“If thou wouldst see her, thou must travel. The king has torn her from me.”
“The king, the King! Old man, the king loves Elvira.”
“Loves—loves Elvira! The king loves Elvira! Vassals, vassals,” he weakly called as he staggered to a seat.
“Nay, call me vassal, and the strength of this strong heart and arm is thine.”
“Stand from me. Aid from thee—from thee! Thou who art doomed to die.”
“My life is thine. I know my life is thine. At any time my life is thine. But let me live to hate where now thou hatest so strongly.”
“Thy life at any time is mine. True. Well, wilt thou promise me thy life at any time I ask it?”
The other hesitated for a moment. Then took from his side his hunting-horn, and placed it in the unwilling hands of the old lord.
“Take thou this horn, when from it sounds a blast,
’Twill tell Ernani that his days are past.”
“Upon what dost swear that oath?”