Hamet. Where found you confidence your suit to move?
Our broken fortunes are not fit to love.
Well; you declared your love:—What followed then?
Zul. She looked as judges do on guilty men,
When big with fate they triumph in their dooms,
And smile before the deadly sentence comes.
Silent I stood, as I were thunder-struck;
Condemned and executed with a look.
Hamet. You must, with haste, some remedy prepare:
Now you are in, you must break through the snare.
Zul. She said, she would my folly yet conceal;
But vowed my next attempt she would reveal.
Hamet. 'Tis dark; and in this lonely gallery,
Remote from noise, and shunning every eye,
One hour each evening she in private mourns,
And prays, and to the circle then returns.
Zul. These lighted tapers show the time is nigh.
Perhaps my courtship will not be in vain:
At least, few women will of force complain.
At the other end of the Gallery, enter Almanzor and Esperanza.
Hamet. Almanzor, and with him
The favourite slave of the sultana queen.
Zul. Ere they approach, let us retire unseen,
And watch our time when they return again:
Then force shall give, if favour does deny;
And, that once done, we'll to the Spaniards fly. [Exeunt Zul. and Hamet.
Almanz. Now stand; the apartment of the queen is near;
And, from this place, your voice will reach her ear. [Esperanza goes out.