University of Virginia Library

Act III

Scene I.

A magnificent apartment in Count Rodolph's palace. Enter Count Rodolph, Count Alvar and Theresa.
Count Rodolph
I understand Don Carlos was the man.

Count Alvar
He was, my lord. He had the impudence
To chide me to my face.

Count Rodolph
Not in the street!

Count Alvar
No, in this very house, my lord.

Count Rodolph
By Jove,
I would have crushed the villain where he stood!

Count Alvar
I would have slain the recreant in his tracks.
Theresa, being nigh, prevented me—

Theresa
I saw
The fellow who addressed you yesterday
With some strange accusation, which has been
A puzzle to my senses ever since.

Count Alvar
Nay—Carlos was not conscious what he said;
And, doubtless, had been tasting, too much wine.

Count Rodolph
But had you no dispute before?

Count Alvar
Before,
My lord? He had not seen my face before?

Count Rodolph
Perhaps he may have seen you when in Spain.

Count Alvar
He may have seen me casually in Spain.

Count Rodolph
But who was thy companion in the tour?

Count Alvar
Alvino, one who loved me well; a youth
Of promise, who disdained the very earth
He trod upon. He was a noble soul.
But she, of whom Don Carlos spoke, was young
Alvino's cousin.

Theresa
She it was, my lord,
Whom Carlos mentioned when he said to you,
I think, “Thou wilt not hate Leoni's love.”
And when you drew your sword upon him there,
I saw him brighten with an evil fire,
As if he wished he had his own with him,
Which, having, there is no doubt he had used.

Count Alvar
I knew that well, therefore prepared for him,
I told Don Pedro from that moment forth,
To watch the prowling of the cursed wolf;
And if he found him straying from his path,
To cut the life strings from his iron heart,
And dash him to the dogs!

Theresa
Then he is dead!
I would not hesitate to swear that some
Foul mischief is now breeding in the world!

Count Alvar
Oh yes—some mischief. Some foul, devilish thought
Is always uppermost in woman's mind.

Theresa
But has he not been absent now too long?
You may depend upon it, he is not
The man he seems to be.

Count Rodolph
It may be so;
She may have seen more of his thoughts than you;
For women oftener see more faults in men,
Than they see in themselves.

Count Alvar
By Jove! What if
He has beheld Elvira? Sight of her
Would change the purpose of his amorous soul,
And make the hardness of his iron heart
As soft as down upon the turtle's wing,
For love will cool the fever of revenge.

Theresa
Revenge, my lord? On whom?

Count Alvar
When Pedro comes
The message of his mission will be read.

Theresa
Now written with an iron pen in blood!

Count Alvar
The fancies always paint some cloud upon
The dawn of thine expectancy.

Count Rodolph
Revenge!

Count Alvar
That same infernal Carlos, whom our friend,
Don Pedro hates, is brother to his love,
Who, having sworn that they shall meet no more,
Don Pedro swears that he shall die. That's all.

Theresa
May Heaven protect the innocent from harm!

Count Rodolph
Amen to that!

Count Alvar
(Aside.)
Who cares, so Carlos dies.

(Exeunt omnes.)

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.)

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.

Scene IV

The same apartment in Don Carlos' palace. Enter Leoni.
Leoni
I have been waiting like the lonesome Dove,
And still my comforter delays his time.
What if the villain has been rash indeed?
Enter Alvino
Alvino, thou hast saved my tears! Oh, love!
Did you not hear some sweet dolorous sound?
It was my soul that went out audibly
In search of thee, but never returned with thine.

Alvino
Oh, how the monster trembled at my sight!
I called upon him to defend his life,
And three times offered him this pointed steel,
Which he as many times refused with his.
I then stood o'er him, as the cypress mourns,
Preaching his funeral with exalted wrath,
Till like the willow twig snapt from its stem,
I cut the brittle thread of life in twain;
And left him weltering in his own heart's blood!

Leoni
Then he is dead, indeed!

Alvino
Yes, he is dead!
Gone down to Hell, where all seducers go!

Leoni
Plunged you the dagger in his perjured heart?

Alvino
I did, but disinterred it o'er again,
I would not let it rot in such a grave!

Leoni
(Embracing him.)
Then I am thine, forever thine!

Alvino
'Tis sworn!

(Exeunt.)
Curtain falls.