I knew thou didst.
ROSAMUND.
To make your bridal sure
She bade thee make thy bride of her to-night.
ALMACHILDES.
She bade me as a slave might bid the scourge
Fall.
ROSAMUND.
Such a scourge no slave might shrink from; nay,
No free-born woman, Almachildes.
ALMACHILDES.
Queen,
I crave thy queenly mercy though I say
My maid, my bride that will be, shrank, and showed
In all the rosebright anguish of her face
A shuddering shame that wrung my heart. And thou
Hast surely set thereon that seal of shame.
I know it as thou dost.
ROSAMUND.