Alvar. My own life wearied me!
And but for the imperative voice within,
With mine own hand I had thrown off the burthen.
That voice, which quelled me, calmed me: and I sought
The Belgic states: there joined the better cause; 75
And there too fought as one that courted death!
Wounded, I fell among the dead and dying,
In death-like trance: a long imprisonment followed.
The fulness of my anguish by degrees
Waned to a meditative melancholy; 80
And still the more I mused, my soul became
More doubtful, more perplexed; and still Teresa,
Night after night, she visited my sleep,
Now as a saintly sufferer, wan and tearful,
Now as a saint in glory beckoning to me! [85]
Yes, still as in contempt of proof and reason,
I cherish the fond faith that she is guiltless!
Hear then my fix'd resolve: I'll linger here
In the disguise of a Moresco chieftain.—
The Moorish robes?—

Zulimez. All, all are in the sea-cave, 90
Some furlong hence. I bade our mariners
Secrete the boat there.

Alvar. Above all, the picture
Of the assassination—

Zulimez. Be assured
That it remains uninjured.

Alvar. Thus disguised
I will first seek to meet Ordonio's—wife! [95]
If possible, alone too. This was her wonted walk,
And this the hour; her words, her very looks
Will acquit her or convict.

[[823]]Zulimez. Will they not know you?

Alvar. With your aid, friend, I shall unfearingly 100
Trust the disguise; and as to my complexion,
My long imprisonment, the scanty food,
This scar—and toil beneath a burning sun,
Have done already half the business for us.
Add too my youth, since last we saw each other. [105]
Manhood has swoln my chest, and taught my voice
A hoarser note—Besides, they think me dead:
And what the mind believes impossible,
The bodily sense is slow to recognize.

Zulimez. 'Tis yours, sir, to command, mine to obey. [110]
Now to the cave beneath the vaulted rock,
Where having shaped you to a Moorish chieftain,
I'll seek our mariners; and in the dusk
Transport whate'er we need to the small dell
In the Alpujarras—there where Zagri lived. [115]

Alvar. I know it well: it is the obscurest haunt
Of all the mountains—[823:1] [Both stand listening.
Voices at a distance!
Let us away! [Exeunt.