 | The Priestess |  |
36
SCENE III.
A Grove. Enter Adalgisa and Bertha.Ber.
I shall miss all the show.
Adal.
Return, then, Bertha.
Ber.
A precious coward to fly because a soldier
Chanced to stare at thee—such a soldier, too!
Some chief of rank, be sure, among the Romans.
He looked as he had cause to win some glance
Of recognition from thee. Hast thou met him
Ever before?
Adal.
Met him before? How could I?
Ber.
That know I not. This know I, Adalgisa,
Eyes had he only for thyself of all
Our white-robed company—an oversight
Quite unaccountable, my dear, since I
Stood nearer to him by some two or three.
Adal.
'Tis not for us to court such glances, Bertha;
Our safety lies in flight.
Ber.
To be quite candid,
I'd rather not be safe when such the danger.
But look thro' the leaves. A line of burnished armor
Is flowing, glittering, like a sunlit river
By the grove's border. I can stay no longer.
[Exit
Adal.
Ay, it was he. Too well do I remember
That eager glance—those features. Brief our meeting—
But memories for a life-time followed it.
Few were his words; but how like melodies
They haunt my soul, and go before my prayers.
And now he's here again—here as a friend—
And he has seen me—marked me;—but my duty
Lies plain before me, and I thus pursue it.
(Going.)
Till his departure from the land, seclusion
Must keep me from his sight.—'Tis he again!
(Enter Octavian.)
Oct.
Do not avoid me. We have met before.
Adal.
Good reason why we should not meet again.
Let me pass on.
Oct.
Fair saint, 'twere irreligion
To let thee pass, receiving from the gazer
No word of adoration.
When thou didst quit thy cluster of fair women,
I was bereft even as the earth might be
Should the moon vanish 'mid attending planets,
And rob the night of glory.
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Why detain me?
Oct.
To get the assurance you again will meet me.
For so much beauty taken from my life,
Would leave it ugly and unprofitable.
Adal.
I cannot grant it. Danger to thyself
And me, were in the act.
Oct.
Believe it not.
The power supreme of Gaul rests now in me.
Adal.
Ah! The proconsul?
Oct.
None the less thy slave.
Adal.
Whate'er thy power, still Norma's will must be
The law for us.
Oct.
(Aside.)
Norma! That name recalls
My errant duty. Shame on thee, Octavian!
(To Adal.)
Go! If thou'lt bar my looking on thy face
Ever again, thou wilt have served me better
Than if thou hadst snatched me from captivity—
Saved me from the terriblest strait that ever man
Was thrown into by passion. There 's a peril,
I tell thee, in thy looks, while thou dost linger,
To which the thick of the battle, plague and tempest,
Are innocent of danger.
Adal.
Fare thee well.
(She moves away, turns, and he goes towards her.)
Oct.
That last look swept before it every scruple.
(Taking her hand.)
Promise thou 'lt meet me as I asked.
Adal.
I cannot.
Oct.
Promise, or I will hold thee with a grasp
Inseverable as fate.
Adal.
Some one approaches.
Oct.
I care not. Promise.
Adal.
Let me go. I promise.
(Enter Ambron [illeg.] in simple costume.)
Amb.
Release her, Roman!
[Adalgisa breaks away, and exit.
Thou art ignorant,
'T would seem, of Gallic manners.
Oct.
Teach me them.
Amb.
Never detain with an ungentle grasp
A woman who would fly thee.
Oct.
In return
I'll teach thee something of our Roman code:
Never so misinterpret woman's coyness
As to impute to any man, not quite
A clown, unworthy rudeness.
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I beheld her
Struggling to unloose thy hold.
Oct.
What if she struggled
Half willing to be vanquished?
Amb.
Profanation
Is in the thought. No vestal more renowned
Than she for sanctity! Thy intimation
Covers a hideous slander.
Oct.
Slander?
Amb.
Ay!
Wilt have a plainer word.
Oct.
Little thou know'st
To whom thou'rt speaking.
Amb.
Little know or care!
Think'st thou I learn my hearer's quality
Before I speak a truth?
Oct.
Remember, this
Is now provincial Rome.
Amb.
A rare beginning—
To persecute a dedicated maiden
With base advances.
Oct.
Base!
Amb.
I said it. Base!
Be wiser for the future, or thou'lt find
That Rome's dominion will be overturned
As suddenly as set up. And so, take heed! (Going.)
Oct.
Stay! Since thy lecture is complete, hear mine.
We have a way in Rome of teaching such
As thou art, when the tongue is too unruly,
A wholesome discipline with blows—and so
Conduct thyself accordingly.
Amb.
Indeed!
And when a low-born fellow like myself
Raises his voice, or fails to duck his head
In thy high presence, thou wilt—
Oct.
Have him whipped!
(Ambron laughs in his face. Octavian puts his hand on his sword.)
Amb.
Nay, don't be frightened by a Gallic laugh.
We'll have no bloodshed. 'T would profane the occasion.
Oct.
Insolent! When thou know'st who 'tis thou tauntest—
Amb.
Wert thou the emperor, he who would insult
The common soldier, or the common peasant,
Is a common fool.
Oct.
(Draws.)
Draw, villain! Let me see
If thou canst thrust as well with steel as speech.
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Thou'rt a laggard with thy weapon.
Amb.
(Aside, and half drawing.)
I'll not harm him.
Oct.
Come! Should I leave thee wounded on the ground,
Tell those who come to aid thee, that Octavian,
Proconsul, punished thee for disrespect.
Amb.
(Aside.)
Octavian! Norma's husband! And already
False—in intent at least. O, wretched woman!
What wo is in thy future!
Oct.
(Aside.)
So! The name
Has stunned him. He shall fight, though.
Amb.
(Aside.)
I could slay him
Now with a will. (Half draws.)
I'll do it—rescue Norma
From pangs in store through him—No, Ambron, no!
She loves him. That shall make each hair of his head
Sacred, although he spurn me.
To fly temptation, I must fly the encounter.
(To Octavian.)
I shall not fight thee.
Oct.
What if I call thee coward?
Amb.
Thou'lt have had
Some cause.
Oct.
What if I smite thee?
Amb.
'T will be a new sensation, and I cannot
Foretell the effect.
Oct.
Gaul, thou hast angered me
As no man ever dared, and now refusest
To fight me—Yet I will not call thee coward,
For such I cannot hold thee; and I see
It is not fear that sways thee. (Puts up his sword.)
There! thy act
Has been like water to my rage. We both
Have said what should exasperate the other.
Exchange forgiveness. (Offers his hand.)
Amb.
(Aside.)
Generous, too, as brave!
There's hope. (Takes Octavian's hand.)
No longer as thy enemy,
But as thy friend, Octavian, because Norma's,
(Start not—I know it all!) let me appeal
To what there is of goodness in thy nature,
Faithfully—
Oct.
Hush! She comes; and not alone.
(Enter hastily Norma and Adalgisa.)
Nor.
(To Adal.)
In anger? Foolish girl! They're met in friendship. (She dismisses her. Exit Adalgisa.)
My husband!
Oct.
Hush! Should some one overhear thee!
40
But this is Ambron, who knows all.
Oct.
This Ambron?
Sir, I can prize true nobleness. Your hand!
(Aside to him.)
And let the past be cancelled.
Amb.
(Aside to Oct.)
And the future
Be pledged to Norma wholly.
Nor.
'T is the sight
I most have longed for—Ambron and Octavian
With hands in friendly clasp! Come, ye are missed,
Both, from the pageant.
Oct.
Go! I'll follow thee.
[Exit Norma.
Precede me, noble Ambron. Go with Norma.
(Exit Ambron. Octavian looks off in the direction of Adalgisa's departure. Reënter Ambron.)
Amb.
Nay, let us go together.
Oct.
(Giving his hand which Ambron takes.)
Be it so!
[Exeunt.
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