second attendant.
The Duke!
bertrand.
The Duke?—of Mantua!
second attendant.
'Tis he!
A nobler heart beneath a truer breast
Ne'er beat. I watch'd his bearing as he gave
The weapon back to thy reluctant grasp:
'Twas just the air, the lofty temper'd port,
I've seen him use, when, with proud condescension,
Gracious—yet bating nought his dignity,—
He deals such pardon to the trembling culprit
As makes the offence yet doubly heinous.
bertrand.
I ask'd of him no favour—where the crime?
'Twas unprovoked; he rush'd upon my friend,—
They fought,—he fell,—and I had hoped to avenge
The sufferer's wrong. But whence?—'tis wondrous strange.
Hermione!—the Duke!—the proud Hermione
A prince's paramour! It cannot be.
So fair, so noble, yet——There's mystery here;
I must unravel this perplexed web,
Or perish in its toils! [Exeunt.
SCENE III.
A Balcony, overlooking the Garden.
Hermione and Blanch.
hermione.
I am sad, Blanch.
blanch.
I would, lady, you were in your little toilet-chamber at
Venice. You were not sad there once. Why stay you in this unlucky house? I do conceive, that I shall have no more heart soon than hath your goose-quill, nor life within me than a dried puff-ball. When go you to Venice, lady?
hermione.
Never!