Rafael.
It's about my soul—my soul that leaps its bounds at last—my soul that speaks from the heart of a man! [A passer-by at the back stops to listen.] My soul that dwelt in the wilderness—a rumbling, roaring, raging, lying, sweating wilderness of traffic in the things of earth—my soul in the wilderness crying in vain, in vain, for the love of another soul like mine. Is it not so, Rebecca?
Aaron.
Hear, hear!
Rebecca.
Let me go, father!
Rafael.
Let me go, father; let me go! I would not be slain on the altar, father! The knife is in my flesh! This is the blood of my heart! O God, crieth my soul in vain? Where—where is the angel that shall stay my father's hand?
[A crowd slowly gathers.
Aaron.