“Tell me of her; is she my father’s sister?”
“No; but wouldst thou know indeed?”
“Tell me.”
“Listen then—thy father’s wife.”
She sat stupefied; her bosom heaved convulsively.
“Couldst thou marry Roderick, now?”
She started to her feet. “Fiend! I understand you,” she shouted. Her eyes flashed, her form dilated, her outstretched arm quivered with the strength of her indignation; whilst her melodious voice raised in tones of inspiration, rang through the evening stillness with the poet’s terrible imprecation:
“Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat,
Vel Pater Omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,
Pallentes umbras Erebi, noctemque profundam”—