SCENE XV.
A Dungeon in the Round Tower, to which
ruined steps lead; in the centre, a grating and
passage which is terminated by a door strongly
plated with iron—through the grating, by means
of a melancholy lamp, the Child is discovered
asleep, Moriat on the steps, her hair dishevelled,
gazing despondently on him—a strong door at the
side wings, as another entrance to the dungeon—
on part of a rock an hour glass, intimating her
time is nearly come.—She seems resolved to meet
her fate with fortitude, but is all anxiety for her
Child.
Loud clanking of chains without, Cobthach
enters, and reiterates his threats on her non-compliance;
she refuses to answer him 'till he
releases her child, which he does, and they tenderly
embrace, she treating him with the utmost disdain
—he is about to dispatch her, when the Figure
stalks across, pointing to the door of the dungeon,
that terminates the Child's prison—It is burst
open—
Sitric and Maon rush on—Sitric, snatching
his uplifted dagger with savage joy, stabs
Cobthach, who falls—Moriat faints in the arms
of her husband, who, wildly, catching up his
Child, an affectionate interview succeeds;—Sitric
perceiving their happiness, is fired with jealousy, and
regrets the having destroyed
one rival but to render
another happy—not finding an opportunity of openly
dispatching him, he rings the alarm bell, and
Danish
Guards rush on; he orders them to seize Maon, as
the murderer of Cobthach, they obey, and his wife
and child are torn from him—soldiers, pointing their
weapons at his breast to prevent their re-union.—
Scene closes.
