Her. Famette! I know her.
Cha. Know her! You?
Her. And know she loves. Then it is you she waits?
Cha. She saved my life. But that unvalued thing
Is debt's mere rubble. 'Tis her love makes up
The sum unpaid and out of reckoning.
And I—how can I tell you?
Her. If you loved,
Look up. No shame can be where love has been.
Cha. I've no defence,—yet say that you were lost
In midmost desert sands, and suddenly
A flower at your feet breathed of the woods
And darkling velvet shade where rest might be....
Her. But that's a miracle.
Cha. So was her love
To me. Or say that flam and falsity
Ensnarled your every way till no true thing
Seemed left on earth, and then in lifted flash
Truth's priestess eyes looked from a human face
And you were loved,—what startled warmth would say
Your heart yet lived? Would you keep back your life
In barren hug? Deny its sunless gray
To gentle eyes that asked but leave to lay
Their radiance there?
Her. I understand. She gave,
And I demanded. So the gods decree
Her boughs shall bloom and mine go bare.
Cha. Oh, Heaven!