handling it fondly. )

RACINE. " La Vie de Toussaint Louverture ". ( He sinks down on the couch, meditatively). To think what he did--against such odds--drove them out and then let himself be trapped, like a ( He drops his head into his hands ) --like a nigger. But Dessalines ( He sits erect ) he killed them, killed them every one. ( He stares wild-eyed into space, as Ti Yette trips in from her bedroom, attired in a blue silk dressing gown, bordered with red. Her feet are encased in crimson slippers. Her hair, down, waves in long black ripples. She looks at Racine, shrugs her shoulders with a wry face. He does not notice her. She stops a second, as if afraid, then walking behind him, impulsively flings her arms about his neck ).

TI YETTE. Racine, my brother, what is the matter ? You look so sad, while all the birds are singing, all the petits oiseaux in the magnolia trees singing and the sunshine on the roses.

RACINE. Ah, my poor sister ! Yes, they sing, they sing because they are free and happy, but I --- we ---

TI YETTE. I--we--( mockingly ) --are we not free-- we are no slaves-- what ?

RACINE. Ah, Ti Yette ( Bitterly ), you speak like the baby you are. Free ? Free ? Ha ! Ha ! ( He laughs derisively ) When they pass laws that I must have a white guardian to represent me, speak for me in their courts, when I must not meet together with my fellow citizens, when I dare not assemble with other free men of color upon pain of convict labor ! Free ? I can not even walk the streets of New Orleans without my permit. I can not legally leave this city of my birth to follow the Mississippi to its source without the bond of some white man, some sacré Américain with the blood of his blood upon his hands, or of some gentleman of France, whom I loathe.

God, if like Dessalines, I ---

TI YETTE ( abashed ) Come, brother. You think me foolish,
a baby, eh ? Well, listen to me. What good will all this raving
do ? Come, drink your coffee. I want to tell you what I have in
my baby head.

RACINE ( calming himself ) You must not worry about such
weighty matters, Ti Yette.

TI YETTE. I am no child, Racine. Call me Henriette. I
like it better.

RACINE ( rising angrily ) Henriette ! Are you ashamed, too,
of your mother's tongue, that you must forsake it for our father's
Paris French, or discard it for these pigs' English.

TI YETTE ( with an effort ) Why should you say that ? Why,
I was just singing ( sings )

" Milatraisse courri dans bal,
Cocodrie po'té fanal,
Trouloulou --- "

RACINE ( making an impatient gesture to stop ). Yes-- always,
even in our own songs, the black man is the " cocodrie ", he must
carry the lantern. They love our yellow women, and we dare not raise
a finger in protest, no not one whisper, and our women are taken in.
But their women, their caged white angels, death angels for every
quadroon man, for every octoroon man, who dares flicker an eye in
their direction.

TI YETTE ( pushing him toward his chair ) O Racine ! And
such a fine spring morning ! For Heaven's sake sit down and be quiet.
Drink the coffee you have made ( She pats his head ) in order to
let your poor Ti Yette sleep a wink longer.

RACINE ( fiercely ) Yes, I want to keep you beautiful, that
you may be the queen of some African king, the wife of some free
citizen of San Domingo, of the land of Louverture.

TI YETTE. ( taking her seat and pouring the coffee. She passes a cup to Racine ). Don't worry so much about me, Racine. I am able to take care of myself in some things.

RACINE But I must be your father, your mother, as well as your brother.

TI YETTE ( seeking to change the subject ) To-day after I come from Madame Delphine's I shall cook you some gumbo and a chicken pilau, your favorite dish.

RACINE ( not heeding her effort ) I will not have you sewing for them.

TI YETTE. But we must live, Racine.

RACINE. Yes --- and we must die.

TI YETTE. Waht do you mean, this speaking in riddles ? I don't understand you.

RACINE ( rising abruptly ) I fear for you, Ti Yette. What would become of you if something should happen to me ?

TI YETTE (in alarm) Has somebody put the evil eye on you ?

RACINE. Yes. Fate. Ti Yette may be you can understand. I want you to be a lady, a real lady, in a lanf where black is right and white is wrong. All day when I am heaving barrels down on the wharves my brain is hot with thinking. I see the yellow water of the river rushing into the Gulf. I watch the big ships. I listen to the waves and I want to be like them free. I want you to be like them, free.

TI YETTE. I am free, brother. I sing with the birds. I run with the wind. I smell the flowers with the bees. I am free. ( She catches him by the arm ) Our father was a white man.

RACINE. Damn him. Remember that our mother was a negress.

TI YETTE. She was not. She was a mulattress.

RACINE. The same thing. ( Looking out of the window ). The

sun is mounting. I must hasten to the wharves.

TI YETTE ( kissing him ) Gumbo and pilau !

RACINE ( gazing upon her quizzically ) Maybe I'll have something to tell you when I return.

TI YETTE. And maybe I'll have something to tell you.

RACINE ( going into the kitchen ) Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité ! ( He is seen passing thru the garden. Ti Yette throws a kiss after his retreating figure. She sings. )

TI YETTE. " C'est pas zaffaire à tou, C'est pas zaffaire à tou, Touloulou ! "

( Suddenly pensive and sitting down on couch).

All this palaver about these conjuring Negroes. I hate them all. They are holding me down. I wish I had never been born. One drop of their blood and I must be black forever. ( She rolls up her sleeve ) This skin is as fair as the whitest woman's and my brother talks of marrying me to an African king. Is he crazy ? But how shall I ever tell him. He will kill me him. Oh ! O dear Christ, O merciful Mary ! ( Making the sign of the cross ) What shall I do ? ( A soft whistle is heard in the garden. A voice calls. )

VOICE. Ti Yette ! Ti Yette ! Ti Yette !

TI YETTE ( starting in mingled joy and consternation ) It is he. ( Going to the window ) Who calls Ti Yette ? ( Rhubotham appears from behind the magnolia tree. He gestures for her to let him in. He is attired in the fashion of the decade before the Civil War, a handsome youth with long hair roached on the side. ) I can not. Oh ! Go. People, they will see you.

RHUBOTHAM ( still at the window. ) I must see you, Ti Yette. Quick. I have something important to tell you.

TI YETTE. Just one little minute, M'sieu. Wait one minute. ( She rushes into the bedroom. Rhubotham opens the door impatiently

and strides in imperiously, calling. )

RHUBOTHAM. I'm in.

TI YETTE. Mon Dieu ! A moment I said.

RHUBOTHAM. No primping. I love you better as you are.

TI YETTE ( Talking from behind the curtain ) Why do you
come here ? My brother might have been with me. He never would have
understood.

RHUBOTHAM ( looking around the room and spying the bookshelf, stands before it with hands behind his back and attempts to read the titles ). Does your brother read these books ?

TI YETTE. He does, m'sieur. ( She appears, wearing coquettish-
ly a flowing white dress. Her hair has been parted in the center,
brushed flatly on either side of the temples and coiled in the back
after the fashion of the period. She has stuck a red rose in her
raven tresses. She is a vision of ravishing beauty. )

RHUBOTHAM. ( Eying her with rapture ) My Henriette. That
name sounds more like you are mine. ( He takes down " The Life of
Toussaint Louverture ", thumbs it, finds a picture of Louverture).
A nigger general-- well ! So your brother reads about nigger generals,
eh ? If he were not your brother, Henriette, I would tell him he was
in danger of arrest. Have you told him nothing ?

TI YETTE. ( nervously ) Nothing. I --I --just could not tell
him this morning.

RHUBOTHAM. Well I've come to tell you something that he'll be
glad to hear, for it will make him, I believe, a white man, or next
to one.

TI YETTE. ( starting back in surprise ) A white man ?

RHUBOTHAM. And you, my pretty, what you are already, a white
woman. I am not a lawyer and the heir to the richest plantation in
the bayou bottoms for nothing. The judge has promised to accept my

my evidence. He will. His colleagues will concur. The court will
decalre you white. Your mother will be proved Indian and Spanish.
I have forged the papers. Your father was well known, a real French-
man. So La-la-la ! All is lovely.

TI YETTE. You make me afraid. It is too good, M'sieu.

RHUBOTHAM. The decision will be made the day before Mardi Gras.

TI YETTE. Then we'll celebrate at the Quadroon Ball.

RHUBOTHAM ( severely ). Of course not. You will be a white
woman then.

TI YETTE. But it is Carnival. We can masquerade. I'll call
it my farewell. ( Clapping her hands in glee ). Ah, yes. I'll dress
as the Queen Marie Antoinette, as she was when a prisoner in her palace.
I'll sing to my " bébé ", the Dauphin.

RHUBOTHAM. Perhaps, if you believe me now, Henriette, that I
love you --my--my ravishing belle.

TI YETTE ( curtsying ) Mon m'sieu.

RHUBOTHAM ( tries to embrace her. Ti Yette flits about the room ). You are as elusive as a butterfly.

TI YETTE. I am a butterfly, a bee. I like nectar. I will sip the nectar of the rose. I will fly away from my little garden into the big world. ( Rhubotham catches her and embraces her warmly). Send your servant here to ask my brother to come to the Quadroon Ball. He can be invited to play his fiddle. I am afraid to ask him. He will not listen to me. He will call me a baby.

RHUBOTHAM. If that is what you want, I will do it. But do not worry about your brother. Of course he can not associate with us, but I have money.

TI YETTE. And my brother, I must see him, sometime, yes ?

THUBOTHAM. ( laughing ) Of course. He will be a white man too,
but not in New Orleans. ( He kisses her again and hurries away.

TI Yette watches his figure until it disappears in the distance.
Then she falls on the couch, sobbing). A white woman ! I shall
be a white woman !

## Scene II.

(Evening of the same day. The table is set for the evening meal.
Twilight is passing into night. Candles are burning in the candle-
sticks. Ti Yette, wearing the gay colors of the creole, walks
back and forth from the kitchen into the dining room, putting
dishes and food on the table. She sings. )

TI YETTE. " Fais do, do Minette,
Chère petit cochon au lait,
Fais do, do, mo chère pitit "

( As she sings, Racine appears at the window, dirty and tired.
He stops to listen to his sister's singing, then enters. )

RACINE. Ti Yette.

TI YETTE ( turning quickly ) Racine ! Gumbo and pilau ready.

RACINE. You carried me back, sister, to long passed days.
How many times have I heard our mother, crooning that lullaby.
Your voice is like our mother's, Ti Yette.

TI YETTE ( with apprehension ) Do you think I am like my mother ? But hurry, get washed. You must your gumbo while it is hot.

RACINE. I am too weary and harassed to eat. Yet one must eat
to live, even though the living isn't worth it.

TI YETTE. But it is worth it.

( Racine goes into the kitchen. The sound of water splashing is heard. Ti Yette arranges the table, humming the lullaby, as she works. Racine reenters in deep meditation. He sits at the table. )

Page 155 of 166 On Trail of Negro Folk Songs)

Ti Yette follows. The conversation proceeds as they eat. )

RACINE. I have done great things to-day, Ti Yette.

TI YETTE. And so have I.

RACINE. But what I have accomplished is of great import to us.

TI YETTE ( Hesitatingly. ) And so are mine.

RACINE. Tell me what you have done, sister.

TI YETTE. No. You must begin.

RACINE. ( seriously ) This is a grave business., Ti Yette, an affair of life and death. Can You keep a secret?

TI YETTE. ( nervously ). Of course.

RACINE. Then listen. I have hinted from time to time how I have chafed and pined under the abomination of the hell in which we are living. Every day I have squirmed, like a worm, under the heel of oppression. But the worm has turned. ( Ti Yette's eyes grow wide with astonishment ) On next *EMMERMAY* Tuesday, Mardi Gras, we will make our escape. ( Ti Yette starts ) The Carnival is in our favor. We will disguise ourselves in the protection of the masquerade, make our way to the wharf and board a Haitian boat bound for Port-au-Prince. I have everything arranged. In that land of Freedom, wrested by black hands from white, you will not be quadroon, nor negress. You will be first of all a woman. The world will be ours. We will help vindicate Haiti against almighty odds. We shall be free. I will strike the blow.

TI YETTE ( dumbfounded ) Leave New Orleans, leave the city of our birth, our garden.

RACINE. I hate them.

TI YETTE. We have committed no crime to exile ourselves.

RACINE. We have committed a foul and unpardonable crime, the crime of being born with Negro blood.

TI YETTE ( endeavoring to restrain her feelings ) On Mardi Gras-
so soon --- must it be so soon, Racine ?

RACINE. The sooner the better.

TI YETTE. How do you know we are going to like it.

RACINE. What, woman, have you no pride. Have you no love for
your race, no scorn in your soul for these God-Almighty overlords who
crush us into the dust.

TI YETTE ( risés from the table and falls on her knees by Racine's
chair). O brother, you do not know what you are doing. Wait. I
have something to tell you. something.

RACINE. ( in stern tones ) What ? Out with it.

TI YETTE. It is ---it is --- ( weeping ) I am no negress.
I can not help it. My white forebears have given me that inheritance.
And these slaves, that crawl in the dust, I am not one of them.

RACINE ( interrupting ) Nor am I. You voice the very reason
why I am leaving.

TI YETTE. But wait. You do not understand. I not only am not
of their condition, but I loathe their race. I hatr them. They have
put a curse upon me. ( Sobbing ).

RACINE ( pushing her bruskly aside ). What do you say, girl ?
What do you mean ? You hate your mother's blood, your brother's
blood, your own blood. It is not the African lineage that stains.
It is this avaricious, lustful Caucasian heritage that is our curse.
Their civilization has damned us. Their religion mocks us.

TI YETTE. You blaspheme. O Holy Mother, forgive him. Some
great misfortune will surely overtake us. Forgive him.

RACINE. Call on your saints and your Holy Mother. What do they
care about nigger slaves ? Will they better the lot of the free
man of color ? Call on them to strike these masters dead. They
flourish the more. Dessalines knew no God, but Vengeance. His re-

ligion was might. He won. Look at these meaning. moon-struck
fools, crying in the night to their God. Perhaps he is away, or
peradventure sleepth.

TI YETTE. Am I responsible for my body's color, my mind's
equipment, the heritage of my father's people?

RACINE ( shaking her in' wrath ). But you will go- you will
go, whether you like them or not. I am your mother and your brother.
The creole girl must bow before parental will. She does not know
what is best for her. You have never tasted freedom and you do
not know what it means. You have never drunk the gall and worm-
wood of humiliation. You have never been mauled and kicked by
white men. You have never seen, nor felt, nor heard what I have
gone through. I have protected you. I will take you from this
hell, where you can find riches and happiness and a husband worthy
of you.

TI YETTE ( echoing ) Riches, happiness and a husband worthy
of --of me ? ( A knock is heard at the dining-room door . Ti
Yette jumps to her feet, tremnling. Racine strides to the door
and flings it open.

RACINE. Hello, Pompey.

POMPEY. Massa Rhubotham done sont me heah to ak yo' tuh
fiddle fuh de ball on a Choosday night come.

RACINE ( clouding angrily ) What ball ?

POMPEY ( looking significantly at Ti Yette ) De yallar women's
ball.

RACINE ( curtly ) Tell him I'll be busy.

POMPEY ( in astonishment ) Yo ain't qwine ?

RACINE. Tell him what I said.

POMPEY ( maliciously ) Good eben', mam'selle Ti Yette. ( exit)

RACINE. Damn scoundrel, wanting me to play at the Quadroon Ball,
while he dances with our beauties. Me muk play while he dances; he

dance and I play, and if I step a foot on the floor, a bowie knife
between my ribs. I'll see him dead first-- and --I will be busy.

TI YETTE ( wiping her eyes ) Your supper is cold.

RACINE ( fiercely ) I do not want any supper. Why should I ?
How can I eat, when my own sister bites me with their mortal poison?

Curtain.

( The night of Mardi Gras, a week later. Candles are burning
on the table of the same room. The muffled sound of Carnival revelry
can be heard from the street outside-- shouts of laughter and merry
making, tooting of horns, ringing of bells. Ti Yette is heard in
her room singing the creole lullaby -

"Fais do, do Minette,
Chère petit cochon au lait,
Fait do, do mo chère pitit"

She emerges slowly from behind the curtain to her bedroom, wearing
the masquerade of Marie Antoinette. She carries a crucifix and a
large doll. A black mask is over her face. She mincingly tips to
the garden window. The moon shines upon the flowers and the magnolis.
She kneels and prays.

TI YETTE. O Holy Mother, aid thy servant this night, this night.
( She rises hurriedly. Racine enters, dishuised as Pierrot. He too
wears a black mask. Ti Yette nervously fingers the crucifix. )

RACINE. Are you ready ? Look for the last time upon this
cursed land. Freedom lies over the waters in the islands of the
Caribbean.

TI YETTE ( beseechingly ) Brother, dear brother, just this one
favor. Let me peep in at the Quadroon Ball. Take me by to glimpse

that gorgeous spectacle, that I may carry it always in my memory when
I shall be far away.

RACINE. No, no, no ! Would you jeopardize your chance for
flight and compromise my fortune and my life.

TI YETTE. Is it so bad ?

RACINE. Yes. You are ignorant of the truth. You do not know
what was passed last night in the Legislature, a bill to confiscate the property and liberty of any free man of color, seeking to leave the port of New Orleans. They need our muscles in the coming
sugar and cotton crop. We must register. And the author of this
bill is ( he pauses ) ----

TI METTE. Who ?

RACINE. I-- is the scoundrel who sent his slave to ask me to
play at the Quadroon Ball, Joseph Rhubotham.

TI METTE ( swaying, catching at the chair for support )
Joseph Rhubotham ?

RACINE. ( in high scorn ) And you want to go by the Quadroon
Ball. Ti Yette has become her brother's enemy, Ti Yette has forgotten her mother's people-- Ti Yette --

TI YETTE. My God ! Don't reproach me more. I will not go
a
quick --- let us leave-- now --
to the Ball. But take me aw
this minute.

RACINE. Enough. ( The sound of the revelry grows louder )
Let us be on our way. ( He is adjusting his mask, when a knocking comes on the garden door.)

TI YETTE. Let me hide. ( She makes a start to run, when
Rhubotham enters, a bit intoxicated, masked, masquerading as a
pirate ).

RACINE. Who are you ? What do you want here ?

RHUBOTHAM. That's all right who I am. I am your friend.

RHUBOTHAM. The devil ! You are a gentleman of sharp tongue and sparse words. { Ti Yette again moves toward her room ). Henriette, you are late. I have come for you, the girl who is to be my wife.

RACINE ( turning to Ti Yette ) What --what is this ?

TI YETTE ( tremnling ) I have been trying to tell you. I was to meet him to-night at the Quadroon Ball. I did not know he was coming here.

RHUBOTHAM. He knows nothing ? ( Ti Yette shakes her head in sign of negative ).

RACINE ( His voice coming in gaaps ) What man is this taking such liberties with my sister. ?

RHUBOTHAM. I take no liberties. She gives me the privilege. I am your friend I say.

RACINE. My friend ? Enough of this riddle. Speak out in plain words.

TI YETTE. Tell him.

RHUBOTHAM. I am a gentleman, an honorable man. Proof. I love Henriette, and I have made her white this day.

RACINE. Is this fool a lunatic ?

RHUBOTHAM. Not so fast. Read this.( He gives him a copy of a New Orleans newspaper. )

RACINE ( Goes to the light of the candles and reads ).

"The Supreme Court of Louisiana decided to-day that Miss Henriette Bourdon be granted the appeal made in her behalf. Evidence sufficient was presented to the Court to convince it of the great wrong that has been perpetrated upon this young woman. Through a mistake in birth certificates Miss Bourdon has been classified as coloured. Her ancestors have been proved free from blemish of

Negro blood. She therefore is justly declared white."
( Throws the paper on the floor, spits on it, stamps it. He then
goes to Rhubotham and tears off his mask. He turns to Ti Yette,
speaking in a choked, hoarse voice). God ! A white man !
Ti Yette, tell me who this man is. Have you connived with him
to traduce your ancestry by this polluted lie ?

RHUBOTHAM ( angrily ) I am Jospeh Rhubotham, a white man.
Remember that, you fool. I have done you a favor. I have de-
clared myself for your sister, all but compromised myself, because
I want to do the right thing by her, I love her. I want her to
be my wife. But you are too dark. People will talk. I could
not include you, but you can go away where no one knows you.
I will pay you. I am wealthy. Bring me pen and paper.

RACINE ( Slaps his face ) You think you can buy me ? You
believe you do me honor ? I , proud descendant of Africa, I
spit at you. ( Rhubotham flashes a bowie knife. Racine with a
sudden quick movement strikes the arm holding the knife so that
Rhubotham let it fall to the floor. Quick as a flash the agile
Racine grabs it. Ti Yette screams. ) Before I kill you, white
man, you will hear my tale of grievances. Why is it that you
and your tribe come stealing our sisters and even our wives ?

RHUBOTHAM. I have done what no white man in New Orleans
would have done- proposed to marry your sister.

RACINE ( pleading) Are you willing, Ti Yette, to marry the
betrayer of your people, the seducer of their linerty ? Are you
willing ?

TI YETTE. I have no people. I love him.

RACINE. White man, let me marry your sister, let me make
love to your women and I amy believe you.

RHUBOTHAM. ( tradition and consciousness of his social superiority asserting themselves. ) You dirty nigger !

RACINE. I am wholly convinced of your damnable hypocrisy.

RHUBOTHAM. ( To Ti Yette ) I have come for you and the fool who thinks he is your brother ( to Racine ) --the Court has evidence that you are not her brother.

RACINE. You lie.

TI YETTE. I did not tell him to do this, Racine. I swear I know nothing of it.

RACINE. Be still.

RHUBOTHAM. It is done. ( He grapples with Racine. They struggle. Ti Yette screams, "Murder! Help!" Outside the noise of the Carnival maerry-makers drown her cries. Racine who loses his mask in the struggle trips his opponent. Rhubotham falls prostrate. Racine turns to Ti Yette. )

RACINE ( To Ti Yette ) You in love with your, with my arch enemy. You in love with a white man, you, for whom I was giving my life's blood to save from perdition. You have forgotten the cries of our people, night and day. ( Ti Yette shrinks back in terror ).

TI YETTE. Oh ! Oh ! Don't, Racine. Racine ! I am your sister, your Ti Yette.

RACINE ( in a frenzy ) You lie. You want to be white. You have plotted to be white. You have thwarted me, baffled me, but ( Rhubotham staggers slowly to his feet ) I am of the race of Dessalines. You shall see that the will of the black man is mightier than the white. ( He stabs Ti Yette, who falls, screaming, The knife drops slowly from the fratricide's nerveless hand.

18

Rhubotham is dumb with horror. Racine kneels beside Ti Yette.
He picks her up in his arms and carries her to the couch by the
window. The moon still shines upon the magnolia and casts a wan
shadow over Ti Yette's masked face. Great noise outside. Silence.)

TI YETTE. The --- ship --- be --gone. ( She begins to
sing, at first clearly, then lower and lower until at the last
note she breaks and falls limp in death in Racine's arms. )

"Fais--do---do Minette,
Chère --pe--tit--cochon--au--lait,
Fais ---do----do--mo- chère --pi--------tit "

RHUBOTHAM ( Stealthily ) The police ! The police ! ( flees)

RACINE. The ship ! No. Where is no reason for going now.
( He slowly removes the mask from the dead face of his sister,
folds her arms and bends tenderly over her. A knock redounds,
louder than was the confusion of the Carnival ).

POLICE ( In concert ) Open, open, in the name of the law.

Racine ( falling beside the body in agonizing sobs )

CURTAIN

John F. Matheus

( Copyright, 1928, by John F. Matheus )