University of Virginia Library

SCENE IX

[Prince Lucifer's Study.]
LUCIFER.
(alone; reading a dispatch).
At length I triumph! Were I there, to take
Assent and homage from their very lips,
I could not have assurance more than this.
Thus Abdiel writes:“Your People all consent,
Now not alone that Love shall bondless be,
Save as it binds itself, but altar, priest,
All superstitious sanctions of man's life,
Which needs no sanction save his sovereign will,
Shall henceforth be abolished and annulled.
And they entreat You to return and rule
An Empire by your lofty wisdom freed
From every link and note of servitude.”
[He paces the room.]
Yes! I must go, go there without delay,
Though my coy shepherdess will sore be scared
By her new flock. As yet, her throne hath been
Only the modest station of my heart.
The magnitude of homage will affright her,
As she was frighted when I found her first
And mixed love's magic philtre for her fears.
Love can do all things, change a mountain peasant
Unto a Queen apparent, fit a Crown
Unto the lowliest forehead. Once conceived
With passionate hope, but long from thought dismissed
As barren expectation, my Ideal
Lives real and actual! My Realm sloughs off
The coil of centuries, and hails me King,
Not by the grace of a fantastic Heaven,
Nor for my robed servility, but lo!
By virtue of my Light! That is a Throne
A Man may deign to sit on, and a sceptre
Worthy imperial grasp. Straight will we go,
I and my wilding Flower of the hills,
And reign in freedom over a free People,
Summit and symbol of their liberty.
Earth! what a triumph over vaporous Heaven!

[Eve enters the chamber.]
EVE.
O, let me light the lamp!

LUCIFER.
What lamp, my child?

EVE.
The lamp we kindled when I came here first,
And we have left unkindled, O too long!
Have you forgotten?

LUCIFER.
I remember well,
For I have treasured every touch, and tone,
Token and trifle, of your gentle heart.
But since that time,—well, you are wiser now,
And purer light my love hath tendered you.

EVE.
O, what is light? what, wisdom? I am torn
With doubt of doubt. Tell me you love me still.

LUCIFER.
The brimming ocean, sweet, is not more full
Of the deep waves than I am of our love.
There is no room in me for more than thou.
Thou fillest my capacity.

EVE.
Let me then
Kindle the lamp anew.

LUCIFER.
Wherefore, my child?
Your will is sweet to me, and have your will.
But if you have a reason for your will,
Will you not tell it me?

EVE.
You are not angry?
I am a woman; yours—yours still—but weak,
Because I am a woman, and I want
To save its life.

LUCIFER.
That—that—the leeches will,
Be sure of it.

EVE.
Themselves, they are not sure.
I read misgiving in their looks, I catch
Foreboding in their grave and faltering tones.
She, She perhaps can save it. Nay, who knows?
You say we move in darkness; all is dark.
Why then not try? It cannot do us hurt,
And if it save my darling!

LUCIFER.
Love, your mind
Is misty with distress. Trust me; trust them!
Their skill is paramount.

EVE.
Not against death!

LUCIFER.
What is? We can but parry him awhile,
So long as he is pleased to trifle with us.
But all at last behold his cold point creep
Over their guard, and break down their defence.

EVE.
I would not lose your love, for life, for death,
For earth, for Heaven, for boundless everything.
But if you love me as I love you, love,
Let us try every stroke and possible thrust
To push death farther off! Yes, all must die;
But not so soon. It came but yesterday,
And all the currents of my life are flush
To keep it living. Must the stream be dried
Whose source is flowing still? The lamp! the lamp!
Light the lamp, Lucifer! Too long, too long,
Her presence hath been darkened. Look! how sad,
How tranquil yet how sad, She droops Her eyes,
As though She waited; and Her empty arms
Are stretched in heavenly patience!

LUCIFER.
Think, child, think!
If you do that which you conceive to do,
You straight will slip down at a single stride
All the ascent you have made!

EVE.
No, no! not all!
I still shall be with you, my height! my heaven!
And you are high enough for both. So long
As, fondly thus, I hang upon your neck,
I cannot fall so low! Let us but try!
What if it died, and I omitted this—
This chance to save it! What should I think then?
I more than ever should connect my hopes
With Heaven and prayer, because the hope was gone
That hung on mortal help. There's oil in the lamp:
It only needs rekindling. . . . Lucifer!

LUCIFER.
O what a choice you leave me! If you pray,
And seem to pray in vain, the babe must die,
And you be desolate; and if it live,
Then will you knit your happiness to prayer,
And I shall lose the consort of my mind,
And once more think—alone! Will you not wait,
Wait just a little, dear?

[A servitor enters, speaks low to the Prince, and goes.]
EVE.
What did he say?

LUCIFER.
The babe is worse.

EVE.
Give me the taper, quick!
[Prince Lucifer lights the taper, hands it to Eve, who lights the lamp before the image of the Madonna, and falls on her knees.]
My Mother! hear me!