University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

A Room in Glanville's house.
Ariette and Reginald.
Ariet.
Alas, dear brother, you persuade in vain.
There's not a truth in holy writ more sure
Than that around us, in continual strife,
The ministers of good and ill contend.
Oft have I seen in the calm summer noon,
When silent butterflies, like silvery blossoms,
Floated in sunshine, and the golden bee
Sung as he woo'd the blooming yellow broom,
Angelic wings gleam o'er the sleeping lawn;
I too have noted at the close of day,
When the bright sun has set in amber clouds,
Tracks straightway to him, from all points of Heaven,
Of airy agents, doubtless then recall'd;
And while alone, late in my chamber, sitting,
When all was dark without, within all still,
Save that at times I heard the deathwatch tick,
I have been conscious of some evil thing
Hov'ring behind me.—Brother, Reginald—
O what may chance, if Isbel's charge be true,
And in the court a flaming witness come.

Reg.
Thou can'st not, Ariette, believe it true.

Ariet.
Is it not in the sacred volume told,
That Moses' visage once so brightly shone
With the reflected glory he had seen,
That none could look on him till he was veil'd?
And he was but a mortal man of clay.—
How shall we then endure the burning frown,
Of one commission'd from the Heaven of Heavens,
For an Apocalypse?

Reg.
What dost thou mean?

Ariet.
Methinks I see him!

Reg.
Whom?

Ariet.
He's in the midst.

Reg.
Sweet Ariette, sister, hear me. O forbear,
Nor gaze with such distraction in thine eyes.

Ariet.
See how around the startled crowd recoil,
With glowing faces and uplifted hands,
As if retiring from a rising flame.

Reg.
There's nothing here. It is but thy conceit,
That fills with prodigies the empty air,
Come, take thy hand, sweet sister, from thine eyes,
And by their faculty aright exerted,
This strange phantasma of unreal fear,
Will vanish from thy mind, as dismal shadows
Thrown in the sun's eclipse, fly at his clearing.

Ariet.
O would I were a flower that weeps but dew,
Weeps without woe, and blushes without shame.

Reg.
O do not raise and drop thy clasped hands,
With such a mindless gaze of deadly sorrow—
Speak to me, Ariette,—Hear me, O cease!

Ariet.
What if the dead man's ghost itself appear,
And with its clotted locks and gashy head,
Glare horrible conviction?

Reg.
O help! help! help?

[Enter Glanville.]
Glan.
What means this cry? O Ariette, my child!
My gentle Ariette.—What has she heard?
Inform me, Reginald.

Ariet.
Confess, confess,
And save the world from such a visitation.

Glan.
Is there contagion in the maniac's madness?
What is the visitation that she dreads?

Ariet.
If you are guilty, it will surely come.

Glan.
Come! what will come?

Ariet.
The witness.

Glan.
Who?

Reg.
'Tis there—

Ariet.
Where, Reginald, where, where?

Reg.
O it is this,
This dread of vision, supernatural,
That scatters all her tossing thoughts adrift.

Ariet.
Did you, my father, murder Isbel's husband?
Nay do not start, but answer if you did.
Far, better far, it were at once to tell,
Than dare the grim confronting of his ghost.
Confess, confess, for lo! the officers,
Come to conduct you to the fatal bar.

[Enter Officers.]
Glan.
Had I not lost the sense of sorrow quite,
My heart would swell, but it lies still and dead.
Take her away—and get her opiates.

[Exit Glanville with Officers.
Ariet.
I will not go. I will attend on him—
Unhand me, Reginald, detain me not,
Though I may perish like a film in fire,
Before some gorgeous angel, bright from Heaven,
I will the fate of this probation see.