So I'll make fast
The door: goodness, bear witness 'tis a potent
Power outweighs my duty.
Ant. Amazement! on what tenters do you stretch [me].
O, how this alteration wracks my reason! I m[ust try]
To find the axletree on which it hangs!
Am I asleep?
Aur. Shake off thy wonder; leave that seat; 'twas set
To sink thy body for ever from the eyes
Of human sight; to tell thee how would be
A fatal means to both our ruins——briefly,
My love has broke the bands of nature
With my father to give you being.
Ant. Happy, [O] happy vision! the bless'd preparative
To this same hour; my joy would burst me else.
Aur. Receive me to thy arms.
Ant. I would not wish to live but for thee: [but for thee,]
Life were a trouble; welcome to my soul.
Aur. Stand; I have a ceremony
To offer to our safety, ere we go.
[She takes a dog, and ties it to the chair: she stamps: the chair and dog descend: a pistol-shot within: a noise of a mill.
Had not my love, like a kind branch
Of some o'erlooking tree, catch'd thee,
Thou'dst fallen, never to look upon the world again.
Ant. What shall I offer to my life's preserver?