(A cry and clanking of armor are heard in the Hall. A Soldier bursts into the chamber.)
Soldier: O duke! O duke! (Sinks to his knee.)
Charles: (gazes at him, struggling to speak): Rise—go—and, if thou canst—
To pray.
Soldier: O sir——!
Charles: You have no tidings.
Soldier: Sir——
Charles (desperately): None, fool! but come to say what silence groans,
What earth numb and in deadness raves to me.
To tell Antonio hath gone out and o'er
A precipice hath stepped for sake of love.
This is not tidings—hath it not on me
Been fixed forever? It is older than
Despair, as old as pain! (To Hæmon, who has entered.) Your sister——
Bardas: Hæmon——!
Cardinal: Hold him not in this anguish.
Fulvia: She and our
Antonio have left us to our tears.