zorayda.
'Tis for thy rescue—stay! one moment stay
Thy rash resolve. If I depart, undone,
Destroy'd this night!
[The Duke makes the signal.
Rash prince! it shriek'd thy doom!
Enter Guard.
duke.
Seize that bold traitress!—stop her hated croak!
Lest each ensnared accomplice, if such be
Within her call, gain tidings of her seizure.
To-morrow, and in private, mark me, Hugo,
We hear her further.
zorayda.
To-morrow!—nay, to-night, proud Duke.
To-morrow is not thine. Beware! [They lead her away.
duke.
Of thee!
Thou fearful wonder. 'Tis not idle terror
O'ermasters me, but yon foul-plotting witch
Quails me unwarily. Our country's welfare,
Perchance, brings o'erused caution; yet the wise
No proffer'd warning slights. Within the palace
We may defy an ambush'd foe.
hermione.
To this,
Ere mischief burst abroad, I would entreat.
Yon being hath intelligence not breathed
From mortal lips!
duke.
I dare not say
The last farewell: the coming word, when summon'd,
So galls my tongue, it hath no utterance
When it might pass. The breath that from it issues
Parches my palate; like the hot simoom,
It scorches, though it sweep as stilly o'er
Some blasted, bladeless desert!—
I dream!—or I am fool'd!—unbind me, dæmon!
Unseal mine eyeballs!—they are possess'd—again!
Glazed with thy mockeries! I see not: hark!
'Tis but the mental image to the brain
Recoiling: yet as palpable it comes!
What seest thou?—yon shadow?—where?
hermione.
Yon shadow?
duke.
It cannot be: a brief told moment past,
I marked beyond the brink, on the dim wood,
The shadow waving. Now 'tis strange. There!—there!
How keen this air creeps curdling to my vitals!—
The shadow yet hangs dark and motionless
On shore and wave!
hermione.
Whence comes this wondering terror?
The flag hath on its staff but newly dropp'd—
Look to the turret, why that spell-bound gaze
So wildly on the stream!