University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

An apartment in the castle.
Enter Garcio and Ludovico, speaking as they enter.
Gar.
Ha! with a priest! conferring with a priest!
Have they been long together?

Lud.
Full an hour.

Gar.
And does she oft such ghostly counsel take?
Has she of late?

Lud.
My lord?

Gar.
O, nothing! nothing!
Stare not as if I meant to question thee:
I had no more to say.
[Motioning him away.
[Exit Ludovico.
Alone.)
At such a time retired with her confessor!
What! hath her lord's return caused in her mind
Such sudden need of ghostly counsel?—Strange!
Something hath been amiss: if not in act,
She is, I fear, in will and fancy tainted.

Rovani enters behind him unperceived.
Rov.
Nay, pure or tainted, leave the fancy free.
Of her concerns who may cognizance take?
Although cowl'd priests beneath their jurisdiction
Pretend to hold her, be not thou so strict.

Gar.
Thou knowst, then, that my wife is with her priest.

Rov.
I knew it not.—She is a pious dame:
She seems—she is a very pious dame.

Gar.
Nay, speak thy mind! thou needst not hesitate.
We have been fellow-soldiers nine long years:
Thou ne'er wast wont to weigh thy words with me.
What dost thou think? There is some cause for this.

Rov.
Women are full of strange and fitful humours.

Gar.
Not so; it is not that.—Yet, were she false,
Methinks her shame-flush'd face would turn aside,
Nor look on me so oft and earnestly
As I have seen her gaze.—It cannot be!
In act she is not false.—But if her heart,
Where every kind and dear affection dwelt,—
If it be changed— stamping on the ground)
Some fiend hath been at work,—
Some cursed agent hath been tamp'ring with her.

[Pacing to and fro in violent agitation.
Rov.
Be not so wretched for a doubtful ill,
Which, if it be at all—

Gar.
A doubtful ill!
Oh, if my head but ached, or fev'rish sleep,
Or the more potent secret cause forced from me
One groan or sigh, what tones of kind alarm!
And the soft pressure of her gentle hand
In mute affliction, till I smiled again!
Here, on my bursting heart I feel it still,
Though cold and changed she be. After a gloomy pause.)

Perhaps some awful and mysterious power
Within these fated precincts doth for me
Love to aversion turn.

Rov.
What dost thou mean by a mysterious power?
And but e'en now methought I heard thee name
A potent secret cause.—Thou hast been wont
Freely to make me sharer of thy thoughts—
Of all thy secret wishes.

Gar.
So I have:
Nought for thy good to hear or mine to utter,
Have I conceal'd from thee.—I hear a noise.

Rov.
No; I hear nothing.

Gar.
But my ear is quick;—
Too quick, perhaps, in fancying sounds that are not.

Rov.
Ay, thou art right: Sophera moved the latch.

Enter Sophera.
Gar.
to Sophera).
Com'st thou to tell me that the priest is gone?

Soph.
The countess did command me to inform you
She is not well, and begs that for the night
She may in solitude recruit her spirits.
She wishes you good night and peaceful sleep.
She bade me say, my lord, her malady
Is of no ardent kind that should alarm you;
But, as she hopes, will pass away ere morn. Aside to Rovani, while Garcio turns away in silence.)
He takes it deeply.

Rov.
aside to her).
No, faith! a soldier is too well inured
To disappointment; knowing not at daybreak
Whether his next night's slumber shall be had
On silken couch, by some fair princess fann'd,
Or on the cold damp earth, with dead men's bones
His wounded head to pillow. No, sweet maid!
We bear such evils lightly.

Soph.
'Tis well ye do; and so, brave sir, good night!

[Exit.
Gar.
returning to Rovani).
What thinkst thou of this message?

Rov.
I know not what to think.

Gar.
Thou dost! thou dost! for in thine eyes I read
A shameful thought, that must remain unutter'd.
Ruin, and shame, and misery come upon me!
Heav'n pours its vengeance on this cursed head!

Rov.
Nay, do not thus give way: be well assured
Ere thou give loose to passion.

Gar.
Assured! and how assured? What can I do?—
Become a calm inquisitor of shame?

Rov.
Restrain thyself, and go to thine apartment,
As if to pass the night. But, some hours later,
When all are gone to rest, steal softly forth
Into thy lady's chamber. There thou'lt see
If she indeed be sick, or if she hold
The vigil of a guilt-distracted mind.

Gar.
I like thy counsel well: I'll to my chamber.
Good night, my friend.

[Exeunt severally.