University of Virginia Library

Scene II

The same apartment in Don Carlos' palace. Enter Don Carlos and Alvino.
Don Carlos
What is your wish? You have not told me that.

Alvino
Revenge—revenge as powerful as death.
And greedy as the yearnings of the grave!

Don Carlos
The universal cry of vengeance is—
Revenge! that everlasting, bring hate
Which oozes from the bottom of the soul
And storms the passions of the heart to rage!
But mark! the hardest whetstone to the edge
Of our revenge, is Pedro.

Alvino
Pedro?

Don Carlos
Yes,
The rascal's friend, Don Pedro, came within
An ace of frightening me to death last night.

Alvino
Of frightening you to death?

Don Carlos
Indeed, he did—
Of murdering me in sleep!

Alvino
Most devilish fiend!
Who set the coward on? Where is he now?

Don Carlos
We shall confer with him in private soon,
He may be of especial use to us.
There is some lying, to be done, you know,
And he will fill that office to the life.
I mean to instigate him to the death
Of Rodolph, promising Elvira's hand,
And then both murders will be fixed on him.

Alvino
The innocent will suffer for the guilty.

Don Carlos
What, Pedro innocent? Are you prepared?

Alvino
I am.

Don Carlos
Then mark me. Lodging in my room
Tonight, which looks upon Count Alvar's house,
Will save you from the watchmen in the streets,
And hide suspicion. Therefore, go thou thence,
And after you have sacrificed the dog
Upon the altar of legitimate, revenge,
Return back from the palace of the dead,
And lodge there all night. Now, mind the storm,
And navigate your vessel through the sea,
As though you this pilot at the helm;
And when you shall approach the happy shore,
The far-off scenery bristling on the sky,
Will seem Elysian Gardens to the soul.

Alvino
The traitor then will have no home.

Don Carlos
Farewell!
Take lodgings in my room tonight.
(Exit Don Carlos.)

Alvino
Farewell! Who knows how soon man's nature may misgive.
But stronger than my fear is my revenge.
Ye Gods, support me in that trying hour,
Which is to set an everlasting seal
Upon the soul of him whose life is death,
And whose eternal destiny is Hell!

(Exit.)
Enter Don Pedro and Elvira
Don Pedro
But are there still suspicions in his mind
That Alvar sent me to destroy his life?

Elvira
There are although your future conduct may
Dispel the cloud which overhangs his soul.

Don Pedro
But would Elvira doubt her Pedro's word?

Elvira
The idea has not wholly left my mind.

Don Pedro
By all the Gods, at once dispel the thought!
There is not in the vastness of my soul,
A single thought that is not spent for him;
And all the bright things of the living world,
Are brightened in the presence of thy smiles!
The fanciful array of odorous flowers
Which deck the emerald mantle of the spring
Whose perfumes, rising on the breath of morn,
Float upward to the embrace of the sun,
Are coloured by the beauty of thy smiles,
And sweetened by the odor of thy breath!

Elvira
I tell you, Pedro, that my brother thinks
Count Alvar sent you to destroy his life,
And if he find you feeble in his wish,
Or faltering in the purpose of his hate,
His enmity will grow upon you fresh,
But if he find you wedded to his soul,
And quick to execute his simplest thought,
Then will he look upon you as his friend,
And treat you as if he had never been
Aught but the friend that he will be to you.

Don Pedro
Such is the temper of his manly heart.
But he who would deceive an orphan girl
By blushes, silvered over with his tears,
Would murder Carlos in the dead of night.
But see, he comes!

(Exit Elvira.)
Enter Don Carlos.
Don Carlos
The hour will soon arrive.

Don Pedro
Is every thing prepared?

Don Carlos
Tonight! tonight!
Alvino seeks him by the moon tonight.

Don Pedro
Then will his soul ascend above the stars.

Don Carlos
Ascend? Descend into the depths of Hell!
But mark! There is one villain living yet,
Besides Count Alvar, Pedro. He must die!

Don Pedro
Who can that be?

Don Carlos
Count Rodolph—he that stands
Against Alvino, if Count Alvar die.
Now swear before high Heaven that he shall die!

Don Pedro
Then promise that Elvira shall be mine!

Don Carlos
I tell you, Pedro, she is free to choose,
And thou art standing now above my soul,
As does the unchanged thundercloud of Heaven.
Above the parched lips of the cracking earth,
And if thou wilt descend upon that fiend,
The sweet refreshment of the stormy shower
Will make the dearest April of my life.
Now swear!

Don Pedro
I swear, my lord, that he shall die
As surely as Elvira shall be mine.

Don Carlos
The oath is registered among the Gods!
This way. (Going.)


Don Pedro
The Gods shall see the duty done.

(Exeunt.)