[Exeunt KING and GARCERAN at the left.]
RACHEL. He loves me not—O, I have known it long!
ESTHER. O sister, useless is too tardy knowledge,
When injury has made us sadly wise.
I warned thee, but thou wouldst not ever heed.
RACHEL. He was so hot and ardent at the first!
ESTHER. And now makes up in coolness for his haste.
RACHEL. But I who trusted, what shall be my fate?
Come, let us flee!
ESTHER. The streets are occupied;
Against us all the land is in revolt.
RACHEL. And so I then must die and am so young?
And I should like to live! Not live, indeed—
But die, unwarned, an unexpected death!
'Tis but the moment of our death that shocks!
(At ESTHER's neck.)
Unhappy am I, sister, hopeless, lost!