University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

—AN APARTMENT IN DON PEDRO'S HOUSE—A WINDOW ON ONE SIDE, ON THE OTHER AN ORATORY.
Estrella and Ursula discovered.
URSULA.

All these—and these! Marry, we must have galleys
by water, and wains by land, to bear thy apparel to thy
new home, maiden!

ESTRELLA.
Leave looking o'er them, nurse, and sit down here.
Thou shalt do that, when I am gone to bed.
Sit here, in thine old place, good Ursula;
Reach me the footstool: now begin and tell me
One of those stories old, of moorish maids
And christian knights, and wizard lore full strange,
As thou wert wont—now, whilst thou braid'st my hair.

URSULA.
What, art thou thinking of thy sleep already?

ESTRELLA.
I'm weary of to-day; I'll get to bed,
It will be morrow sooner when I sleep.
Come, gossip, dear; be sure a wondrous story;
All golden halls, and pearl-strewn tapestry,
And Indian spicy wainscoting, and curtains
O' the crimson damask, glittering o'er with gems,
To give me shining dreams—come, now begin.

URSULA.

I'll tell thee the tale of the christian knight who slew
the villain sorcerer of Ebolis.

ESTRELLA.
No, that's all fighting; I'll have none of it,—
Gashes, and corslets hack'd, and helmets dented.

URSULA.

I'll tell thee the story of Moraim, the Moorish maid,
whose love was a fair christian page, born in Castille.

ESTELLA.
No, no; not that one.

URSULA.
Why not that one, honey?

ESTRELLA.
I do remember it, 'tis full of love,
Voluptuous like the noon-day breath of roses,
It is too passionate—I will not hear it;
Some other.

URSULA.
By my troth! I had need coin them;
Lay thy head thus that I may reach thy hair,
Dear chick; I shall not braid it e'er again for thee.
Beshrew me! that I weep; God keep thee, dove!
And make thee one of his.

ESTRELLA.
Amen, sweet Nurse!

URSULA.

Now listen. There dwelt a knight once, near the
Moorish land, in a high castle, strong and stout for
the nonce, as he had need, and he was brave and young,
and moreover fair to look on; and this knight had a
beautiful sister whom he loved for all the world—

ESTRELLA.

As Pedro loves me.

URSULA.

Yea, even so, sweet; well, in all Spain was none so
fair as this maiden, whose name was called May Flower,
for she was as sweet as spring flowers when they blow.
What, art thou listening?

ESTRELLA.
Ay, go on, go on; sweet as a May-bud—
You see I heard.

URSULA.

Thy dark lash droops to thy velvet cheek; thou'rt
half asleep.

ESTRELLA.

Carlos! dear Carlos!

URSULA.

She sleeps, by my good faith! Hark! mistress! lady!
chick! lie not aslant thus, thou'lt get aches, ere
age; get up, and sleep in thy bed, 'twere best, sweet.

ESTRELLA.
The dreaming poppies drop upon my lids;
Oh me! I'm heavy—I'll to bed; Good nurse,
Help me to doff my vest; take thou good care
Of all these gay attires, they be rich gifts
From my good kinsfolk.

URSULA.

Marriage gifts, nay, troth, there was no need to blush:
shall I put these away, and these, and this? (taking

up a rosary.)
Thou wilt not need it, for to-night
thou art too full of love and sleep, to pray. My
life, but every bead thou whisperest his name, 'stead of
an ave.

ESTRELLA.
Believe it not; the love I bear my love
Takes nought from that devout and deep affection
I owe to Heaven; oh! I pray better and more earnestly
Than e'er before, for now I pray for him:
My lord, my husband!—Give me the rosary.

(She goes into the Oratory, and kneels, while the nurse busies herself about the room.)
ESTRELLA.
(Returning.)
Good night, sweet nurse!

URSULA.
What, shall I not sit by thee, till thou'rt asleep?

ESTRELLA
No, I would be alone; my thoughts are all
Like mingled colours, bright but indistinct.

URSULA.

Well, get thee to bed then; if I leave thee, be sure
thou open not the casement to smell the night-buds of
the jessamine and orange flower, nor watch the moon
until she meet the morning; be sure thou get to bed.

ESTRELLA.
I will, I will; good night!

URSULA.
Heaven keep thee, bird!

[Exit.
ESTRELLA.
Tis a strange life; and in my hand I hold
Its strangest riddle: a throbbing, restless joy
Beats in my heart and flutters there like fear;
My little day of life comes back o'er me;
My past existence, Heaven has made it sweet,
Unmixed with any taint of bitterness,
And the bright future, like a sunny land
Descried afar, stretches like paradise
In rosy bowers and golden fields before me.
Farewell, my home! farewell, my pleasant chamber,
Where time and I have still been gay companions;
Farewell, my virgin couch, which I shall press
No more with slumbers light, and smiling dreams,
That were not brighter than reality.
Night spreads her raven wings, and nears the earth;
My blood's on fire! O for a breath of air
From the cool gardens underneath the balcony!
Once more I'll listen to the rustling boughs
Beneath whose leafy screens I've 'scaped the sun
Of eighteen summers; and, for the last time,
Mark how the moon-beams pierce the crystal folds
Of yonder fount.
(Opens window.)
Sleep hangs upon them all;
The trees do rock, the waters flow in sleep,
The sleepy stars wink in their sapphire beds,
The air breathes gently, heaving in its sleep,
And the round world spins sleepily on 's axis,
I'll to my couch; mine eyes reflect no more
This earth's fair picture: 'tis night, 'twill soon be morrow.
Now then to dream of him, till he returns.
Fare thee well, sweetheart! Good night, Carlos,—husband!

(She lies down and sleeps. Enter the King from balcony.)
KING.
Oh! prosperous fate! Lo! to the very harbour—
So true a pilot is true love, I've steered.
She sleeps! Oh, beauty! richer far than all
The hidden wealth of earth's wide treasuries!
How round her delicate limbs the pillows swell,
Upbearing her with amorous gentle pressure;
How soft and even comes her balmy breath,
And on the measured heaving of her breast,
Peace and all virtuous thoughts lie slumbering.
Why do I pause? yet I am loth to break
This holiest slumber? Love! oh, love, what lips!
No blossom of so rare a hue did e'er
Drink spring's fresh showers; no fruit so sweet and melting
Did ever ripen in the summer's sun.
Mine eyes grow dim!
Wake, thou fair creature!

(He lays his hand upon her arm, she starts and screams. Enter Pedro, by Balcony.)
PEDRO.
Hell!
And all its devils! loosen thy lewd grasp!
Robber and slave! stand from beside that couch,
Or, by my soul! I'll unrip thine from thy body!
(The King, who has put on a mask, draws his sword.)
I do not fear the cold shine of thy steel,
Thou coward thief!
(They struggle—Pedro secures the sword.)
Now, what shall hinder me
From making ribbons of those silken swathings,
And gashing that fair flesh with ugly wounds
Shall mar your courting, lord?

KING.
You dare not do 't.

PEDRO.
Hence by the way thou cam'st, and tempt me not
Another minute, lest I strike thee down,
And trample thee, defenceless as thou art:
Hence, hence, I say!
(He strikes him with the flat of his sword, and drives him towards the balcony, from which he leaps.)
King! King Alphonso, dog! I knew thee
And did not send Heaven's purifying breath
Thro' thy stale heart, nor let some of the lust,
That clogs thy blood, out of thy swollen veins!
Arm'd, too,—'twas fit, and in so good a cause!
It is but they who make the laws dare break them
So gallantly: laws cannot stretch so high.
She faints! Fear has usurped sleep's gentle empire,
And mimics death more closely. Oh! my lily!
Accursed chance, that ever to our walls
Did bring this tainted stream; this King, this court,
These villain lords! this base nobility,
Who hither come, like winter blasts in June,
To sack our homes, make booty of our honours,
And cry foul havoc on our happiness.
Within there! Ho! within there!
(Enter Ursula and Servants.)
Mistress watchful!
Where wert thou prating all this time, good gossip?

URSULA.
Kind saints! what hath befallen?

PEDRO.
Bear your lady in, gently, to mine own chamber,
And do thou watch by her till I return.
So, softly.
(Exeunt Ursula and servants, carrying off Estrella.)
Now, what were it best to do?
I'll see if Carlos have departed yet;
If he is not, he shall wed her to-night
Before 't be midnight, and so take her home,
Or ere the day break, unto Valentar.
I'll seek him straight. A King, a house-breaker!
He's left me a good weapon—and good need
I'm like to find for it, no doubt, hereafter.
Ho! Giacomo!
(Enter Servant.)
Bar up that window fast;
Make sure the doors after I am gone out,
And until I return, let no one enter.

[Exeunt.