‘Speak, stranger, without fear,’ said Proserpine. ‘Thy name?’
‘Is Orpheus; but a few days back the too happy husband of the enchanting Eurydice. Alas! dread King, and thou too, beautiful and benignant partner of his throne, I won her by my lyre, and by my lyre I would redeem her. Know, then, that in the very glow of our gratified passion a serpent crept under the flowers on which we reposed, and by a fatal sting summoned my adored to the shades. Why did it not also summon me? I will not say why should I not have been the victim in her stead; for I feel too keenly that the doom of Eurydice would not have been less forlorn, had she been the wretched being who had been spared to life. O King! they whispered on earth that thou too hadst yielded thy heart to the charms of love. Pluto, they whispered, is no longer stern: Pluto also feels the all-subduing influence of beauty. Dread monarch, by the self-same passion that rages in our breasts alike, I implore thy mercy. Thou hast risen from the couch of love, the arm of thy adored has pressed upon thy heart, her honied lips have clung with rapture to thine, still echo in thy ears all the enchanting phrases of her idolatry. Then, by the memory of these, by all the higher and ineffable joys to which these lead, King of Hades, spare me, oh! spare me, Eurydice!’
Proserpine threw her arms round the neck of her husband, and, hiding her face in his breast, wept.
‘Rash mortal, you demand that which is not in the power of Pluto to concede,’ said Lachesis.
‘I have heard much of treason since my entrance into Hades,’ replied Orpheus, ‘and this sounds like it.’
‘Mortal!’ exclaimed Clotho, with contempt.
‘Nor is it in your power to return, sir,’ said Tisiphone, shaking her whip.
‘We have accounts to settle with you,’ said Megæra.
‘Spare her, spare her,’ murmured Proserpine to her lover.
‘King of Hades!’ said Lachesis, with much dignity, ‘I hold a responsible office in your realm, and I claim the constitutional privilege of your attention. I protest against the undue influence of the Queen. She is a power unknown in our constitution, and an irresponsible agent that I will not recognise. Let her go back to the drawing-room, where all will bow to her.’