Teresa. Nay, nay, but tell me! [A pause.
O 'tis lost again!
This dull confused pain— [A pause.
Mysterious man!
Methinks I can not fear thee: for thine eye
Doth swim with love and pity—Well! Ordonio—
Oh my foreboding heart! And he suborned thee,
And thou didst spare his life? Blessings shower on thee,
As many as the drops twice counted o'er
In the fond faithful heart of his Teresa!
Alvar. I can endure no more. The Moorish sorcerer
Exists but in the stain upon his face.
That picture——
Teresa. Ha! speak on!
Alvar. Beloved Teresa!
It told but half the truth. O let this portrait
Tell all—that Alvar lives—that he is here!
Thy much deceived but ever faithful Alvar. [Takes her portrait from his neck, and gives it her.
Teresa (receiving the portrait). The same—it is the same. Ah! Who art thou?
Nay, I will call thee, Alvar! [She falls on his neck.
Alvar. O joy unutterable!
But hark! a sound as of removing bars
At the dungeon's outer door. A brief, brief while
Conceal thyself, my love! It is Ordonio.
For the honour of our race, for our dear father;
O for himself too (he is still my brother)
Let me recall him to his nobler nature,
That he may wake as from a dream of murder!
O let me reconcile him to himself,
Open the sacred source of penitent tears,
And be once more his own beloved Alvar.
Teresa. O my all virtuous love! I fear to leave thee
With that obdurate man.
Alvar. Thou dost not leave me!
But a brief while retire into the darkness:
O that my joy could spread its sunshine round thee!
Teresa. The sound of thy voice shall be my music!
Alvar! my Alvar! am I sure I hold thee?
Is it no dream? thee in my arms, my Alvar! [Exit.
[A noise at the dungeon door. It opens, and Ordonio enters, with a goblet in his hand.