Cæsario descends the staircase swiftly. His looks are wild; his hair flows loose; and he grasps a bloody dagger.
All. Welcome, Cæsario, welcome!
Cæsa. Ay, shout, shout,
And, kneeling greet your blood anointed king,
This steel his sceptre. Tremble, dwarfs in guilt,
And own your master. Thou art proof, Henriquez,
'Gainst pity. I once saw thee stab in battle
A page who clasped thy knees; and Melchior, there
Made quick work with a brother whom he hated
But what did I this night? Hear, hear, and reverence!
There was a breast on which my head had rested
A thousand times; a breast which loved me fondly,
As Heaven loves martyred saints; and yet this breast
I stabbed, knaves, stabbed it to the heart! Wine, wine, there!
For my soul's joyous. [Gomez brings a goblet.]
Hen. Friend, what means this frenzy?
What hast thou done? Where is Ottilia?
Cæsa. (dashing down the goblet) Dead!
Dead, Marquis! At that word how the vault rings,
And the ground shakes. It shall not shake my purpose.
Murder and I are grown familiar, friends.
The assassin's trade is sweet. I've tasted blood,
And thirst for more. Say, is the mine——
Mel. All's ready.
Cæsa. Who fires the train?
Hen. Mel. and all the conspirators. I, I!
Cæsa. Oh, cheerful cry!
Oh! glorious strife for guilt: Let each man throw
His dagger in my casque; be his the service,
Whose steel I draw.
Hen. 'Tis me——
Cæsa. [To Lucio.] Thy torch, boy, [giving it to Henriquez.] Take it!
Here lies thy way—speed, speed, and let yon vaults,
Shivering in fragments, tell my ravished ear
Alfonso dies. Away, away!— [On his throwing open the folding doors,
Amelrosa is discovered.]
Amel. Forbear!
All. The princess.
Amel. No, no, Princess; 'tis a daughter,
Fierce through despair, frantic with fear, and anguish.
Hear me ye dread unknown: Yon flinty man
Ne'er knew a father's care, and knows not now
What 'tis to love, what 'tis to lose a father.
But ye, (if e'er a parent's hand hath dried
Your infant tears; if e'er your eyes have streamed
To see him weep, knowing your hand but scarred
Gave him more pain, than his own heart torn piece meal)
Oh! spare my father! Bid those hours revive
Which filial love once bless'd; recall youth's feelings,
And by those feelings learn to pity mine.
Spare, spare my father!
Cæsa. [Struggling to conceal his confusion.] Spare him? Sure thou rav'st:
What fears my gentle love?
Amel. I'm not thy love;
Not gentle: Strange despair has changed my nature;
Steeled my soft bosom, braced my woman's nerves,
And brought me here, prepared and proud to perish,
If my heart's blood may save my sire's from streaming.
The savage tigress guards her new-born young
With tenderest, fiercest care; the timorous swallow,
If robber-hands approach her brood; defends it
With eagle-fury; and what brutes will do
To guard their offspring, born perhaps that day,
Shall I not do for one, to whom I owe
Full twenty years of love? Cæsario, mark me,
For by heaven's host, no power shall move my purpose:
Or thou must save my sire, or murder me.
Hen. What must be done?
Mel. Time presses.
Cæsa. [Recovering from his stupor.] Fire the train.
Amel. [Interposing between the inner vault and Henriquez.]
He shall not.
Cæsa. Amelrosa.
Amel. No, he shall not!
Back, ruffian, back! and throw that torch away,
Which burns to light my father's funeral pile:
Here I'll defy thy rage, thus check thy malice,
Thus bar thy road, and, if thou needs wilt pass,
Make thee a way by trampling on my corse,
I stir not else.
Cæsa. Nay, then I'll use my power,
And, as thy husband now command thee——
Amel. Thou?
Man, thou canst not command me.
Cæsa. Art thou not
My wife?
Amel. I am; but ere I was a wife,
I was a daughter, was a subject; nay,
Am still a princess, and as such command
Thee, traitor, thee! and bid thee turn from evil.
[To Henriquez,]—Away! you pass not.
Cæsa. Force her from the door!
Amel. [Clinging to a column.] Oh! for the Hebrew's strength to shake yon vaults,
And crush these traitors and myself.
Mel. In vain
You struggle.
Amel. Cut my hands off! stab me! kill me!
[They force her away.]
Cæsa. Henriquez, to your work.
[Henriquez enters the vault.]
Amel. Oh! barbarous men,
Where shall I turn—Cæsario, dear Cæsario!
Once thou wert kind—Aid, aid my prayers, ye angels,
And force this cruel man to save at once
My husband's honour, and my father's life.
Turn not away! look on me! see my tears,
And pity me: Friend, husband, lover, all
That makes life dear, I charge you! I implore you——
Hen. [Returning from the vault.] The train is fired.
Amel. [Dashing herself on the earth.] Barbarians! fiends, distraction!
Fall, fall, ye vaults and crush me.
[A bugle horn sounds, Amelrosa starts from the ground.]
Hark the signal——
He lives, he lives! [Kneeling and clasping her hands.]
Oh, Heaven, my thanks!
Cæsa. 'Tis done.
[The mine blows up with a loud explosion, and the back part of the vault bursts into flames.]