Scene III
Time, midnight. In front of Count Alvar's palace.
Thunder and lightning. Enter Alvino drest in dark clothes.
Alvino
Roll on, thou billowy trumpeter of night!
And let the clamour of thy mighty voice
Fill up the embrace of eternity!
Spread out the groaning Hell-tones of thy bass,
Until the mountains echo back your song,
And scorch the foldings of the curtained earth,
With thy cloud-breaking vengeance!
(Ceases thundering.)
All is still!
Still as the awful silence of the grave!
Now that the mantle, night, is thrown around
The cradle, earth, whereon mankind repose—
There is no time so suited to the deed—
No deed so hateful to the eye of day!
But who shall wake him from that fatal sleep,
And bring him back to consciousness again?
Of all the periods in the Book of Time,
There is no full stop to the human soul
So awful in its nature as that point
Which ends the final chapter of his life!
For when we turn the last leaf over, we
Behold the everlasting blank beyond
The which is that eternity wherein
No light shall ever enter to the damned!
Now then, the villain slumbers for the last!
Enter Count Alvar from the palace, not seeing him.
Count Alvar! in the presence of the Gods,
I call upon thee to defend thy life!
Judgment hath come against thee in the world,
And thou shalt liquidate thy last account!
The fiery fingers of the fiends of Hell
Can only grasp the pages of thy deeds!
Think of the beauteous rose that thou hast plucked!
And though it seemed to wither at thy feet,
The thorn is here to stab thee to the heart!
Count Alvar
(Drawing his sword.)
Alvino, is it thou?
Alvino
(Rushing at him.)
Leoni! Die! (They fight.)
Look on the vengeance of an injured girl!
This very night thou shalt descend to Hell!
Count Alvar
Alvino, art thou mad? beside thyself?
Alvino
I have enough to make me mad—to burn
Up every atom of my raging blood!
Count Alvar
Alvino, mark the danger thou art in!
Alvino
Behold, my sword is thirsting for thy blood
And it shall drink the river of thy life!
Count Alvar
Alvino, speak! The cause?
Alvino
(Rushing at him.)
Leoni! Die!
They fight again, when Alvino stabs him to the
heart and he falls.
Count Alvar
Alvino, may the vengeance of the Gods
Descend upon thee now! My soul is gone. (Dies.)
Exit Alvino. Scene closes.
