"Lucia, sweet Lucia, do you then love me?"
"More than my life—more than my country—more than the Gods! my brave, my noble Paullus."
"And will you then be mine—all mine, my Lucia?"
"Yours, Paul?" she faltered, panting as if with agitation upon his bosom; "am I not yours already? but no, no, no!" she exclaimed, tearing herself from his embrace. "No [pg 107]no! I had forgotten. My father! no; I cannot, my father!"
"What mean you, Lucia? your father? What of your father?"
"You are his enemy. You have discovered, will betray him."
"No, by the great Gods! you are mad, Lucia. I have discovered nothing; nor if I knew him to be the slayer of my father, would I betray him! never, never!"
"Will you swear that?"
"Swear what?"
"Never, whatever you may learn, to betray him to any living man: never to carry arms, or give evidence against him; but faithfully and stedfastly to follow him through virtue and through vice, in life and unto death; to live for him, and die with him, unless I release you of your oath and restore you to freedom, which I will never do!"