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_ ACT IV - SCENE II
A Chamber in the Palace of Alarcos.
The COUNTESS and SIDONIA.
SIDO.
Lady, you're moved: nay, 'twas an idle word.
COUN.
But was it true?
SIDO.
And yet might little mean.
COUN.
That I should live to doubt!
SIDO.
But do not doubt;
Forget it, lady. You should know him well;
Nay, do not credit it.
COUN.
He's very changed.
I would not own, no, not believe that change,
I've given it every gloss that might confirm
My sinking heart. Time and your tale agree;
Alas! 'tis true.
SIDO.
I hope not; still believe
It is not true. Would that I had not spoken!
It was unguarded prate.
COUN.
You have done me service:
Condemned, the headsman is no enemy,
Bat closes suffering.
SIDO.
Yet a bitter doom
To torture those you'd bless. I have a thought.
What if this eve you visit this same spot,
That shrouds these meetings? If he's wanting then,
The rest might prove as false.
COUN.
He will be there,
I feel he will be there.
SIDO.
We should not think so,
Until our eyes defeat our hopes.
COUN.
O Burgos,
My heart misgave me when I saw thy walls!
To doubt is madness, yet 'tis not despair,
And that may be my lot.
SIDO.
The palace gardens
Are closed, except to master-keys. Here's one,
My office gives it me, and it can count
Few brethren. You will be alone.
COUN.
Alas!
I dare not hope so.
SIDO.
Well, well, think of this;
Yet take the key.
COUN.
O that it would unlock
The heart now closed to me! To watch his ways
Was once my being. Shall I prove the spy
Of joys I may not share? I will not take
That fatal key.
SIDO.
'Tis well; I pray you, pardon
My ill-timed zeal.
COUN.
Indeed, I should be grateful
That one should wish to serve me. Can it be?
'Tis not two months, two little, little months,
You crossed this threshold first; Ah! gentle air,
And we were all so gay! What have I done?
What is all this? so sudden and so strange?
It is not true, I feel it is not true;
'Tis factious care that clouds his brow, and calls
For all this timed absence. His brain's busy
With the State. Is't not so? I prithee speak,
And say you think it.
SIDO.
You should know him well;
And if you deem it so, why I should deem
The inference just.
COUN.
Yet if he were not there,
How happy I should sleep! there is no peril;
The garden's near; and is there shame? 'Tis love
Makes me a lawful spy. He'll not be there,
And then there is no prying.
SIDO.
Near at hand,
Crossing the way that bounds your palace court,
There is a private portal.
COUN.
If I go,
He will not miss me. Ah, I would he might!
So very near; no, no; I cannot go;
And yet I'll take the key.
[Takes the key.]
Would thou could'st speak,
Thou little instrument, and tell me all
The secrets of thy office! My heart beats;
'Tis my first enterprise; I would it were
To do him service. No, I cannot go;
Farewell, kind sir; indeed I am so troubled,
I must retire.
[Exit COUNTESS.]
SIDO.
Thy virtue makes me vile;
And what should move my heart inflames my soul.
O marvellous world, wherein I play the villain
From very love of excellence! But for him,
I'd be the rival of her stainless thoughts
And mate her purity. Hah!
[Enter ORAN.]
ORAN.
My noble lord!
SIDO.
The Moor!
ORAN.
Your servant.
SIDO.
Here! 'tis passing strange.
How's this?
ORAN.
The accident of war, my lord.
I am a prisoner.
SIDO.
But at large, it seems.
You have betrayed me
ORAN.
Had I chosen that,
I had been free and you not here. I fought,
And fell in single fight. Why spared I know not,
But that the lion's generous.
SIDO.
Will you prove
Your faith
ORAN.
Nay, doubt it not.
SIDO.
You still can aid me.
ORAN.
I am no traitor, and my friends shall find
I am not wanting.
SIDO.
Quit these liberal walls
Where you're not watched. In brief, I've coined a tale
Has touched the Countess to the quick. She seeks,
Alone or scantly tended, even now,
The palace gardens; eager to discover
A faithless husband, where she'll chance to find
One more devout. My steeds and servants wait
At the right post; my distant castle soon
Shall hold this peerless wife. Your resolute spirit
May aid me much. How say you, is it well
That we have met?
ORAN.
Right well. I will embark
Most heartily in this.
SIDO.
With me at once.
ORAN.
At once?
SIDO.
No faltering. You have learned and know
Too much to spare you from my sight, good Oran.
With me at once.
ORAN.
'Tis urgent; well at once,
And I will do good service, or I'll die.
For what is life unless to aid the life
Has aided thine?
SIDO.
On then; with me no eye
Will look with jealousy upon thy step.
[Exeunt both.] _
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