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[COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Captain, I cannot thank you enough. Your kindness to my cousin has meant a great deal [GIORGIO, spoken] You have no reason to thank me [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Any attention that is paid to her means so much. Signora Fosca has always had a shortage of friends [FOSCA is revealed at her writing table.] [FOSCA, spoken] My dearest Giorgio. I am writing you even though the Doctor has forbidden it. What a joy to have someone to whom I can tell my feelings. To share my past [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] I was a young man when my parents died, and Fosca's mother and father welcomed me into their house whenever I was on leave [Music underneath as we go back in time.] (sung) As a child [FOSCA] As a child [COLONEL RICCI] She was lonely [FOSCA] I was happy [COLONEL RICCI] Her parеnts doted on her [FOSCA] My parents dotеd on me [FOSCA's mother and father enter.] [RICCI & FOSCA] They said: [FOSCA'S PARENTS] Beautiful [MOTHER] So sensitive [FOSCA'S PARENTS] So beautiful [FOSCA] They told me to be: [MOTHER] Careful [COLONEL RICCI] Of course [MOTHER] Fosca [COLONEL RICCI] To them, she was [FATHER] A girl as beautiful as you are has to [FOSCA] And so [FATHER] Be careful [FOSCA] I thought That I was beautiful [RICCI & (FOSCA)] And then she (I) reached the age Where being beautiful Becomes the most important thing A woman can be [COLONEL RICCI] An unattractive man [FOSCA] As long as you're a man You still have opportunities [COLONEL RICCI] Can still have opportunities [FOSCA'S PARENTS] Beautiful... [RICCI & FOSCA] Whereas, if you're a woman You either are a daughter or a wife [FOSCA'S PARENTS] A woman is a flower [RICCI & FOSCA] You marry [FATHER] You're seventeen [COLONEL RICCI] Or you're a daughter all your life [FOSCA'S PARENTS] Now is the hour... [COLONEL RICCI] I'd met this nice young man [FOSCA] I'd seen this nice young man [COLONEL RICCI] He'd introduced himself [FOSCA] Passing by [COLONEL RICCI] At my club [FOSCA] Just below my window [COLONEL RICCI] So [FOSCA] One day [COLONEL RICCI] One evening I invited him [FOSCA] He tipped his hat to me [COLONEL RICCI] Home (spoken) Count Ludovic! [FOSCA] I must admit that I was flattered [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] This is my Aunt Teresa and my Uncle Bruno [FOSCA'S PARENTS, spoken] A count? [FATHER, spoken] From where, if I may ask? [LUDOVIC, spoken] Austria [PARENTS] Austria... [MOTHER, spoken] What a beautiful place [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Fosca, we have a visitor! [FOSCA] Imagine my surprise [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] I'd like you to meet a new friend, Count Ludovic! [FOSCA, spoken] He was even more handsome up close [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] I was amazed to see the count take such an interest in my cousin [LUDOVIC] If I had known you were here, Signorina- [FOSCA, spoken] "If he had known," of course he knew [LUDOVIC] I would have brought you many flowers [COLONEL RICCI] If I had known... [LUDOVIC, spoken] You do like flowers? [FOSCA, spoken] Yes [COLONEL RICCI] I should have known [LUDOVIC] I've seen you at your window [MOTHER, spoken] Won't you stay for dinner? [FATHER, spoken] Do, yes [LUDOVIC] I've watched you every day since I arrived [FOSCA] I had my suspicions [COLONEL RICCI] I had no suspicion [RICCI & FOSCA] I chose not to see [LUDOVIC] The way you move The way you gaze at the sky [FOSCA] For love had made me blind [COLONEL RICCI] How could I be so blind? [FOSCA] Or what I took for love [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Within a month, he had asked for her hand [GIORGIO, spoken] Signora Fosca has been married? [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Yes [FOSCA'S PARENTS] Austria, Count Ludovic of Austria [FOSCA] I sensed in him a danger Deception, even violence I must admit, to some degree That it excited me [FOSCA'S PARENTS] Austria, Count Ludovic of Austria [COLONEL RICCCI, spoken] Once they were married, once he'd received my uncle's sizable dowry, he traveled a great deal, was unavailable to Fosca [FOSCA, spoken] He gambled away the dowry. I was forced to go to my parents to borrow from what little savings they had left [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Then, one day, as she was coming from market... [MISTRESS, spoken] Excuse me. You're the wife of a Count Ludovic? [FOSCA, spoken] Yes [MISTRESS] You fool The man's a fraud, a fake The trips he said he had to take abroad He took them so he could be with me He calls himself a count, but he's not He's never had a title in his life! He doesn't have a title But he does have a wife And a child in Dalmatia [FOSCA, spoken] No, you must be mistaken [MISTRESS] Oh, yes He only wants to bleed you Until the day he doesn't need you I warn you he'll abandon you As he abandoned her and me And countless others, I've no doubt I'm telling you, the man was born without a heart You fool... [FOSCA, spoken] I confronted him with this information, and he made no attempt to deny it [LUDOVIC] Ah well, at last you know the truth, Signorina But you, as well, must face the truth I've no desire to deceive you anymore But do admit what you ignore: We made a bargain, did we not? And we got what we bargained for You gave me your money, I gave you my looks And my charm and my arm I would say that more than balances the books Where's the harm? Now it's through If women sell their looks Why can't a man, if he can? Besides, the money wasn't even yours It belonged to those ridiculous old bores Your parents Forgive me, my dear, but though you are no cutie I fear you are not quite the victim you appear Well, let us part by mutual consent and be content And so, good luck and goodbye I must go Oh, and yes, we haven't paid the rent Since July Just so you know... [FOSCA, spoken] I returned home to find my parents impoverished and in poor health [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] Fosca's health failed [FOSCA] A woman's like a flower [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] She began to suffer her first convulsions. My aunt and uncle nursed her as best they could [FOSCA] A flower's only purpose is to please [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] I spent months looking for the man [FOSCA] Beauty is power [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] By then, of course, he'd vanished [FOSCA] Longing, a disease [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] To this day, I dream of finding him and realizing my revenge [FOSCA, spoken] My father died not long thereafter [COLONEL RICCI] How could I be so blind? [FOSCA] I couldn't face the world [COLONEL RICCI] It took her many months to leave her bed [FOSCA] It took me months to leave my bed [COLONEL RICCI, spoken] When her mother died, she had nothing, really. No one [FOSCA, spoken] And so, I went to stay with my cousin, who in some way felt responsible for my circumstances [COLONEL RICCI] Why could I not admit the truth? How could I not have seen through the veneer? I told myself "As long as she seems happy, why interfere?" Or was I just relieved to know That somebody would want her for a wife? In war, you know the enemy Not always so in life The enemy was love Selfishness, really, but love All of us blinded by love That makes everything seem possible You have to pay a consequence For things that you've denied This is the thorn in my side [MISTRESS] As long as you're a man You're what the world will make of you Whereas, if you're a woman You're only what it sees [RICCI, FATHER, LUDOVIC] A woman is a flower whose purpose is to please [ALL] Beauty is power, longing, a disease