 | The Physician of his own Honour |  |
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SCENE IV.
—A CHAMBER IN DON GUTIERRE'S HOUSE. AT THE BACK SCENE IS AN ANTE-CHAMBER, THE ENTRANCE TO WHICH IS COVERED BY A CURTAIN.Enter DON GUTIERRE, conducting LUDOVICO, a Surgeon, whose eyes are bound.
GUTIERRE.
Enter without any fear;
Now 'tis time that I unfasten
From your face this needful bandage,
And that I conceal mine own.
[He loosens the bandage and conceals his own face in his cloak.]
LUDOVICO.
God preserve me!
GUTIERRE.
Be not frightened,
Whatsoe'er you see.
LUDOVICO.
My lord,
From my house this night you drew me
Forth, but scarcely had we entered
On the street, when with a dagger
Pointed at my breast, you forced me
Tremblingly to do thy bidding,
Which was to conceal and cover
Up my eyes, and then to yield me
To thy guidance, and you led me
Onward by a thousand windings,
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On my loosening not the bandage;—
Thus an hour I have gone with you
Without knowing where I wandered—
Lost in speechless admiration
At so serious an adventure;—
But now more disturbed and wondering
Do I feel, to find me standing
In a house so richly furnished—
Where there seems no living inmate
But yourself, and you, too, hiding
Close your face within your mantle:—
What's your wish?
GUTIERRE.
That you await me
Here alone for one brief moment.
[Goes into the ante-chamber.
LUDOVICO.
What mysterious termination
Can conclude so many wonders?
God protect me!—
[Don Gutierre comes forth from the chamber, and draws the curtain aside.]
GUTIERRE.
It is time
That you enter here; but listen
Ere you do so: this bright dagger
Will be instantly enamelled
With the best blood of your bosom,
If you disobey my orders;
Come, and look within this chamber:
What do you see in it?
LUDOVICO.
An image
Of pale death—an outstretch'd body,
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At each side a lighted candle
And a crucifix before it,—
Who it is I cannot say,
As the face is covered over
With a veil of tafeta.
GUTIERRE.
To this living corse—this body
Which you see, you must give death.
LUDOVICO.
What are your orders?
GUTIERRE.
That you bleed her—
Freely let the blood flow forth,
Drop by drop the life-stream watching—
Standing by her purple bed-side
Firmly through the horrid scene,
Till from out the little puncture
She doth sink and bleed to death.
Answer not, 'tis vain and useless
To attempt to move my pity—
If you wish to live, obey me.
LUDOVICO.
Oh! my lord, such terror thrills me,
Though I hear you, I have not
Any strength to do thy bidding.
GUTIERRE.
He who, forced by sternest fate,
Dares discharge so dread a duty,
Will know how to kill thee too.
LUDOVICO.
'Tis life's instinct that compels me.
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You do well to yield to it,
Since the world holds many persons
Who but only live to kill:—
From this spot I can behold you—
Ludovico, enter in.
[Ludovico enters the ante-chamber.
This was the most subtle method
To dissemble my affront—
If 'twere poison, it were easy
To investigate the cause—
If 'twere by a wound—the death-mark
Never wholly could be hid:—
Now, her natural death relating,
I can say, a sudden cause
Made the bleeding necessary:
No one can deny that statement,
If it is quite possible
For a band itself to loosen:—
And to have observed the caution
With this man that I have used,
Was required: for if uncovered
Here he came, and saw a woman
Whom he was compelled to bleed—
Then how strong were the presumption:—
Now he cannot even say,
If he speaks of this adventure,
Who the woman was he bled:—
And moreover when I bring him
Forth some distance from my house,
I feel strongly moved to kill him.
I, Physician of my Honour,
Mean to give it health and life
By a bleeding—since now all things
At the cost of blood are cured.
[Exit.
| The Physician of his own Honour | |