A huge libation! Hers shall be the first!
I swear it! May my waking be accursed,
My sleep a-swarm with furies if I err!
(He has advanced a short distance toward what he sees, but now shrinks back burying his face in his robe.)
Go!—Spare me!—Guards! Guards!
(Three soldiers, who have been standing guard without the chamber, rush in and stand at attention.)
Seize and shackle her!
There ‘tis!—eh?
(He stares blankly, rubs his eyes.)
It is gone!