University of Virginia Library

Scene IV.

[Again the secluded arbour. Christina, singing softly to herself, starts suddenly to her feet as she is aware of Carlos standing silently gazing on her; but not as formerly approaching her.]
Christina
Ah!
[She rushes towards him. He steps backward, motioning her away. She stands transfixed.]
Love, why do you motion me away?
And say no word at all? Why may I not
Fly to thee to be gathered on thy heart
As ever? What is my unconscious fault?
What is my ignorant trespass? Or has thy father
Between us fixed a gulf as deep as that
Between the poor man and the rich in hell?
Or hast thou done some rash thing in thy rage?
Carlos, thou hast not stained thy hands in blood?
Horrible! in his blood? Thou dost not stir!
And still and dim thou growest and far-off,
Looking into my eyes a long farewell.
Love, if I may not come to thee, yet tell me,
And swiftly, in warm words, what hath befallen,
What sudden thing hath come between us two?

Carlos
No sudden thing, but one far back in time.

Christina
I cannot gather this. Is't that he knows—

Carlos
He knows.

Christina
Even then 'tis not in thee
To shudder away from me; rather to hold me
Closer, and with strong arms to shelter me.
If we have sinned beyond a father's pity,
Then with how many lovers are we damned!

Carlos
[With repressed passion]
Believe me that I have not shrunk from you
From ebbing passion, or from guilty fear.
At heaven I'd spit back immortality,
Might I one moment cross this yard of ground
That separates us now: but we henceforth
Must keep a measured distance evermore.

Christina
Is then our love so cursed?

Carlos
[Wildly]
Cursed? Ah, how cursed!
Lady, no love was ever cursed as this.
Our kiss was potent to put out the stars.

Christina
Lady!

Carlos
Come thou no nearer, but declare
Whose child thou art.

Christina
My mother I remember—

Carlos
Thy father?

Christina
Died, they said, ere I was born.

Carlos
But if he lives?

Christina
He lives? My father lives?

Carlos
And reigns!

Christina
I reel and fall into thy arms.

Carlos
I must not clasp her, tho' she reel and fall;
I dare not touch her body even in death.

Christina
[Recovering herself in slow effort.]
And all that time thy kisses were—how sweet!
[A pause.]
Yet all unconsciously we came to this,
And in all innocency have we loved.

Carlos
Yet unto this we came.

Christina
O Carlos, now
A sterner summons asketh more of us
Than just to part; that I should say farewell,
And pass out of thy life for evermore.
Now not to thee alone I say adieu;
I say farewell to all the earth at once.
I stifle to be gone; I ache to plunge
In the pure water of the purging grave.
And yet—and yet—O, I must cry it out
To all the gods assembled with cold eyes.
I love, love, love thee, past all bar of birth.
Forgive me, Christ, I cannot help but love him.

Carlos
Cease! Or I'll leap this interval of earth,
And in the face of God Himself regain thee.
[A silent flash of lightning is seen.]
They thrust at us from on high; there is no need:
For me this earthly steel suffices well.

[Touching the dagger with which he is girded.]
Christina
For thee and me—together must we die.

Carlos
Now 'tis the deep of night.

Christina
I will not wait
The sun with curious accusing beam.

Carlos
This love was of the night, not of the sun.

Christina
This night then, and with speed! Surely we two
Of all who ever loved are most unhappy.
Lovers who fell in death in olden time
Might sob the life out in each other's arms.

Carlos
Or she did take the poison from his lips.

Christina
A venom sweet—though all the dark to come!

Carlos
His whisper weakened, yet into her ear.

Christina
Dimmer she gazed, but yet into his eyes.

Carlos
Over them came old odour of red may.

Christina
Or the sweet rustle of forbidden lanes.

Carlos
But we with failing breath apart must lie;
Beautiful earth whereon we must not stay!

Christina
And you, forbidden stars, how bright to leave!

Carlos
On all the glory now we look our last;
And without kiss,

Christina
or pressure of the hand,
Albeit we sway together helplessly,
Hopelessly t'ward each other swaying still,
Like trees across a river, then withdraw.

Carlos
Yet without cry, but with a Roman heart
We seek the steel that giveth honour back.

Christina
[Gently]
Perchance, when we have winged a separate flight,
When we are free of flesh, from blood released,
God will not place his bar between our spirits,
For nowise in the spirit have we erred.

Carlos
[Drawing the dagger given him]
This blade my father gave me in his joy;
See how the jewelled haft sparkles and gleams.
'Tis fitting we should use it in our sorrow.
Now to some darker place, that we may die.

Christina
Carlos, thou, thou wilt kill me first.

Carlos
I cannot.

Christina
Give me the steel! I feared that I might strike
Uncertainly: the child here must not linger.

[She, taking the glittering dagger, goes slowly out, he following her.]