 | The Viceroy |  |
137
SCENE VI.
THE VICEROY, VELORA.THE VICEROY,
(entering)
Guards attend without.
Thanks be to love: I hold thee once again,
Bewitching beauty! and I know thee now:
Yes! under this soft veil of artless youth
Lies all the finished artifice of woman:
Thou canst forget thy Indian laws, and yield
This sacred treasure to an alien's arms:
With a refining spirit of delight,
Thou canst convert a dungeon to a scene
Of midnight bliss.
VELORA,
(aside.)
Our purpose is betrayed!
THE VICEROY.
Yet have thy charms the fascinating power
To melt the fiercest wrath; I will forget
The cruel pangs thy treachery inspires,
If cancelling the offence, thou yet wilt grant me,
The dear rich recompense, for which my soul
So keenly pants with agony of passion.
VELORA.
Never! never!
138
Perverse, fantastic girl!
Canst thou still doat upon an abject slave,
When royalty's extended arms would press
Thy beauty into rapture?
VELORA.
Yes! proud tyrant,
This constant heart will idolize for ever
That hero, whom thy crimes have made a prisoner:
Velora's firm and faithful soul, would rather
Embrace his bondage, than partake thy power,
E'en had thy pride the privilege of Heaven
To make its reign immortal.
THE VICEROY.
Rash Velora!
Thou dost provoke my wild insulted love
To sieze this golden minute, and repay
My tortured senses with a sweet revenge.
Come! thou shalt bless me.
VELORA.
Help! O! help me Heaven!
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