For sixteen days she held his arms at bay.
ALEXANDER.
The seventeenth found her ringed around with fire.
LUCREZIA.
[Assuagingly.] Dear father,
Think of our Cesar—he is coming home;
We shall embrace him!
No—you are crying? He will wear the collar
Of the king’s gift. It makes me laugh for gladness.
Laugh too! I must not cry.
ALEXANDER.
[Crying and laughing as he clasps her.] Alfonso, hopeless
The hope that ever you will sunder us!
She is eternal to me as my saints;
She saves me from all sorrow by her smile,
And she is ever smiling.
ALFONSO.
Then indeed her frowns
She must give me, and I shall take them if
She has not given them away before.
A husband should have something of his own.