 | Elvira |  |
SCENE VIII.
DON PEDRO, ELVIRA.DON PEDRO
, to those behind.
Keep clear the secret passage; plant your friends
Thro all its downward windings to the garden:
I follow on the instant.
Have I found thee,
My heart's sole wealth, the jewel of my bosom!
Let me secure it, let me lodge it safe
Beyond the reach of robbers.
ELVIRA.
Ah Don Pedro!
What have you done? O you have lost for ever
A brighter gem, of dearer worth and price,
Your Faith and Innocence! And now, your deed
Opens my eyes on mine, and sets it full
In all its horrors, all its guilt before me!
DON PEDRO.
Cruel! what mean thy words?
ELVIRA.
Ah me! what means
39
That what my fears suggest—
DON PEDRO.
Thy fears are vain.
With care I shun'd where stern Alonzo stood,
And stem'd the tide, majestic tho alone,
Opposing a king's firmness to it's fury.
I turn'd another way: and what you see,
These sanguine stains are from a vulgar breast,
That would have barr'd my passage on to you.
Then, let us fly, my love.
ELVIRA.
Ah, hope it not.
I dare to dye—but tremble at a crime!
I dare be deaf to love itself, and you!
Return, defend a parent and a king.
Yes, throw that rebel-sword beneath his feet:
I less shall suffer from the hand of fate,
To lose you, innocent, than save you, guilty!
DON PEDRO.
What I have done, the meanest of mankind,
The peasant, would have dar'd; have boldly met,
With face erect, earth's universal Lord,
Who from his cottage had presum'd to tear
The partner of his bosom.
ELVIRA.
By the hold,
I have upon your heart! More dear than life;
Than fame itself more sacred! yet resume
Your better thoughts. Let me behold your sorrow,
Your filial penitence—
DON PEDRO.
Ah, let me then,
Let me lodge Thee, where my distracted fondness
40
Return to beg an injur'd sovereign's mercy;
To ask it at his knees: but, while I fear
For thy dear safety, duty pleads in vain!
ELVIRA.
Then, know, Don Pedro—should this guilty passion,
Deaf to the voice of reason, take no counsel
But from its headlong fury—here I stay!
I here remain, your hostage and your victim!
DON PEDRO.
Thou Angel-Cruelty! does then a wife
Reject her husband's aid—
| Elvira | |