Mon. Couldst thou but forgive me!
Cast. What?
Mon. For my fault last night: alas, thou canst not!
Cast. I can, and do.
Mon. Thus crawling on the earth [Kneels.
Would I that pardon meet; the only thing
Can make me view the face of Heaven with hope.
Cast. Then let's draw near. [Raises her.
Mon. Ah me!
Cast. So in the fields,
When the destroyer has been out for prey,
The scattered lovers of the feathered kind,
Seeking, when danger's past, to meet again,
Make moan and call, by such degrees approach,
Till joining thus they bill, and spread their wings,
Murmuring love, and joy their fears are over.
Mon. Yet have a care, be not too fond of peace,
Lest, in pursuance of the goodly quarry,
Thou meet a disappointment that distracts thee.
Cast. My better angel, then, do thou inform me
What danger threatens me, and where it lies:
Why didst thou,—pr'ythee smile and tell me why,—
When I stood waiting underneath the window,
Quaking with fierce and violent desires
(The dropping dews fell cold upon my head,
Darkness enclosed, and the winds whistled round me,
Which with my mournful sighs made such sad music
As might have moved the hardest heart); why wert thou
Deaf to my cries, and senseless of my pains?