I thank thee. Dear child, whosoever again asserts thou art a lunatic, he shall answer it to me.
ORSINA.
Conceal it, instantly. (Odoardo hides the dagger.) The opportunity for using it is denied to me. You will not fail to find one, and you will seize the first that comes, if you are a man. I am but a woman, yet I came hither resolute. We, old man, can trust each other, for we are both injured, and by the same seducer. Oh, if you knew how preposterously, how inexpressibly, how incomprehensibly, I have been injured by him, you would almost forget his conduct towards yourself. Do you know me? I am Orsina, the deluded, forsaken Orsina--perhaps forsaken only for your daughter. But how is she to blame? Soon she also will be forsaken; then another, another, and another. Ha! (As if in rapture) What a celestial thought! When all who have been victims of his arts shall form a band, and we shall be converted into Mænads, into furies; what transport will it be to tear him piecemeal, limb from limb, to wallow through his entrails, and wrench from its seat the traitor's heart--that heart which he promised to bestow on each, and gave to none. Ha! that indeed will be a glorious revelry!
Scene VIII.
Claudia, Odoardo, Orsina.
Enter Claudia.
CLAUDIA (looks round, and as soon as she espies her husband, runs towards him.)
I was right. Our protector, our deliverer! Are you really here? Do I indeed behold you, Odoardo? From their whisper and their manner I knew it was the case. What shall I say to you, if you are still ignorant? What shall I say to you if you already know everything? But we are innocent. I am innocent. Your daughter is innocent. Innocent; wholly innocent.
ODOARDO (who, on seeing his wife, has endeavoured to compose himself).
'Tis well. Be calm, and answer me.--(To Orsina)--Not that I doubt your information, Madam. Is the Count dead?