University of Virginia Library

SCENE XI.

CONSTANTIA, VELORA.
VELORA.
Preserve him, righteous Heaven!

CONSTANTIA.
Yes! I will fly, and fall before his father;
That, that must save him.

VELORA.
Dear Constantia! speak!
She hears me not:—alas! unhappy mother!
There is a wildness in her looks and language,
That pierces to my heart.

CONSTANTIA.
And yet 'tis dangerous:
I know the fierceness of his cruel father.
O! I am plunged again in doubt's dark sea.

VELORA.
Guard her, ye angels! for excess of sorrow
Has robbed her tortured spirit of its reason.

CONSTANTIA.
No! my sweet child, I am not yet so lost:
But there's a secret conflict in my soul,
To which thou art a stranger—I will fly,
And kneel for entrance at his prison door:
For thou, my son, thou only canst decide
This agonizing doubt: thy voice alone
Must guide me in this crisis of our fate.