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_
HUGO and ORION in a chamber. Evening.
Orion.
Your eyes are hollow, your step is slow,
And your cheek is pallid as though from toil,
Watching or fasting, by which I know
That you have been burning the midnight oil.
Hugo.
Aye, three nights running.
Orion.
'Twill never do
To travel all day, and study all night;
Will you join in a gallop through mist and dew,
In a flight that may vie with the eagle's flight?
Hugo.
With all my heart. Shall we saddle "Rollo"?
Orion.
Nay, leave him undisturb'd in his stall;
I have steeds he would hardly care to follow.
Hugo.
Follow, forsooth! he can lead them all.
Orion.
Touching his merits we will not quarrel;
But let me mount you for once; enough
Of work may await your favourite sorrel,
And the paths we must traverse to-night are rough.
But first let me mix you a beverage,
To invigorate your enfeebled frame.
[He mixes a draught and hands it to Hugo.]
All human ills this draught can assuage.
Hugo.
It hisses and glows like liquid flame;
Say, what quack nostrum is this thou'st brewed?
Speak out; I am learned in the chemist's lore.
Orion.
There is nothing but what will do you good;
And the drugs are simples; 'tis hellebore,
Nepenthe, upas, and dragon's blood,
Absinthe, and mandrake, and mandragore.
Hugo.
I will drink it, although, by mass and rood,
I am just as wise as I was before. _
Read next: Scene 16. A Rough, Hilly Country
Read previous: Scene 14. Chamber of a Wayside Inn
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