Ber. (Rallying.) Come, give it me—
Gia. Ha, ha! I drained it all!
There is the broken vial.
Ber. Is there no arm
To save me from the abyss?
Gia. No, villain, sink!
And take this cursed record of thy plot,
(He thrusts a paper into Bernardo's hand,)
And it shall gain thee speedy entrance at
Th' infernal gate!
(Bernardo reads, reels and falls.)
Gia. (Looking on the body.) Poor miserable dust!
This body now is honest as the best,
The very best of earth, lie where it may.
This mantle must conceal the thing from sight,
For soon Rosalia, as I bade her, shall
Be here. Oh, Heaven! vouchsafe to me the power
To do this last stern act of justice. Thou
Who called the child of Jairus from the dead,
Assist a stricken father now to raise
His sinless daughter from the bier of shame.
And may her soul, unconscious of the deed,
Forever walk the azure fields of heaven.
(Enter Rosalia, dressed in simple white, bearing a small
golden crucifix in her hand.)
Ros. Dear father, in obedience, I have come—
But where's Bernardo?
Gia. Gone to watch the stars;
To see old solitary Saturn whirl
Like poor Ixion on his burning wheel—
He is our patron orb to-night, my child.
Ros. I do not know what strange experiment
Thou'dst have me see, but in my heart I feel
That He, in whose remembrance this was made
(looking at the cross)
Should be chief patron of our thoughts and acts.
Since vesper time—I know not how it was—
I could do naught but kneel and tell my prayers.