Ordonio. Thou would'st not then have come, if—
Isidore. Oh yes, my lord!
I would have met him arm'd, and scar'd the coward.
[Isidore throws off his robe; shews himself armed, and draws his sword.
Ordonio. Now this is excellent and warms the blood! 160
My heart was drawing back, drawing me back
With weak and womanish scruples. Now my vengeance
Beckons me onwards with a warrior's mien,
And claims that life, my pity robb'd her of—
Now will I kill thee, thankless slave, and count it [165]
Among my comfortable thoughts hereafter.
Isidore. And all my little ones fatherless—
Die thou first.
[They fight, Ordonio disarms Isidore, and in disarming him throws his sword up that recess opposite to which they were standing. Isidore hurries into the recess with his torch, Ordonio follows him; a loud cry of 'Traitor! Monster!' is heard from the cavern, and in a moment Ordonio returns alone.
Ordonio. I have hurl'd him down the chasm! treason for treason.
He dreamt of it: henceforward let him sleep,
A dreamless sleep, from which no wife can wake him. [170]
His dream too is made out—Now for his friend. [Exit Ordonio.
FOOTNOTES:
[859:1] 18-20. Compare This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison, ll. 17-20, p. 179. See note by J. D. Campbell, P. W., 1893, p. 651.
[860:1] 38-9. These two lines uttered in an under-voice, and timidly, as anticipating Ordonio's sneer, and yet not able to disguise his own superstition. (Marginal Note to First Edition.)