Cam. Ha! what is that I see? Stay, stay, Antonio,
[She runs after Antonio.
It is not fit Don Henrique—but he's gone,
And we are lost for ever!
Por. O heavens! is this Antonio, the same man,
To whom I am betroth'd? then my destruction
Is inevitable.
Cam. Are you an apparition, or are you
Porcia herself? speak; that when y' have said it thrice,
I may not yet believe you.
Por. You well may doubt even what you see, Camilla,
Since my disasters are so new and strange,
They sever truth from credibility.
Cam. How is it possible you should be here?
Por. I know not how: only of this I'm sure,
I have not long to expect the dismal end
Of my sad tragedy; since 'tis evident,
The person that hath led me to this place,
This fatal place, is the abus'd Antonio,
Who has conspir'd with my unnatural brother
To take away my wretched life, and chose
This scene as fittest for their cruelty.
And thus, strange fate! (through ignorance betray'd)
I have sought protection from the same party
Whom I have injur'd, and have made my husband
The only confidant of his own affront:
Who, to accomplish his too just revenge,
As well upon my family as person,
Gives me up to be murder'd by my brother;
So, whilst I'm branded as a faithless bride,
He'll be detested as a parricide.
Cam. Prodigious accident! but wert thou blind,
Not to know thine own house, unhappy Porcia?
Por. Alas! how could I, in so dark a night,
In such confusion, and so full of fear?
Besides, he brought me in by the back-way,
Through his own quarter, where was neither light,
Nor any creature of the family.