Arth. (Reads). Alas! alas! and will you burn out both my eyes?
Hub. I must and will.
Arth. Can you be so cruel? I have always loved you tenderly, have behaved to you as if I had been your son, watched your very looks, obeyed your orders, attended you when you were sick, and rejoiced at every symptom of recovery. Can you have the heart to put my eyes out? which never did, nor never shall, frown upon you.
Hub. I have sworn to do it, and must not break my oath.
Arth. It is better to break a wicked promise than to keep it. Had you a child you fondly loved, think what you would suffer to have him treated thus? My innocence should plead for me. I could not have believed that Hubert had been so hard-hearted.
Hub. Come in (Stamps, the attendants come in with cords, irons, &c.), do as I bid you.
Arth. Oh! save me, Hubert, save me. The fierce looks of these bloody men terrify me to death.
Hub. Give me the irons, I say, and bind him here.
Arth. Alas! you need not be so rough, there is no occasion to bind me. I will be as gentle as a lamb, if you will but send these men away. I will not stir nor make a noise, whatever pain you put me to.
Hub. Withdraw, and leave me alone with him.