SCENE VI.
The Demon and JUSTINA.
DEMON. Come, and I will tell thee where.
JUSTINA. Who art thou who has procured
Entrance to this lone retreat,
Though the entrance is secured?
Or, my senses being obscured,
Art thou but delusion's cheat?
DEMON. No, not so; but having known
How this passion pressed thee so,
I have sought thee here alone,
Having promised thee to show
Whither Cyprian has flown.
JUSTINA. Then thou'lt reach not thy intent;
For this passion, this strange pain,
Which my thought doth so torment,
Though my fancy it may gain,
It will never my consent.
DEMON. But in thought to enter in
Shows that half the deed is done;
Since accomplished is the sin:—
Stop not halfway, ere is won
What the wish desired to win.
JUSTINA. Even in this desponding hour,
Though to think may taint the flower,
Thy suggestion comes to nought,—
In my power is not my thought
But my act is in my power.
I can follow to the brink,
Free to pause or to pursue,
Move my foot, or backward shrink,
For it is one thing to do,
And another thing to think.
DEMON. If a stronger power than thine,
Drawn from a profounder source,
With thine own desires combine,
How resist the double force
Which with force thy steps incline?
JUSTINA. I will trust a safer spell:—
My free will suffices me.
DEMON. But my power will it excel.
JUSTINA. Then the will no more were free
If a force could it compel.
DEMON. Come where every bliss thou'lt meet.
[Attempts to draw her with him, but cannot move her.
JUSTINA. Ah! the bliss were bought too dear.
DEMON. It is peace, serene and sweet.
JUSTINA. 'Tis a slavery most severe.
DEMON. Life, 'tis joy.
JUSTINA. 'Tis death, deceit.
DEMON. Thy defence, what can it be,
If my power thus forces thee?
[Drags her with more force.
JUSTINA. In my God it doth consist.
DEMON. By persisting to resist,
[Releases her.
Woman, thou has conquered me.
Thy defence to God is due,
And my counsel is disdained;
Yes, but raging I'll renew
My attempt and have thee feigned,
If I cannot have thee true.
To a spirit I will give
Shape like thine though fugitive,
It will counterfeit thy form,
As with seeming life be warm,
And in it disgraced thou'lt live.
Thus two triumphs at one time
I am sure to win by this,
Be thy virtue so sublime,
Since through an ideal bliss
I will consummate a crime.
[Exit.
SCENE VII.
JUSTINA.
JUSTINA. 'Gainst the clouds that round me lower
I appeal to heaven's high power;
Let this spectre of my fame—
As before the wind the flame—
As before the frost the flower,
Vanish, die.... But woe is me!
Who is here to heed my moan?
Was there not a man with me?
Yes. But no: I am alone:
No. But yes: for I could see.
Where so quickly could he fly?
Was he born of my unrest?
Oh! my danger's manifest...
Father! friend! Lysander! I
Call....
SCENE VIII.
LYSANDER and LIVIA enter from opposite doors.—JUSTINA.
LYSANDER. My child?
LIVIA. What means this cry?
JUSTINA. Saw you not a man (ah, me!)
Who but left me instantly?
I can scarce express my thought.
LYSANDER. A man here?
JUSTINA. You saw him not?
LIVIA. No, senora.
JUSTINA. I could see.
LYSANDER. Saw a man here? That is hard,
When the place was locked and barred.
LIVIA [aside]. Moscon sure she must have seen,
Whom I have contrived to screen
In my changer.
LYSANDER. I regard
What you saw but as the play
Of your fancy and your fear.
Melancholy surely may
Have, the man that you saw here,
Formed from atoms of the day.
LIVIA. Yes, I think my master's right.
JUSTINA. No, 'twas no defect of sight,
No illusion: since my heart,—
Ah! too well I feel the smart—
Has been broken by the fright.
Some strange witchery of my will
Must have been effected here.
And with such consummate skill,
That if God had not been near
I might have pursued my ill.
He who at such timely hour
Helped me to resist the power
Of this fearful violence,
Will my humble innocence
Guard, whatever dangers lower.—
Livia, my cloak: whene'er
[Exit LIVIA.
Overwhelming griefs oppress,
I to holy church repair,
Where we secretly confess
The true faith.
[LIVIA returns with the cloak, which she places on JUSTINA.
LIVIA. 'Tis this you wear.
JUSTINA. There perchance I may appease
This strange fire that burns me so.
LYSANDER. I desire with thee to go.
LIVIA [aside]. I will breathe much more at ease
When they're out of the house, I know.
JUSTINA. Since I wholly trust to thee
Heaven, thy hold to me afford.
Save me....
LYSANDER. Come: so it may be.
JUSTINA. Since the cause is thine, O Lord!
Oh, defend Thyself and me!
[Exeunt JUSTINA and LYSANDER.
SCENE IX.
MOSCON and LIVIA.
MOSCON. Have they gone?
LIVIA. They're gone: all right.
MOSCON. Why, I'm almost dead with fright.
LIVIA. Were you of your sense bereft
When but now my room you left
And appeared before her sight?
MOSCON. Left your room? Be seen by her?
Why, I swear it, Livia dear,
Not one moment did I stir.
LIVIA. Who then was it she saw here?
MOSCON. Well, the devil, as I infer.
How know I? But then do not
Take it so to heart, my soul.
LIVIA. Oh! that's not the cause.
[She weeps.
MOSCON. Then what?
LIVIA. Such a question, when the whole
Of a day it was his lot
With me here locked up to stay?
For his comrade far away
Must I not a tear then shed,
Though I take this day instead,
Having wept not yesterday?
Would I have him think of me
As a woman who could be
So forgetful and so frail,
As for half a year to fail
In what we did both agree?
MOSCON. Half a year? It is above
One whole year since he went away.
LIVIA. Quite an error, as I'll prove.
Mind, I cannot count a day
When I Clarin could not love.
This being so, if I to thee
Gave up half the year (ah me!),
I would give a false amount
To place all to his account.
MOSCON. Ah, ungrateful! can it be
When my heart on thee depends
For its peace, that thine attends
To such trifles?
LIVIA. Moscon, yes,
For I find, I must confess,
Short accounts make longest friends.
MOSCON. Such being then thy constancy,
Livia, I must say good-bye,
Till to-morrow. Ah! if he
Is thy two-day fever, I
Hope he's not thy syncope.
LIVIA. Well, my friend, from this you know
I no malice bear.
MOSCON. Just so.
LIVIA. See me then no more to-day,
But to-morrow, sir, you may:
I'll not need to send. Heigho!
[Exeunt.
SCENE X.
A WOOD.
CYPRIAN, as frightened; CLARIN, stealthily after him.
CYPRIAN. Doubtless something must have happened
'Mong the stars; imperial clusters,*
Since I find their influences
To my wishes so repugnant.
Up from the profound abysses
Some dark caveat must be uttered,
Which prohibits the obedience
Which they owe me as my subjects.
I, a thousand times, with spell-words
Made the winds of heaven to shudder,
I, a thousand times, the bosom
Of the earth with symbols furrowed,
Yet mine eyes have not been gladdened
By the human sun refulgent
That I seek, nor in mine arms
Hold that human heaven.