 | The Viceroy |  |
SCENE X.
—A PRISON.CARASCO,
entering with VELORA.
Curse on that busy and officious fool,
Who thus detained our steps!—we've lost an age:
Sylveyra should be here: what ho! my friend!
VELORA.
Good Heaven! he hears us not—they have destroyed him.
SYLVEYRA,
(entering.)
It was an angel, or Velora's voice:
What joy! 'tis she herself—my life! my love!
What blessed chance—
CARASCO.
We have no time for words;
Each moment's of inestimable price:
I come to save ye both!—follow my steps,
157
SYLVEYRA.
My true Carasco! faithful, generous friend!
Watch o'er this dearer portion of my life,
And haste to guide my loved Velora hence!
But for myself, a Soldier's tender fame
Forbids this secret flight: it wears too much
The cast of conscious guilt, and coward fear.
CARASCO.
These ill-timed scruples of mistaken honor
Are ruin to our hopes—
VELORA.
My own Sylveyra,
Thou seest Velora fatherless before thee,
Enabled only to sustain her being
By her fond hopes in thy protecting love;
Thou art her sole supporter, can thy heart
Desert so dear a duty, to obey
The fancied dictates of delusive honor?
SYLVEYRA.
Never! no never! all this heart is thine:
The tender accents of thy plaintive voice
Wake every fond emotion in my soul,
And teach me 'tis the glory of my life
To guard thy innocence thro' every peril—
Away! I will attend you:—yet my friend
A moment's pause! to shield us from pursuit
I'll bar yon avenue—do thou, Carasco,
Watch at the other grate, lest any noise
Awake suspicion in the court below!
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Be swift—delay's inevitable death—
SYLVEYRA, withdraws at the end of the stage, and CARASCO remains attentive on the opposite side.
VELORA.
How slow, how awful are these trying minutes
Of doubtful fate, that on their shadowy wings
In dread concealment bear the uncertain form
Of safety or perdition? Hear me Heaven!—
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